The View From Here

September 28, 2023

by Rev. Adam Blons, Lead Minister

I will not be with you in worship on Sunday. I am officiating a wedding at my former church for a former youth group member and his fiance.  

I served for ten years at First Congregational Church of Berkeley. During that time, my primary responsibilities were focused on children and youth. Our youth group was much like the youth group at MPUC–thoughtful, spirited, and caring. I love youth ministry and the wonderfully creative ways we found to engage youth –photo scavenger hunts, handing out food in the Tenderloin, lock-ins, and an endless list of community-building games and energizers. But you rarely know what will come of the spiritual and relational seeds planted in youth ministry.  

So I was pleased and honored to be asked by Kerrigan, a former youth group member (now 30 years old!), to officiate his wedding. I remember many points of connection with him, but perhaps our most significant bonding experience was attending the UCC’s National Youth Event in 2008 in Knoxville, TN. While we were at the event on the University of Tennessee campus, a gunman entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist church across town. He opened fire on those gathered for a youth performance. Ugh. It was powerful and chilling to experience this in a group of hundreds of youth from across the country. We responded in many ways, but the one I remember doing with Kerrigan was painting a message of care and solidarity on a big boulder on campus. Students regularly painted this boulder to announce events, promote groups, and show school spirit. For the weekend we were there, it carried a message of love from a bunch of UCC youth.  

It was wonderful to reconnect with Kerrigan around his wedding and get to know him again as an adult. It is a privilege to be part of this important moment and see how he has grown. Please pray for Karen and Kerrigan as they start this next chapter of their life together.