Letter From the Board Moderator – August 2024

A “cool down” in the summer heat is welcome. The newly formed Board of Trustees elected members are Linda Craig, Bob Bonner, Harriet Shaklee, and David Livermore. Thank you to the outgoing members for their service: Theo Harper, Mindy Clark, Andy Wilson, and Barbara Morrison. We learned much from you and look forward to your ongoing church participation and leadership.

Many parts of our lives at First Unitarian Portland reflect the culture and feelings of the city, the state, and the United States. We have worship, social justice, religious education, poetry, labyrinth, art, and history. The Board of Trustees focuses on policy, church funds, and the general well-being of our congregation.

Our obligation is to build healthy relationships. We entrust our ministers and staff with programs, with safe buildings, and making First Unitarian our spiritual sanctuary. The safety towards each other allows us to enjoy these benefits. To work on this, the ministers and board invited UUA Western Regional Rev. Sunshine Jeremiah Wolfe and Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh to visit us and hold workshops with groups within the Church and staff. More than 150 people showed up and participated in the afternoon workshop in the Buchan building on Sunday, July 28th.

In August, the Board of Trustees will work together in retreat to prepare ourselves for the new church year, and to better serve you, our Beloved Community. Let us find “heart and healing”, so that we can better serve each other, the community around us: as the challenges are great, but the love is strong.

Leslie Pohl-Kosbau, Board Moderator