Rick’s Ramblings
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
One of the highlights of my summer was a trip to Nova Scotia. During last year’s Serendipity Auction, Jim and Jeanie Craig bid on Marlene Blood’s summer cottage in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. They were fortunate to win the bid and my wife and I were even more fortunate to be invited by the Craigs to be their guests for one week at this delightful spot.
As we prepared for this trip, we searched the internet to see if there were any UU churches nearby. It turned out that the only UU church in the province of Nova Scotia was in Halifax, about one hour from Marlene’s house. I am always interested in visiting a UU church when I travel and since our trip included a Sunday, we decided that we would go check out UU Halifax. We read about the church on the internet and discovered that their guest minister for that Sunday would be talking about the Gulf Oil spill.
Daniel Payne is a young seminarian who is originally from Pensacola and who also lived in New Orleans for a while. He showed slides of the devastating impact of the oil spill on Louisiana residents. And he read a moving email from the minister of one of the three UU churches in New Orleans. We’ll post this email on our website so you can read it. It was quite an experience. The offering that Sunday went to the three New Orleans churches that are working hard to recover from not only Kristina, but now the oil spill too.
After the service, we were greeted by the members of this small, but enthusiastic church. They seemed so pleased that we had made the effort to drive to their church and they welcomed us graciously. We now feel we have some UU friends in Halifax. Hopefully, some of them will come to Florida this winter.
Why am I telling you this? Well, it seems that every time I visit a UU church, I come away feeling proud that I am a UU. Every UU church I have encountered is committed to social justice, and to making the world a better place. I know Jim, Jeanie, Barbara, and I felt the warmth and the caring that this congregation exhibited. I also know that when people visit our church they will be equally impressed by the dedication of our members and the work we are doing. I look forward to telling you more about our plans for the 2010-2011 year in future ramblings.
Rick Sandler
President, Board of Trustees