From Your Minister
Dear Ones,
It is so good to be back with you after my sabbatical. May was a great month at UUS and it was wonderful to see your faces again, as well as to find out about all that you did while I was away. I am so grateful to this congregation for supporting me to take a sabbatical, as well as all the ways you took care of each other and supported so many in our wider community.
My sabbatical was wonderful. I left for Peru at the beginning of February, returning in late March. While I was there, I spent three weeks in intensive Spanish study in Cusco while also learning about Peruvian culture and visiting sites in that area. And then I went traveling around Peru.
A few weeks after I returned, a friend and colleague asked me what three takeaways or learnings were from my time in Peru. These have changed a bit since then and will likely continue to change as I digest my experience, but briefly put they are:
- That I love and am fascinated by the world – human and natural – and I love falling in love with the world again and again. I love learning and experiencing new things, whether it’s language, culture, history, how people have created systems for empowerment and resilience throughout time, or ecology. And I love how we enrich each other.
- Rest is crucial, living life at a more sustainable pace is crucial, and I need to take better care of myself. I got called back into that covenant with myself and my ministry by many people during my sabbatical.
- I can do a lot that I wouldn’t have thought possible. I can’t do all the things I’ve ever been able to, I won’t always be able to do the things I can now, and that makes savoring and always finding new ways to love the world a very important part of my life’s journey and ministry.
After I returned home, I enjoyed a few weeks of living at a slower pace and learning to apply some of the lessons of my time in Peru to my life here. In the coming weeks and months, I’m looking forward to sharing more about my sabbatical and what I learned. On June 8 I’ll be leading a worship service sharing more about this, as well as the 50+ ways to rest that my Spanish teacher schooled me on (some of them surprised me!). Then, after the service on June 8, I’ll be sharing a slideshow and some more stories. I look forward to seeing many of you there.
I hope that this spring and summer you take some time to rest (however rest looks to you), reflect on what you’re learning about it, and share that with me and others in our beloved community.
Blessed be,
Rev. Diana
