The September 9 meeting of the UUSM board of directors featured several new committee appointments, and reports about the summer activities of Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae and Director of Multi-Generational Religious Education Jessica TenHave-Place.
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by President Vilma Ortiz. Board members attending included Karl Lisovsky, Linda Van Ligten, Cassie Winters, Rebecca Avery, Jef Travis, Jila Tayefehnowrooz, and Anne Bridgins. Past President Eileeen McCormack, Minister Jeremiah Kalendae, and congregation members James Witker and Norm Richey also attended.
Chalice Lighting, Check-ins, and Opening Remarks
Linda lit the Chalice and read the UU Value “Love”:
As Unitarian Universalists, we covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our Association, to support and assist one another in our ministries. We draw from our heritages of freedom, reason, hope, and courage, building on the foundation of love.
Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love.
Linda also provided an opening reading by Emily Richards:
We gather this evening in a sacred space,
Kindling a fire that burns here in our chalice and in our hearts.
We gather to engage in a different kind of worship,
One that doesn’t include sermons or hymns but is holy nonetheless.
We gather to honor our covenant and engage in congregational life,
Doing the necessary work to ensure that this community thrives.
We gather together, as a people of faith, guided by love,
A love that burns as bright as the flame in our chalice.
We light this chalice, as we have done so many times before,
For the warmth of love,
The light of truth,
And the energy of action.
Board members provided personal check-ins and also responded to a question linked to this month’s worship theme, Building Belonging.
Several board members read our Covenant, which Jeremiah updated to reflect recently adopted UUA changes: “We recognize that our congregation is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) of congregations, committed to affirming Love at the center of our faith, and promoting our living tradition’s Values of Interdependence, Pluralism, Justice, Equity, Transformation, and Generosity, and learning from the many Inspirations of our liberating tradition.“
Board Appointments and Bank Signatories
Following Rebecca Crawford’s resignation as Treasurer at the end of August, the Leadership Development and Nominating Committee appointed Sue Bickford to take over as Treasurer and Karl Lisovsky to replace Sue as Vice President. Vilma moved that the appointments be approved, and the motion was seconded by Cassie. It passed unanimously.
To assure there are four persons available to sign checks for the board over the next 12 months, Vilma moved that Treasurer Sue Bickford, President Vilma Ortiz, Vice President Karl Lisovsky, and Past President Eileen McCormack be approved as UUSM’s official check signers. Cassie seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Committee Assignments
A Negotiating Committee will be part of the Ministerial Search Process. Norm Richey represents the Ministerial Search Committee on the Negotiating Committee, and Rebecca moved that Eileen McCormack be added as the Board representative/corporate executive handling contracts, along with Kim Miller as a congregational representative and lawyer who has previously been involved in negotiating ministerial contracts. Cassie seconded the motion and the appointments were approved unanimously.
Rebecca moved that the board appoint Kim Miller to the Personnel Committee, which has been understaffed recently. Anne seconded the motion, and it was approved unanimously.
Ministerial Search Committee
Cassie read the Ministerial Search Committee’s report for October and submitted written reports for the committee’s minutes for September and October. She also noted that on Saturday, October 11 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., we will be hosting the Zoom-based workshop Break Barriers, Build Beliefs (B4), which is organized by the UUA for congregations involved in the Ministerial Search Process. The Sunday, October 12 service will also tie into themes from that workshop.
Apartheid Free Pledge
On behalf of the Peace and Social Justice Committee, James Witker asked the board to consider signing on to the Apartheid Free Pledge, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. James said Jessica Place brought the issue to the committee after learning about it at the UUA General Assembly, and that an increasing number of UU congregations are signing on. The board expressed preliminary support and suggested further study, including whether it should be decided by a congregational vote. Jeremiah suggested we also find out Jewish groups and other UU allies are also supporters. Vilma recommended that a dedicated group of board members, IARAO and PSJ members study the issue further and make a recommendation to the board.
