MVUUF Forum April 16-30, 2009

Dear friends,

It is for today, and for times we shall never see. Those are the words I used to close my first board meeting last week.[1] The words reflect the important work we all do in this church to take care of the things we care about and to build a future we cannot predict. Some of us get caught up in the moment, needing to take care of business, others work hard to plan ahead, think through the consequences of our work and the kind of church we should be. We all do both from time to time, and sometimes our work raises the concerns of others. Questions are often raised when change is proposed, even when that change is just that - proposed. "What are they doing?"

In my new role as president, I have begun to share a vision that considers four pillars of church life: worship, religious education, fellowship and caring, and social justice. The concept is not original. The Reverend Richard Gilbert, a UU, writes about four dimensions of the religious life in the church: 1) the church as a worshipping community, 2) the church as a caring community in which a mutual ministry operates to meet personal needs, 3) the church as a community for life-span religious education, and 4) the church as a community of moral discourse and action. I proposed during our pledge drive that our stewardship needs to encompass all of these dimensions.

Stewardship is financial, but it is also more than financial. It implies that we are responsible for things we do not own, that we need to care for these things for future generations. For example, environmentalists often talk about stewardship of the planet so it is protected for future generations. Our stewardship calls on us to preserve our values and our place in Dayton so that future generations will have a religious home that provides a thinking religion. But how do we preserve our values and our future?

Part of stewardship is participating in the life of the congregation as it looks ahead. Looking ahead may imply change and it is important that we all carefully consider changes that are being proposed. In our church much change comes from the committees of the church that create ideas and want to bring them to the larger congregation for consideration. Several ideas have come from the Social Concerns Committee that require attention by the congregation. They are creating a plan to engage the congregation in discussion about enlarging the social action mission. This discussion is a stewardship question that we all need to consider.

One of my goals as president is to encourage greater deliberation in the congregation, on the board and among all the leaders and congregants. Some have expressed concern about what the Social Concerns Committee is considering. These concerns need to be heard. While some in the congregation do have great passion for social justice, it is not all we do in this fellowship. But in reflecting on church life and on church growth, it is likely to be an important area to define and make more explicit. I think the best way to do that is through public conversations, especially in small groups where real listening can occur and then in congregational meetings. Even the UUA General Assembly meeting of congregations held every year spends most of its agenda on social action issues. In that large setting, the ideas come to the floor of the assembly out of small groups, first.

I welcome the discussion and hope you will be part of it. I also hope that all the ideas and values that people have can be revealed through dialogue and that positions do not become entrenched before the dialogue occurs - on any of the many sides of the issue. Our stewardship of our church as a place for the future depends on our full and open deliberation and work. Isn't that what we are stewards of - a place to foster thoughtful, caring people of action?

It is for today

And for times we shall never see

So let us be about the task

The materials are very precious

And they are very perishable

May it be so.

[1] Former MVUUF President Kriss Gang also used these words. We got them from different sources, connected through our past UU churches. Serendipity is a beautiful thing.