Rev. Dena McPhetres
Laconia UU
Minister's Musings April 2004

I remember when I first joined a church. It was not that long ago actually, sometime in the early 1990s, back in Minnesota. Such a simple yet enormous thing, signing my name in the membership book of a freely-gathered, freely-chosen congregation. I remember that Sunday morning not so long ago, signing my name, receiving a handshake, a long-stemmed flower, and the meaning of my decision to belong.

The simplicity was to simply give my heart to where and whom it belonged. The church that "felt right," the one that loved me and that I loved, the one that felt like "coming home." So simple: to give one's heart and to be accepted. To sign one's name as a symbol of that belonging.

The poignancy and simplicity of the moment was a confluence of many feelings and circumstances, as poignancy and simplicity usually are. It was special to me to become members of that church with my partner Jan, to have us both freely sign the book on the same day, to join as a couple. There was that.
There was also the long path that led me to membership. Growing up in a Unitarian church, leaving it for awhile as a young adult, coming back after disillusionment and taking the risk of joining a human community, imperfect though I knew it was. To flow back into the stream of tradition from whence I had come. So there was that.

There was also the sense of the empowerment of being one among many, fully and willingly part of the larger whole. To know that we can accomplish and stand for much more as a group than we can as individuals. The simplicity of adding my shoulder to the wheel, my voice to the song, my hands to the circle. And here is where the magnitude of my decision appeared.

To vow to give of yourself and your gifts as best you can to the greater good of a human community is an enormous thing to promise. Simple, enormous, empowering, and so very human. One of my favorite readings in our hymnal is the one that says "we need one another." We do. We need one another, heart and soul and mind and body.

The path to membership is sometimes long and winding, other times direct and swift. You know it when it happens, when you're ready to join. For some people it happens on the first visit, for others after many visits and significant soul- searching.

For those of you who have been visiting UU congregations this year, those of you welcome new faces testing us out, seeing if this church "feels right" to you, are you ready to join? Are you ready to take that very human leap into belonging to this community of faith, imperfect though it may be?

Let your minister or your membership committee know. I'm sure they'd love to talk with you about the meaning and responsibility of belonging to this faith community, full of joy and sorrow and doubt and hope and wonder. Full of strength and bread for the journey, wherever it takes us next.

I'm sure the congregation to whom you have "come home" would love to welcome you into membership, with a handshake and a long-stemmed flower, and the power of your freely-chosen commitment to belong.

In the faith,
Rev. Dena McPhetres