A new beginning

First in a series of posts about the October 2011 UUA Board meeting

It felt different from the beginning. Ten new board members, a change in tenor from many of us returning. I was very conscious coming to this meeting that I have "only" 20 months left as a UUA trustee. I am not the only one who has a sense of urgency around leaving a board structure that has the support and clarity it needs to function -- knowing full well that each new board that comes after us has to do some of its own definition.

My positive feelings about the ten new board members have only strengthened -- it feels like the learning curve has already been shortened for them, and we are discussing real issues with a deeper level of understanding that I would have expected at this time.

This year's every-other-year retreat was led by the Rev. Margaret Marcuson, a Baptist minister who serves as a spiritual advisor to a number of UU ministers. She is low key, thoughtful. She gives the board space - and time - to sink into our own questions. She names some of our elephants. We create a covenant -- we begin to identify our work over the next few years, a task that will be picked up and amplified over the next few days: governance, shared vision, and annual plan, ministerial credentialing, and reducing the administrative load of the board (including roughly 250 committee appointments). Saturday's items are moved around to allow the board to join Boston's "Occupy Wall Street".

It's going to be an interesting meeting. Read more about it through my posts over the next few weeks.