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June, 2023

Dear Friend of the United Church of Strafford,

The United Church of Strafford has some exciting news – please read on!

Our pastor Tom Kinder will be on sabbatical from July 15 to November 15, 2023. The church council is eager to use this sabbatical experience as a joyful opportunity –  a time of renewal for the church, as well as for Tom. We propose to use the time as a time to explore more broadly what we are calling “Seeking Spirit”, a framework for spiritual experience in  community  that incorporates both  beloved traditional and new elements.

Tom’s sabbatical plans

Pastor Tom Kinder will follow his own “Seeking Spirit” sabbatical theme.  He intends to deepen in both practice and place, seeking Spirit through participation in Christian and Buddhist contemplative groups, and through writing, editing and sharing original poetry and hymns, and through time immersed in the garden, field and woods.  He also intends to honor the root meaning of the word sabbatical in Hebrew: rest.

The church’s sabbatical plans

As we know, many churches today are in a time of transition and searching – including ours! Like other churches and institutions, we are trying to discern the needs of the community and the church’s role in providing support to that community, both materially and spiritually. In rapidly changing times, we hope this time for our church can be a source of spiritual questioning, exploration, community, beauty, comfort, wisdom, and renewal in both traditional and new ways.

Background

In some ways the UCS has always valued new approaches to tackling age-old questions. Over the past years, and especially the last few months,  the UCS has been taking some steps to become more actively open to different forms and aspects of worship. For many years the UCS has had a multifaith perspective and has created such events as a Thanksgiving service hosted in the Catholic Our Lady of Light chapel, a community-wide summer vacation Bible school (many years ago),  and a multi-faith seder at Easter.

More recently, this broad perspective  has included a heartfulness meditation group, started by Tom several years ago and attended by a wide range of people. In January, we began a monthly Story Sunday, led by local chaplain Rachel Guaraldi, aimed at young families. Very recently, when Tom was away for two weeks, the service was lay-led and focused on excerpts of the book Braiding Sweetgrass, a collection of essays focusing on the spirituality of indigenous perspectives on the natural world and how to take care of it.

Purpose

With this background and context, it makes sense for the UCS to use the four months of sabbatical leave to actively continue a broadly designed focus on  “Seeking Spirit.” This would include various essays/sermons/music that would be inclusive of both other churches/denominations or spiritual traditions, and of people with no religious affiliation at all.

What it will  include

• Story Sunday. We know that for the months of August, September, October and November, Rachel Guaraldi will continue to lead Story Sunday on the second Sunday of each month. This already is built around broadly inclusive spiritual/religious concepts like the nature of God and what it means to pray, along with lots of singing and movement.
• other Sundays led by local spiritual thinkers. This will include pastors as well as other local people representing a variety of spiritual traditions..
• lay readings by spiritual writers. These could include works by Mary Oliver, Ann Lamott, Karen Armstrong, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Frederick Buechner, our own Bill Coffin, and/or other engaging writers who have given great thought over their lifetimes to matters of the spirit. There are also many wonderful short stories, from a variety of traditions, that serve as sort of “wisdom tales.”
• Strafford’s other churches. We would like to invite the Unitarians and the Catholic church members to participate in some way. Perhaps a service or two could take place at their churches.
• Wonderful music. Music has always played a central role in creating beauty in this church. Currently we do not have a full-time music director. We are fortunate, however, to have amazing local musicians who we hope will be an important part of these “Seeking Spirit” Sundays. These musicians  include Annemieke McLane, the Cantornote recorder group led by Sarah Cantor, Rachel Guaraldi on guitar during Story Sundays,  members of our choir leading an acapella Sunday, and other local musicians.

We are excited about this unusual opportunity to seek spirit in community.  We hope that wherever you are in your own journey, you will find a way to join us and lend your ideas and your good energy!

With hope,

The Council of the United Church of Strafford