Sunny Notes: 07.08.26 - We Shall Be Known By the Company We Keep
It's been a busy year, and summer snuck up on me, but looking around BUF and Bellingham these past few weeks, I see it is definitely here. I attended the Choir's end-of-year celebration a couple weeks ago...Community Night Dinner is on hiatus until fall...there are fewer activities happening at the congregation...the Mid-Week Update is on its summer publishing schedule every other week...and I will soon be taking some time off.
I am grateful to be a part of a tradition and a congregation that recognizes the need for rest and time away—where ministerial contracts provide for several weeks of study leave and several weeks of vacation time per year. I have used very little of this time to date, as this has been an unusual year for both me and BUF.
I stepped into congregational life mid-stream on October 1, with the year already well under way, and at the same time our wonderful Administrator, Michelle, stepped back. Fresh out of divinity school and raring to go, I happily hit the ground running, knowing it would be intense as I got up to speed as a new minister and we pulled together to fill the gaps until our new Administrator, Alison, arrived. I have loved this first year in ministry. I feel incredibly fulfilled and like I am exactly where I am supposed to be. And...I am looking forward to taking some much-needed time to recharge and refill my cup for the 2026-27 congregational year.
I will be away from July 19-August 16, mostly spending time with Chase in Seattle, as well as visiting my 85-year-old parents in Fredericksburg, TX. During this time, Sunny Notes will be on pause, and I will be slower to respond to communications. I also am so happy that Rev. Barbara Wells ten Hove will be organizing the summer services from July 19-August 30—she has some wonderful things planned already. And I look forward to being back in the pulpit on Sunday, September 6.
On the final Sunday of the congregational year on June 28, a desire I'd had since arriving at BUF came to fruition: a wonderful ensemble sang, then led the congregation in singing the MaMuse song "We Shall Be Known." During the singing, outgoing BUF Board President Lin Skavdahl and incoming Board President Tom Nicholas planted a little Mugo Pine (pictured below) in the soil collected during the Dirt Communion ritual on Choir Sunday on June 14. That hardy conifer now sits in the front garden bed at BUF, and every time I pass it, I remember that song and that service—a service built around the first verses of the song: We shall be known by the company we keep, by the ones who circle round to tend these fires; we shall be known by the ones who sow and reap the seeds of change, alive from deep within the earth.
I love this company we keep at BUF, I love the fires we are tending, and I love the seeds we are sowing and reaping together. While I look forward to taking my study leave and vacation time, I also look forward to returning later this summer—hopefully the little Mugo Pine and I will both be a bit sturdier, well-watered, and ready for some new growth!
Here's to a wonderful summer — Rev. Sunny, minister