From the Minister

Dear congregation:

We are approaching holidays. This means different things to different people. But what it likely means for all of us is memories of years gone past.

The memories may take a very sensory form: the scents of special foods, the sights of special lights, the sounds of special songs.

But sometimes the holidays can be tender if things have changed in painful ways.

It likely means memories with people who may not be here anymore. That could be family members. Friends. A beloved clergy person.

Part of our spiritual life is to honor our grief. In the midst of holiday festivities, I hope you can find time for quiet moments, for tears, for talking about the people you are missing right now.

Surely this Fellowship itself will have a different tenor because the minister of 11 years is not here. People are finding new ways to do things and stepping into new roles. It will look different, feel different, sound different. This is all a natural part of a grief and change process. I honor that.

May all of us find wholeness as we live into the fullness of all our emotions in all the chapters of our lives.

In peace
Alex

Rev. Alex McGee is serving this Fellowship as Interim Minister and is available to be contacted at rev.alex.mcgee@uucorvallis.org.

This past week at the Fellowship has continued our focus on safety as a way to care for each other.  Our fire drill on Sunday showed many learning opportunities.  If you are interested in helping carry this foward, please be in touch with Wolfgang Dengler.  On Monday, 20 UUFC leaders spent three hours learning about how to respond if ICE comes to the building.  This was emotionally draining but gives us concrete information to begin to implement plans.  

The interim ministry process of reviewing history and clarifying identity continues to show up in many ares of Fellowship life.  In many conversations, new members are learning from long term members about the dreams, efforts, and successes in this congregation.  One example is the congregation’s strong work to get volunteers to help with staffing programs for people who are unhoused.  Another example is the strong history of supporting food access programs.  And now, even more, these programs are being bolstered.  If you would like to help, please be in touch with Mike Jager, Roberta Smith, and Roz Keeney.

A wonderful book called In the Interim has been created by the Unitarian Universalist Association for congregations to understand more about the opportunities to use this time well — after a Settled minister leaves and before another arrives.  Three copies of the book are in our library – please check one out and see what insights you gain.  Staff, board, and the Transitions Team each have a copy and report they are getting relief from seeing how other congregations have thrived in their interim time.  A wonderful conversation starter!

Also, in the past week, I have seen the many quiet ways members of this congregation care for each other during hospitalizations and in nursing homes.  These connections happen through cards, phone calls, texts, and visits.  Much sweetness is exchanged in these supportive moments.  This is one more way the spiritual life shows up and nourishes us, as we give and as we receive.  

Looking forward to more joy, connection, and justice,
Looking forward to more listening, learning, and growing,
Looking forward to more history and honoring the past,
With gratitude for the marvel of this amazing Fellowship — how it touches inward and outward,
In peace
Rev. Alex McGee

From Interim Minister Rev. Alex McGee October 31, 2025

Dear Fellowship:

This week I have been learning history of the congregation through one-on-one conversations.  John Bailey gave me a tour of the memorial gardens and memorial plaques.  Rich Brainerd shared about the tradition of the Thanksgiving dinner.  Russ Karow described his children attending RE before the two buildings were connected. In Fellowship Care and Support meeting, I learned about long term members who receive visits from other members.  In the Facilities Council, we sorted keys that go to doors that reflect various chapters from the past decades. In all these stories, I hear dates going back to the 1970s and 80s.

Through these conversations, I hear about leadership in the form of stewarding our facilities, stewarding connections, stewarding the next generation.  I observe this congregation’s rich history of shared ministry.

I encourage you to find conversation partners who will share with you about their history in this place and what they celebrate.  

What I know is that the history of this congregation reveals the many gifts of leadership and shared ministry.  One of my goals in the coming time of interim ministry is to help you celebrate these gifts.  Another goal is to help you look together at what needs are current today.  And ask each other what history you want to create in the coming decades — with love and courage that builds a future that is relevant and risks new life.

Let us all listen for how leadership and shared ministry needs to look in the coming years.  In fifty years, what will members say about how the congregation stepped boldly into the future in 2025?

And:  this Sunday we will practice evacuating the building at the end of service.  This is important, caring work so that parents and kids can practice our plan for connecting up at the evacuation site, and so that we can identify ways to improve accessibility for all types of mobility.

Peace and love,
Rev. Alex 

Rev. Alex McGee is serving as Interim Minister and can be reached at rev.alex.mcgee@uucorvallis.org.

From Rev. Alex McGee Oct 18, 2025

Dear Fellowship:
As we live out our values of caring, one way we show that is by caring for each other and our building in physical ways.  And part of that is to be prepared for events in which we might need to think quickly about safety.  

