Imagination. Alive in a Wondrous World

Imagination. It came easily to me as a child. When I was young, I lived in a housing development off Highway 7 in Excelsior, Minnesota. But I also lived in Middle Earth, Narnia, Sherwood Forest, "a galaxy far, far away" and so many other fantasy worlds that fed my hunger for romance, adventure and courage.  

As I crunched through the leaves on the floor of the half-acre of woods across the street from my house, my imagination ran free. There were days when, out of the corner of my eye, I could almost glimpse Robin Hood drawing back his bow from behind a sun-dappled tree. Some days I tried sitting very, very still... hoping that the lovely tree-spirits from the novels, with their long leafy hair, might show themselves just for a moment. The world was enchanted, filled with a shimmery, inarticulate meaning, and I along with it. I just knew there was something that dwelled beneath the surface of things. I could hardly say what I meant, but I could sense it, sometimes, in stillness - a pulsing, almost - a vibrating energy that seemed to promise... something more than the ordinary reality I knew.

What was it? I still can hardly say. I still feel it, sometimes, in the golden light at the end of the day, when everything around us glows with a soft radiance. It comes to us in dreams sometimes. Have you ever woken and clutched the memory of a dream-image that you just knew was terribly important, though you couldn't say how or why, exactly - only you knew, you knew it mattered, if you could only grasp it a little more clearly? Sometimes we find it in art or music. I remember coming face to face with a self-portrait by Rembrandt - it hangs in the Frick Gallery in New York, this image he created of himself as an old man, and the sadness in it, the depth of experience and suffering, and beauty too - I cannot tell you how deeply it moved me. It's haunted me ever since. We touch this quality in each other, too, in rare moments when we are able to trust enough to share our deepest truth.

To me, this is imagination - our aliveness to the wondrous in the world. As we grow, Robin Hood may vanish from the forest; the tree-spirits may take root only in our imaginations; but I hope we will never lose our willingness to be touched by a lovely trick of the light, a half-remembered dream, a work of art that speaks, a heart that dares to love. May it be ever so.

Imagining a Ministerial Covenant

Just as many congregations have covenants among their members, naming their aspirations for how they want to be together, so do ministers who are lucky enough to work together on a team. After several conversations imagining together what kind of working relationship we hoped for, we created this covenant:

As the ministerial team at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, we affirm the importance of cultivating and nurturing a healthy relationship that embodies the principles of our faith and the mission of our congregation.

Therefore we promise to:

• Meet regularly.
• Avoid any behavior that will undermine the other's ministry.
• Speak directly to each other when concerns arise.
• Avoid speaking for each other.
• Express differing perspectives freely in appropriate contexts; in public, when possible, speak with one voice.
• Share information that the other needs to do his or her ministry; and trust that confidences kept are kept with good will.
• Be mindful of power differentials and collaborate with integrity.
• Challenge and nurture each other in our ministries.

We're happy to share it with you, along with our continued pledge to serve our Congregation to the very best of our abilities. Thank you for all you do to make this possible!

Warmly,

Mary Katherine and Laura

Imagining UUCF's Future

The UUCF Board has an unusual job description: Imagining the future. We are finding it's harder than it might sound, but it is important.

As many know, UUCF moved several years ago to a "policy-based" governance structure. Policy-based governance has several essential characteristics, but the core is that responsibility for day-to-day decisions and operations is delegated to an executive team, in our case the Coordinating Team (CT), composed of the two Ministers, the Executive Director, and two lay members appointed by the Board. The Board, meanwhile, is charged with decisions on major matters that affect the long-term well-being of the Congregation. Among other things, that means envisioning and articulating UUCF's goals and priorities for the future.

As part of the Board's work to envision and articulate goals, last year UUCF adopted new Ends statements that declares a bold vision and mission for our Congregation: We will "Grow. Connect. Serve." If you haven't read the full Ends statements recently, which explain and expand on each of these three pillars of our vision and mission, you can find them on our website.

