Dear UUFP members and friends,
The Board of Trustees would like to take this opportunity to update you on a few matters.
First, on gatherings. With our goal of becoming as inclusive a community as possible, our offerings will need to be multi-platformed — a combination of online and in-person gatherings. We will come together in new ways and will learn as we do so. We are continuing to hold worship services online for the foreseeable future.
For in-person connections, we have been encouraging outdoor gatherings. This will be more feasible as it gets warmer, although we’ve had a few fun outdoor gatherings even in the cold. And now we are looking into how small groups (defined by the CDC as less than 12 people) might safely meet at 4 Palmer St. As we continue to offer community-building events, whether they are in person or online, outdoors or indoors, we will hone our skills. Our focus on children and youth remains a high priority; we are dedicated to supporting meaningful programs to meet their needs. And our worship team remains in deep conversation about what our steps forward might be.
The experiences of the past two years have changed all of us to varying degrees. As gathering in-person becomes safer once again, we will not be going back to the way things were but will move forward toward a new way of being together — both online and in-person. We understand that many people have questions about our future plans, and we would like to hear from the congregation what is important to you. The board is soliciting congregational feedback and your questions in two ways. The first way is through a survey, which we will be launching in early March (look out for an email next week). We encourage people to take the survey online, but we will be happy to call members if they would like to take the survey via telephone.
The second is through a time to chat with board members after service. All through March, two board members will be available in a breakout room during the “Coffee Quarter Hour” following the service. Participants in the service will be able to indicate if they’d like to join board members in a breakout room, or go into a regular breakout room. This is a chance for congregation members to share their ideas and concerns with board members and to ask any questions they might have.
Finally, we’d like to welcome Lisa Bulriss, our new office assistant, and Arran Morton, our new digital outreach specialist!