September Beginnings

September can be a time of beginnings, the start of a new cycle. For EUU, the new officers have up to now always taken office on September 1st — though this tradition is about to change. The Annual General Meeting at the spring retreat in Berlin elected a slate of officers from September to the end of the year because, as agreed at the previous retreat, we’re going to make our EUU years simpler and move to electing the officers and having the EUU budget year coincide with the calendar year.

Ray Burlingame-Goff is unable to take up the position of President for this short cycle, due to an unexpected diagnosis and ongoing treatment. Ray continues to support the registration for the retreat committee, and we hope to see him at the fall retreat. Tony Zamparutti (who was elected as Vice President) and Matt Gilsenan, former EUU President, will be filling Ray’s shoes on the Coordinating Council in the fourth months until the end of 2019.

We wish Ray and all his family and friends the best in facing this new challenge. It makes us think how we all can find ourselves in front of unexpected and difficult challenges on our journeys — and of the importance of family, of friends and of our community when we do.

We hope that many of you can make it to the fall retreat in Bad Homburg, where we can rekindle the bonds of community. We’re looking forward to learning and sharing with our speaker, the theologian Rev. Thandeka. And don’t forget that we’ll be holding an Annual General Meeting to elect the officers for 2020.

We wish all the fellowships and all At-Large members a good start to the new season.

Matt Gilsenan

Tony Zamparutti