Ministers Musings
The Reverend Lydia Ferrante-Roseberry
A congregation that cares
Recently, a colleague of mine was musing about why we gather as congregations. What makes us different from every other organization? What inspires people to dedicate hours of their time, portions of their money, and many, many gifts toward making a congregation work?
He surmised that the essential differentiating factor is that congregations are in the business of caring for their people, first and foremost.
As he spoke, I remembered back to my meeting with the Search Committee in T.K. Smith’s office on Arapahoe Road in Boulder. One by one, the Search Committee told me in their own words that the central binding activity of this congregation was caring.
Since I’ve been here, I’ve been able to witness to this ‘congregational glue’ again and again — the reverence with which the congregation shares Candles of Community each and every week … the outpouring of love and support following death … the efforts made to include young and old in the activities of the Fellowship … and most recently, the outpouring of love toward Diana Spalding as she underwent brain surgery in mid-June. Over 40 people have volunteered to help so that Diana can have around-the-clock care, her children can be dropped off and picked up, food can be delivered, and housework can be accomplished. I get tears in my eyes each time I look at the vast array of help laid out on the website developed for this purpose. Hats off to the initial organizers of Diana’s Share the Care team, too many to name, and to the many, many people who have found their place in this caring circle.
Yes, caring is central — essential, in fact —to congregational life. And the beauty of this congregation is that we care not only for ourselves, but for many people outside our doors as well. The Boulder County AIDS Project receives food from many of you …
Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA) clients get housewares and furniture when they move into their transitional housing … and the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless gets a handful of BVUUF cooks each month, October through April … just to name a few ways that we reach beyond our own lives and into the lives of those who also need our caring presence.
In our caring, we are transformed — for caring for each other is never a one-way proposition.
I imagine us as caring in concentric circles — as we grow in number and spirit, so does our capacity to care. What a gift to each other … what a gift to ourselves … what a gift to the world! As our programs quiet down for the summer, let the caring community that sustains us remain our glue.
-Rev. Lydia