This theme for March is wisdom. Wisdom usually demands some amount of attention to notice, so it’s nice to spend some time reflecting on the active month we’ve had. Beginning in February we had our first day-long meditation retreat, and this was a great success. We had over 25 participants, many of whom had only a loose affiliation with the church prior to this event. Linda Scharf and I plan to offer a day long retreat every quarter, and we have reached out to all the meditation groups in the Youngstown area to see if there is an interest in having a meditation center based in our church. Right now those who want to practice meditation in community on a weekly basis must travel to Pittsburgh or Cleveland, so this could be a wonderful offering.

Our community outreach this month was particularly strong and powerful. I had my first shift on call as a police chaplain, and in that time was called to deliver a death notice to a community member who lost his 26 year old daughter in a car crash. As a chaplain, I support both the community and our local police officers, and this position has opened up new ways of relating to the community in an impactful way. Due to the organizing of Gary Davenport and participation of our local members, we held an immigration panel following the tragic death of David Hernandez Colula in ICE detention. We will hold another panel this month, and yet another in April.

There was an interfaith conversation hosted by ACTION on “White Privilege” at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church which some of our members participated in. I helped facilitate these conversations, and we had over 250 people from across the Youngstown community that wanted to engage this topic.

We have new ministries that have been formed this month. We now have a committee that will be focused on racial justice ministry. We have about 6 members to start who will begin planning programming March 22. Another potential ministry is being explored by John Shartle who wants to host a Moth style personal storytellers group in our church. I’m supportive of this effort. And yet another is Melissa Smith who will be applying to become a Commissioned Lay Minister. Her focus will be on adult faith formation, and we’ve discussed the possibility of her facilitating groups both in the church and in her home.

We have made some good progress on the goals set by the board at our retreat. I’ve attached the plan for our website outlined by Nathaniel Ekoniak, a new member to our church. It’s a straightforward, simple, and cost effective plan to gain assistance in updating our website. I’m curious to see what you think. The finance committee has met and discussed the patio as a capital project. There is a committee that is formed to offer a recommendation to the board and then the membership by this summer, with the goal of starting work in the Fall. On the topic of fundraising, I’ve discovered something quite interesting: there is a market in Youngstown for vegan meals. I attended a vegan bazaar downtown that was very well attended. I then attempted to go to a vegan pop up dinner on the Westside hosted by a Cleveland couple, and they ran out of food in one hour, and had to send throngs of paying customers home. I mentioned to the crowd that perhaps our church should host a vegan pop up, and the crowd enthusiastically said they’d attend if we did.

We finally have a custodian/sexton candidate that will start this week. Thank you Marguerite, Roger, Louisa, and Martin for your assistance. We are still seeking a Director of Religious Education. Assistance from the board with this search would be greatly appreciated.

February ‘20 – March ‘20 Approximate Weekly Hours

Worship – 10-15 hrs

Meetings with Members/Friends – 10 hrs Supervision of employees – 5 hrs Meetings in the Community – 16 hrs

Administration – 15 hrs

Writing – 8 hrs

Pastoral Care and Counseling – 5-8 hrs. UUA Collegial Activity – 1 hr

Average Weekly Total – 70-78 hrs