We’ve officially kicked off Giving Tuesday for December 2, 2025! Our goal is to raise $15,000 so our spiritual home stays welcoming, warm, and vibrant through the winter and beyond.
This year, we’re adding something special: You can make your gift in honor of someone who has touched your life, someone who inspired you, supported you, or changed your world for the better. We’ll include their name in our PowerPoint slides throughout December as a beautiful way to celebrate them.
As I write this, my mind is already on Sunday’s Thanksgiving Dinner! Scott and I are double-checking the food list — if you didn’t sign up for a dish and want to bring something, just go for it! The surprise of what shows up is always part of the fun.
And speaking of Sunday, we’ll also be installing our new Board of Trustees during the service. These dedicated folks are committed to serving our community with integrity and heart. At our October meeting, we elected new officers:
Matt Purinton, President
Betti Lu Lewis, Vice President
Janice Murphy, Treasurer
Sue Vittner, Barbara Kowalska, and Carolyn Sanford, Members at Large
Nancy Sawyer and Randy Sweeting, Board Alternates
Dana Walker, Board Affiliate and minute recorder
We are so grateful for their leadership and the love they bring to our spiritual family.
The talk on Sunday was The Currency of Kindness: Generosity as Spiritual Practice. I told a story I recently heard and want to share here, as it is worth repeating.
The story is about a young person who was struggling with life’s challenges and asked his Gram for guidance.
Gram called him into the kitchen, and she had three pans on the counter, and she also had an egg, a potato, and coffee beans.
She boiled the water and placed the egg in one, the potato in another and the coffee beans in the last pot. After a few minutes she took out the egg, and she said to her grandson, “The egg is fragile when it goes into the water but comes out hardened inside.”
Then she took out the potato: The potato goes in strong but comes out soft and weak, and the coffee beans… they do something remarkable—she showed the water in the pan, and it was a rich brown… she then said, “See, they transform the water itself into something rich and fragrant.”
Kindness works the same way. When life heats up, we have a choice:
we can harden like the egg,
weaken like the potato, or
become like the coffee beans — changing the environment with our presence.
Generosity is the currency that transforms the atmosphere. It doesn’t just help us survive; it creates something new and life-giving for everyone around us.
The lesson to her grandson is the same for us, “We can choose how we respond to life’s heat.”
If you missed the service, you can watch it here.
Next week is Harvest of the Soul: Gratitude, Generosity, and Divine Flow. As we enter the week of Thanksgiving, we reflect on the spiritual harvest we’ve cultivated through gratitude and generosity. This talk weaves together the themes of receiving and giving, reminding us that we are co-creators in the divine cycle of abundance. We’ll celebrate the soul’s harvest and prepare to carry its blessings into the Advent season.
As we move through this season together, let’s keep embracing the beautiful rhythm of community. Whether you’re sitting in the sanctuary, joining us online, or simply holding us in your thoughts, remember this: You belong here.
Every smile, every prayer, every shared moment is a thread in the tapestry we’re creating. So, let’s keep showing up—with open hearts, clear intentions, and the joy of knowing we’re walking this path side by side. Together, we’re growing, evolving, and shaping something truly meaningful.
You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey
