~Janine Larsen, Acting Administrator

My turn. As of June 30, I’ll be retiring from full-time work at UUC. I’m ready to take up a different pace in my life and turn more fully to other passions. It’s particularly satisfying to wind up my staff position with the end of this fiscal year, to help staff restructuring to be fully embraced and more effectively funded going forward.

While I’ll discontinue my Leadership Staff role and full-time presence at the church on June 30, my relationship with the congregation will transition differently than we’ve experienced with other recent staff retirements and resignations.

Unlike the “no contact” protocols other staff have followed or chosen, I’ll continue to be available to consult with Leadership Staff as new staff come on board, particularly around on- or off-site orientation and training for the incoming Congregational Engagement Coordinator (look for an announcement next week!). Given current needs, this will likely include some continuing paid time when more than minimal help is needed for staff support, special projects, or to cover gaps in office coverage through the summer months.

Most importantly to me, I’ll continue to lead our lively Zen Buddhist Meditation and Study group at UUC. As the program has grown, we’ve named ourselves the Bright Cloud Zen practice groups. We’re affiliated with the larger UU Buddhist Fellowship, and we’re part of the Empty Moon Zen Sanghas, founded by UU Minister and Zen Roshi James Ford.

To provide clear boundaries around my continued involvement at UUC, I’ve asked to be recognized as a Covenanted Community Minister, in accountable relationship with the ordained UU ministers of this church. Such appointment will be similar to the “Minister Affiliated” role called out in UUC’s bylaws, but different in some significant ways.

• First, I am not a UU Minister and will not be eligible to represent UUC as ministerial delegate to the UUA General Assembly. I was ordained as a Zen Buddhist Priest at UUC in 2019. My calling is to serve UUs and others who are exploring or have committed to the path of Zen Buddhism, informed by Unitarian Universalist values and practices.
• Second, I will be in covenant with UUC’s ministers and Leadership Staff, not the congregation as a whole. So, my appointment will come from the Senior Minister, not by vote of the congregation as is the standard for UU Ministers Affiliated. We’ll have the chance to share this at the short Worship Service before the Annual Meeting on June 15.

I will continue to be a regular member of UUC, but in order to make space for UUC’s staff and volunteer transitions I will largely absent myself from participating in congregational meetings, Sunday worship, and most other community events for a while, except by request and consent with the Senior Minister and Staff Leadership. Here’s a fun example of that: I will be your guest preacher on July 6!

We continue to walk this liminal time together, very much as I entered UUC in July 2016. I feel like I’ve carried out transitional ministry my entire time on staff here. It has been completely consistent with my Zen practice of “being with what is” and meeting each moment with curiosity, determination, and love.

As I approach my 70^th birthday at the end of October, I am eager to devote myself to things that beckon me now: Getting my house in order (literally!), paying attention to my health by making more time for exercise and “sleep hygiene,” the joy of cooking, planning some road trips, hanging out with dogs, and expanding my devotion to Zen practice and teaching beyond UUC.

I know we wish each other well and enter this new phase with great fondness. We will still see each other, but not as regularly and without getting into the intimate details of UUC structures. Thank you for your deep care of me, and welcoming me into your community so joyously. Serving this congregation has been a great blessing to me.