Generosity is the most natural outward expression of an inner attitude of compassion and loving-kindness.

~ Dalai Lama 

April is a month where we’re never quite sure what we’re going to get. It might be sunny and 70 degrees, or it might offer a last blast of snow flurries even as the daffodils are in bloom and the patio furniture was just uncovered! We hope for warm Spring days but can’t really count on them being consistent. There is an uncertainty to the weather in April, just as there has been uncertainty in our lives over the past couple of years. It’s been difficult to plan ahead and count on things happening as we hope they will. But there is definitely one thing we can count on in April. While we will hope to continue gathering in person and hope to offer coffee hour soon, what we know we can count on in April is UUCD’s stewardship campaign! It’s that time of year when we start seriously thinking about the upcoming year, our visions for the future of our beloved community, and I deliver my annual ’sermon on the amount’! It’s that time of year when we start seriously thinking about the upcoming year, our visions for the future of our beloved community, and I will deliver my annual ‘sermon on the amount’. It comes around every year, rain or shine, and I will admit to you that I used to dread it. But over my nearly 2 decades of professional ministry, I’ve come to think of this time of year as one of joyful anticipation. We can joyfully anticipate outdoor gatherings, joyfully anticipate new life displayed in budding trees, and joyfully anticipate opportunities to expand our vision for UUCD’s future, and the opportunity to express our compassion through generosity.

I believe we are a compassionate people. I believe we are also a community that strives to possess an attitude of loving-kindness in our words and deeds. And as the Dalai Lama so wisely said, generosity is the most natural outward expression of those things. Even in difficult times, members of this congregation have expressed their compassion and loving-kindness by being generous with their talents, their time, and their treasure. That is exactly how we have sustained this community for 200 years! And in this 200th year we will do it again. Our theme for this year’s campaign is One Community Many Hands and it will take all of us, yes, every single one of us expressing our compassion and loving-kindness through our generosity. We may not be able to count on a sunny Spring day for our campaign kickoff April 3rd, but we can count on each other to be generous. And that is worth our joyful anticipation. 

Grateful for the opportunity to be generous, 
Rev. Kathleen