Month Four is Here!

by Tracy Cook on 9/25/2024

Hello, and welcome to October!

Wow, this year is passing waaaaay faster than I think it is, ha! I keep thinking we have PLENTY of time until Halloween, or SO MUCH time until the Camping Trip over Thanksgiving, or even until the Holiday Treats event at the start of December…

So, what actually *is* happening this month at Tapestry?! Well, on the first Saturday of the month Cooking Covenant Group will be hosting Spooky Foods! What a way to start the Spooky Month! For full details, see the Cooking Group’s blog or the Newsletter. Kids are welcome, so bring the little monsters with you.

Rev. Alisha has scheduled some recurring events for Tapestry people to attend. One event is a spiritual practice, the Be Still with Me days. These have both a morning and an evening time to meet. If you want to try meditating, but haven’t yet found the best way to work this into your day, go to one of the events. We are heading into a busy time of year, and so it is important to make time for yourself. Remember the lessons from the Autumn Equinox and keep the balance.

The second regularly-scheduled event is the Tapestry Playspace times. If you are looking for a space to craft and chat, this is it. Maybe you’re looking for some other people to play a game? Bring your game to Tapestry! I even heard a rumor that there might be karaoke happening…

October 20th will be the next Circle of Trees session. I enjoyed the conversations and activities for our first session, so I am looking forward to our second session! We will also kick off our annual Green Bean Casserole Kit collection for Northwest Assistance Ministries. More details coming soon.

I’m sitting here with my iced coffee, Pumpkin Spice of course, and wishing for cooler weather. What are you looking forward to?!

Welcome to Month Three!

by Tracy Cook on 8/28/2024

Hello, my Fellow Members and Friends, and welcome to the third month of the church year!

September brings a promise of cooler days to come, an uptick in outdoor activities, and Pumpkin Spice everything! I’m a huge Pumpkin Spice fan. I’ve already had a few coffees…

What are the different ways you can get involved this month?

Tapestry has just begun a postcard campaign for Reclaim Our Vote. The Social Justice Team wrote to the City of Tomball to have September 9-14 designated as Disability Voting Rights Week, and it was approved! I’ll keep boosting this important information as we move forward. Have you checked your voting status yet?

For Spiritual Practices, Tapestry is launching Circle of Trees on September 15. This Spiritual Formation class is multi-generational, which means people of all ages are welcome to attend. There are eight sessions, all using trees as metaphors for connections to life. This first session will be led by…me!

Are you interested in getting to know your fellow Tapestry friends a little better outside of church times? Well, if you don’t have family in the area, you do have FRamily! Tapestry Camping Group will be hosting a camping trip over Thanksgiving (I know, that’s a few months away, but time flies faster than one realizes!) Come up for the Big Meal, or come camping for several days - either way, you are welcome.

And lastly, I am the facilitator for the Cooking (and Eating) Covenant Group. We will be holding a Holiday Treats Bake Sale in December, so I am bringing in a few goodies for us to sample on September 8. That’s the same day as our Safety Drill practice. I’m looking for honest feedback. Would you pay money for these?! How can I make them tastier?

! I look forward to seeing you at one - or more! - of these events this month!

My First MONTH!!!

by Tracy Cook on 8/4/2024

Hello, Friends and Neighbors,

Tracy Cook here, talking to you about my first MONTH as your newly elected President!

First of all, I’d like to say that I am sooooooo glad we have a Covenant with one another. I have relied heavily on the grace of others as I moved into this position. Yes, I’ve been “here” before, but that was a long time ago. I’ve had to ask for help on how to get communications started, and who all is responsible for what. And ask for forgiveness when the answer is “you are”! I’ve been late on a few things and missed a deadline or two. But thankfully I am surrounded by wonderful people who have helped me get settled.

We know that we are better together, and we want to build beloved community, but just how do we go about this? How did I know that asking for help would get such an amazing result? We already have fun together, and that is great! I love laughing and sharing stories with everyone. But this is just the first step. It takes digging deeper to really connect with people. For those who have been through Weaving Our Lives, participants shared some intense experiences and practiced deep listening in these sessions. We have a Covenant now based on being together and avoiding some of the behaviors that we found hurtful.

