News: February 27, 2026
Dear Beloved Community,
Your board has been quite busy in the past month. Here is my attempt to summarize it all:
Leadership Forum
First, we held the Leadership Forum on January 24th, just before the big freeze hit. Sixty-three of you joined us for a day of learning, brainstorming, and fun (shout out to Kinsey who was in charge of the fun part and did a great job). Board Vice President Carolyn C. was the real brains behind the day, and it was clearly not her first rodeo. The day was divided into two parts. The morning was an introduction to the Strategic Plan with discussions of why the Board commissioned it, what we mean by “developing lay leadership” and why we are focusing on it, how the staff can help committees and teams, and what our next steps are. You can find some of the products from the morning discussion on the walls in Channing Hall. The afternoon was spent brainstorming about four of the main areas of focus from the plan: Social Justice, Outreach, Operations, and Telling Our Story. A summary of the day can be found here.
Board Retreat
Then, on February 21st, the board held our annual spring retreat. Past president Sheryl A. shared a truly fascinating history of Unitarian Universalism as a religion unique in the world for its founding principle of congregational polity - the “belief that churches should be self-governing organizations gathered in the spirit of mutual love." Our forebears had experienced religion run by hierarchy or government and found it to be incompatible with religion based in love and freedom. The UU tradition of congregations governing themselves in partnership with the senior minister establishes that ours is a participatory faith: members have to be actively involved in order for a UU church to work. Our church exists because we make it exist – through our commitment of time and money.
One of our retreat activities invited board members to share the strengths they bring to the team. Members identified a broad spectrum of offerings, including resilience, intentionally building relationships across communities, continuing legacies of social justice work passed on from loved ones, creativity, a sense of fun, commitment to the pursuit of truth and democracy, listening, resourcefulness, and a deep connection to Unitarian Universalism and First UU. I was humbled, inspired, and encouraged. But I was not surprised. It has always been my experience that when I spend even a brief time getting to know someone from First UU better, I walk away feeling I have learned something, and grateful for the blessing of being in community with so many whom my late father would describe as “fine people.”
Many of you fine people stepped up to support each other and the board through the difficult summer and into this exciting season of creativity and planning for our next chapters together, and I am deeply grateful to you all. I know that many more of you are interested in contributing and becoming more involved, but are not sure how you can help, because you either don’t know what we need, what you can offer, or if you have time. The answer is what we need is you and there are options ranging in time commitment from a one-time afternoon event to several hours a week.
Ways to Contribute
If you haven’t done so in the past, a great way to support the church is to volunteer to serve on a team or committee. (The difference between them is that teams support ministry and work with staff, while committees support governance and report to the board.) Church membership is not required for participation, with the exception of the Nominating Committee and the Board. We are currently seeking members for the Finance, Governance, Personnel, Outreach, Telling Our Story, and Living our Mission Committees (click here for descriptions of these teams). The time commitments for each vary from quarterly meetings to frequent meetings and outside information gathering. The options for teams are too many to list here, but include the Welcoming Team, Justice Coordinating Council (JCC), Community Projects, Vegan Potlucks, and Religious Exploration to name just a few. You can find out more about these and other opportunities by visiting the website, or by emailing info@firstuu.org. If you are interested in being added to the JCC newsletter mailing list, which includes updates and information about social justice action opportunities contact justicecoordinatingcouncil@firstuu.org
Nominating Committee and Board
In addition, the Nominating Committee has begun its work to identify candidates to serve on the Board and Nominating Committee for the next term. One of our top priorities for this year is to increase the diversity of the board in every way possible, including age, ethnicity, LGBTQ+, and gender identity. Meeting times and childcare needs have been impediments to board membership in the past, and we are committed to doing whatever possible to remove obstacles and facilitate participation for anyone who is interested in serving. If you think you might be interested, have questions or suggestions, or just want to talk with someone to find out more, you can drop by the table at Channing Hall between services, grab a board member at coffee hour, or email board@firstuu.org. We want to hear from you!
These are interesting and unsettling times, indeed, but I find myself feeling unexpectedly hopeful. It may be the synchronicity of kicking off our exciting work on the strategic plan with the arrival of spring, or perhaps the inspiring resistance actions of people across the country and students in HISD walking out of class to stand up for justice – I can’t say for sure. All I know is nature and history teach us that nothing is permanent, time keeps going, beginnings follow endings, the green blades of snow drops push their way out of frozen ground every year.
