Looking Back 

At the start of the new year, it’s custom to take inventory of where you’re at in life. Did you reach last year’s goals? What new intentions are you setting for the coming year?
As part of the worship team, I wanted to take a second to look back on where we were at this time last year compared to how far we’ve come.

This time last year I delivered one of my very first sermons – an honest look at MLK day. In January 2022 we were fully remote. Fellow worship team member Henry Fixemer showed up to my office with donuts and we battled shoddy community wifi to deliver our virtual Zoom service to about 15 people (a solid turnout at the time) While the setup wasn’t ideal, we were grateful to have any platform at all to connect.

Fast forward one year to Sunday morning 2023. Before the sermon 15 people settled into the 3rd floor couch room for adult RE, the faces of brand-new members greeted long time church goers, a nearly full sanctuary stood together and sang hymns aloud, children laughed and learned in their classes and coffee brewed as fellowship hall bustled with conversation. Ah – that village we yearned for had begun its return. 

February’s worship theme is resilience and I think that’s a perfect word to describe our church – resilient. Even pre-pandemic we had our battles and Sundays where even the most passionate of us thought “maybe it’s just time to throw in the towel.”
But resilience in the face of a challenge and our faith in the necessity of the good that comes from our community has proven to be worth it.

So, take a moment to reminisce on where we once were and how much we longed to be where we are now. How excited January 2022 UUCE members would be if they could only see where we find ourselves in the present. A lot can happen in a year when enough people come together to make it so and we at the worship team can’t wait to see what’s in store for the year to come!

Sarah Stultz, Worship Team Member