From UUCGV Board President, Elizabeth High

     Thank you to everyone who participated in our Vision 2030 Town Hall meeting in January!  Maya has posted the minutes from the meeting as well as pictures of the flip charts in the Member Zone of our webpage;  I invite you to take a look.  In the “Mission/Vision Dot Activity” I was struck by how evenly people put their dots next to all of the different lines of our mission and vision statements.  We as a congregation want equally to nurture each other, the earth of which we are a part, and to reach out to our larger community.  We strongly value lifelong learning and spiritual growth.  If we emphasize any one of these facets too much over another, we will feel out of balance.  We did not leave the meeting with a clear plan forward  from here to 2030, but I believe that our conversing clarified our values, and will alert us to when a “good fit” collaboration opportunity comes up for us. 

     The “Living into our Inclusivity Proclamation” event that was hosted at UUCGV on February 11th may be one such opportunity.  We found many people in the Grand Valley who share our passion for an inclusive Grand Junction community that celebrates diversity.  Two comments from that night’s brainstorming especially stood out in my mind.  One person suggested having activities in which diverse groups would be brought together: not as spectators, but working side by side, having fun together.  Another person said that we need inclusive gathering places in Grand Junction; places where people from all backgrounds can congregate.   Reflecting on these comments, I wondered: Could we help Mesa County Libraries to shape the Discovery Garden (next door to UUCGV) into a place where people from different walks of life can work side by side, congregate, and feel true ownership and welcome?  If so, what would be the steps to accomplishing this?  Maybe the first step would be to listen to the voices of those who are more marginalized in our community, and get their ideas of how to accomplish this. 

     You may have additional ideas stirring in your hearts.  Share the ideas that you feel passionate about helping bring into fruition.  Let us continue to “foster lifelong learning, diversity, and spiritual growth”.  Let us “live our Unitarian Universalist values of justice, reason, and compassion” into the next decade by “reaching out to the larger community, nurturing one another, and the earth of which we are a part” at a whole new level.  

​~ Elizabeth High