As your newly elected President of the Board, I want to thank you for your confidence in me. Although I served on the Board some years ago, I haven’t been recently involved in the Board’s work, so I ask for your patience and understanding as I get up to speed. As you may know, your Board meets each month; these meetings are typically conducted via Zoom, although once each quarter, we meet in person at the church on a Saturday morning.
Our next in- person meeting will occur in August and we are looking forward to having our young adults join us and providing input about their experiences at OCUUC. As church members, you are always welcome to attend any Board meetings and the specific day/time appears in The Blast one week prior to the meeting; the only exception is when personnel matters need to be discussed during closed session, but otherwise, we encourage visitors.
The coming year will be an exciting one as we see our old building coming down and a beautiful sanctuary rise in its place. But I am re-minded of a sign I kept over my desk for many years which read “No one likes change but a wet baby.” Although this particular change is some-thing we’ve voted for and supported with our pledges, it will undoubtedly present some challenges to our congregation.
Our normal processes will be disrupted, and we’ll all have to demonstrate our flexibility and resilience as we figure out how to accommodate a construction site operating in our midst. But I’m sure that if we keep envisioning the final out-come, we’ll get through this together with a minor amount of inconvenience. We are always at our best when we operate as a team having a common goal. In the coming months, I will be using The Reach to keep you updated on the progress of your Board but there may be times when some-one other than myself will have more significant information, so I intend to share this space as appropriate. In closing, I would just like to wish you a happy July as we jump into summer.
Stay cool and enjoy…
Kathleen McFarlin
Kathleen McFarlin is Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church's Board President.