In the next month, several events will occur at UUFC to help us strengthen our preparedness muscles.  Next weekend, staff and leaders who are responsible for others will spend a morning to train in fire safety and evacuation skills.  Then, on Sunday, November 2, at the end of worship, all present will all have an opportunity to practice evacuating the building.  This will help us see all the great work that has already been done to keep a safe egress, communicate between parents and RE guides, and signage for where to gather after evacuation.  Also, practicing evacuation can help us learn ways we could improve even more.  Next, the week after, staff and leaders will receive a three-hour Know Your Rights training and Human Rights Observer training, so that we can respond quickly and effectively if ICE comes to the building.  

Finally, the Facilities Committee has been reviewing exterior locks and keys.  This is very important for the safety of those who work in the building — we need to provide a workplace that is as secure as possible, while still being welcoming.  Of course, the balance between having an open door and protecting against harm is a dynamic to hold with wise attention.   Toward that end, I ask that all members and friends remember to avoid propping the doors open, and if you must, to assign someone to watch the door.  Please give gentle reminders to those who have overlooked this.  

If you are entrusted with a key code, please hold that in a covenant of accountability.  People who know the key code are responsible for the safety and well-being of the building and people in our community.   Not everyone needs a keycode: we provide times of welcome when the office is staffed from 10 – 12 noon on Tuesday through Friday so someone is here to let you in. 

I invite all of us to reflect joyfully and thoughtfully about the many ways we steward this building and its safety.

In peace,
Rev. Alex

Dear Fellowship:

First: I am so grateful for all the work by Ginny, Joyce, and Bobbi to make meeting rooms in this Fellowship so hospitable.  I genuinely enjoy relaxing into meetings there and feel I can focus on our relationships and work.  The couches in room 7 are comfortable and the plants bring vitality.  The tablecloth in room 3 brings softness and the UU banners show heritage.  And this week the library carpet was cleaned!

Why does this matter?  Because when a community cares for its spaces, it is showing care for the people in it.  Hospitality and welcome are spiritual practices that often involve unseen work.  And this is just one example.  All over the Fellowship, people quietly, and sometimes alone, do work that makes a nicer space for all of us.  Although I have named three people specifically in this note, there are so many more!  Hurray.

Second: On Sunday I plan to read a poem by a poet named Robert Monson.  I think some of you might like to learn more about his perspectives, so I am including a link to an article here:  https://sojo.net/articles/interview/reconstruct/theologian-robert-monson-wants-softer-social-justice.

The article discusses “masculinity and softness, Blackness and disability, crying, and why you should love yourself.”  I have a hunch that taps into things that some of you have on your minds and hearts!  If you read it and have insights that you want to share with me, I would love to hear.  I can be reached at rev.alex.mcgee@uucorvallis.org.

Peace,
Rev. Alex

Dear Fellowship:

This week I wish you the peace of a pause to enjoy the beautiful images, music, and message in this video.  There is a love holding you.  Rest in that love.

With care,
Rev. Alex

Covenant is a Verb and a Noun

From the Interim Minister, Rev. Alex McGee

Dear Fellowship:

While many religions are hierarchical, Unitarian Universalism is not.  While many religions have a creed, Unitarian Universalism does not.  But what we do have that binds us together is covenant.  Covenant is not rules.  It is agreements. It is voluntary.  It allows risk and trust, because of setting an understanding of how we will be in relationship.  

The reason I love covenant is because I can explore with others when we feel tension but know we want to stick together.  I love covenant because it names the ways we want to be, and honors that sometimes we fall short, and gives us space for repair.  I love covenant because it creates a circle of intention that gives me happy chills of what is possible for love and courage in humanity.  

I have been reminded of covenants all summer.  At the Unitarian Universalist Minister Association national meeting in June, a thousand of us started our meeting by reading our covenant together.  When I arrived in Corvallis in July, I met with Rev. Jill and she and I discussed how we wanted to honor and act with one another in our unique roles related to UUFC; then we put it in writing as a covenant.  When I arrived at the UUFC building in August, I immediately noticed the congregational covenant printed on green sheets in the lobby.  This past Sunday, the staff brainstormed, laughed, and discerned together how we would like to show up together; we expect to finalize our Staff Covenant next week.  And on Tuesday night at the board meeting, the board read out loud a past covenant and agreed to covenant again to it for the coming year.  

Since I arrived there have been a handful times when I felt a tension or an “ouch” with someone, but then I chose to rally my courage and centeredness to check in with them so we could get aligned again.  I felt a building of trust when the other person welcomed the chance to see from each other’s perspective.  As a result, we can go forward to even deeper and stronger work together.

