Dear UUSS~

Many of our days are quite full and often rather varied. The past two days have included a range of ministry: supporting eight wonderful graduating seniors in creating and offering the Bridging Service; a connective conversation about heroes and remembering becoming an adult with UUs who live at the Glen Eddy; helping a neighbor give thanks and say goodbye to a walnut tree that was being removed from their yard; and attending the June Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting.

This was the final meeting for Jennifer Edgar-Johnson, Trustee, Trish Williams, Secretary, and Mindy Whisenhunt, President. We are SO grateful for their service. It was the first meeting for incoming Board members, Carol Conyers, Eric Dahl, and Lisa Temoshok. We look forward to being blessed by the shared leadership of the new Board of Trustees, to build upon the excellent work of the Board this year!

We were reminded about something that we learn from our yoga practice, that one must begin with the foundation, so that everything else has support. In congregational life, relationship is our foundation. All year, each Board meeting has included a report to and a brief conversation with different teams and advisory committees. We learn something at every meeting-not just about the work the advisory committees and ministry teams are doing, but about who does and who doesn’t yet understand the shifts that have been happening in the governance change and/or why. Last night’s meeting reminded us that teams and advisory committees don’t all, yet, have a clear foundational understanding of what is different and why building accountability to the Board of Trustees and the Congregation’s mission are so are crucial to healthy relationships between all 450+ children, youth, adults, and elders who share the congregation’s resources of space, time, staff, etc.

One of the things named in the Ministerial Search process and the interim and continues to be named as we finish our second year of ministry with you, is a desire to remove the silos, to have more connections, more explicit policies, more transparent practices, and more accountability to the mission and vision and to one another.

UU Ministers Association (UUMA) President, the Rev. Cheryl Walker in a recent article said, “Accountability is a blessing. It invites us to become better people than we were. It may not be easy when we are being called into account, but if we practice it gets easier. If the task of being in religious community is to learn how be the best selves we can, then accountability should be a part of our spiritual practice.”

We know that change takes time and that sometimes we may feel loss or frustration or disequilibrium as the shifts are happening. Dismantling the culture of white supremacy includes accountability-naming the power that is present, naming who has the responsibility for decision-making, and asking questions for clarification when something seems out of alignment with what the Board and Staff have been doing. We-the BoT have all felt frustrated at some point, some anger, some relief, some curiosity, some sense of dis-equalibrium, and some joy as we sing the song of beloved spiritual community even as it is being composed. (some use the metaphor of building the plane while flying it, sailing the ship while building it, etc)

Relationship and accountability take time and work, and they are worth it. There will be some follow up conversations from last night’s BoT meeting with a focus towards more shared clarity on feelings, needs, and structural changes-strengthening the foundations. There are plenty of opportunities to continue learning, and living our shared mission of justice, compassion, and joy.

In faith~ Rev. Lynn and Rev. Wendy