by Rev. Laura Horton-Ludwig, Minister
Dear WUU community,
Hello and hope to see many of you soon—literally see you, in person! Just in case you haven’t seen the news yet: we’re reopening the sanctuary this coming Sunday for the launch of our new in-person-and-online worship service. Here’s a link with all the details.
What an exciting and creative time in the life of our congregation: we’re transforming into a truly hybrid community, more accessible to more people than ever before.
If you plan to come in person, or if you plan to stay at home…
If worship in your PJs works best for you, or if you’ve been counting the days until we reopen…
If you’re on the road, or if you’ve never even been to Williamsburg but feel drawn to the community here…
Whoever you are, wherever you are: WUU is here for you. And you are welcome here.
I hope you’ll join me in thanking the many people who have helped us reach this exciting milestone:
- My fellow Reopening Task Force members: Kerry Mellette, Austen Petersen, Susan Walkley, Lola Warren, and Dave Wilcox. Each one of these hard-working, creative leaders has spent many hours learning all they could about Covid safety…listening to your hopes and dreams…bringing their own spiritual wisdom to the table…and doing their very best to create a reopening plan that we all hope will serve our community well.
- The members of the Board’s Public Health Advisory Task Force: Drs. Camilla Buchanan, Chris Llewellyn, and Susan Marcinkus. Their medical advice has been invaluable as we chart a safe path forward. (Chris has now stepped down from the task force, with Camilla and Susan carrying on.)
- Our stellar volunteer AV team, especially John Trindle, Dave Wilcox, and Coe Walkley, who have solved numerous tech challenges with an unflappable, can-do spirit.
- Our WUU Board, whose encouragement and trust have made a challenging task easier.
- And each one of you who have shared your thoughts, questions, hopes, and challenges with us. You have helped us make better, more faithful and wiser decisions. Thank you so much!
Of course, our plan isn’t perfect. We’ll be adjusting it as conditions change, and as we learn more about what works best for our community. I particularly look forward to the day, not too far now, when our youngest children will be able to be vaccinated and it will be safe for all WUUs to come in person when you want to. For now, I’m excited to live into this new hybrid congregation we are creating together!
In faith and with love,
Rev. Laura
P.S. There’s been so much going on around WUU these days, this almost feels like an afterthought. But I do want to let you all know that, with the Board’s blessing, I will be taking a four-month sabbatical beginning in August.
This is an exciting prospect for me, and I hope it will be fun for the congregation as well. Many ministers and congregations have found that ministerial sabbaticals are a wonderful opportunity for renewal. It’s a chance for all of us to break out of familiar routines, try new things, and then come back together refreshed, with new insights and renewed creativity.
Your Board is already putting together a sabbatical planning team to make sure we have everything in place for a smooth transition. I’ll be working with them every step of the way. I hope this will be a time for you to try new things and have some fun!
In the words of clergy sabbatical expert Robert C. Saler, “Congregations who complete renewal leaves successfully…gain new insights into the ways their ministry is about more than what the pastor does, and they gain confidence that their staff and members can take on leadership in the pastor’s absence in ways that might well continue even after the pastor returns. The pastor’s sabbatical gives the congregation permission to explore…” (from Planning Sabbaticals: A Guide for Congregations and Their Pastors).
As for what I’ll do…I’m still putting some plans together, and Covid is still making everything uncertain. But I hope to go back to County Clare in Ireland for a time, a place I dearly love, and the home of one of my spiritual mentors, John O’Donohue. I would also love to spend some time in the Southwest, learning more about the spirituality and cultures of the Navajo and Hopi peoples. There are a couple of classes I’d like to take, and a growing list of books I’ve been wanting to read. And some time to just be, and think, and see what happens when the daily to-do list can be set aside for a while.
I am so deeply grateful for WUU’s generous sabbatical policy that is making this time possible. So, again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you! I can’t wait to go on this sabbatical journey with you.