Amidst last week's snow falling, power lines snapping, turkeys roasting, crowds shopping, and Nashuans strolling, your Search Committee was thoughtfully refining our Congregational Record (CR). This 11,000 word opus tells the story of our congregation: our theology, programs, history, finances, strengths, shortfalls, hopes, and what we seek in a minister.

Late Sunday night, after a flurry of last-moment emails parsing humanism and spirituality, ministerial and executive roles, we did the last copy and paste and advised the UUA's Transitions Office that our CR was finished.

Beginning yesterday, December 1st, Unitarian Universalist ministers who are seeking a new church can read our CR and decide whether the possibility of a shared ministry in Nashua inspires them. They will also read the CRs from other UU churches that are searching for settled ministers, over 45 of them from Alaska to Maine. Each minister has all month to decide whether to add her, his, or their names to the list of interested ministers that we'll first see on January 2.

For Christians, this is the season of Advent, the time of expectant waiting for the birth of a holy child. With roots far earlier than that story, this is a time of expectant waiting for the descending darkness to stop and light to renew the spirit. For your Search Committee, after the preparation of the past few months, this is a time of waiting expectantly, wondering about the undiscovered possibilities before us.

Perhaps you are waiting expectantly, too.

Gary Lerude

We welcome your thoughts and feedback, as one of our objectives is to foster a congregational dialog about what we have experienced and learned. One way to do so is to leave a comment responding to this or any of the other blog posts.