When I was asked to be the summer minister I began thinking about how to structure my sermons. At some point it hit me that UUCF's 60th anniversary will be next year. Maybe that has occurred to some of you as you listen to our welcome each week (" ... or you have been a member here since the congregation's founding in 1955 ..."). In preparation for the 60th year, I will call our summer series Where do we come from, who are we? The series will run Jul. 20-Aug. 17, and will explore stories from our congregational history.

I recently sat down with members who joined between 1955 and 1970 to hear about the earliest days of UUCF. A few people who had moved away and no longer attend were present at this gathering. It was powerful to see old friends reunited. As the stories poured out, excitement filled the room. People remembered how they had helped build a foundation for our UUCF community by committing to the journey of personal and communal growth. Some stories involved difficult times of loss and pain. Some stories were about being immersed in the social justice causes of the day - fair housing, integration of schools, women's rights. Other stories were about political and theological disagreement within the congregation. Most consistently, the group remembered the joy of finding a place where they could open themselves to exploration and doubt, and find lifelong friends and convictions worth living by.

We also talked of the endless transitions UUCF has been through: ministers, directors of Religious Exploration, music directors and countless other changes - governance structure, size of the congregation, expectations about worship, architecture and congregational traditions.

It was intensely clear during Mark's final hurrah yesterday, as it will be at Mary Katherine's, that  transitions are heavy with pain. This summer we will hold that pain and learn to move through it together in our UUCF community. It was also clear, listening to some of our longtime members, that times like these always bring about creativity, possibility and a reminder that our community is rich with emotional and spiritual resources (YOU!) that have sustained it for nearly 60 years. I invite you to explore our congregational stories this summer at Oakton Elementary School where it all started in 1955.

I am so excited to spend the summer with you,