[Firstumemo] Memo: "We Come Bearing Gifts"

Tue May 30 13:38:55 CDT 2006

G U E S T   M E M O
“We Come Bearing Gifts”
“Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity.
Don't fight them. Just find a different way to stand.” –Oprah Winfrey

At First Unitarian, have you ever gotten the impression that we are
singularly blessed, judging by the large “gifts” we have received in the
past few years?  A devastating fire gifted us with the opportunity to
repair, restore and position ourselves to grow stronger as a vital church in
Worcester. A soul searching examination of ourselves as a religious
community, and how we choose to display our foundational inspirations of
faith (a.k.a. the “symbols controversy”), gifted us with an opportunity to
regain our center of gravity while honoring our mission to live in right
relationship. The Sage of Chicago would be proud of us.

I guess because we are so fortunate, we are once again being presented with
a large “gift”, the challenge of continuing to sustain and grow our
successful RE program in a P.D.W. (post Diane world). For over twenty years
Diane Mirick has touched and inspired the lives of the children and youth of
this congregation. The values that they carry with them, and how they apply
those values in finding their own place in the world, in no small part have
been nurtured and encouraged by the RE program Diane designed, built and has
worked tirelessly to support. The well deserved retirement of such a long
term and important contributor to the health and well-being of our children’
s spiritual lives creates an enormous challenge for us—a gifted opportunity
for all of us to step up.

One of the truly remarkable aspects of First Unitarian, like most dynamic
organizations, is the amount of activity and energy that is always
percolating, seemingly just out of view. People are dashing to meetings in
the rooms scattered throughout the church (assuming you are lucky enough to
get a room), emails are sailing through the ether, impromptu discussions
held at coffee hour. So much going on. So many things happening behind the
scenes.

Since the election held at the annual meeting in January, the DRE Search
Committee (Dave Blodgett, Ken Mandile, Kate Narita, Lee Reid, Nancy Wilson
and Rich Laprade) has been part of that background energy. We’ve spent
considerable time undertaking a discovery process that included data mining
for First U membership and financial trends, information gathering on the
current status and direction of the RE vocation “market”, conducting
interviews with church leadership and staff, as well as, holding an initial
open discussion with the congregation in our attempt to better position
ourselves to successfully find a new leader for the RE program. Due to the
extraordinary length of Diane’s committed service to this church as DRE, we
essentially were attempting to reinvent the wheel. As a congregation, we
didn’t have an institutional memory of how to frame and conduct such a
search.

It has become increasingly apparent to the members of the committee that
this search process will not lend itself to being fast-tracked. We have
informed the Prudential Committee that this process will more than likely
take two years to complete. During the twenty-three years Diane has managed
the RE program, she has learned how to adapt to First Unitarian. She has
found work-arounds when, as in all human institutions, we exhibited our
unique brand of quirkiness or lack of focus. She knows how to get things
done without a flight manual. A new person coming in will not know these
“secret” moves. With such a critical leadership position to fill, failure
cannot be an option.

We have also come to better appreciate the gifts that Diane bestowed upon us
over these many years. Not just the tremendous personal sacrifice she made
in terms of the time and energy she gave us on a weekly basis, but also the
reoccurring gift of not being a heavier financial burden on our annual
budgets.

The Prudential Committee has received a report from us concerning our
initial findings, recommendations and the opportunities for improvement that
currently exist. They, as well as church staff, have initiated positive
discussions and actions in these areas of concern. The Religious Education
Committee has also begun to examine how it can successfully prepare for the
future, assume greater responsibilities and provide support for the next
DRE.

As a committee, we want to extend an invitation to the congregation to help
us with this most recent gift, using it as an opportunity to allow us, as a
religious community, to connect with the most fragile and innocent amongst
us. We have an obligation to ensure that the RE program continues to serve,
shape and guide the lives of our children and youth, not only to honor the
past efforts of Diane, but also to demonstrate our continuing commitment to
fostering the values that bind us together as a community. We cannot afford
to fall into the gifting trap Mark Twain remarked about, “We lavish gifts
upon them (children); but the most precious gift, our personal association,
which means so much to them, we give grudgingly.”

Please join us on RE Sunday to help officially commission us as a committee.
Share in the initial draft of your evolving Religious Education Vision
statement that will guide us and inform our task. Be patient with us as you
help with our survey and respond to our questions as we seek feedback during
this process.

On behalf of the entire committee, I want to invite all of you to join us in
the fall as we accept this latest gift. We are truly blessed.

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