Today I started an intentional daily spiritual practice – it consists of walking for an hour or so and clearing the cobwebs from my brain. I actually started this practice – more or less – while on vacation with my husband Paul and my parents last week. While in Maine and then Vermont
The word spiritual comes from the Latin, meaning “breath”. For me, this is how the outdoors feels – walks through the woods, marveling at the rocky shoreline of Maine , smelling the salt air at the shore, riding my bike over “Big Round Top” in Gettysburg
So today I decided I will do this with intent. The question of the day…why am I called to be President of First U and what difference do we make as a Board? What difference do I make? A likely question after our monthly Board meeting, and one I have most months. Hmm…I am on the Board because some small group of people asked. I don’t remember what they said their reason was, but I do remember I was working incredibly long hours in a stressful environment, and things at church at the time were rather in an uproar as well. Why do it? Still, they asked me. So I considered – was this the right time? The short answer – yes. I believed I had some skills and the passion to help us to work through whatever it was we were in, and so I agreed. After three years, why re-up and become President? Same reasons.
It is tiring, though. Last night, as is often the case, we struggled with too many important things to talk about in our 3-hour, once-a-month meeting. So many thoughts and opinions – how do we bring them to some tangible conclusion? If you were there, you would have experienced the start of a discussion about “spiritual maturity” – what is it, what difference does it make, is it for us at First U? It’s a confusing topic for many UU’s. According to our reading from “The Almost Church Revitalized” by Michael Durall (coming to our First U Bookstore soon), spiritual maturity looks like “the courage to act on our principles. This courage crosses all theological lines.” He goes on to say “I believe such courage is more likely to occur among people in a faith community than individuals acting on their own.” Do we strive for spiritual maturity in our church? It’s a question the Board is wrestling with as it sets the vision of the church to help guide the Executive Team in their work to develop effective programs. And yet it’s hard. David put up the challenge – what does that really look like? AND David is one of the most spiritually mature people I know. Here’s what I have observed ….He is clear about his personal theological beliefs. As an artist, he has a spiritual practice which helps him to express his innermost thoughts. He is present – really present, asks important questions about who we are, participates in small groups, and in those things that he believes will make a difference in the lives of others. Relationships and service to those in need beyond us are most important to him. What can be more spiritually mature? And it is independent of whether he has the same theology as Mike or Barbara sitting on either side of him.
When we look at how the Executive Team interprets the vision we’ve laid out, it brings out important questions. We say we strive to be “a vibrant community of religious learning for people of diverse spiritual paths”. That might translate to “People at First U come from different religious backgrounds and follow different religious practices” and if that is true for most, we are partially successful in achieving our mission. Maggie asked a great question – is that what it really means? Do we see diversity of theology in our church as a measure of success? I wonder what the congregation would say. As Cindy reminded us, varying groups of people might answer that question differently and it is critical that we reach all who would provide feedback.
And then there’s the question that often comes up by board members, this time by Marilyn – “Is it the Board’s role to set the vision, or is that what we brought Josh in to do?” Where is the line in establishing the vision, ranging from turning it all over to the Sr. Minister to being highly directive so that there is no creativity left for the program staff. This is one of the hardest questions a Board can invite to the table. We’re all over the map on that one – as a diverse board should be, and as we expect the congregation is as well. Today, we have 5 very broad vision statements which we delegate to the Executive Team for them to interpret in whatever reasonable way they want. If we don’t like it, then we have more work to do to understand why we don’t like it and whether we need to be more specific. It’s one of the hardest things we will do.
So, back to my walk. While I didn’t sleep well last night, as has happened a lot this past year after board meetings – all those thoughts about how I could have done a better job – the discussion congealed for me and I saw the value in the discussion through the discomfort I felt. I reminded myself … AGAIN… to love myself, no one’s perfect. And I felt we made progress, however small, in discerning who we are as a church. That, I believe, will make a difference. Thanks to the Board members for their insights and challenges.
In faith,
