End of Uncertainty

The Unitarian Universalist church I attend has been "in search" for a new settled minister for 2 years. I joined the church just after the previous settled minister left--an interesting time to join a congregation. We have had 2 "interim" ministers in 2 years, moved from 1 service to 2, and had all sorts of other upheaval.

I've made friends and really love this community, even though it has some of the "fishbowl" characteristics that I moved to Cali to get away from. My fiance and I have been the main (for a while the only) young couple in the congregation, so we get quite a bit of attention. For example, when we announced our engagement, there was sustained applause from the congregation.

But back to the search for a new minister. Our search committee thought they had found a match for us back in March or April, but that fell through and everyone started getting worried. Then, about a month or 6 weeks ago, we found out that we had a new canditate, one that was actually interested in taking the position at our church.

This past week, we have had two chances to hear her "preach" (can you call it preaching if they don't tell you what to do or how to live???), several opportunities to get to know her socially, and yesterday, and chance to vote on whether we wanted her as our new minister. Of the 58 people who attended the meeting, it was a unanimous YES! So we have a new minister. It feels good. I really like her. She is a warm person with plenty of energy and enthusiasm. I'm looking forward to when she starts with us in the fall.