Scaffolding

In the first month or so I was here, construction on Kiernan Ave began– all year, we have been dealing with construction. And for the past few weeks, the scaffolding went up around the church, a crew of volunteers have been working to fix up the exterior, and in a few weeks, repainting will begin.  Lots of work has been getting done this year at UUFSC!

A friend of mine who is a museum director (we were roommates back in Washington DC) once talked about “social scaffolding.”  She says that “one of the misconceptions with participation is that people want an open slate. And the reality is that a blank piece of paper

Kiernan Ave September 2014

is like the scariest thing in the universe to most people. and so if you want people to be creative or to share a personal story… you have to both give them kind of the emotional support and you need to give them the tools to be successful.”

This year, what was the scaffolding that supported us building our relationship as minister and congregation? Of course worshiping together is one of the biggest ways a minister and members of a congregation build relationship.  Working with various committees was another type of scaffolding.  And the other big “scaffolding” of our relationship this year has been navigating the staff changes– we learned a lot about each other as we navigated all that was involved with these staff changes.

What types of scaffolding in your life do you want to keep? And what types are time to collapse and put away?

I look forward to worshiping with you all this Sunday (one service, 10:00am): The Simplicity of Fear.  Neuroscience increasingly reveals how despite our sophisticated frontal cortexes, we humans can easily be dominated by the old reptilian brain. How can this religious community help us cope with the simplicity of fear and find that place where we sing and rejoice?