Hi, Jemina here!

Reflecting on this weekend’s camp, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and joy. 🌟 From my first desire to experience this camp with our church to now, my life has transformed in many ways. It was a delightful surprise to see so many join this adventure, especially with the International Kite Festival adding such a vibrant touch!

A big thank you to everyone who joined me on this journey. Camp was filled with delightful surprises, from zip-lining and bears to flying kites and enjoying delicious lemon pie. We created lasting memories together. As we enter this season of discerning our church’s future, I’m grateful for the meaningful moments we shared away from our usual routine.

I hope that this experience marks the beginning of many more adventures where we continue to explore new horizons together. Check out the album for more pictures from our trip HERE.

Jemina Marasigan

Hello UGatherers- Jemina here,

As we slowly wind down from our peak summer days I can’t help but get excited for cozy sweater season and moments to reconnect and hear about everyone’s summer adventures. Although this season isn’t exactly as I imagined, it has also been a blessing in disguise. I have found moments to connect with my family through deep grief and high hopes. Most recently at UGathering we hosted our first tie-dye party and it was a fantastic experience! I’ve always loved getting my hands dirty, and tie-dye is the perfect fun mess for that. It was truly wonderful to spend time with our children and youth during these busy summer days. The joy of seeing everyone create their own funky shirts and wacky socks, and the vibrant, speckled hands, made the day special.

A big thank you goes to our dedicated volunteers from our congregation, Green Lake and Wallingford UMC! ~ especially to Pastor Willie and his yard—couldn’t have done it without ya’ll. I hope to keep uplifting the joy of our youth, and moments like these remind me of why it’s so important. The art, the pizza, the music, and the games all came together to create lasting memories.

Happy Friday everyone!

Jemina here. This past Sunday we gathered once again to share a meal, discuss and create together. Jill and I are overjoyed by the time we spent together at brunch church and blessed to have the opportunity to share our home with others. Since joining this church, I have always believed in our ability to “do church differently” and this opportunity has truly shown our capacity to do so. At our own brunch church, we have opened up the table to children’s voices, given them a spotlight, and been blessed to have a peek into their creative minds. I am excited about the connections this different way of gathering will bring us and I am proud to be part of this community.

I also want to express my gratitude to all of you who participated in our Sweet Case activity. The unique designs that everyone created were beautiful displays of encouragement and love that will undoubtedly bring joy to foster children. It was heartwarming to see our community come together, brainstorm ideas, and decorate the bags with utmost care. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such a compassionate and creative group of individuals. Let’s continue to keep the well-being of our foster children in mind and extend our support to them whenever possible.

With much gratitude,

Jemina Marasigan
Family and Community Engagement Minister

It is no secret that we all experience anxiety at one point or another. Sometimes it is due to more significant problems that require our attention and action. And other times it is due to more insignificant issues that do not deserve so much of our attention and worry. But how can we tell the difference?

Join us during the month of January as we reflect on the wisdom of the Serenity Prayer. Together we will explore how to be centered on God’s serenity, which saves us from becoming overwhelmed and bitter from the things we cannot change, and empowered to make a difference for the things we can change.

Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Change and transitions are an inevitable experience of life and they come with mixed emotions. Fear and hesitation, the “what if’s” and the excitement of the unknown, of something new or different. I think back to when my friend, Rev. Dr. Leroy Barber reached out to me in February, asking me if I needed an internship gig for seminary. He said he could connect me with a church in Portland, Seattle, or Alaska. After the initial excitement of an opportunity to go to the Pacific Northwest, I started to question myself and my abilities to work for a church. I was in a place mentally and spiritually where I was taking a break from church and organized religion. I know that sounds ironic coming from a seminary student, but I knew I needed space as I was healing from church hurt. I was also in the process of deconstructing and trying to reconstruct my own faith.

Because of schedules and life circumstances, Dr. Barber and I didn’t reconnect about the internship until May. At this point, I had already told myself that my summer in Seattle would not happen this year. I told myself I would be in a better place spiritually and emotionally to work with a church next summer. Apparently God had other plans for me. On June 8th I had a zoom call with Dr. Barber, Dr. Jess Bielman, and Pastor Paul. That call put everything in motion. It was just a matter of finding a place for me to stay and getting a flight to Seattle. A month later I would be boarding a plane.

The four weeks in between that zoom call and getting on the plane, I went through all the emotions. First was the excitement for the adventure and working with a church who had queer folks like myself in leadership and being able to go to Seattle, a place I’ve wanted to go to for years. Then there was the fear of ‘Am I going to make friends while I’m there?’ (Community has always been really important to me!) Will I live up to the expectations of Pastor Paul? (not that he had put any on me; I put them on myself. Darn perfectionism creeping in.) What will I be able to contribute to this ministry in just six weeks? Preaching scares me, and facilitating small groups hasn’t always gone well for me. I was up for the adventure, though, and I was willing to say yes.

These past six weeks I have learned a lot about myself and a lot from you all. I am grateful for the way you all have embraced me. I’m grateful for the words of encouragement and constructive feedback to help me grow as a preacher, a leader and a person. I learned that I actually like preaching, it’s not as scary as I thought it would be. I have been a part of leading two small group sessions and I have really enjoyed that. I was reminded of my love for writing and being able to share my thoughts and ideas. I have also felt really connected to the community here. In many ways I feel like I am just getting to know you individually and as a church community. I am sad to have to say “goodbye for now” but I am looking forward to the time we will reconnect.

I am grateful to have been a part of this church community at this moment in time– a time of transition and change for your community. I’ve been able to witness and be a part of the way you all have come together in thinking about where the church has been in the past, where it currently is, and your hopes and dreams for the future. I know this can be a time of mixed emotions as well, but I have witnessed y’all embracing those feelings and emotions and saying “yes” to where God is leading you as a congregation. I encourage you to continue to trust the process. Trust God, Pastor Paul, and each other as you go through this time of change and growth and embrace the adventure of the unknown.  I look forward to seeing where y’all are next summer, as my plan and hope is to return and continue in ministry with University Gathering.

With sincerest gratitude,

Molly Collier