Greetings, 

We have nearly hit the one-year mark in our move to being a virtual church. It has been a year requiring creativity and resilience from our ministers and staff. They have all done a wonderful job reimagining how we “do church,” and keeping us all connected during this time of separation. Our move to becoming a virtual church was made smoother and easier by our forwarding thinking ministers, who put us on the path to upgrading our technology and starting live streaming of our services several years ago. 

Many of you have probably heard about the work that has been going on this year to learn about the proposed 8th Principle in Unitarian Universalism. There is one more workshop open to anyone who is interested in learning about it on Feb 21. Check the Front Steps for information on how to register. 

In its report to the UUA, Widening the Circle of Concern, the Commission on Institutional Change identified many ways our denomination can work to be more welcoming and inclusive, and to recognize the racism that still remains in our own systems. As liberal religious people, most of us are aware of explicit racism, but it can be difficult to acknowledge that our actions and inactions may contain implicit racism. 

The 8th Principle was introduced at General Assembly in 2017. It reads: 

“We covenant to affirm and promote: Journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.” 

To date, approximately 30 congregations have adopted it. This year, the Bend and Eugene UUA congregations will be voting on adopting it. The UUA will be considering it as it does its periodic review of our Principles and Sources over the next two years. 

Since last fall, First U has held several workshops to introduce the 8th Principle and the Board has discussed it at three of its meetings. At February’s Board meeting, we voted to refer adoption of the 8th Principle to the congregation for a vote on our spring ballot. The Board believes this is an important step for our congregation and we endorse adopting the 8th Principle. You can watch a video of four UUA ministers whose congregations have adopted the 8th Principle talking about the impact it has had: https://www.uua.org/leadership/library/ministry-8th-principle. 

The Ministerial Search Committee (MSC) is continuing its work with three new members. The decision to ask Rev. Bill to stay for an additional year and to delay our search for a new Senior Minister created a different level of commitment for members of the MSC, which has resulted in three members of the committee deciding not to continue. We are very grateful for the time given to the search by Evie Zaic, Kristin Guest, and Darin Stewart; we thank them all. Chris Jakel, Ruth Lewellen-Dix, and David Livermore have all agreed to step onto the MSC. They are joining Lia Nagase, Saranna Weller-Filz, Mark Woodlief, Sarah Hardin, Jess Parker, and Leslie Pohl-Kosbau. You will be hearing more from them in the spring as they engage the congregation in the search process. 

In service, 

Mindy Clark