Now the Board is engaged in a different kind of envisioning and imagining that is even more challenging. The process began when the Parking Lot Task force, after years of study and hard work, presented an exciting plan for upgrading our unsafe, unattractive, environmentally unsound and inadequate parking lot. As the Board considered whether and how to approach this major project, however, we soon realized that it made little sense to consider a project like this in isolation. We needed to think more broadly about our priorities, our needs, our dreams and to ask some difficult questions: Who are we and who do we want to be in the future? What do we have now and how well is it working to achieve our goals? What do we need to get to the future we imagine? What new technologies and resources are available in the 21st Century that we should explore and how can we use them to reach our vision?

As we imagine what the future might be, we also keep in mind our obligations to be faithful stewards: Given finite resources of time, talent and treasure, what aspects of these visions should take priority? What do we have to do to be successful to raise the money needed to bring our collective vision and priorities into being?

In all of this, Mary Katherine reminds us to keep UUCF's core vision and mission in mind and always come back to the question, "Does this help us better Grow, Connect and Serve in the ways laid out in our vision statement?"

Not surprisingly, the process of imagining the future and articulating our priorities takes time and effort. We are still early in that process, with much more to do, and no decisions have been made. You can share any ideas you have about what our future should hold and what our priorities should be with any member of the Board, as we all imagine our future together.

- David Addis, UUCF Board of Directors

Building the World We Dream About 

Earlier this year in Afghanistan scores of Afghanis and six Americans died because of cultural insensitivity when sacred texts were inappropriately destroyed.

During the last century, hundreds of thousands of African Americans joined black separatist movements, fueled in part by the conviction that they would never be allowed to live with dignity and equality in a predominantly "white" society.

What, you may ask, do these events have to do with UUCF?  Well, plenty.

Last month, our Board of Directors and our Lay Ministers heard from one of our own members about being made to feel unwelcome and humiliated in our own Sanctuary by the actions of another member. Did the offending person intend to give offense, or simply act out of ignorance? Does it matter?

Last year, two children who were attending RE classes for the first time told their adoptive parents that they were never going back to "that place." Why? They were stared at and made to feel different because of their appearance. What impact did this experience have on the kids? What carryover impact is it having on their family's dynamics?

Recently, a person of color who has attended UUCF for years confided to a group of friends (not all of whom are UUCFers) he or she still do not feel "at home" at UUCF and wondered aloud whether sharing our intellectually liberal religious values is worth the emotional cuts and bruises we often inflict. Are these wounds delivered because of what we do or what we don't do? Does it matter?

A year ago, several of us joined together in a continuing journey of exploration. Our journey was facilitated by a course of study developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association entitled "Building the World We Dream About."

We began by examining our own attitudes and assumptions about race, class, economic and age distinctions, and other characteristics that can set people apart. We completed this first stage of our journey by looking at institutionalized barriers at UUCF that perpetuate stereotypical distinctions and may prevent us from building a more diverse, multicultural, inclusive religious community - one that will survive and prosper through the 21st century.

Both Mary Katherine and Laura have spoken from the pulpit about our journey and about an initiative that will expand our classroom experience into a Congregation-wide discussion about what it means to be a truly welcoming congregation that embraces diversity in all its forms. This is a journey that will not be completed in months or even years.

No, we will not be talking just about what goes on during coffee hour or the functions of the welcoming committee. Rather, we will be talking about cosmic shifts in the life of our congregation-- how the Board makes policy decisions; what kinds of programs we offer members; the content of our Religious Exploration program; the nature of our liturgy and worship services - and yes, how we relate to one another.

 We invite you to be part of this journey.

- Hal Fuller and Linnea Nelson, on behalf of the "Builders and Dreamers."

Member Profiles

Imagining a Home for All

Jerry Poje

They both hoped their work would be over by now. Jerry Poje and Renee Jakobs, two pillars in UUCF's efforts to end homelessness in Fairfax County, started out working on sheltering homeless people in the winter, but that was not the ultimate goal. Each of them wanted there to be no need for shelters or temporary solutions. Both have big visions of a path toward eradicating the scourge of homelessness in one of the nation's richest counties. Their paths are a bit different, with the same goal. A goal they have shared with their Congregation and continue to lead us toward completion.

Renee Jakobs

Renee Jakobs

Renee credits Esther Pank, a former Lay Minister for Social Justice and champion of homelessness issues, for helping to focus her passion for affordable housing on activism within the Congregation. Esther passed away in 2010, but left behind a legacy that includes UUCF's advocacy for housing.

