We'vehad a year of transitions, with changes inour office staff, a substituteminister for four months during my sabbatical,and now some significant changes in our Board ofDirectors. Throughout this time the congregationhas held steady and strong. Much credit should goto our outgoing leadership for all they have contributed.

Carol Kerr has concluded three years of service aspresident. She has done an extraordinary job, leadingus through the purchase of the house next door,the sale of the 17th Street property, and receivingthe large estate gift from Earl Morgan - tasks thatmight have overwhelmed anybody other than a brilliantbusiness lawyer, but luckily for us, that's whatCarol is. With her legal experience and willingnessto give us hours of her time, we sailed through thesetransactions. Carol has led the board and our congregationwith her sharp mind, her good heart, andher keen sense of humor. I'm looking forward to herongoing contribution as past president.

With Carol serving for three years, Jerry Gates hasbeen our longest-tenured past president. We haveall marveled as he has navigated not only manyfreeways but also many airports to come to ourmeetings, fitting board service into his busy schedule.

Somehow church work cannot be quite as compellingas saving the world from AIDS, but Jerry hasalways made important contributions to our communityin many ways. I have valued his commonsense, his independent thinking, and his loyalty toour church.

We also say goodbye to board members CarolAgate and Daniel Teplitz. Carol is stepping down totake up other church activities - and we knowshe'll find them, fortunately for us. Daniel Teplitz isleaving for college. Daniel's Tuesday nights with theboard must have been late ones, as he juggledhomework, college applications, and music with hischurch commitments.

We now have an excellent new president, CharlesHaskell, new board members Bronwen Jones, PhyllisKory, Dayla McDonald, and Pat Parkerton returningfor service, with many challenges and opportunitiesahead of us. As we go forward, we will continue tobenefit from the generous contributions of our pastleaders.

Be sure to thank them when you see them atchurch.

- Judith Meyer

Thanks to the thirty people who attended the visioning meeting on LifespanReligious Exploration for adults. We generated many ideas and identified somepotential leaders and facilitators. We also learned that there are diverse needsfor adult programming in our congregation, not all of which may be part of LifespanRE, but which we should make sure we offer one way or another.

Lifespan RE covers the area of faith development, UU history and values, spiritualpractices, and education about other religions as well as our own. Finding waysto cover these topics in gatherings that are easy to attend is one prioritywe took from the meeting. There were others as well.

We heard that there is a need to create programming for new members, to introducethem thoroughly to our UU history, values, and institutions. The need is notsimply to educate newcomers, but to provide them with welcoming experiencesto become part of our community. Happily, our new Membership and LeadershipCommittee is looking at this need as well, so I am confident we will addressit soon.

And people expressed a desire for social programs, not necessarily ones havingto do with faith development, but with fun and intellectual activity. Tripsto arts events, current events discussions, and cooking classes were all mentionedduring our brainstorming session. It seems to me that we need a group to stepforward and take on this gap in our programming as well.

Our church serves many needs: some of them for religious exploration, othersfor service, community building, and friendship. They are all connected, ofcourse. But each deserves focused and committed leadership. What can you doto help?

-- Judith Meyer

You'll be hearing about my sabbatical adventures from the pulpit, so I won'ttake up this space recounting each of them. I spent the time on travel, family,work, and rest. I walked the dog a lot. I took time to grieve the death of mymother and to work with my brothers as we divided our parents' belongings andestate.

My book of sermons is coming along nicely. I have completed the manuscript.Ernie Pipes has written a wonderful foreword. David Denton has produced a drawingfor the cover. Felicity Nussbaum is hard at work editing. Production shouldbe under way soon.

I shall always be grateful to you and to our church leadership for making itpossible for me to take my sabbatical when I did. Many volunteers, especiallyour president, Carol Kerr, assumed additional responsibility in my absence.Vilma Ortiz, Pulpit Committee chair, worked closely with the Rev. Jim Granton Sunday mornings. Jim and the staff kept programs running smoothly.

I come back to my ministry so appreciative of our congregational life - thepeople, the good works, the creativity and vision and passion for our faith- and I am happy to be back with you. Even better, as a result of the SantaMonica City Council's decision December 13, we have a building program to begin.The timing is perfect. I can't wait to get started again.

-- Judith Meyer

TheNational Storytelling Festival

Betty and I missed being with you the weekend of October 9 because we wereattending the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. We were twoof about 3,000 participants. There were five large tents seating 500 to 800people each, plus several smaller venues with 90-minute storytelling sessionsin each from 10 a.m. until midnight.

Here are some things I learned or re-learned at the Storytelling Festival:

Stories, whether funny or serious, are community builders. I'm inclined tobelieve that people who laugh or cry or sigh or smile together, stay together.You'll be hearing more about this in some sermons. For example, hearing onceagain the true story of the forced removal of the Cherokee people was a reminderthat political power can be evil, even when the majority of voters approve.

I knew stories were sometimes enriched with guitars or Celtic harps or banjos,but I had a delightful 90 minutes hearing stories with a chamber music trioas background. Fantastic! Explanation: "Storytelling and music naturally gotogether, like laughing and talking."

Here are some more aphorisms that I noted:

"You grow with every risk you take!"

"The more you know, the more you need common sense!"

"We can all learn from the dachshund, who has the most can-do attitude in themost can't-do body."

"It's somebody else's fault, can't you see? In the present atmosphere it'sabsolutely clear that the buck stops miles from here!" (Dedicated to "Brownie.")

Finally, I was moved to tears by a storyteller/musician named John McCutcheonwhose program "Mightier Than the Sword" was a marvelous blend of music and thewords of contemporary authors. His CD by the same name is a priceless commentaryon today's political and social situation.

On another topic, please note your opportunity to suggest a topic for the sermonon November 27. I will attempt to respond to any question or topic given tome in writing no later than November 15. If I get no questions or topics, I'llprobably do a sermon about Edward O. Wilson's idea of a "consilience" of religionand science.

- Jim Grant