From the BOT: January 8, 2021

It is our goal as the Board of Trustees to maintain connections with you. To that end, we are beginning a new program entitled, “Reflections with the Board.” We will host these sessions via zoom once a month at 10am before the service. The purpose of these sessions is two-fold: One, we will often have information that we would like to share and two, these sessions are a time for us to listen to you. We want to hear how you are, as well as your ideas, suggestions, and concerns.

Our next session will be held on January 10th at 10 am. For this session, the Board would like to spend some time talking with you about Widening the Circle of Concern. For this session, we will focus on Chapter One, Theology. We began our discussion of Chapter One in December and will continue it in January. You did not have to attend our session in December to join us this month. Here are the questions from the WTC Study Guide:

• How can we as a community move away from an attitude that puts emphasis on rejected beliefs? How can we embrace a posture of working through honest and robust engagement? How can we move toward commonly held beliefs and practices based on our inherited tradition?
• What kinds of programming and activities could help members of our community to gain a rich and deep understanding of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist theologies? In what ways could we intentionally and courageously make space for learning from people often marginalized in our communities?
• The first recommendation questions a prevalent assumption among UUs: “that you can believe whatever you want and be a Unitarian Universalists.” Our shared faith is a covenantal faith that presents us with a theological container in which we can hold multiple religious belongings and theological understandings. What shift would happen in our communities if we were to be intentional about understanding, interpreting, and sharing with others our views of our movement’s theological container?
• The second and third recommendations call us into an encounter with the liberatory potentials of our theological inheritance. It asks us to acknowledge anti-oppression work as a theological mandate of our faith. How could such a mandate find expression in our worship? In our congregational life? In our community relations, particularly alongside marginalized members of our faith as well as in the larger community?
• The fourth and last recommendation reminds us of the covenantal nature of our faith. How do you understand the significance of being a covenantal faith for the present and future thriving of the faith?
• Reflecting on the four recommendations in this chapter, what are the barriers to their implementation, and what changes are needed in order to overcome them?

Which of these questions would you like to discuss? What have you been learning as you have been reading Widening the Circle? Please join us on Sunday. Thank you.

Click here to join the Zoom Meeting.

Meeting ID: 862 4288 7134

Passcode: 220807

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