September has always meant the start of a new year for me. Since my birthday is in early September, that day of getting one year older has always coincided with the start of school when I was a student and continued as I became a public school music teacher.  Once I began attending FUSF in 1996, September also marked the beginning of a new church year as fellow congregants came back together at the traditional water communion service.

The beginning of a new year often finds me thinking back to the previous year and looking to the one ahead.  One word that seems to connect both the past, and the future is change. As I get older, I find more and more wisdom in the words of the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, who is credited with coining the adage “The only constant in life is change.”

For me, change is never something I totally embrace or feel comfortable with, whether it is in my personal or professional life.  The same is true for my life at FUSF. As a long-time congregant and the current music director for the last three years, I, like many of you, have been witnessing much change with a mixture of concern and hope. I am happy to report that I am leaning much more towards hope now that we have Rev. Beverly Waring, Diana Tesni,  and a committed Board of Trustees to help guide us on our way to a bright and strong future.

I spent time this summer thinking about and planning for music at FUSF.  In July, I returned to Ferry Beach as the Musician of the Week during the GAYLA/Choralfest week in July for a 4th summer. Like the previous years, I returned from that week with new musical ideas and experiences to share with FUSF and the Universal Singers. The choir has already started rehearsing and are excited to provide wonderful music for Sunday services beginning with September 11th.

Change has found the choir as well as we bid farewell to some singers while welcoming others into our musical world. If you would like to sing with the choir or contribute musically to FUSF in other ways, please feel free to reach out to me.  Our musical doors are always open and no experience is ever required.

I look forward to seeing many of you on September 11 as we join our voices together in renewed commitment to our spiritual home.

Musically,

Michele Kelly ♫

musicdirector@fusf.org