by EUU President Bonnie Friedmann

Happy New Year! We are only a week or so in to 2026, and I hope you are feeling the hope of a shiny new chunk of calendar time, the hope of beginnings and plans that will lead to the plantings of spring, despite how short and dark the days still are and despite all that is going on in our wider, weary world. Take heart that the light is returning, along with another season of growth to the cycle of the harvest and around again. We are alive and we are together!

As we entered December 2025, the last month of what was a long year for many of us in many ways, it was with both gratitude and a deep weariness that I reflected during this dark time of rejuvenation, rest, and planning, on the time spent in community and service with all of you. Especially now, and for the past year, many of us may feel weary, and the holidays may have brought up mixed feelings – challenging us to live practicing our UU values in a world where love so often does not seem to be at the center.  It can feel a lot like we’re salmon, swimming upstream against the current.

As we dive into 2026, reflecting on our EUU year 2025 together may bring us both comfort and determination – comfort that we have used the moments of 2025 as well as we could, and determination to use each day of this new year to keep love at the center and continue to do what we can. As an African proverb wisely reminds us, “if you feel like you are too small to make a difference, you’ve never spent the night with a mosquito.”

At our last Coordinating Council meeting and at the AGM (Annual General Meeting), we reviewed our accomplishments for 2025. Here is a recap for all of us, especially those of you who could not be at those gatherings.

In 2025, we, EUU:

Held two retreats – last spring in Saarbrücken and in September in Cologne, creating the space for inspiration, learning, and rejoicing in our shared fellowship. Thank you to Karen Kyker and her team in Saarbrücken, and to the newly formed, ongoing Retreat Leadership Committee and the team in Cologne. Plans are in the works for two retreats in 2026 and two in 2027, with hostels already reserved and speakers lined up. 

Shared our resources in keeping with our values – Stewarded by our most vibrant committee, Social Action, we have contributed to a variety of organizations and causes, which the SAC reported on at the AGM.

Surpassed our 2025 Pledge Goal by almost €3000 – Let’s keep it that way in order to ensure that we continue living our values through our budget. These generous financial contributions provide the funding for our Social Action committee, extra support to encourage and enable people to come to retreats, and support the ongoing existence of our administrative staff.

Continued to update our website and communications mechanisms – Thanks to your hard-working and dedicated Unifier and website editor, and Goddess of All Things Communications, Gevene Hertz, who also manages to share inspirational poems with us every weekend through the eau-l list Joys and Concerns emails. Gevene will be retiring from the Unifier and website at the end of this year. Thanks also to Matt Gilsenan, as well as Karen Kyker and Karin Cudd, who are exploring options for updating and modernizing our website. Let us know if you can step up, as to date, we are not sure what the future of the Unifier and Communications will be. We do have a group who are exploring possible ways forward – contact our VP, Cappy, if this interests you.

Your EUU officers and Coordinating Council representatives met regularly –  to steer the work of EUU. The CC also made a few decisions via email polling to handle necessary business between meetings. In all these ways, many decisions were made, and much information was shared, about the state of our fellowships and other EUU concerns. One decision made was that CC reps will ask family members or the member, when appropriate, if it’s okay to share contact information in times of joy or concern.

Held two online workshops led by new EUU member, the Rev. Adam Slate (UK, At Large), on dealing with grief and sustaining ourselves in these tumultuous times.

Continued to offer many fellowship and At Large events to keep us together both online and in-person. If you review the CC representatives’ reports, you will see how full and busy this year has been for all of us.

May we take heart with each other and remember that we are a relay tag-team, a kind of joyful choir, committed to helping each other and the world thrive, sustaining the song by doing what we can when we can, and resting when we need to rest and breathe, as others continue to carry the tune.

I  hope the season of darkness and renewal offered you respite and refreshment, and the energy to  move together with us into a new year as the light returns, held in the warmth of our community. From that warmth, inspired by the persistence of the tiny mosquito, may we have the strength to connect with other communities, spread kindness, and help heal as many hearts as we can.

In faith, joy, and service, your EUU president
Bonnie