I agreed to join the Board because I care so much about our mission. I recognize that a Board of Trustees has responsibilities that don’t seem particularly tied to the mission – legal and budgetary tasks that seem tangential, but I have learned that everything is connected to it! And I want to share with you how intentional our Board is being about our accountability for living the mission and leading from it -and to it!
Usually, Boards have a retreat to prepare for the year ahead – to get to know each other, to learn about our governance structure and tasks and obligations, and to formulate the church goals for the coming year. Your BOT and SLT have had THREE retreats. In July, we came together for a full day to get to know each other deeply, build trust, learn about reflective listening, and learn about Policy-based Governance. (And we shared things about ourselves that we thought others should know – do we talk too much? Only when nervous?) In August, we came together again for a full day to participate in a UUA-led workshop on Mission, Strategy, and Goals (and we learned about some meaningful object in each person’s house – silly stories and deep stories!). In September, we came together for another full day to develop our Right Relations covenant and guidelines and to create our goals (and we learned what we each hope the Board can contribute this year).
All of us are feeling a bit over-extended, but what keeps us going is the fact that we are so focused on our mission – living it with each other, developing our capacities to live it ever better, and committing to grounding our work for all of you in our mission.
We are practicing love and building community as we get to know each other, share our authentic selves and our best selves, and create a covenant and guidelines that make clear our promises and accountability to this congregation and to how we hold and treat each other. We spent over two hours in deep dialogue (What does transparency mean? How will we be accountable?), and we were so blessed to have Reverend María Cristina add dimensions we had not even thought of. This work is building our capacity to be a Beloved Community, where we engage with truth-telling, conflict, privilege and power, and compassion, in ways that explore the depths of our spirituality – our deep connectedness with each other and our higher purpose. And we’re committing actively to promoting justice. In our decisions, we will analyze what role power plays, whose voices are heard, and lift up all the voices so often left on the outside or unheard on the inside. The Board and SLT have taken the Intercultural Development Inventory to look carefully at our own tendencies to bias, judgment and centering our own views, and we are committing to work together to develop our openness, curiosity, and understanding of those who experience life differently than we do. We know this anti-racism work is an inside job. We are committing to model and lead as we are able in helping create a culture of deep inclusion and welcoming, and an institution built on equity, with diverse voices at the center. We have begun our goal setting (a very careful process shaped by Grace Colton and Ann Fletcher of the Policy & Governance Committee), and Beloved Community and equity inform these goals.
And I want to lift up the new opportunity we have as a congregation to create ourselves anew. Reverend María Cristina has shared that she sees so clearly our need for healing – not superficial harmony, but deep healing where everyone is heard, everyone is included, and everyone’s needs to belong – including those often marginalized and possible future members – are met. This is our defining moment. We can choose to be leaders in the future of our multicultural faith. We are ready for a larger vision of who we see East Shore to be in five years – the covenant we have with each other, what we stand for in the community and the world, and who and what we serve. We can support this vision with a strategic plan and a budget designed to take us there.
Early in the UUA common read, “Mistakes and Miracles,” we find, “Nothing can change at its root until people with power join with marginalized people to choose a new way of being and living.” Your Board is working hard to change at the root, to truly practice love, explore spirituality, build community and promote justice.
by Louise C. Wilkinson, Trustee