Chaos. It’s pretty much chaos at UUCP right now. The two schools finished their school year this week, and one is moving out of the building to their new location this week. The other one is starting renovations on their spaces, and we are moving rooms around this week and next week. In the midst of this, we are preparing for Kids Camp in two weeks, where the congregation is used in a different way. Stephanie’s office has become a storage room and the Children’s Ministry team is digging out of boxes. There are two different trash dumpsters on campus. It’s chaos.
And yet, do you know what I heard in the hallway today, amidst some drilling and moving? Laughter. I’ll admit that it’s a little bit of a maniacal laughter that comes where you are so stretched so thin, that all you can do is laugh. Some of it is the laughter that comes with the relief of having the preschool gone after a very difficult last two years with them. Some of it is the sound of hope of having fresh possibilities with new space, and some of it is just how functionally the staff is working together right now, getting through several months (hell, several years!) of some difficult times.
We have practice as a staff team improvising and having each others’ backs as we figure it out–the pandemic time was a time when we had to really practice this, all while the staff was getting used to a new manager (me). We figured out online worship in a different way each week for the first few months. We found new ways to communicate, to reach out to you all, to serve new needs. We’ve honed those skills and are using them again.
We’re a little tired of being resilient and would really like to try on a bit of stability. But I can tell you that I have never worked with a more talented, committed, flexible (and funny) staff. This includes Benjie who we miss–and boy do we have some stories to catch him up on when he returns!
If you see a staff member (or Bunny Hodas, who is an unofficial staff member right now), give them a smile and a thank you, and maybe join in on the maniacal laughter with us.