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Thank you, thank you. . .
Yes, as we move closer to this annual holiday, I think we do
have much to be thankful for here at UUSM. This time of transition has brought
new energy and some new people into our midst. We are moving, no doubt about
it.
At our October Board meeting we reviewed our statistics as
we always do and see that Sundays averaged 137, adults and children, during the
month of September. For the month of October we averaged 153 per Sunday with
the largest number coming on the final Sunday in that month for our Day of the
Dead celebration. Appreciation for the timely and inspiring sermons from Rev.
Forsey makes our weekly worship times very special.
More thanks go to the Facilities Committee under the
leadership of Tom Newman. Item by item they have repaired, replaced and
generally brought back to the way it should be dozens of things around our very
venerable building.
The Board asked that as committee members are recruited
special attention be given to the young adults among us and the Coordinating
Team did just that in recruiting two new members. Shannon Bodeau will be
joining that group as will Mark Wandro, a long time UUSM leader.
Finances are uppermost in our minds these days as our
carefully crafted spending plan remains under-funded. We had been without a
Stewardship Committee for some time and efforts to encourage volunteers had
proved fruitless, but some of us just jumped in and decided it was time to do
it. A committee emerged and began calling on members who have not yet pledged
or who reduced their pledge amounts. Rev. Forsey has joined in this effort,
too.
In a burst of enthusiasm plans for the Auction came
together! Another reason to be thankful. The women's Aging to Saging group will
take on general oversight and planning with the event on the calendar for
Beresford Center, March 2, 2013.
The Financial Oversight committee and our Treasurer, Deeana
will be bringing the details of our financial situation to the congregation on
Sunday November 11. If we put our heads together surely we can come up with
some workable solutions.
For the past several months members of the Board have been
reading, studying, and talking about a model of governance tailored to our
needs. In the summer we collected thoughts from the congregation about the kind
of governance they did and did not want! After those sessions we began to refer
to our governance as "UUSM Governance"!
But, that wasn't all, we had to begin thinking about just
how a new plan would work out, who would be responsible for what? We convened a Program leaders group to draw
leaders of various groups into the conversation and find out more about what
what going on. This is a community with many, interesting areas of concern,
activity, fun, work, and sometimes all those combined!
Anne Silver, chair of the nominating committee, has been
visiting Board meetings in an attempt to observe just what Board members do,
what is expected of person elected to
the Board. We would like to define this more clearly for ourselves, too.
Along the way the Board has been studying policies which
were not yet part of our by-laws and which will be brought to the congregation
at the next regular Congregational Meeting. Rev. Forsey brought one such policy
on handling disruptive behavior and we agreed that it included the main ideas
we would like to have in such a policy.
I'm sure there is more, First Friday at Diana Chung's home
was noisey, fun evening with great food and more than a dozen kids running
around while the grown-ups did what grown-ups usually do. We missed Tom with
his usual poker set up, but December's First Friday will be part of our annual
Hanging of the Greens afternoon/evening so the poker players will just have to
wait til January.
"All that we do now must be done together in a sacred
manner and in celebration for we are the ones we've been waiting for !"
Margaret
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