There is one dimension upon which the Board is divided into two camps: one of them moans over the cold temperature (7 degrees – guess which camp I was in?) and flocks to the window to watch the big white flakes cover the trees and grounds of the Massachusetts Capitol right next door. The other is somewhat dismissive of the cold (“it felt warm compared to where I came from”) and sees the snow as a mechanism to impede their way home.
But it WAS beautiful, including at night, when these photos were taken on Sunday night in Boston’s Public Garden with The Magic Box (also known as my iPhone).
Unfortunately it meant a number of flights were delayed or cancelled on Sunday, the end of the Board meeting, and a number of Board members who had not intended to stay the night did so.
Like all the Board meetings I have attended, this one was long, intense, and energizing. A significant reason for the energy is the fact that we are intentionally a religious board, with worship elements in the agenda as well as impromptu admonitions from a number of our board members (and you know who you are). One of the readings on Wednesday night’s vespers by Board member Will Saunders particularly struck me, and is excerpted below:
Pause with us here a while.
Put your ear to the wall of your heart.
Listen for the whisper of knowing there.
Love will touch you if you are very still.
If I say the word God, people run away.
They’ve been frightened – sat on ‘till the spirit cried “uncle.”
Now they play hide and seek with somebody they can’t name.
They know he’s out there looking for them, and they want to be found.
But there is all this stuff in the way.
I can’t talk about God and make any sense.
And I can’t not talk about God and make any sense.
So we talk about the weather, and we are talking about God.
Put your ear to the wall of your heart.
Listen for the whisper of knowing there.
Love will touch you if you are very still.
If I say the word God, people run away.
They’ve been frightened – sat on ‘till the spirit cried “uncle.”
Now they play hide and seek with somebody they can’t name.
They know he’s out there looking for them, and they want to be found.
But there is all this stuff in the way.
I can’t talk about God and make any sense.
And I can’t not talk about God and make any sense.
So we talk about the weather, and we are talking about God.
(excerpted from Tom Barrett, What’s in the Temple)
Look for posts about UUA Ends, Independent Affiliates, Purpose and Principles revisions, White Privilege Part II, and my trip to DC for the Inauguration over the next few weeks.
Next Post: Governance as Holy Work, Part III
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