• Home
  • rainbow flagA Welcoming Congregation
  • Safe Congregation SealKeeping Safe
  • Capital Campaign
    • Contact: Capital Campaign
  • DONATE/REALM
  • TUCWomen
    • About TUCWomen
    • Join Us
    • Events
    • Contact
  • Contact
  • Instagram

The Unitarian Church in Westport

10 Lyons Plains Rd., Westport, CT 06880 - Ph: (203)227-7205 Sunday Services: 10:00 AM - ZOOM (check SOUNDINGS)

uua-logo-2
  • Calendar
    • Calendar
    • SOUNDINGS
    • Communications Guidelines
    • ZOOM Instructions
    • Tips For Making Videos
    • Event & Space Reservations
    • In person meetings at TUCW – Summer 2020
    • TUCWSocial Email List Ground Rules
  • Welcome Visitors
    • UU Orientation
    • Directions & Services
    • Special Ceremonies & Dedications
    • Our Congregational History
    • Our Faith
    • What is a Unitarian Universalist?
    • We are Unitarian Universalists
    • How did you become a Unitarian Universalist?
    • History of the Flaming Chalice
    • UU History in 8 Minutes
  • About Us
    • Our Mission Statement
    • Our Vision Statement
    • About Our Ministers
    • Our Staff
    • Getting Involved
    • Board of Trustees
    • Governance
    • Congregant Celebration
    • Pastoral Care Chaplains
    • Our Welcoming Congregation
    • Photo & Video Galleries
    • Links – Beyond Our Walls
    • SOUNDINGS
    • Events & Space Reservations
    • Pledging
  • FAMILY FAITH FORMATION
    • Faith Formation 2020-21
    • Welcome to Family Faith Formation
    • This Week in Family Faith Formation
    • What to Expect on Sundays
    • Faith Formation for Children Pre-K through 8th Grade
    • OWL Information at a Glance
    • Considering 7th-9th Grade OWL for Your Family?
    • Youth Ministry
    • Adult Faith Formation
    • Keeping Safe
    • Faith Formation Registration
  • Social Justice
    • Welcome to Social Justice
    • Social Justice e-mail
    • Advocates for Prevention of Gun Violence
    • Beardsley School Committee
    • Environmental Action Group
    • Immigration and Refugee Committee
    • KIVA Microfinance Committee
    • Mercy Learning Center Committee
    • Racial Justice Committee
    • Rainbow Task Force
    • Westbridge Coalition
    • UU United Nations Office
    • Additional Programs
    • Racial Justice Resources
  • Music Program
    • Music Choir Schedules
    • Evensong
    • Our Minister of Music
    • The Music Committee
    • The Bell Choir
    • The Choir (Women and Men)
    • Special Projects Choir
    • Once & Again Singers
    • Children’s Choir
    • Teen Choir
    • The Chamber Choir
    • Sight-singing Classes
    • Cabaret
    • Voice Classes
    • Love Is the Spirit
    • Tune My Heart To Sing
    • Support Our Music Program
  • Sermons & Poetry
    • Minister’s Messages
    • Sermons – Audio
    • Sermons – Video
    • Rev. John T. Morehouse’s sermons
    • From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace
    • Facing Grace – Rev. John’s blog
    • Rev. Frank Hall, Minister Emeritus – sermons
    • Rev. Frank Hall, Minister Emeritus – Dear Friends
    • Intern Minister’s sermons
    • Guest Minister’s sermons
    • Poetry & Readings
    • CURRENTS – our quarterly newsletter

Dear Friends – December 4, 2001

Rev. Frank Hall - Minister EmeritusApril 19, 2011 by Rev. Frank Hall - Minister Emeritus

Dear Friends,

We call the collection Natural Selections. They’re my favorite poems. They survived years of reading, searching, hoping, and culling. They fit. Survival of the fittest.

The collection begins with an invitation from Robert Frost: “I’m going out to clean the pasture spring; I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away (and wait to watch the water clear, I may.) I sha’nt be gone long. You come too.”

In Spanish the verb to wait is also to hope. December is the darkest month. We stop and wait, hoping to clean the debris from the wellspring of the spirit. We light candles and sing familiar songs so we can nourish the spirit and feel once again a sense of intimacy with the Sacred Source.

I read Frost’s pasture spring as the vital animating force in which mind, body and spirit are skillfully and carefully curled. Soul. The brutal terrorists tried to kill or kidnap it and hold it hostage. The community of support and encouragement we have created in our congregation this fall has provided the inspiration and strength we need in the face of this or any tragedy. It matters. Frost’s poem suggests the invitation: you come, too.

Our canvass team offers an invitation: they have gathered financial pledges for the coming year from the vast majority of our members and friends. There have been some disappointments, to be sure. Some folks have not responded, yet. Please, if you are one of those disappointments, offer your support, appropriate to your resources. Make a pledge that feels good. Do it now.

The great Rabbi Hillel put it well: “If I’m not for myself, who will be? If I’m only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

Speaking of sharing, let me make a suggestion: if you are in the habit of attending Sunday service at 11 a.m, I encourage you to consider coming at 9 a.m. when there are seats and parking spaces available.

I’ve received a lot of positive feedback about my sabbatical decision–to remain connected. It confirms what I had been thinking. I will be working on the project I had planned–to go through the poems in Natural Selections and write my personal reflections on meanings that have emerged for me.

I also want to remind you that all of the sermons and readings are posted on our web site. Sunday services are also available on tape, which you can borrow or buy.

It’s December. It’s time to light the Hanukkah menorah and the Christmas tree, to listen to the familiar music of the season. We’re feeling some resistance. But we’ve got to go together to clean the pasture spring. We sha’nt be gone long. You come too!

Cheers,
Frank

Filed Under: Dear Friends

  • Minister’s Messages
  • Sermons – Audio
  • Sermons – Video
  • Rev. John T. Morehouse’s sermons
  • From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace
  • Facing Grace – Rev. John’s blog
  • Rev. Frank Hall, Minister Emeritus – sermons
  • Rev. Frank Hall, Minister Emeritus – Dear Friends
  • Intern Minister’s sermons
  • Guest Minister’s sermons
  • Readings & Poetry
  • CURRENTS – our quarterly newsletter

     The Unitarian Church in Westport
     is a member congregation of the
     Unitarian Universalist Association

      CLICK HERE if you have any questions      about The Unitarian Church in Westport

Church Hours: Tuesday - Friday
9:30 AM to 4:00 PM

Summer Hours:
July & August until after Labor Day:
Tuesday - Friday 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM

CLICK HERE to contact the web master

CLICK HERE to opt in to receive
the Weekly Congregational Email Blast

Copyright © 2021 · Visit us at The Unitarian Church in Westport - 10 Lyons Plains Rd., Westport, CT 06880 - All rights reserved.