I can’t wait to see where our path together will lead next.
Your board has been quite busy in the past month. Here is my attempt to summarize it all:
Leadership Forum
First, we held the Leadership Forum on January 24th, just before the big freeze hit. Sixty-three of you joined us for a day of learning, brainstorming, and fun (shout out to Kinsey who was in charge of the fun part and did a great job). Board Vice President Carolyn C. was the real brains behind the day, and it was clearly not her first rodeo. The day was divided into two parts. The morning was an introduction to the Strategic Plan with discussions of why the Board commissioned it, what we mean by “developing lay leadership” and why we are focusing on it, how the staff can help committees and teams, and what our next steps are. You can find some of the products from the morning discussion on the walls in Channing Hall. The afternoon was spent brainstorming about four of the main areas of focus from the plan: Social Justice, Outreach, Operations, and Telling Our Story. A summary of the day can be found here.
Board Retreat
Then, on February 21st, the board held our annual spring retreat. Past president Sheryl A. shared a truly fascinating history of Unitarian Universalism as a religion unique in the world for its founding principle of congregational polity - the “belief that churches should be self-governing organizations gathered in the spirit of mutual love." Our forebears had experienced religion run by hierarchy or government and found it to be incompatible with religion based in love and freedom. The UU tradition of congregations governing themselves in partnership with the senior minister establishes that ours is a participatory faith: members have to be actively involved in order for a UU church to work. Our church exists because we make it exist – through our commitment of time and money.
One of our retreat activities invited board members to share the strengths they bring to the team. Members identified a broad spectrum of offerings, including resilience, intentionally building relationships across communities, continuing legacies of social justice work passed on from loved ones, creativity, a sense of fun, commitment to the pursuit of truth and democracy, listening, resourcefulness, and a deep connection to Unitarian Universalism and First UU. I was humbled, inspired, and encouraged. But I was not surprised. It has always been my experience that when I spend even a brief time getting to know someone from First UU better, I walk away feeling I have learned something, and grateful for the blessing of being in community with so many whom my late father would describe as “fine people.”
Many of you fine people stepped up to support each other and the board through the difficult summer and into this exciting season of creativity and planning for our next chapters together, and I am deeply grateful to you all. I know that many more of you are interested in contributing and becoming more involved, but are not sure how you can help, because you either don’t know what we need, what you can offer, or if you have time. The answer is what we need is you and there are options ranging in time commitment from a one-time afternoon event to several hours a week.
Ways to Contribute
If you haven’t done so in the past, a great way to support the church is to volunteer to serve on a team or committee. (The difference between them is that teams support ministry and work with staff, while committees support governance and report to the board.) Church membership is not required for participation, with the exception of the Nominating Committee and the Board. We are currently seeking members for the Finance, Governance, Personnel, Outreach, Telling Our Story, and Living our Mission Committees (click here for descriptions of these teams). The time commitments for each vary from quarterly meetings to frequent meetings and outside information gathering. The options for teams are too many to list here, but include the Welcoming Team, Justice Coordinating Council (JCC), Community Projects, Vegan Potlucks, and Religious Exploration to name just a few. You can find out more about these and other opportunities by visiting the website, or by emailing info@firstuu.org. If you are interested in being added to the JCC newsletter mailing list, which includes updates and information about social justice action opportunities contact justicecoordinatingcouncil@firstuu.org
Nominating Committee and Board
In addition, the Nominating Committee has begun its work to identify candidates to serve on the Board and Nominating Committee for the next term. One of our top priorities for this year is to increase the diversity of the board in every way possible, including age, ethnicity, LGBTQ+, and gender identity. Meeting times and childcare needs have been impediments to board membership in the past, and we are committed to doing whatever possible to remove obstacles and facilitate participation for anyone who is interested in serving. If you think you might be interested, have questions or suggestions, or just want to talk with someone to find out more, you can drop by the table at Channing Hall between services, grab a board member at coffee hour, or email board@firstuu.org. We want to hear from you!
These are interesting and unsettling times, indeed, but I find myself feeling unexpectedly hopeful. It may be the synchronicity of kicking off our exciting work on the strategic plan with the arrival of spring, or perhaps the inspiring resistance actions of people across the country and students in HISD walking out of class to stand up for justice – I can’t say for sure. All I know is nature and history teach us that nothing is permanent, time keeps going, beginnings follow endings, the green blades of snow drops push their way out of frozen ground every year.
I can’t wait to see where our path together will lead next.