We’ve been talking in one of the groups that I’m in - and I cannot recall now if this was the Board, or Worship Team, or something else - about some other ways we can have these deeper conversations and experiences. We may have Spiritual Formation classes (Adult RE) on one Sunday a month. The kids have been talking about having their own Spiritual Formation classes starting this fall, and what they might include as topics. Another choice would be a service project. I can’t remember if these would be in place of regular services or in addition, but I’d love to do something with the larger community! Talk about an opportunity to share deeply, can you imagine?!

And, of course, you can always choose to join an already-existing group. This could be Caring Team, or Cooking Covenant Group, or Justice.

Find something that you love, and come join in! Build the Beloved Community side by side with your church! 

Passing the Baton

by Geoff Sanders on 6/20/2024

I am very pleased that Tracy Cook is taking over as President on July 1st. I know that Tapestry will be in good hands with this experienced, dedicated leader.

I’ve known Tracy for many years. She was President of the Board of Tapestry’s predecessor, Northwest Community UU Church, in 2008, and we are lucky to have her reprise that role for us this coming year. But no one person can run a church. A church isn’t a business where a chief executive officer can dictate policy and hire and fire personnel.

No, a church is a collective enterprise. It must rely upon its members to work together if we are to pursue our mission and uphold the Congregational Covenant that we read together every Sunday morning.

Yes, we have a very capable, energetic and dedicated part time minister, but she wasn’t hired to run the church. Under our church’s current governance model, our Program Council, which is comprised of the leaders of all church groups, manages the day to day business of our church. Our elected Board of Trustees is charged with establishing church policies, overseeing church finances, supporting major programs and charting the church’s overall course. None of this happens, especially in a small church like ours, without the active participation of a lot of volunteers.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of a successful church. ⛪️ Fortunately we have a lovely place to meet and a good working relationship with our landlord. This relieves us from the headaches of property management and maintenance, and we can concentrate on how we spend our time together, our programs, and the wellbeing of our members and community.

In the last six months, 17 new adult members have joined our church, and they have brought with them many young ones. I give Alisha most of the credit for attracting these new people, but I also credit our existing members and their welcoming attitude towards newcomers.

Speaking of welcoming, Past President and incoming Treasurer Dawn Newcomer is leading our drive to renew our Certification under the UUA’s Welcoming Congregations Program. The idea is that we make the five practices of welcome renewal a regular part of our ongoing program. For more information, talk to Dawn or see: https://www.uua.org/lgbtq/welcoming/program/five-practices-welcome-renewal.

I also want to thank Elisa Kaplan who has agreed to continue serving as the Secretary of our Board of Trustees. Elisa has filled this role since 2018, and she is is a whiz at distributing minutes, often shortly after a meeting’s conclusion.

Erika Calderon is our outgoing Treasurer. Erika has done an excellent job of managing our finances and reporting regularly to the board. She has also, with the assistance of our Bookkeeper, Karin Gates, created the budget that was adopted at our May Congregational Meeting.

I want to welcome Eric Huckabay to the Board as President Elect. Eric has a wealth of UU experience, and we are very fortunate to have him step into this critical role. In the coming year, Eric will lead our Program Council. The following year he will serve as President of the Board, and he will remain on the board for a third year as Past President.

Lastly, I want to thank you all for all you are doing on behalf of our church. We have a great group of people and an excellent church. Keep up the good work, and have fun while you’re doing it!

The State of Our Church - As presented to the congregation on May 5, 2024

by Geoff Sanders on 5/5/2024

Our church is doing great! Reverend Alisha has brought us new energy and purpose. Attendance is up following a COVID decline, and services with 40+ people are no longer uncommon.

There is new energy! We were without a President Elect on the board, but Tracy Cook volunteered to fill that position for the remainder of this fiscal year, and Eric Huckabay has volunteered to stand for election as President Elect for the coming year. Both Tracy and Eric are on the ballot for next year - Tracy to serve one year each as President and Past President, and Eric to serve one year each as President Elect, President and Past President.

