Dear Fellow Congregants,
I hope you have had a happy and peaceful July.  Church life carries on, in a quieter way, with many of us traveling and enjoying the weather.  But my favorite thing about church life in the summer is hearing the voices of the many congregants who are generous enough to share their wisdom and insight with us and lead our services.  Thank you to all those who give of their time and energy in this way.

Still, I miss having a minister.  I miss Rev. Kate.  I miss knowing that our church was under the leadership of a settled, trained, dedicated religious professional, especially when it has been a sad and frustrating time to be an Akronite, in light of the brutal June 27 police shooting of unarmed young black man Jayland Walker.  Somehow, eight officers felt so threatened by this one unarmed man, that they fired 90 rounds, resulting in 46 bullet wounds, and injuries so severe that the medical examiner was unable to state which one ended his life.  The police violence, and the resulting righteous fury and protests– it’s all too familiar, but being close to home, it stings a little more acutely.  I am proud of our church members and leaders that I have seen get involved in protests and calls for action.  I think we can do more as a church community and intend to communicatee with black community leaders to ask how best to direct our efforts.

I don’t know what would be different if we had a minister, but all I can say is that I am eager for Rev. Josh’s arrival.  Our church is going through a lot, and divisions remain.  I have been listening to the book Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari, while carting my kids back and forth to summer camp.  His main thesis is that what allowed Homo sapiens to succeed beyond all other human and non-human species is primarily imagination, and the creation of fictions and mythologies that unite us.  You may have heard of Dunbar’s number, the theoretical maximum number of people that one can maintain social relationships with, commonly claimed to be 150 (although debatable).  Harari theorizes that the reason that we are able to expand and cooperate in groups much larger than that is our belief in “fictions” such as gods, nations, money, and human rights.  These things do not have tangible form, but agreement on them allows cooperation with individuals you don’t personally know.

Our church membership is around 225, slightly above Dunbar’s number.  Of course, it’s not directly applicable because we all have relationships outside the church community as well, but I take it as a reminder that we should always be talking about our uniting principles, our “fictions” that we can agree upon and turn to for unity.  We have our principles and our sources.  We also have church bylaws and policies.  The UUA Article 2 Study Commission is working on revising our statement of principles, and our church is working on creating several important policies.  Those revisions are critical to the evolving and flowing nature of our faith but can leave us anxious as we feel the ground move under our feet and wonder which things are constant in our church lives.  This is where the “faith” comes in.  I trust you, and I hope you trust me.  Our church is also working on sanctuary renovation, with much of the purpose being a space that inspires the imagination.  We need that imagination to hold us together.

I ask you all to imagine together with me, what things can be like in our church.  Strong, bold, disagreeing, loving, respectful relationships.  Dedication to and action in our community.  One might even say, “a sanctuary of love and welcome for all, dedicated to lifelong intellectual and spiritual exploration, and committed to leading, acting, and speaking for social justice and stewardship of the earth.”  (wink wink) Hold it in your heart, and work with me to get closer to that vision.

Warmly,

Libby Archinal, President, UUCA Board of Trustees