The President's Corner

September 2008

It's been a great summer, and it's going to be a great month at Tapestry!!

This summer, while we did see the departure of Revs. John and Sarah Gibb Millspaugh, we also had really excellent guest speakers in the pulpit, and we had great summer attendance. It reminded me about how valuable it is to us as a congregation to gather together on a regular basis and enjoy one another's company.

Speaking of gathering together, the weekend of October 10-12 is an outstanding time to get together away from it all and deepen your relationships – with yourself, your family, and others at Tapestry. It's our deBenneville Pines annual 'retreat', and I have no doubt that this year will be as wonderful as years past. Not only can you build and grow relationships with folks from Tapestry, but our co-hosts this year are Orange Coast, so we can get to know them more deeply, too. For those who don't know, or haven't been, Camp de Benneville Pines is a UU owned camp in the San Bernardino mountains. It consists of a number of cute functional cabins (with heating, indoor plumbing, and bunk-beds or double-beds), a couple of more "upscale" cabins with living rooms and kitchens, a beautiful lodge with a stone fireplace, games, and fantastic meals. It is a wonderful place to go enjoy the smell of pine trees, to be reminded of the uncountable number of stars in the sky, and to slow down and reconnect to what's important to you. It's also a heck of a lot of fun (martinis, karaoke, basketball, crafts walks, etc.) Last year, I think there were upwards of 50 people from Tapestry — let's do it again this year!! Rev. Mitra will be joining us, too, so it will be a great time. And it's a great time for everyone – not just families with kids. I assure you that I'd be there even if my kids Kieran and Connor weren't. Of course, they'd be really mad if I went up there without them, too. They LOVE deBenneville Pines. You'll definitely see us there!

Rev. Mitra Rahnema joined us in late August, and by the time you receive this, you may have even had an opportunity to meet her yourself. She's attending our last two August worship services as a guest (not doing the sermon) so she can begin to meet and get to know everyone. She joined us at the Board meeting on Tuesday night, and she already brought some great insight as we talked about the Board retreat and how things like the Orange Coast vote, our long-range plans, and a ministerial search might affect how we put the Board retreat together and what we get out of it. You'll soon find she has a gentle yet strong manner, and a gift for listening and providing feedback. I'm really glad she's on board with us, and I know she'll bring us a lot!

Like I said, it's going to be a great year! Ways & Means has some great fun(d)raisers already planned, deBenneville Pines retreat is coming up, Rev. Mitra is here and going to help take us to "the next level" (whatever that is), and there should be some decision on the merger with Orange Coast. When your next President writes his or her column this time next year, I can only imagine what it will be about — and it makes me happy!

Namaste,

Tara Sayre,
President