FROM THE EDITOR

Molly Backes, Communications Coordinator

The COA service is always one of my favorites on our calendar. I love the symbolism of the roses. I love hearing what this year’s group of teens have to say. And I love the way it reminds me, every year, to pause and think about myself at fifteen. To consider what I knew then and what I know now, the ways that my beliefs have changed since then and the ways they have expanded and deepened.

This spring’s COA service was particularly poignant for me as I celebrate a year (already!) of working here as the communications coordinator. In the last year, I have reconnected with so many familiar faces from my youth and have met a great number of new friends, too. This year has also deepened my friendship with Anne. After singing together at our COA service, we ended up attending the same small college and have been connected through our tight-knit alumni group ever since, but being back at FUS has given me many opportunities to reminisce with her (or, more realistically, ask her to help fill in my spotty memories). As I listened to this year’s COA group deliver their “This I Believe” statements, I thought about how lucky I am to have a friendship that stretches back to our own Coming of Age season.

If I could offer one gift to our current group of Coming-of-Agers, it would be that each of them has an Anne of their own. I hope they keep at least one connection from their group, so that no matter where in the world they go from here, and no matter when or how they come back, they’ll always have someone else who remembers the day they stood in front of the congregation together and accepted a rose in full bloom, thorns and all. ◊