I see again and again that covenant is both a verb and a noun.  And it is a living document — reviewed and renewed.  I encourage you to look at the formal covenants you have with other Unitarian Universalists, and perhaps in other areas of your life.  May they allow courageous action and loving relationship interwoven.

In Peace,

Rev. Alex McGee

Alex is happy to meet with members and info on how to reach her is on her bio page.

Connections to UUs Near and Far

from Rev. Alex McGee September 12, 2025: 

On Sunday, please help welcome Sam Pearl, who will travel from the Bay Area to be with us.  In addition to participating in the opening of worship, Sam will share some of Sam’s stories of growing up UU with our teens during their Religious Exploration time, and then Sam will give a workshop for the Board and Staff in the afternoon.  Sam serves on the Regional Staff of the Pacific Northwest Region of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).  

Pacific Western regional staff practice the four Cs:  (1) challenge congregational leaders to help their congregations become the most vital congregations each can become, (2) coach congregational leaders through consultation and trainings, (3) companion congregations through times of difficulty and times of celebration, and (4) connect congregational leaders to one another, to other institutional partners, and to resources.  Learn more here: https://www.uua.org/pacific-western

And the region is not the only place UUs are reaching out to us!  Our connections to UUs across the country are shown in this video from the UUA President, Dr. Sofia Betancourt, as she welcomes in a new year of programming.  I find the voices in the video give me a sense of calm and courage.  I hope you will, too. Read the letter that accompanies this video by clicking this link.

Finally, right here at home in the Fellowship, please know that I am open for meeting with you about what is on your heart and mind.  I have set aside Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for meetings, but can also be flexible.  You can suggest a time by writing rev.alex.mcgee@uucorvallis.org, or sign up outside the door of my office.  Plus, the contact info for all the staff is at this page.  Please know that we on staff are all learning together and striving to serve the congregation as it lives into its values.

Sincerely,
Rev. Alex McGee

Dear Friends:
I look forward to sharing the Gathering Water Ceremony this coming Sunday—whether you are on Zoom or in person. Each of us pouring water together is a very meaningful time to reflect on how each of us matter in the Fellowship and bring unique qualities. I continue to honor the many different ways that people are experiencing current shifts in Fellowship life. And so today I offer you this reading, which will be the opening words this coming Sunday. I hope you can take a moment now to savor them and feel how they land with you.
In peace,
Rev. Alex

River Call

Between rocking the boat
and sitting down;
between stirring things up,
and peaceably going along,

We find ourselves
here,
in community.

Each called
from many different
journeys,
many different
life paths,
onto this river road.

Some are here
because the rocking of
the boat
has been too much:
too much tumult,
too much uncertainty,
too much pain.

Some are here with questions
about where the boat is going;
how best to steer it;
where this journey ends.

Others are here
as lovers of the journey,
lovers of life itself.

Here in front
beside
behind

each a passenger;
each a Captain;
doing the best we can.

“Rest here, in your boat,
with me,” the river calls;
“Listen to how I flow,
the sound of life coursing all around you.”

Let the current
hold you,
let the current
guide you;
the river that gently flows
through your soul,
whispers:
“Come, let us worship.”

—Manish K. Mishra-Marzetti

Hi Fellowship!

Look at this photo of my office door in the fresh new Religious Exploration wing of the building!  How wonderful that all the effort for renovations and fix-up have borne fruit and are ready to welcome youth on September 7.  I am grateful to the crew who worked on signage so I have a bulletin board outside the door of the office I use.  Perhaps in the photo you can see it is Room 1 – right inside the doors of the RE wing, which are to the right of the parking lot door.

Most important, this photo shows that on my door I have taped a copy of the congregational covenant.  Can you see that green piece of paper? The Fellowship covenanted to this in May 2023, and it reminds us of love, respect, listening, celebrating differences, clarifying misunderstandings, and returning to covenant.  I have it on the door of my office to remind myself and all who enter here of how we agree to relate together. 

One of the reasons I am attracted to Interim Ministry is because it is journeying with people during times of change.  And change has so many aspects:  excitement, uncertainty, grief, creativity, exhaustion and many more feelings.  In fact, there are as many feelings as there are people reading this message.  My goal is to honor all those truths, offer compassion for the discomfort, and help you stay true to your deepest values as you navigate this time.  Please offer yourself and others spacious compassion and curiosity as this new chapter in the life of the Fellowship is unfolding. 

In peace,

Rev. Alex