To say I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and generosity you all showed for East Shore in the last weeks would be an understatement. I hope you have seen the new proposed budget for 2022-23 which takes advantage of that love and generosity to provide Rev. Maria Cristina with a solid foundation to get off to a good start. Thank you.
In four days, on June 5, we will celebrate the four-year tenure of Reverend Steve Furrer at East Shore. The pandemic greatly hampered Steve’s need to connect personally and get to know us. Still, despite the lack of human contact so central to his ministry, Rev. Steve helped calm our troubled waters and get us ready to call a settled minister, just as he was supposed to. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude. Please stay after worship on June 5 to join the festivities. Also, you may leave a virtual memory for Steve here .
This is my last Board Buzz article as your Board President, many thanks are in order. First, to the Nominating Team for putting my name forward, and the congregation for trusting me to lead. This role has given me a chance to grow, by turns, braver, more humble, more honest, more awed, more tolerant, more grateful. This is my exploration of spirituality, gained through service to the East Shore community. If you think your heart is too faint for Board work, think again. It grows on you, as you grow into it. This year, Sheridan Botts and Leta Hamilton are completing two years of service with distinction. It isn’t easy hearing no so many times. It isn’t easy trying to assemble a team which reflects varieties of age and viewpoint among our congregation. (This isn’t us, but one UU church in the state has no board members under 70!)
And thank you to the other Board members who have put up with my bossiness, my annoying use of Robert’s Rules of Order, my railroading of the agenda, the calling of many extra meetings. Through it all we disagreed well and agreed well.
And thank you my fellow Eastshorians and friends. We have undertaken many initiatives and ministries to spread our mission and the Eight Principles of the UU movement. Many of you have made sure I know how you feel about things. Just the way you are supposed to. I appreciate the vibrant, hopeful energy behind all your suggestions. There’s always a danger in leaving someone out, but even so, I’d be remiss if I failed to mention two folks especially: Ann Fletcher, who has seemingly been everywhere, Policy and Governance, head of the Staff leadership team review last summer, then immediately heading the Ministerial Search Team, and Grace Colton, master of the bylaws. Those two always made sure we met deadlines and didn’t run afoul of the law.
And thanks to the staff. I’ll say more about Steve this Sunday. To Nicole, for working with me on innumerable eblasts and Beacon articles and extended deadlines and last minute edits and re-edits. To Eric for his creativity and humor, to amanda alice, for her passionate advocacy for the younger people among us. To both of them for adding texture and sensory elements to worship. To Rebecca for speedy and thorough reports on any subject I ever asked for. LeAnne’ bejeweled fingers adding substance to our joys and sorrows. And to Dianne, Vanessa, Celil, Jenny, LeAnne for answering all my many, many questions with grace and accuracy.
This is an impressive community. We have done much and are poised to do so much more within and without East Shore. Let’s. And let’s take care of each other, while we do those great things, in a spirit of mutual help and camaraderie. We need each other.
Yours, in faith, Mike Radow