President’s Letter — April 2007

Dear Member and Friends,
What do we believe?
Some say that as a UU, one can believe in anything. Wrong Answer!
We provide a religious home and community center for people who ascribe to the seven principles of the UUA and the mission statement of the UUFBCO. While we don’t have these posted in the sanctuary, they are on the back of each Sunday’s order of service. What we do in every Sunday service and in every event of this Fellowship can be guided by and tested against our principles and mission.
Rev. Covington said in his letter that we are an, “imperfect human community.”
Does that mean that we are ok with the status quo? Absolutely Not!

On the contrary, it is meant to free us from the sometimes impossible performance expectations we make on ourselves and potentially crushing disappointment that can follow. We need to be kinder to ourselves, while renewing our commitment to make this a better place for ourselves and for our heirs.
Our principles indicate that we stand for the worth and dignity of every person, justice, spiritual growth, the search for truth and meaning, democratic process, world peace-liberty-justice and the interdependent web of all existence. As with any written words, this can mean nothing or can serve as a radical source of energy and action. So it is up to us to decide how we use our time and energy to feed our soul and right the wrongs at home and in our society.
We have one such opportunity under consideration right now. Over a dozen of our members have met as a task force to consider issues associated with environmental sustainability. Our seventh principle reads that, “We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. We believe that we should care for our planet earth.” This task force has met several times under the able leadership of Peter Callaway. The question before this group (and eventually the entire membership) is whether we are going to commit to a process for designation by the UUA to be designated as a Green Sanctuary. Wrong Question!
The right question is whether we are willing to assess all that we do in this Fellowship as in our best interest. Environmental questions deal with ecology and economics and resources and our own priorities at any given moment. Are we ready to accept the challenge of these dozen or so people? If the response is, “!let them do what they want”, then we are not ready (and may never be ready). We could end up going through the motions and perhaps be proud of a meaningless plaque on the wall.
The keyword is “transformation”. Does that seventh principle indicate our need to ask many questions about ecology, economics, resources and priorities to commit to a meaningful process? UUA designation or not, are we willing to look at our actions and commit to change if such is indicated? Last month I described Unitarian Universalism as a “Questioning Faith”. If the questioning is lazy liberal blather, then let’s plan a party instead.
As president of your Board of Trustees, I plan to encourage intense discourse and inquiry. We cannot rush into this process. I expect that there will be much inquiry prior to and possibly at our June meeting of the membership when the establishment of a standing committee dedicated to UUA Green Sanctuary designation could be presented for a vote. At this time some people are unsure if running the dishwasher after the Auction/Gala would have caused more environmental harm than using certain disposables. That is an appropriate question and there are many more. So, the larger question is, are we willing to review our actions to determine if there is a better way? And if there is a better way, are we willing and able to commit to such? This is not a trick question. It is possible that we decide not to pursue the Green Sanctuary accreditation program. Or we can decide to pursue this program in a very gradual incremental way. The buy-in of our committees and membership is much more important than the speed with which we move on this topic. Questioning and education must come before decisions. The Green Sanctuary task force is meeting with each standing committee of the Fellowship. They are asking the RE Committee, the Program Committee, all the committees, how environmental sustainability might effect what they do and how they do it. Are we willing to consider that this initiative could radically transform our behavior? This is neither about slapping wrists nor about being politically correct. This is about being a religious community that stands on its principles and acts on these principles.
Do we know the Right Answers? More important, are we willing to ask the Right Questions? And even more important, once we have asked all the questions and gotten our own answers, are we willing to incorporate what we have learned into our actions? How well do we listen, really listen, to each other?
Those willing to seriously reflect and, if indicated, take action on issues such as these (Green or not) will really know!.What we believe.

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