Hello First Parish Friends,
I am writing to you on behalf of my good colleagues on the Transition Team–Marilyn Downs, Lois Fine, Julie Garry, Marc Jacobson, Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kwong, Kay Snowden and myself–with some thoughts about what the interim period is about and the role of the Transition Team.
This interim period between the settled ministry of Marta Flanagan and whoever will be her successor is more than just a gap in time that needs filling. During the period of Interim Ministry, the task of the Transition Team is to facilitate dialogue within the congregation about how we are doing as an institution so that we can identify elements that we can address, improve, repair, or maintain in an intentional way, rather than passively (“because that’s how we’ve always done it”). This process will help us to design a description of the skills and strengths that will best serve us in our next settled minister.
Rev. Jonipher is here to lead and support us through this interval, this time of transition AND to cultivate our awareness of how the choices we make as a congregation affect our community and the people who are attracted to join us as prospective congregants. This entails reflecting on our history, clarifying our goals and values, and experimenting with alternative approaches in hopes of ensuring that our community continues to thrive in a sustainable way.
Experiments in the length of the service, the approach to Joys and Concerns, the presence or absence of Time for Greetings are exactly that: experiments. Our service also now includes explicit acknowledgment of all folks, past and present, involved in the creation of the service, and more conscientious inclusion of those who join online.
We welcome your feedback about these experiments. Whether or not we embrace any or all of them going forward, we ask that you be patient and curious, and that we offer one another grace and the assumption of good intentions.
In the month ahead, the Transition Team will join with the Parish Committee and representatives from the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) to hear about how churches of various sizes organize their administrative governance and infrastructure.
Stay tuned for forums in which there will be more information and opportunities for dialogue about these ideas as they might apply to First Parish.
The six of us represent a broad range of age cohorts, skills, temperaments, and experience with FP’s inner workings. We share a commitment to our beloved community and to the practice of understanding.
We strive to be accessible, providing regular written updates and making ourselves available through 1:1 and small group meetings, listening sessions, a table at coffee hour, and other means. Please connect!
With hope and gratitude,
Lida
Lida Junghans, on behalf of The Transition Team
transitionteam@firstparish.info
