Dear UFP beloved community:

As everyone watching the trends in the data has sadly been anticipating and preparing for… COVID spread is extreme in the local community, with hospitalizations now matching their highest peak weeks from April and January.

We are into our third week online. We do not like it, any of us, but we have (as we have to) put our heads and hearts into being ready for this and being all we can be for each other. Our Creative Worship Team has responded to the uncertainty of service planning week to week by declaring we will be online-only for Sunday services through the end of November. We have some truly wonderful services and other events coming. Do join in!

We will meet in person in some other special ways. Note especially that Jessica Smith and our RE team have planned a fall outdoor event, “Grounded in Love,” for October 29th.

Coming next on Sundays — I’ll be speaking on October 23rd, on the theme “Our Work is Loving the World.” Jessica Lindeman offers us some beautiful live music that morning. Rev. Peter Boullata will be back in the pulpit on October 30th and November 12th.

How can we love and support each other through this disappointing time, and all the stresses a COVID winter may bring? That’s a question every part of our community.

— Ben Wolfe (President), for your UFP Board