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Officially Done
I am done with being moderator of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Longmont, Colorado.
It's official.
I still have one last task that I need to finish, which is the restructuring of the church's governance, which will be this coming Saturday, and it's been in relation to a lot of things that have been happening for what seems to be the whole last decade. And, yes, that's as big as it seems, and both the past and future Cabinets will be involved along with a consultant who is an expert on church and other non-profit governance structures.
I finished off my official stint as moderator with the traditional congregational meeting, which had five entire items of business (which is a lot). We moved the endowment to a new management system (a big deal that was paved with six month's worth of information and communication), got approval to move ahead on possibly building four low income apartments on church property, and managed to get the 2016 budget approved (which had been fraught with all kinds of other things and was the Reckoning of the last post). We elected the new officers, got a resolution that is to be sent to the Longmont City Council, urging them to adopt an inclusivity resolution, and then I got to close the meeting in under an hour.
And I got a standing ovation.
That was entirely unexpected. Moderators don't get standing ovations by the whole congregation... but... well... I did.
And what made it even more surreal was that at the beginning of the service, before the meeting, the moderatosr-elect (yes, there are two, as they thought they might together be able to do what I was doing), our pastor, and I announced the fact that our pastor and our church were parting ways come the end of May. There was a mutual agreement that it was time to end the relationship, and on my last day as moderator, it happened officially, too.
So.
Yeah.
It's been... uhm... a little insane since I last wrote.
But my being moderator is now done, and I can get on with my life. Even with what's expected of me for next week, I'm already letting go of pretty much all my moderator jobs. I also thought about volunteering for another job, and got scolded by three different people, so I backed off of that.
This big change has also made it easier for me to make little changes, things like being able to completely stop playing Mafia Wars, which I've been doing for years and years, now. I got to level 10,000 and I quit cold turkey and am just not looking back. There's a writer's group at our local library, and I'm probably going to be going to that as a lady that I've been friends with suddenly wanted to meet at the library on Tuesday nights, and I said, well, there's a writers' group, so why don't we meet with them?
We'll see. Right now, everything is in flux, shifting like the aftershocks of an earthquake. In a few months, it'll settle out, but for right now, I'm just hanging onto the local stable doorframe anchored to the foundations (called myJohn) and riding out the waves.
It may well be a new world in three months. And there should be more that I can write about in the coming times.
It's official.
I still have one last task that I need to finish, which is the restructuring of the church's governance, which will be this coming Saturday, and it's been in relation to a lot of things that have been happening for what seems to be the whole last decade. And, yes, that's as big as it seems, and both the past and future Cabinets will be involved along with a consultant who is an expert on church and other non-profit governance structures.
I finished off my official stint as moderator with the traditional congregational meeting, which had five entire items of business (which is a lot). We moved the endowment to a new management system (a big deal that was paved with six month's worth of information and communication), got approval to move ahead on possibly building four low income apartments on church property, and managed to get the 2016 budget approved (which had been fraught with all kinds of other things and was the Reckoning of the last post). We elected the new officers, got a resolution that is to be sent to the Longmont City Council, urging them to adopt an inclusivity resolution, and then I got to close the meeting in under an hour.
And I got a standing ovation.
That was entirely unexpected. Moderators don't get standing ovations by the whole congregation... but... well... I did.
And what made it even more surreal was that at the beginning of the service, before the meeting, the moderatosr-elect (yes, there are two, as they thought they might together be able to do what I was doing), our pastor, and I announced the fact that our pastor and our church were parting ways come the end of May. There was a mutual agreement that it was time to end the relationship, and on my last day as moderator, it happened officially, too.
So.
Yeah.
It's been... uhm... a little insane since I last wrote.
But my being moderator is now done, and I can get on with my life. Even with what's expected of me for next week, I'm already letting go of pretty much all my moderator jobs. I also thought about volunteering for another job, and got scolded by three different people, so I backed off of that.
This big change has also made it easier for me to make little changes, things like being able to completely stop playing Mafia Wars, which I've been doing for years and years, now. I got to level 10,000 and I quit cold turkey and am just not looking back. There's a writer's group at our local library, and I'm probably going to be going to that as a lady that I've been friends with suddenly wanted to meet at the library on Tuesday nights, and I said, well, there's a writers' group, so why don't we meet with them?
We'll see. Right now, everything is in flux, shifting like the aftershocks of an earthquake. In a few months, it'll settle out, but for right now, I'm just hanging onto the local stable doorframe anchored to the foundations (called myJohn) and riding out the waves.
It may well be a new world in three months. And there should be more that I can write about in the coming times.
Wow
Re: Wow
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Thank you!!
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Very well done.
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I am very happy that it is over... and I am kind of amazed by the latter... I still feel pretty battered, but... yeah... done and done as well as I could.
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The creativity aspects have been really languishing lately, but with time....
*hugs* And congratulations on getting married, dear!!
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moderator
(Anonymous) 2016-02-03 12:33 am (UTC)(link)I'm glad you were advised to give yourself some time off. Enjoy it and perhaps find new fields to explore. And thank you for sharing so much with me when I was with you at christmas time. I feel so fortunate to have a wonderful relationship with you, my daughter-in-law. Not having had daughters our relationship is particularly appreciated.
My love, as always, accompanied by much admiration; you continually amaze me with your talents and capabilities. Isabel
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Thank you so much for your time, ear, and support. I do appreciate you a great deal, and am very glad of our relationship as it has grown over the years.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing you during Jet's spring break!!
<3
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Well... my term was up, and I really needed to get out. So not so much a decision as just trying to survive to the end of my time as moderator. I'm glad I made it.
And I'm even more glad that I'm getting to do something else instead.