Want to see me run in the other direction when it comes to a monthly theme?  A discussion of God will do it.  I remember in Sunday school that we were disabused of the notion that God was an old white guy up in the sky.  So then I came across a picture of the Sistine Chapel ceiling with the old white guy zapping Adam with the spirit of life.  My Sunday school teacher reassured me that we still thought differently; “we” being the Church of Religious Science.  Once again, my later Unitarian Universalism was forged in those classrooms above Monterey’s Renault and Peugeot dealership.  Since I still think that way, do I believe in God and what is the nature of God?  If I believe in anything I’m starting to think of the divine as being in the dark matter that makes up the bulk of the Universe.  We can sit down over a cup of coffee or a mug of beer on that one.  If I can’t say that I’m God’s gift to UUCB, can I say that I’m secular humanism’s gift to UUCB?  OK, I didn’t think so.  Never mind.

Now that I have been the president of the Board of Trustees for a year I think I might have as many challenges facing me in the coming year as I did a year ago.  There are plenty of policy based governance issues that the Board must grapple with even though they may be invisible to many congregants.  What will be visible to everyone is how we deal with stewardship.  How can we create a place where contribution of time, treasure, and talent is gratefully and joyfully shared by all?  And let’s be clear, no one volunteering their time will be turned away, but it’s also going to take a lot of money to maintain what we have both in our programs and in our magnificent facility.  Where’s it going to come from?  As an introvert it’s hard for me to ask people to step up, whether it’s for time or treasure.  I try to do it in less direct ways, such as in this monthly column.  (Somebody suggested that Board members be given the Meyers-Briggs test so that we might get more E’s instead of I’s on the Board, but I digress.)  Much as we desire to have the congregation grow, a hard truth is that it likely won’t for the time being.  We may have to do more with less.  Not the most optimistic forecast, but it’s what a lot of congregations across many denominations are facing.  What can we do to move ourselves into a different paradigm, one of growth and a bright new age for UUCB?  You and I together we hold the key.

Stephanie Ann Blythe
President, UUCB Board of Trustees