July 17, 2022, was a bittersweet day for our UUFP church family as we gathered to bid farewell to our beloved Scott Kasmire. We are joyful for this UUFP hero as he embarks on his next adventure in New Mexico, but the Fellowship will assuredly miss our dear friend! A tribute to Scott was given during the Sunday service and via an after-service potluck. Here are Scott's sentiments shared from the pulpit that memorable day.
Most of you know I was a UU long before I was a UUFP member. I signed the book in Florida in the mid-90's and then moved overseas using our Church of the Larger Fellowship.
But in 2014, serious events in my life called me back to this area of the world. My first day at UUFP was in late August of that year. The first person who talked to me was our late friend Cornell Burcher. It was a choir Sunday, and the choir sang Rainbow Connection, which is a special song for me. And as Robin van Tine played Spirit of Life, I sat in the back row between the clock and the double doors and wept, because I knew I didn't have to go it alone anymore.
Indeed this fellowship supported me during the greatest time of loss in my life. My sister's and my mother's memorial services were both in this sanctuary — the first only mere weeks after I got here. My extended family extends their thanks to this fellowship. There were times when UUFP carried me — like the old "Footprints in the Sand" story that you see in some picture frames.
You supported me so well, that not only did I survive, but I grew. I preached my first sermon here, and a few thereafter. I was honored to be a youth advisor and RE teacher, the most important job, after all. And in 2017 you all sent me to the Southern Region's Leadership School with our late friend Sarah Davis, whom I miss very much. And that was a game-changer, a life-changer. I felt I finally "got it", as they taught us how family systems theory applies to churches, and the centrality of covenant to that process.
When I look back at this time, I realize that all of my involvement at UUFP was primarily selfish: Make no mistake, I was saving myself. And I will always only look back on this place with gratitude.
Now if I may be so bold: I'd like to leave you all with a challenge. The mission and vision of this fellowship comprise our story. The story has to be a good one: It has to be the kind of story that a young person might want to dedicate their/her/his life to. So please reconsider the mission and vision. Ask yourself if it's a story worth living and dying for. And if it isn't, then what would that kind of mission and vision look like? To borrow from Joseph Campbell, maybe this could be the church that provides a hero's journey for all who need one. It's my great hope for UUFP.
Thank you.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and the rains fall soft upon your fields.
Until we meet again…