By the time you receive this week’s edition of the Wave, Michelle and I will have just arrived at our cabin in northern Minnesota.  The water level of our lake is at an all-time high – coming right up to the top of our dock and measuring 3 feet higher than where it had frozen back in early December.  It has been quite a winter and spring there for precipitation!

My excitement for The Neighborhood Church is also very high!  We have seen a steady increase of attendance for our in person worship over the past few months including many new people wishing to journey with us as we grow together in faith.  Slowly, steadily and safely we have been opening up more and more and it is bringing a renewed sense of vitality and excitement to our community of faith.  Thanks be to God!

I am also thrilled to let you know that the Rev. Dr. Davida Foy Crabtree will once again be our guest minister for all of June and will preach all four Sundays of the month.  She will be available for visits in the office by appointment, do a daily devotional with our children as part of Vacation Bible Camp, write weekly for the Wave, and teach a three week Adult Education Class (look for details elsewhere in the Wave).  She would love to connect with many of you for lunch or dinner – so please contact her to get something scheduled on your mutual calendars.

Davida is no stranger to our church having filled this role twice before – but it has been 3 years since her last visit due to the pandemic.  Davida is a close friend and colleague and along with Michael, you will be in good hands while I am away.  I am so grateful she agreed to be here and you should know she is flying in today.  I trust you will give her a warm Neighborhood Church welcome.  In case you’d like a refresher on her bio, here it is:

The Rev. Dr. Davida Foy Crabtree is a United Church of Christ minister who has served in a variety of settings across the Church. Her most recent position was as Interim Vice President for Advancement at Andover Newton Theological School. Prior positions include serving as Interim and Acting Conference Minister in Florida and Missouri Mid-South Conferences, and as Conference Minister for Connecticut (14 years) and for Southern California (5 years). In between, she has served as Senior Consultant to the Collegium of Officers of the UCC nationally for three years, and as consultant to local churches. Before her call to Southern California in 1991, she served as a local church pastor in CT for 11 years. 

Davida has a keen interest in the application of the faith to daily life.  As a result she earned her Doctor of Ministry from Hartford Seminary with a focus on connecting Sunday and Monday in laity’s lives. That interest also has given her a lifelong passion for both contemporary social movements within Christianity and for the history of our life as the United Church of Christ and especially its Congregational heritage in which she grew up.  

Davida lives in a retirement community in Connecticut which is known for its dedication to living green, and that parallels her commitment since childhood to care for the earth, a notion introduced to her by her science teacher mother.  She is stepmother to two Vermonters and grandmother to five.  She is very much looking forward to spending the early summer with the people of Neighborhood Church! 

Welcome Davida!

Rev. Dr. David D. Young
Senior Minister