{"id":8733,"date":"2025-06-24T15:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/?p=8733"},"modified":"2025-06-24T15:00:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:00:05","slug":"a-goodbye-letter-from-nick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/a-goodbye-letter-from-nick\/","title":{"rendered":"A Goodbye Letter, From Nick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Join us at 10am this Sunday, June 29th<\/strong>, as we celebrate Nick Sanchez<\/a> – and his completion of two years as our Ministerial Intern, here at WellSprings! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the service, we will all participate in a Ritual of Sending, to bless Nick as he moves forward in his ministerial formation – followed by a goodbye celebration (with cake!) during our coffee hour. You can read more about our plans to recognize Nick, and his next steps on the path to ministry, here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick also shared a goodbye letter with our congregation this week, which you can read below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Dear WellSprings,

It\u2019s hard to find the right words to say goodbye to a community that has helped me become who I am.

When I joined you two years ago, I didn\u2019t yet know what would happen, I had no expectations, but a lot of hope. I only knew how to say yes \u2013 yes to love, yes to the questions, yes to the slow work of growing together. You met that yes with open arms and open hearts, and together we built something beautiful.

In these two years, we have lived through a world on fire. And as I got to know you \u2013 my fellow firefighters \u2013 you have helped me realize that we can do this because we are not alone, we are never alone. We\u2019ve shown up for each other in the midst of injustice and grief. We\u2019ve mourned war and violence in our own communities and throughout the world. We\u2019ve witnessed the deep harm done to trans and queer communities. We\u2019ve protested, wept, raged, organized. And we\u2019ve dared to harvest hope anyway. We\u2019ve cried together in sorrow, yes, but also in joy. We\u2019ve celebrated, laughed, and loved deeply.

Through it all, you\u2019ve helped me remember that impossible miracles happen all the time. They happen in band practices and leadership retreats, in hospital visits and phone chats, in community messages and coffee hour tears. They happen when someone asks the hard questions (remember \u201cWhy\/How is God?\u201d). When someone dares to love, still \u2013 not despite all that is happening around us, but because of it. When someone says, \u201cI\u2019m here,\u201d and knows that is enough.

You have made sacred space for me to grow \u2013 not just as a minister, but as a human being. In our time together, my daughter has gone from barely walking to dancing. I\u2019ve moved twice. Changed jobs. I\u2019ve completed CPE, a career evaluation, and graduated at the top of my class with my M.Div. I\u2019ve faced illness and death and come out the other side \u2013 changed, but alive, and I dare say \u2013 stronger in some ways. You held me through all of it.

You have shown me what it means to walk hand in hand through the fire, through the mystery, through the ordinary days that are anything but ordinary. You have reminded me again and again that God is Love \u2013 not a box we put other people in, but a force that sets us free.

And now, the time has come for goodbye. Not forever, but for now.

Per the UUA\u2019s guidelines, I\u2019ll be making a full, clean break from WellSprings for one year. This is not a severing or a punishment, just a pause. It gives you the space to grow into your next chapter, with a charged-full minister and a community that is constantly becoming. And, it gives me the opportunity to prepare for my next steps towards ministry. I\u2019ll be meeting with the Ministerial Fellowship Committee in December, and if all goes well, I hope to return with you all to celebrate my ordination with you. What a day that will be!

In the meantime, know this: You are in my head and my heart. You are in my prayers. You are in my bones and DNA. And you are in every sermon I will preach from this day forward. WellSprings is a part of who I am now.

You have taught me that ministry is not about having the answers. It\u2019s about asking the questions with humility and faith. It\u2019s about showing up, again and again, for one another. It\u2019s about being brave enough to believe that love really can change things. That we can change things \u2013 together.

Thank you, WellSprings, for everything you\u2019ve given me. For your trust, your laughter, your honesty, your resilience. Thank you for letting me love you. Thank you for loving me back. I want to just leave you with this reminder from my very first sermon here, a small ask of you:

‘Whatever song you\u2019ve been singing, sing even more. Because the world needs you now more than it ever has before.’

And so, with all my heart \u2013 I say to you: As you wish.

With love beyond words,
Nick Sanchez<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Join us at 10am this Sunday, June 29th, as we celebrate Nick Sanchez – and his completion of two years as our Ministerial Intern, here at WellSprings! During the service, we will all participate in a Ritual of Sending, to bless Nick as he moves forward in his ministerial formation – followed by a goodbye celebration (with cake!) during our coffee hour. You can read more about our plans to recognize Nick, and his next steps on the path to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,115],"tags":[90,112],"class_list":["post-8733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministriesandteams","category-wellsprings-news","tag-sd","tag-staff","ctfw-has-image"],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-300x244.jpg","large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-1024x833.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-150x150.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-768x625.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-1536x1249.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-2048x1666.jpg","post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-720x480.jpg","saved-section":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-1680x1050.jpg","saved-banner":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-1600x400.jpg","saved-square":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-720x720.jpg","saved-square-large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-1024x1024.jpg","saved-square-small":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-160x160.jpg","saved-rect-medium":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-480x320.jpg","saved-rect-small":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_8427-200x133.jpg"},"appp_media":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8735,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8733\/revisions\/8735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}