Minutes, Standing Reports, Membership, and Communications
Board members approved unanimously, via a consent motion, the August board minutes and the standing monthly reports. August reports were postponed to the next meeting due to staff shortages.
Church membership is currently 264. There were no new members this month.
Vilma reported that board members will soon be added to the “About Us” page of the UUSM website.
Minister’s Report
In the introduction to his report, Rev. Jeremiah spoke about returning to the West Coast “after a summer of deepening study, spiritual exercise, cookouts, rafting trips, and extended visits with family and friends in the Midwest.” He said that during the time he was away, he read a lot, “had more time to pray, meditate, practice my Sanskit, and think about the complexities of these dire times we’re living through as a people,” and that he experienced the grounding and broadening that comes from spending time with his communities of origin. At the same time, though, Jeremiah said, “I missed you and our beloved community and this geographic oasis of pluralism, progressivism, and culture while I was away. As this will be my last congregational year with you, it is my intention to cherish you, this historic place, and our shared tradition ever more deeply in these remaining months we have together.”
Jeremiah reported that our spiritual theme this month is “Building Belonging,” which is “something this nation desperately needs in this time of escalating division, exclusion, bigotry, and violence.” He also noted that in this country, “our spiritual ancestors had congregations before they had established colonies or a nation”…but “while some religious movements taught exclusion, our lineages offered an alternative that strove to include everyone through not without its own exclusivity, imperfections, and failings.”
“It is no wonder,” he said, “that the social fabric of our common life is so tattered and frayed as people have moved away from the institutions that are intended to hold people together, provide socialization, pass on the wisdom of the generations, and create intentional community. So we have something to offer our world as a sanctuary for this kind of living, loving, and relating to one another.”
At the time of the meeting, Jeremiah said he was still getting caught up after his absence, but he further reported that:
- Our Worship year began with a packed house for our Annual Water Communion and Ingathering Ceremony, in which the congregation and new friends offered hopes, prayers, and dreams for the year before us as we poured libations of water and everyone was welcomed to receive a blessing from the water held sacred by the community. Before that, he said, our Summer Worship services continued our tradition of providing professionally curated and produced summer services during a period of rest and regeneration for the congregation in July and August. Rev. Sue Fisher, a local Presbyterian minister, offered the sermon Being There, which explored the ministry of presence. Building a Peaceful World Together was provided by Jessica TenHave-Place as a multigenerational consideration of peace-making. The Gospel According to Mark Twain came from church member James Witker, who considered how Twain’s writings expressed the liberal religious spirit. Rabbi Shira Freidlin gave us Singing as Religious Practice, which explored the Jewish practice of nirgunim. So, Things are Good? was offered by Chaplain Michael Eselun, exploring how we consider what it means for life to be “good.” How to Navigate an Apocalypse was offered by DMRE Jessica TenHave-Place, considering the notion of apocalypse in religious teaching, the war on Gaza, and our present political realities. Rima Snyder gave us The Poetry of Compost was offered by Rima Snyder and Chela Metzger as our annual poetry summer service, which dove into the cycles of regeneration and renewal. Confessions of a Recovering Perfectionist came from Rev. Sue Fisher (she filled in at the last moment when our planned preacher had to cancel), and surveyed perfectionism and how we remedy it. And finally, Rev. James Ishmael Ford joined us once again, this time as our 2024-2025 Honored Guest Teacher, and gave us Tom & Ma: The Joads’ Story and Ours, which explored The Grapes of Wrath in light of our present spiritual and cultural struggles for justice.
- Our Worship Team and Worship Associates Program took their traditional summer respite and will gather again in September. (Though Jeremiah did meet with Chela Metzger over the summer to plan for the new church year.)
- The new living, virtual UU hymnal – Sing Out Love – has been released by the UUA as a subscription-based online resource for UU communities. We’ve purchased a one year subscription, and Saunder and Jeremiah are planning to begin incorporating some of the new music into our services. The new resource will be used in conjunction with our three other hymnals.
