Today was our first meeting of the Living Our Faith Working Group of which I am the convener. I have to admit I was somewhat apprehensive about leading this group. Only one member had been a part of this group in the past. What this gave us though was the freedom to reinvent ourselves and our mission. We did not have much time though as the bulk of our time was spent doing the first Board review of prosective policies under policy governance. We were charged with reviewing and revising the policy on the treatment of people. Each of the groups did this with different policies and we then met in the afternoon to review them as a whole Board. By Sunday we will have a chance to do a straw vote on them. It was an interesting process that I think will help me with our own governance on the District Board.

At dinner we met with the Council of UU Camps and Conferences or CU2 C2. de Benneville Board member Clarice Turney from Riverside and LA was there representing the camp. I am sorry I missed Janet James who was here earlier this week. It was a nice get together.

This evening was quite powerful as we spent over two hours working on Antiracism antiopression and multicultural work. We saw a very powerful documentary on issues of race and then had an opportunity to discuss them in small groups. It was a real learning moment for me. Ask me and I will tell you more about it.

As you might see from the pictures fall is definitely here but I understand it is a little late and the peak is not expected for several weeks. These two pictures are from the Boston public gardens. This is a short walk down Beacon Street going toward Arlington Street Church. It was as beautiful as it looks.

More tomorrow when the actual Board meeting starts.

Tom