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We
Are On Our Way |
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June
25, 2004
We leave Alexandria on July 11th, and plan to take between 10 and
14 days to drive across country. With two young children, two
cats, all of our camping gear, and our telescope (just imagine
what we'll see when we're camping at Yellowstone!) our car will be
packed tight. I expect it will be a very long and tiring trip, but
we've planned many fun and interesting stops along the way to see
friends and visit beautiful places. And I am so looking forward to
arriving at our destination!
The
day before I leave, I will officiate at the marriage of two lovely
young women. On this joyous occasion we'll primarily be
celebrating their love. But we will also rejoice that they can
stand up in public and be openly supported by their friends and
families. We will rejoice that everyone from the caterer to the
florist to, of course, their minister, didn't bat an eye over the
fact that this is the wedding of two women rather than a woman and
a man.
On
our trip across the country, Graham and the children and I will
drive through 11 states. In 10 of them, the federal Defense of
Marriage Act has been adopted as law. In every single one,
anti-equality legislation or amendments to the constitution is on
the political agenda in some way.
I
have many reactions when I think about the struggle for marriage
equality and particularly about the resistance to gay marriage. I
feel sadness, anger, frustration, and impatience, but two
different feelings rise to the surface right now.
The
first is compassion. Accepting marriage equality for many people
means stretching one's mind, changing one's perceptions, and
letting go of privileged status. I am all too aware at the moment
that change is hard, and carries with it fear and anxiety, even
when it is good and right change.
The
second is hope. Just as I am sure that we will arrive safely after
our trip across the country, I am sure that in my lifetime, there
will be full marriage equality for all people. Marriage is
ultimately about love, and love is the surest way to ease fear.
Though the ceremony I will perform on July 10th is a purely
religious one, it is a joyous stop on the journey. I look forward
to the day when full civil and legal rights follow.
Where
ever your life takes you this summer-- around the world or around
the corner-- I wish you safe traveling and happy homecoming.
Change is hard, and the journey can be tiring, but rest
assured...we are on our way. |
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Reverend
Liz Stevens
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We Have a New Minister! |
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Rev.
Margaret and Rev. Stevens respond |
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up-to-the-minute
news from the
Ministerial Search Committee
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On March 29, the Search Committee selected The Rev. Elizabeth “Liz” Stevens as our final candidate to present to the congregation as our new minister. Rev. Stevens brought her family to her candidating week from Friday, April 16th through Sunday, April 25th. Her family consists of husband, Graham Stevens and sons Sam and Daniel.
On
Sunday, April 25, following the second service, KUUF conducted a
special congregational meeting during which the congregation voted
to call Rev. Elizabeth H. Stevens as our minister.
The vote was unanimous.
Rev. Stevens had said during her sermon that day, “If you
call me, I will come!” The
Search Committee members were deeply satisfied and grateful to
Rev. Stevens and the congregation.
As arranged during the negotiation process for the Letter of Agreement, Rev. Stevens will begin her service as KUUF’s minister on August 1, 2004, assuming pulpit duties on August 15th.
Between
now and then, the congregation, with the support of the Search
Committee, will support and assist Rev. Stevens, and her husband,
Graham Stevens, and sons, Sam and Daniel, in their transition from
Alexandria, Virginia to Kitsap County.
We will reach out our hands and hearts to help them settle
in their new home.
According
to the KUUF By Laws, the Search Committee will continue to serve
as Rev. Stevens and her family’s “settlement agent” for a
period of four to five months.
The
Search Committee is grateful to the congregation for its support
of the search process, but especially to Marilyn Drengson, Jackie
Westwood and Dick Norton for their assistance preparing the
Congregational Packet, to Alex Miller, Arlis Stewart and RuthAnn
McCann for handling the congregational mailings prior to
Candidating Week, to Sherry Attaway for helping in a myriad of
ways whenever we asked for nine months, and especially to Rev.
Margaret Keip for her unfailing encouragement, wise advice and
belief in our eventual success.
We also benefited from the excellent support of the UUA
Settlement Office, Rev. Nan Geer, Theo Small, Paula Cole-Jones,
and our beloved PNWD Ministerial Settlement Representative, Milly
Mularky. Without
these wonderful people supporting us as we “searched,” we
could not have completed the process.
We
owe two most important thank you’s to:
Rev.
Stevens —
thank you for “clicking” on KUUF as you searched on the UUA
website for the right church for you. We are so pleased that we have found you and that you have
found us. May you be
our minister for many, many years.
Our
last thanks goes to "the spirit" of love, grace and
hope. The spirit carried us, individually and as group, through
the rough spots and blessed us with understanding, compassion, and
gratitude for being able to serve with each other and for the
congregation. Thank
you so much.
THE
SEARCH COMMITTEE
| Leif
Bentsen |
Dianne
Boatwright-Frost |
| Marlene
DiMauro |
Linda
Gabriel |
| Ginger
Younie |
Beth
Wilson |
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| from an elated
Rev. Margaret: An empowered and empowering call to your next settled
minister is what an interim minister yearns and works for. I’m
thrilled for you all, and for Liz Stevens and her family, as well
, and tickled that she had energy to spare from Candidating Week
to accept my invitation to write to you . . . in immediate
response. She says: |
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During the conference call where I negotiated my Letter of Agreement, I
was asked when I would like to start.
I answered, “Hey, I’d come next week if you wanted me
to!”
And in fact, I am
so excited to begin ministry for and with you all, I’m not sure
how I’ll stand waiting until August.
However,
the reality is that I have work to do between now and then, and so
do you. I need to get ready to be your minister.
I need to plan a move, pack my belongings, drive across the
country. I need to
find a place to live. You
need to finish up the church year and then to say goodbye to
Margaret.
Not
only that, but while we are getting ready, life goes on, and we
will be working and playing and learning and growing.
I know how important it is to live in the present, and not
get so caught up in dreams and imaginings that I lose touch with
what is.
I have sensed this week that you are excited, too, about
possibilities and programs as well as your new minister.
The search process includes some deep questioning, which
shakes us up and gets us ready to move in new directions.
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Rev.
Elizabeth H. Stevens |
Please
don’t feel like you need to wait for me!
If you feel a surge of energy and enthusiasm, you can run
with it now. Don’t let it start to fizzle out.
Three months isn’t that long in the
grand scheme of things, but it’s long enough that I will be
slightly different, each of you will be slightly different, and
who we are together will be slightly different.
Waiting is part of the process.
Enjoy it!
—
Rev. Elizabeth H. Stevens
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4418 Perry Ave NE
PO Box 2015
Bremerton, WA
98310
360.377.4724
admin@kuuf.org
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