President’s Letter — March 2007

Dear Member and Friends,

How does this Fellowship and this Faith help you?
Why do you come to the Fellowship and participate in its activities?
Or, why do you not come to the Fellowship and not participate in its activities?

The best UU’s will pause and reflect on these or similar questions. I say, “Best” because we are a questioning faith. We don’t have the hard rules provided by other faiths. While we are free to embrace commandments, encyclicals and traditions, we have but seven principles that start with a promise to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and ends with respect for the interdependent web of all existence.
These principles and our local priorities were translated into our Mission. Look at the back of the order of service on Sundays. Do these principles and mission address your needs? Do the services and activities of UUFBCO meet your needs?

Membership in this Fellowship is, fundamentally, an opportunity. It is an opportunity to continually ask important questions, translate questions into expectations, and to transform expectations into service. We have the opportunity to build and maintain a community that serves our needs.

We facilitate questioning when

We give feedback to the Program Committee, so that Program Sundays
continually improve;
We teach in R.E and facilitate the questioning of our youth;
We watch “Why We Fight” with Social Concerns, and feel patriotic in our
questioning; and
We ask visitors what they need!.then help them get what they need.

I am most impressed by the volunteer leaders of this Fellowship–the chairs of our committees, the coordinators of our interest groups and community circles, our musicians on Sundays, our RE teachers, the organizers of our 50th Anniversary Gala, the members of our Board of Trustees, and others.
In the dead of winter the structure that allows this questioning is gearing up for the seasons ahead:

Our committees, reconstituted in January, are electing chairs for the next
year.
The RE program is looking for more teachers for the next cycle.
I am soon to announce an election committee to identify candidates for
the Board of Trustees election in June.

If you are interested in any of these positions, please let us know. Particularly if you are interested in running for the Board of Trustees, let me know now, or wait until I announce the Election Committee. It would be a blessing to be voting on more candidates than the five positions (of nine) which will be up for election.

This environment of questioning will thrive and improve when everyone does their part. With your participation we will better meet the needs of our members…and you!

The light is on, the door is open, Please come in, we have much warmth to share.

Eddy Fried, President of the Board of Trustees