June is certainly full of potential. Its weather promises a season of growth, and our pulpit
topics ask us to consider the great things we are capable of as individuals, and a
community. In June, we look around and consider and plan for the outcomes we strive
after—the outcomes we hold in common, that are desirable to all people, and that we
believe will benefit humanity and the earth. We plant and nurture and grow big ideas in June, the month full of
potential.
As we prepare for our Annual Meeting, the agenda of which appears in this newsletter, the unique thing we
remember about our church is that WE determine what it is we do and what it is we are about. We do not rely
on an exclusive scripture, from the Bronze Age or from our lifetimes; we do not conform to a larger
organization’s agenda; we have no charismatic individual that decides things for us. We may seek guidance
from ancient wisdom, modern research, or great leaders, but we meet to discern these sources, consider them,
and then take the best from among all things that the spirit and the world offer.
This is not always an easy task, and we will have our ups and downs. But we have learned over the past 25+
years that it is certainly worth the effort and energy, especially when we consider where we choose to live. In
addition to Christmas and Easter, being the church that celebrates Gay Pride, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and
commemorates days for Humanists and Human Rights, is unique. Where else will we recite the Beatitudes one
Sunday, and a few weeks later, recite the Charter of the United Nations.
It is for this reason that I take the Annual Meeting so seriously, as well as the work every friend and member
does on their committees or in their volunteering. From hosting a Sunday Hospitality, to filling the oil lamps,
to contributing or raising money for the needs of the church or sympathetic organizations, to attending General
Assembly—our church is entirely our creation. We meet and decide who it is we are, and what it is we do. We
determine our priorities, and decide how it is we will spend our time and energy. It is both exciting and a little
daunting to consider how autonomous People’s Church is.
So then, as we begin summer with all its potential, we reflect on what it is we hope for and would like to
accomplish, in our lives, in our church, and in our world. The days are long in this season of optimism and
growth. May we find, in our church community and in our humanity, a summer warmth of spirit to always
guide our decisions and our days. Like June itself, we are full of potential.