Member Reflections

• I come to the UU Fellowship, almost every week, because I like to be here. I benefit from keeping myself focused – for at least this hour – on the thoughts for the day, on the principles and purposes of the UUA, on the doings and happenings and on the PEOPLE who are here, too. Being here helps me to be active in continuing the journey that broadens my understanding of LIFE and its challenges. What could be more interesting or more fun?

Harriet Ball

• When I relocated here recently from Cape Cod, the UUFH provided me immediately with many things I was looking for: meaningful services, soul-stirring music, interesting activities and a new community of friends. I am very grateful to this congregation for easing my transition to a new home.

Barbara Eck

• I appreciate UUFH for many reasons—limiting my comments to the top two… UUFH provides a supportive, nurturing community for my daughter, where she has friends of all ages and which echoes the spiritual and religious foundation that Michael and I offer to her. As a community minister, my ministry is justice-focused, enabling healthcare for uninsured, low-income members of our community. UUFH is my affiliate congregation, meaning that it provides a spiritual, religious community to nurture me and my ministry.

Judith Long

• Just last week, I attended a meeting on immigration issues sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Our minister, Jim McKinley, was there, along with six other members of the Fellowship. As we talked about what our faith communities were doing on this issue, someone said, “Oh of course – you’re Unitarian [Universalists]. I felt proud to be part of this congregation, well-known in Hendersonville as a faith community that cares about fairness, equity and justice, and is prepared to devote time and resources to helping bend the arc of the universe in that direction. We met with the same kind of responses when we helped to establish Feed the Kids Coalition, or joined in the effort to fill backpacks for children and youth to take home so they wouldn’t go hungry over the weekend, or volunteered with the Interfaith Assistance Ministries, or served at Elizabeth House hospice, or wore red ribbons at the Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast sponsored by the Human Relations Council, or reminded lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual youth that Love Welcomes All, or anywhere people are talking about justice issues. We’re there, and we’re expected to be there. Our congregation “lets service be our prayer.” We show up. We’re known for that, and I’m proud that we do.

Helen Bishop, proud to be a member of the Fellowship, and happy to support it with our pledge

• To me the most exciting thing about UU is the absence of dogma. For one who was raised in a strict fundamentalist home and being told what I must believe, having the academic freedom to search other points of view is both exciting and liberating.

Ken Blackwell

• UUFH is such an important part of my life because through it and our congregation of committed, caring, thoughtful and intelligent people, my soul is fed and my sense of social justice has both focus and outreach.

 Carole Repici

• My values are my religion. I value the relationships that I have with other people in the Fellowship, feel in concert with its programs and appreciate the messages that I receive from the pulpit and other expressions during the worship services and am supportive of the mission and outreach of the Fellowship. All of this is a very important part of my life.

Don Keefauver

• I started coming to UUFH because I was looking for a spiritual community that reflected my values. It is exciting to be associated with so many people who are working together to bring peace, justice and greater understanding to this community and beyond. My involvement with UUFH means I am able to grow spiritually without compromising how I live my life every day, and I am constantly inspired to become a better person.

Geoff Jones

• My definition of UUFH:

Liz Snively

• UUFH is important to me because it brings me in contact with people with open minds without dogma. And in time of need, those people are there to provide help and support. It is much needed in this area. I have enjoyed helping it to grow and in supporting it.

Chuck Holcomb