Wow…it’s December! Aren’t we all thinking that it’s hard to believe another year has come and (almost) gone in this pandemic age? You may have thought you missed my usual monthly Board meeting wrap up, but rest assured you did not. With the flood of emails, reports and year end annual meeting minutiae that have been circulating, I thought we all could use a bit of a breather…
In fact, the agenda for our November board meeting seemed rather light at first glance; however, the issues we addressed were of great import and resulted in another marathon session!
We were planning to give final approval to the “Safe Congregation Policy”, but seeking to clarify some of its terminology, we voted to send it back to Barbara Floeser and Leah Purcell (its primary authors) for revision. The policy seems to be more of a safe child policy, addressing issues that will protect the youth of our congregation in any building that UUCSS calls home, and so the language should reflect that idea. The Board hopes to give final approval to the policy at our December 27th meeting.
We also reviewed and approved the proposed changes to our Bylaws drafted by the Governance Task Force, and discussed the logistics of holding a multi-platform annual meeting. Of course, events of the past week have rendered that particular issue moot, since due to the latest COVID warnings, our meeting will be held exclusively on Zoom. Oh well…..ever onward!
By far, the most critical issue the Board faced was approval of the proposed 2022 budget. By now, you have all been given the opportunity to review that budget (if not, see last week’s Journey Well for all propositions to be voted on), and if you attended last Sunday’s informational meeting, you heard Sue Bender Wilkinson explain the difficulties the Finance Committee faced in completing it. Ever-increasing costs and decreasing revenues make for a gloomy outlook. But have no doubt that this congregation stands on firm financial ground, and we will work through the challenges we face and come out even stronger for having faced them together. One bright spot on our horizon: look ahead to the day one year from now that we announce our “mortgage-burning” celebration! As Rev Joe reminded us last Sunday, we should all look for the JOY that feels hidden behind the despair that seems to surround us.
Thus ends my “official” monthly report. I believe we should be spending these days finding and celebrating the joy in our lives, despite how difficult it may feel sometimes. With that in mind, I invite you to click on the link here that will take you to a piece I sent to Journey Well last December. Written at the close of our first pandemic year, still in lock-down and isolation from each other, I was trying to see beyond the gloom. If you know nothing else about your board president by now, you know that I carry a very strong “Pollyanna-ish” outlook and so I asked “Why bother?” Once again, I’m sending out this holiday love letter to each of you.
Peace to all. Light to all. Love to all.
-Laurie