Dear members and friends at UUCR,

What an amazing team you have chosen for your Ministerial Search Team (MST).  Any of the twelve nominees would have brought valuable gifts to the endeavor. I commend you for the great care you took around this process, and I commend everyone who was willing to serve.  You have chosen people from a quite comprehensive diversity of length of tenure at UUCR, age and gender, and familiarity with different areas of the church’s programming and governing infrastructure.  I expect that prospective ministers who engage with this team will get a very good sense of the congregation and a full picture of the direction in which your mission and vision call you.

You may have seen the image on my office door whereby William Bridges describes the three stages of any transition:  1) ending, losing, letting go; 2) the neutral zone; and 3) the new beginning.  Bridges’ graphic reveals that these are not linear steps, but overlapping, and each gradually fades out as the next emerges.  Creating a search team is a major collective step you have taken in UUCR‘s new beginning. I have great hopes for the year ahead. The Transition Team and I will continue to support you in stages 1 & 2 as Laura Graham, your Ministerial Settlement Representative from the UUA, supports the MST.  See you in church!

Warm regards,
Catherine

Rev. Catherine Senghas
Interim Minister