October, 2024
by Rev. Bill Gupton
By now, I trust most of you know that this will be my final year of ministry. In early September, I announced my retirement from the ministry effective at the end of May 2025. I have been “on the path” of ministry now for three-plus decades, and it is time to begin a new path. My final Sunday as your minister will be May 18, 2025.
I have many emotions as we enter this transitional time together. You have shared many of your own emotions with me as well, and I thank you for the trust you continue to put in me. This will be a tender and precious year for all of us, filled with laughter, memories, uncertainty, tears, hugs – love, of course – anxiety, and questions. So many questions. We discussed some of them in the worship service on September 15, 2024 (viewable at https://tinyurl.com/33537axy) and there will be many – many – other opportunities to ask questions, offer feedback, express all those emotions, and more. Your Board of Trustees will be offering congregational meetings and conversations, surveys, and opportunities to serve the church as it begins a very important process of discernment.
What will you be discerning? The kind of ministry you want, moving forward. The direction the church will take, into the future. The type of leaders who can best help you get there. Where you fit in the broader picture of Unitarian Universalism and liberal religion in America. Perhaps these questions of discernment sound familiar; if so, maybe that’s because our nation and our society are at a similar crossroads of decision-making. But unlike the United States, which faces an important inflection point next month, you have plenty of time to do your due diligence, get all the information, gather all the ideas, reach a consensus, and chart the course of your shared HUUC ministry for the future.
If there’s one thing I have noticed, in the few weeks since I announced my impending retirement, it’s that most folks seem very eager to know what’s next. To make a decision. Now. Or at least, soon. So I say to you all: There is no rush. You are a church in transition now. This is “liminal time.” Don’t skip over the feelings. Don’t leave out any important voices (or any voices, for that matter.) Take the time to have the cottage meetings and the conversations. To think through the options. To imagine. Remember how important that word, and that concept, are to me? Take the time to imagine a variety of different futures. And then, to pick one that resonates deeply with the majority of you. One that feels right, in your hearts.
I will be here with you – though not involved in those discussions or decisions – for eight more months. I will love you, and walk with you to the end of this path. Then, our paths will diverge. I will lay down the mantle of ministry and begin the final chapter of my working life – directing and managing the growing, successful natural burial ground we call Heritage Acres. You will continue the life and ministry of this beloved church into its 200th year, and beyond.
Words cannot properly express what Heritage Church has meant to me, and to my family. It has been a profound blessing to be your minister. A beautiful journey. We still have some steps to take, together, on the path. May they be taken with renewed hope and faith. May they be taken in love, with hearts open to the memories of the past, the important work of the present, and the bright promise of the future. Blessings. Namasté. And Imagine!