Rev. Matthew's January Minister's Report
January 11, 2022
Dear BUU Board of Directors,
Thank you for your diligence in revising our Pandemic Policy. I witnessed how challenging it was to bring to completion and I admire how you stuck to it and supported one another so that our BUU community could have a caring and compassionate policy for all of our indoor and outdoor activities. Thank you.
I am grateful also for our recent Board Retreat led by the Rev. Dr. Samantha Wilson to build a new Board covenant. We are a people of covenant and without it we can be lost. Thankfully, our faith allows us to re-covenant and return to the sacred relationships that bring us together. I learned alot about myself during our time together and am glad to be growing forward with you. I’m excited to read the final version of our new covenant and engage in it with you in this new year.
Following my report for November (CLICK HERE to read), I have these updates:
- On January 5, the UUA communicated that our annual certification of members and budget numbers is due on February 4. Jermain will be submitting our information for the first time, so I have been working with her to a) inform the Board with a communication to the President and b) work with the Membership Chair and Treasurer to collect the accurate information. The work that we have been doing to increase clarity of our Membership rolls has put us within a few final steps to make a report. We are working with Jeanne Macauley, Membership Chair, to take these final steps.
- With the start of the new year, we have begun our multi-medium worship services every week. The response both in-person and online has been encouraging so far, each week we have more RSVPs and more people attending both in-person and online. It feels rewarding after months of hard work and learning to see Members and Friends returning and being joined by new people interested in our community.
As I noted in our Pandemic Policy meeting, I said I would follow-up on outdoor worship. I immediately asked our Worship Arts team, Martha, Judy, and Nancy, to consider outdoor worship services. I have also quickly contacted Larry and Ernie for their perspective on audio visual needs. I have since heard from Members who are interested in singing for worship services. I’m working to bring all of these folks together and encouraging them to be creative towards adding outdoor worship to our multi-medium worship skill set.
Holding Covenantal Conversations
I have witnessed more and more conversations among Members and Friends that are held within our aspirational and behavior covenants. Each one has been a reminder to me that covenant is the foundation of our BUU community. As we find more and more means of returning to BUU, I’ll continue to be listening for covenantal conversations and reflecting on them here as the means to our congregational recovenanting.
Our Covenant of Right Relations has a wonderful line that I have witnessed people engaging more and more:
“We will be compassionate with other Members, seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
I’ve heard this being lived into as a simple, but vital question, “How are you doing?” While this may seem to be just casual conversation, I’ve observed that when it is followed with deep listening, it clearly conveys the meaning of our covenant. As the pandemic continues to have an impact on our world, our congregation, and each of our lives, listening to understand how each person is doing is a loving action that expresses our BUU Mission: We care.
The most beautiful thing is that it is reciprocal, the more you listen to understand how another person is doing, the more that other person wants to listen to understand you. Beautiful, missional, and covenantal all rolled into one!
With respect and love,
Rev. Matthew Funke Crary
Minister, Borderlands Unitarian Universalist
Dear BUU Board of Directors,
Thank you for your diligence in revising our Pandemic Policy. I witnessed how challenging it was to bring to completion and I admire how you stuck to it and supported one another so that our BUU community could have a caring and compassionate policy for all of our indoor and outdoor activities. Thank you.
I am grateful also for our recent Board Retreat led by the Rev. Dr. Samantha Wilson to build a new Board covenant. We are a people of covenant and without it we can be lost. Thankfully, our faith allows us to re-covenant and return to the sacred relationships that bring us together. I learned alot about myself during our time together and am glad to be growing forward with you. I’m excited to read the final version of our new covenant and engage in it with you in this new year.
Following my report for November (CLICK HERE to read), I have these updates:
- On January 5, the UUA communicated that our annual certification of members and budget numbers is due on February 4. Jermain will be submitting our information for the first time, so I have been working with her to a) inform the Board with a communication to the President and b) work with the Membership Chair and Treasurer to collect the accurate information. The work that we have been doing to increase clarity of our Membership rolls has put us within a few final steps to make a report. We are working with Jeanne Macauley, Membership Chair, to take these final steps.
- With the start of the new year, we have begun our multi-medium worship services every week. The response both in-person and online has been encouraging so far, each week we have more RSVPs and more people attending both in-person and online. It feels rewarding after months of hard work and learning to see Members and Friends returning and being joined by new people interested in our community.
As I noted in our Pandemic Policy meeting, I said I would follow-up on outdoor worship. I immediately asked our Worship Arts team, Martha, Judy, and Nancy, to consider outdoor worship services. I have also quickly contacted Larry and Ernie for their perspective on audio visual needs. I have since heard from Members who are interested in singing for worship services. I’m working to bring all of these folks together and encouraging them to be creative towards adding outdoor worship to our multi-medium worship skill set.
Holding Covenantal Conversations
I have witnessed more and more conversations among Members and Friends that are held within our aspirational and behavior covenants. Each one has been a reminder to me that covenant is the foundation of our BUU community. As we find more and more means of returning to BUU, I’ll continue to be listening for covenantal conversations and reflecting on them here as the means to our congregational recovenanting.
Our Covenant of Right Relations has a wonderful line that I have witnessed people engaging more and more:
“We will be compassionate with other Members, seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
I’ve heard this being lived into as a simple, but vital question, “How are you doing?” While this may seem to be just casual conversation, I’ve observed that when it is followed with deep listening, it clearly conveys the meaning of our covenant. As the pandemic continues to have an impact on our world, our congregation, and each of our lives, listening to understand how each person is doing is a loving action that expresses our BUU Mission: We care.
The most beautiful thing is that it is reciprocal, the more you listen to understand how another person is doing, the more that other person wants to listen to understand you. Beautiful, missional, and covenantal all rolled into one!
With respect and love,
Rev. Matthew Funke Crary
Minister, Borderlands Unitarian Universalist