- The Pastoral Care Team and Pastoral Associates Program also took the summer off and will resume their work in September. Jeremiah thanked the Rev. Dr. Kikanza Nuri-Robins and Chaplain Michael Eselun, who provided backup pastoral coverage over the summer, and Linda Van Ligten and Denise Helton for their continuing leadership. He said he returned to many new pastoral realities that are being attended to by our Pastoral Associates, congregation, and himself.
- Jeremiah continues to provide Pastoral Meetings and Spiritual Counseling to members of the community as requested, to help strengthen trust and healthy relations in our communal practice. He said the need for these services has been high since his return.
- We had a very healthy, effective, and successful Annual Meeting of the Congregation in June, Jeremiah thanked the congregation and the board for making steady progress in significantly improving these meetings. He said we accomplished a lot with no conflict and perhaps in record time, and that everyone should be proud of the efforts.
- Jeremiah is beginning to resume meeting weekly, biweekly, and/or monthly Ministry, Administrative, and Governance meetings with our senior staff, president, executive committee, worship chair, consulting minister, pastoral co-chairs, UUA congregational life staff, and/or other congregational leaders as needed or requested.
- There have been two recent office resignations, and we are grateful for the services of Christina Pegus and Esther Chase. These unexpected changes present us with an opportunity for restructuring office functions to help reduce the deficit and create a more sustainable structure. Jeremiah thanked Congregational Administrator Alfie Wilkersonope for covering all the bases in this summer of transitions and for working to learn all the staff roles and what’s needed in the office at the grassroots level.
- Annual staff evaluations were completed by all staff members over the summer. These included a supervisor’s evaluation and a self-evaluation, along with professional goal setting for the current congregational year.
- The Intersectional Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression (IARAO) Commission is continuing its work, but there was no further report at this time.
- The Board Policies Review Team continues to make progress, and this year we will begin to emphasize implementation of some of the policy areas.
- We now have renewed Mission and Vision statements that will strengthen us as we go into our Ministerial Search. Jeremiah thanked everyone who helped with this monumental congregational task and developmental goal.
- The UU Animal Ministry is beginning to implement the Study/Action issue the Board approved in June. Jeremiah said he’s been in communication with Jacinda Virgin to strategize ways to do this.
- Jeremiah is continuing his last term as a vice president of the Santa Monica Area Interfaith Council & Leadership Team, and has met with the leadership team since his return. He will meet with the full council later in September.
- Jeremiah also continues to service on the UCLA Medical Center Ethics Committee and will resume meeting with the group this month.
In conclusion, Jeremiah said it’s good to be back, “and I am already experiencing some of the many feelings within myself and in the community as we enter this transitional year.”
“We’ve accomplished a lot in this period of developmental ministry,” he said, “and this final year will have a few areas of emphasis as we transition to settled ministry: 1) We need to celebrate all that’s been accomplished and begin to say our goodbyes; 2) we need to wrap up the remaining developmental ministry work and begin to transition to more normative congregational functioning; 3) we need to support the comprehensive and successful ministerial search process.”
Finally, he said, “I continue to hold and highlight the critical guiding values of cultivating, sustainability, resilience, regenerativity, and spaciousness for our community in this time” and “thank you for signing up to lead in this period of transition, griefs, joys, endings, and beginnings. It is a blessing to be on this last leg of the journey with each of you and with our beloved community. I love you.”
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Sue Bickford was not at the meeting, so Vilma provided a brief verbal report on our finances at the end of fiscal year 2024-2025.
Director of Multi-Generational Religious Education Report
DMRE Jessica TenHave-Place was not at the meeting, but wrote in her report to the board that “Summer 2025 was a great period of planning for the coming year, experimenting with new ideas, and making time to connect individually with CYRE families and volunteers.”
“In June,” she said, “I had the opportunity to attend my first General Assembly in Baltimore, which was a priceless opportunity to make connections with UUs across the country and learn more about new ideas and practices we can bring to our congregation. I also spent a lot of my time outside of work engaging in community activism, which has helped expand my knowledge of local activist networks that would be wonderful potential partners with UUSM as we struggle to protect our values in the face of escalating fascism.”
