For this 2013-2014 church year, our congregation was selected to be a “mentoring” congregation to the Mission Peaks Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Fremont, California. It is a distinct honor to be chosen by the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Pacific Western Region to be in our denomination’s “Leap of Faith” program. Being chosen signifies UUCB as a congregation that has succeeded and prospered over the immediate past few years, as witnessed by our congregation’s current vitality, energy, and social justice outreach, not to mention our development and creation of several exciting new programs that has made UUCB noteworthy on the national denominational scene.
In August our church’s “travel team” met with the eight member team from the Mission Peaks UU Congregation at the Leap of Faith “Launch” in Sacramento, California. It was a productive get-together and exchange and several areas were quickly identified where UUCB could be of assistance to Mission Peaks as they work toward achieving and realizing some objectives that they want to accomplish during this program year. In turn, there are some things that UUCB can take advantage from Mission Peaks where we can learn and explore new ideas.
It is an exciting partnership and we look forward to a visit to Boulder in January from the representatives of Mission Peaks as we explore this connection together.
Relatedly, on this topic of connection and partnership, I am pleased that UUCB has been able to adjust our fall events and commitments on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings to accommodate helping out our neighbor, Bonai Shalom. The Bonai Shalom congregation will be utilizing our building and facilities while their Shul (on Cherrryvale Road) undergoes repairs from the flooding in Boulder this past September. While our sanctuary had some water damage, it was nothing compared to what our neighbors at Bonai Shalom experienced. Their temple had extensive water and flood damage and, while repairs are being made to their temple, it feels good to be able to help out our neighboring Jewish congregation.
Connecting . . . Being in Relationship . . . Helping and Learning from One Another. That’s what being together in community is all about. It is what we, as Unitarian Universalists, profess and try to live. I am glad and proud that we are doing it here at UUCB.
Howell