Letter from the Board 12/1/2025
Dear 2U Friends,
So much has happened in the past month. Honestly, I’m giddy about the opening of our elevator. After years of planning and execution, the wait felt very long. But the elevator was worth the wait. Together with the completion of the ramp the month before, we are now in a much better position to fulfill our mission as a congregation. If we want to live out our commitment to hospitality, then we must be accessible in a way that just wasn’t on the radar when our building first opened in 1906. Today, we retain our historic legacy and aesthetics, but with modern expectations. I am deeply grateful to everyone whose generous financial contributions and labor made this big step forward possible.
The other big news, of course, is that Rev. Jason will be leaving us next summer. Like you, my feelings about that are much more complicated. Of course, we will miss our minister and the many gifts that he has brought to our community. But I also want what is best for him and he has expressed clarity that this is the step he needs to take. And I’m deeply grateful for his years of service and commitment to our church.
As I said in our congregational conversation about this news, there is something about having a settled minister with an open-ended term of service that makes us feel “settled.” And there is something about the settled minister leaving that is unsettling.
Yet, despite the anxiety that inevitably accompanies change, I am certain that we will be fine. We are a congregation that survived the Chicago Fire and bounced back from a membership collapse in the 1960s. So, I actually feel hope. There is tremendous ministerial talent in the UU world and I’m sure we will find the leadership that we need.
The board plans to announce a search committee for an interim minister by the end of January with the hope of securing an interim by the end of May. Our expectation is that our interim minister will serve us for two years, which is the standard practice in our tradition. (During that time, we will form a search committee for a settled minister. That committee’s work will be longer and much more involved.)
Stay tuned for updates in this process.
One more piece of news: There have been changes on the board. Our Council Chair, Sean Connolly, recently announced that he was leaving our congregation. As a result, the board decided to make Kristi Anderson, our at-large board member, into the new Council Chair. We will make an announcement soon about filling the board vacancy.
I wish everyone a holiday season filled with joy and peace. Do not hesitate to reach out to me for other members of the board with your thoughts or questions about the issues raised in this column or other concerns.