If that isn’t enough, Dawn Newcomer, who has already served two terms as President, has agreed to serve as our Treasurer. And Elisa Kaplan has, it appears, agreed to be our permanent Secretary. And let’s not forget about the Third Principle Team, which does the work of recruiting and nominating our leaders. The 3PT’s current members are Dana Ashrawi, Jenn Boepple and Deborah Kent. David McCorkle has volunteered to be on the ballot to join this important team. How about a round of applause for all these dedicated leaders!

As you know, today is our Annual Congregational Meeting. I hope you will be staying and enjoying the pizza dinners that will be served. If, however, you are a member of this church and cannot stay, you can still vote on our website, if you haven’t done so already. You’ll find the link to your online ballot in the first drop-down box under the Members Area of the website. Contact any Board member if you have any difficulty. You’ll be able to vote, and change your vote, until about a half hour after our Annual Meeting begins.

In addition to voting on board members and Third Principle Team members, we will be voting on our 2024-2025 budget. The budget is the result of a lot of hard work by many of your fellow members. In particular, I want to commend our Treasurer, Erika Calderon, and Bookkeeper, Karin Gates, the Teamleaders who provided the Finance Team with their estimates of future expenditures, and the many stewards who stepped forward and made this year’s Stewardship Campaign a great success. And as a result of the increased pledges we received, we were able to offer Alisha a 2-year contract with an option to renew it for an additional 3 years, and she has accepted it!

During the Stewardship Campaign our stewards did their best to conduct one-on-one meetings with every member, and we are already using the information gathered during those meetings to improve Tapestry and its programs.

And what about those programs? I’m sure all of you have been touched in some way by one or more of our many teams and activities. I want to commend all of you for everything you have done and are continuing to do to sustain this church and our community both inside and beyond these walls. We’re living in an interesting time, and it’s critical that we share this sanctuary that is welcoming, accepting and dedicated to upholding the UU values we all share.

Now I would like to single out every one of you and thank you for each of your contributions to this church. Don’t worry! I don’t actually have the time to do that. But please know that your efforts are noticed and greatly appreciated.

I do, however, want to commend our illustrious minister who has been doing a superb job. Alisha joined us a little over a year ago, and she has made a huge difference. When we were interviewing her for the job, we said that we would like Tapestry to grow and make a positive impact on the lives of its members and our broader community. She is doing this, and I don’t think we could ask for more. Here are some details:

First and foremost, Alisha has thrown her whole self into being our minister. She has taken the lead of our Worship Team, and I don’t believe we’ve ever had a better program. At our Fall Retreat, she helped us focus on the things we deem important. And as a result of that work, we now have a three-year Worship plan.

Alisha has also brought a personal touch to her ministry. I believe she has reached out to all of our members and invited all to one-on-one meetings where she got to know you better and to understand what you want most from our church.

Lately, she played a critical role in getting our Safety Team organized. Safety is an important issue, and we are working closely with CJCN to learn and be prepared to employ their safety protocols. A safety drill is planned for this coming September.

But most important for me, Alisha is helping us focus on, dare I say it, what is holy. We are a small church in a major urban setting. We all want to do good for ourselves, our families and the broader community. These are lifelong tasks, and they take ongoing discernment about what is essential, what we truly need and want, and how we conduct ourselves in the pursuit of our goals.

I know Alisha’s focus on essentials is helping me grow as a person, a father, a husband, and as a dedicated member of this community. I hope you feel that way too.

There is much more that I could say about Alisha. Suffice it to say that she is bringing us a host of ideas; she is energetic and she has a clear vision of helping us make our church all that we want it to be.

And what is it we want? More of the same? A steadily growing and impactful church doing good works? There are many opportunities before us, but of course, we can’t do it all. This will take discernment and making choices by all of us. But we’re on the road, and I think the future looks promising.

Let us, Alisha and church leaders, know what you think. And get involved to the extent that you are able. There are many opportunities. Checkout our weekly newsletter and our church’s social media posts. See something interesting, get involved! You don’t necessarily have to be a leader, just lend a hand.

During our Annual Meeting, there will be time for you to see some exhibits and talk to people about some of the things they are doing at our church. Please take time to do so.

You are what this church is all about. Help us make our church all we want and need it to be.

Thank you.