"I remember walking into my first [UUCF] Social Justice Council meeting," says Renee, the chair of UUCF's Affordable Housing Task Force, " and there was Esther. We were just planning for our first Hypothermia Shelter and she was wonderful - organizing and getting us engaged in the program."

Even though the Shelter program was needed to save lives, Renee saw the bigger picture as well. "The goal was to end homelessness," she says, "not just manage it. And a big part of ending homelessness is increasing the supply of affordable housing."

"Having a stable, safe place to live gives a person opportunities for work, education, community and better health. Without it, everything is much harder," she says. "It's become an economic development issue. Employers can't hire people if they can't afford to live in the county. There are so many reasons to solve this problem."

Renee, Esther, Jerry and others were instrumental in making affordable housing and ending homelessness among the central social justice commitments for UUCF.  In 2006, they worked together to pass the UUCF Congregational Resolution to End Homelessness. In the wave of enthusiasm that followed our early Hypothermia experience, Renee launched the Congregation's Affordable Housing Task Force to implement the Resolution to coordinate the various housing efforts. In turn, the Social Justice Council has also reserved one month each year for a housing organization to be the Share the Plate recipient. Renee also recommended UUCF form a Rebuilding Together team in 2008, which has become a regular annual project for the Congregation.

The Affordable Housing Task Force was recognized this year by UUs for Social Justice with an award for congregational activism.

For several years, a team of UUCF volunteers, including Renee, Jerry and many others have advocated for affordable housing and ending homelessness before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

In 2009, they worked to pass the county's a 10-year Plan to End and Prevent Homelessness and to provide funding to implement the program. The next year they supported the Blueprint for Housing, a comprehensive outline of the continuum of housing needs, and the resources needed to achieve those goals. "These were huge achievements with budgets attached to them that could change peoples' lives," says Renee. Though county resources have been stretched thin by the recession, Renee and others stay focused on holding the county to its commitments.

Even though advocacy can be difficult, Renee is committed to "keeping the issue alive in the Congregation and raising the priority of housing in the county."

Jerry Poje

Jerry, along with Renee and Esther Pank, was a key driver in getting UUCF to be a Hypothermia Shelter host in 2005. As a member of the FACETS board, he was influential in getting the faith community involved in sheltering, was a key organizer of UUCF's first shelter and has stayed involved in that effort every year since.

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But also like Renee, Jerry does not want the shelter to be an end goal. "Certainly we didn't want people freezing on the streets," he says, "but I'm frustrated that we're not further ahead in ending this program."

Most of Jerry's frustration center's around the lack of resources and county commitment toward the programs that will help end and prevent homelessness and the vicious cycle ongoing homeless creates. "There are usually multiple, complicated reasons people are on the streets," says Jerry. "It's far easier to treat each of those reasons if you know where to find the person. It's easier to get them treatment, job or skill training, medical care. It's amazing - when one aspect of a person's life improves, other things start falling in place as well," he says. But without programs to get folks off the streets and give them affordable places to live, Jerry says it's difficult to make inroads.

Jerry's is now focused on reenergizing the County's commitment to its 10-year Plan and Blueprint. "We just got the UUCF Social Justice Council to sign on to a letter crafted and signed by area non-profits asking the County to stick with its original 10-year plan and implement the Blueprint." As the economy improves, Jerry says and others will stay engaged in focusing the county on its commitment.

Now Jerry has another role that could potentially influence the services provided by the county As a member of the County's Human Services Commission, Jerry advises the Board of Supervisors about needed services and the budgeting needed to provide those services.

While Jerry advocates for the end goal, he is also a passionate and articulate cheerleader for the homeless and for providing the hands-on services that can help them. With his call to service, he has rallied multiple generations of Hypothermia volunteers with his passionate concern for and understanding of our homeless population.

"One great benefit of hosting the shelter and being involved in Rebuilding Together is that we build new teams of leaders every year," says Jerry. "It's gratifying to see new volunteers and their kindness. We help people imagine new roles and possibilities for themselves to meet a variety of issues," says Jerry. "It's also great to be involved with people who are working toward a goals with a sense of genuine honesty and commitment."

While Jerry and Renee acknowledge that the work they are doing is hard and daunting, they both express hope for their original vision to be met - to end homelessness in Fairfax County.