This fall, she said, “I’m very excited to launch our new CYRE curriculum…which will span Beginners (Pre-K through 3rd grade, as well as any older kids who would also be best served by this developmental range), Middle Grades (4th-8th grade), and High School (9th-12th grade).”
“Over the summer I researched different curriculums, got input from kids and families, recruited new volunteers, and got help from current, highly committed volunteers to plan an expanded RE format that will best serve all ages and allow room for growth – both in terms of numbers and in terms of meeting young people’s developing needs as they age. Cynthia Littleton and Maddie van Beek have both stepped up into a greater commitment level to lead our Middle Grades and High School classes. Kiran Paesal, a high school student, has also joined us as a regular RE Assistant for the Middle Grades class, where his leadership will be especially helpful in a class that will have several 4th-6th grade boys who look up to Kiran as a role model. Sophia Martin-Straw will continue as an RE Assistant for Beginners, where she has been very helpful in being attentive to the needs of our younger kids.”
Unfortunately, Jessica wrote that “we had to cancel plans for our Interfaith Peace Camp program due to low registration,” but she said planning the event was not futile. “I made connections with partners in our community that I continue to sustain, and the curriculum I created can still be used next year. (The biggest lesson learned is to get on families’ calendars early – this year I will open registration for our summer program by January!).”
Also, she said, “One wonderful new partner who came out of the planning process is Jessica Moss, the Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Alliance, who brought a cohort of students to UUSM to tour the church and learn about Unitarian Universalism. I look forward to working with her organization more in the future. We used the weekend reserved for Peace Camp to hold an “All Ages Music Day” where kids and adults learned songs that we sang in the multigenerational service the following day. I look forward to doing something similar for this programming year – it was great to discover the talents of people who participated! And since our program received generous donations of musical instruments this summer – a piano, two guitars, a banjo, and percussion instruments for kids – we are well equipped to do more music programming in the future.”
Jessica also reported that she held two volunteer trainings in August – one in person and one online. “They were attended by both experienced volunteers and new people, as well as parents who wanted to learn more about our curriculum plans and child safety policies.”
“Since a few interested members were unable to make those dates,” she said, “I will hold another volunteer training in the fall as well. I received good feedback from the training, and it was also an opportunity for new folks to connect with some longtime members. Another fun project for August was cleaning up the Cottage – I went through all our toys, books, and supplies to see what needed to be discarded or donated, decorated our classrooms to be more attractive for the different age groups, and moved our books out of my office and into the public space in the Cottage, where there is a QR code system for kids to check out books.”
In addition, Jessica reported that “Participating in our Intersectional Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Commission over the summer was a great space for processing new ideas that I got from General Assembly and my personal activism with the Community Self-Defense Coalition and advocacy for Palestine (through several organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace, Union del Barrio, and Christians for a Free Palestine). Ideas that IARAOC passed onto the Peace and Social Justice Committee include signing onto the Apartheid Free Pledge, which I learned about at the General Assembly, and offering free or low-cost space to the Community Self-Defense Coalition, which monitors ICE activity to protect community members from abduction, imprisonment, and deportation. These ideas were received enthusiastically, and I hope we can move forward soon with taking action as a congregation. I believe that doing more to visibly support people in our community taking direct action on vital issues like protecting migrants and ending the genocide in Palestine will have the bonus benefit of drawing more like-minded people (particularly younger people who view most forms of organized religion with a suspicious and cynical eye) to check out our congregation and learn about who we are.”
Finally, Jessica said “I’m very excited for everything coming up this year – which will include a Witchy Halloween Party for Samhain in October, our Multigenerational Day of the Dead service in November, the annual Holiday Pageant in December, and OWL for 7th-9th grade in the new year. I’m grateful for all of the hardworking and dedicated CYRE committee members and volunteers for making all of our programs possible, and for the support of Rev. Jeremiah and the board. This is a wonderful community, and we are going to continue growing and doing great things!”
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
