Hello all at Chalice,

 

This month’s column is an update on some actions of the board of trustees. The board a few months ago created two task forces. One task force was charged with the task of educating themselves and the congregation about the 8th principle with the end goal of adopting it next year. The second task force was given the opportunity to explore our mission, vision and covenant with the goal of engaging the congregation in a process to reevaluate and revitalize these documents.

 

The 8th principle task force has met numerous times now and is developing a plan to get as much information about the 8th principle out to all of you as needed to fully understand the value of the principle.  Reverend Sharon gave a sermon on it on 11/7 and the task force held two question and answer sessions following the service.  The task force plans to repeat this over the next few months. It is our hope and plan to have Paula Cole Jones come present a workshop to all of us about the 8th principle. She is one of the writers of the principle and a lifelong UU involved in anti-racism work.  Here is a link to an  excellent interview of her by a 17 year old UU member who is pretty impressive herself.  https://www.uua.org/uuagovernance/committees/article-ii-study-commission/blog/conversation-eight-principle-project.

There is more room on the task force and if you are interested in working with a great group of people to make this happen please contact the task force at eighth@chaliceuucongregation.org

 

The Mission Statement task force has also met a number of times and is actively working on a plan to get you all involved in revitalizing our mission statement, along with our vision and covenant.  Do you remember how we had focus groups last November and December? We met and discussed what Chalice means to you, what you would like to see built up and what you would like to see broken down. 60 chalice congregants participated in these focus groups. The task force plans to use this information, along with information from possible future focus groups or meetings to create a new mission statement, and possibly a revitalized vision and covenant.  The task force would then present these documents or a selection of documents to the congregation for evaluation and eventual approval.  It is recommended that this process be done every 5 years or so and it’s been 13 years since we created our current mission statement.  So, we are long overdue to take this on.  There is also space in this group for you if you are interested.  The nice thing about both of these groups is that they are temporary with an endpoint in mind and the groups are full of enthusiastic, caring, smart individuals. If you want to join the group contact me at Anne.mckeirnan@gmail.com

 

I am super excited about both these challenges the task forces have taken on and I hope you are too. These topics focus on our values and our commitments within Unitarian Universalism. They make us dig deep and strengthen our spirituality within ourselves and our community as a whole. Even if you don’t desire to join the task forces I encourage you to get involved with all the meetings and activities that will be coming down the road.

 

With love, Anne