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March 14, 2005

Dear Friends,

“Sometimes I imagine my life is a series of trapeze swings.  I’m either holding on to a trapeze bar swinging along, or for a few moments I’m hurtling across space in between trapeze bars.  Most of the time I’m hanging on for dear life to my illusive trapeze bar of the moment.”

Those lines keep coming to me as we move through our changes:  Barbara’s resignation; Bob Perry’s recent announcement that this will be his final year with our Youth Group; the change in our fiscal year; the canvass weekend change.  It feels like we’re hurtling across space right now.

Sometimes the trapeze artist catches an empty bar that someone swings at the right time; but sometimes there’s a catcher who reaches arms toward the one who lets go and trusts that a connection will be made.  Ah, yes, trust.

This is the first time we’re doing our canvass in the spring.  We are trusting that you will maintain your pledge at (at least) last year’s level during the six-month transition time into the new fiscal year that begins July 1.  We trust that you will reach out to catch the canvasser who is asking for next year’s pledge.  Make the connection!

For the last two years we’ve had a big Fellowship Dinner at the Norwalk Inn with more than 500 of us gathered under one roof.  Those were great.  This year we’re trying something different—the notion is a canvass weekend with a series of special events that allow us to catch hold of one another in affinity groups. 

For example, Faith Taylor said she’d like to join me in my morning walk along Compo Beach and listen to some poems as the sun climbs over Long Island Sound.  That’s what we’ll be doing on Saturday morning, April 9.  The sun will be up when we gather at the pavilion at Compo at 8.  My walk will be done by then, but there will be plenty of time for those poems Faith wants.

When the weekend was being planned I asked if we could have a pot luck supper to which everyone is invited, making a broader connection.  That will happen on Sunday evening, April 10.  It will give me a chance to prepare some things I enjoy cooking that aren’t allowed on my diet.  I’ll be inviting early birds to come into the kitchen and help me do the fried shrimp.  Yum!

It’s all about connections.  That’s the theme of this year’s canvass.  You’ve heard me talk about the word religion being rooted in the Latin verb, legare, which means ‘to connect.’  My definition of religion is, “The process of reconnecting, from birth to death: with other people, with an ever-changing, aging self, and with Nature, of which we’re a part.”

I hope you’ll make some good connections during this transition time, including the roast for Barbara on March 19, and her final sermon on March 20.  There will be a sign-up sheet for the April 10 pot luck, and if you want some early-morning poems, come to Compo on the 9th at 8.

At the pot luck supper we’ll talk together about the future of our congregation.  Hope to see you.

Yours,

Frank

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