Discussion on possibility of regular services at some point

Hello Unity Community,

I like this idea of the community keeping in touch on this forum for sharing inspirations
and discussing ways that people might get together for occasional gatherings/events,
and see what unfolds.

Even though I’m not the leadership type, and I’m not one who would show up every
week, I want to share that I’m still particularly interested in any possibilities of the
community having regular weekly services at some point, and finding out if such a
possibility may, or may not, exist any time soon. My vision for a weekly service is
that there would be paid “professional” speakers most Sundays, to appeal to a broader
range of people & thereby build a broader community. Though I think it’s nice to also
have occasional volunteer speakers from our community.

I like the idea of a regular weekly service because it allows more opportunity
(for me & others) to be able to come on some weeks, even if we can’t come every
week. It seems to me, that if there were regular services, there could possibly be
around 20 or so people showing up each week, even if some people did not show up
every week. Even though I wouldn’t show up every week, if there did seem to be
considerable interest from enough people with ability/willingness to make a weekly
event happen, I’d be willing to show up and volunteer in some capacity on some
weeks (including with bookkeeping type stuff, as long as the operations were small).

We didn’t really get around to having much discussion about possibilities of ongoing
weekly services/gatherings, because it seems like not enough people would be able
& willing to contribute consistently (financially & as volunteers), even though there
seemed to be quite a few people interested in gatherings. Maybe there aren’t enough
people right now able to contribute to a weekly structured gathering, but I guess I’d
like to see the possibility still out there for consideration.

To have a better understanding of what option there might be, I spoke with
Chochmat HaLev specifically about a weekly rental possibility in the smaller space,
and I’m thinking that between rent, speaker fee, small stipend for someone willing
to contact/schedule speakers and also be MC at the services, with volunteer musical
contribution and at least 2 other dedicated volunteers per service (shared/rotated
among those willing & able), that we might be able to do simple weekly services with
about $300 per week. I don’t know if the structure I’m envisioning is realistic. I’m not
a risk taker, so if an option like this were being considered, I think we would want to
see solid commitments up front from enough people, to know that we could meet a bit
more than the basic needs on an ongoing basis. Maybe we aren’t ready at this point.

If there are people interested who feel they could contribute consistently,
financially &/or as volunteers, it would be great to hear from you here
(with specifics on what & when & how much you really feel you could commit
to contributing), or you could email me if you don’t want to post some things here.
I'm not sure it's safe to post email addresses on a forum (otherwise I would post
mine here), but I expect there is some way that we could connect individually by
email.

If at some point there does seem to be enough interest and ability to contribute,
then we could further explore the nuts & bolts of a weekly service possibility.
I’d love to see any comments & ideas on this topic from all of you on this forum.

In case anyone on this forum does not know who I am....I've been a member of, and
handled the bookkeeping for, Unity of Berkeley since 2006.
Love & Joy, Tao