Our Wonerful Creation

Our Building Project is finished and the time has come to step back and appreciate the amazing work we have done in the new Jefferson Courtyard. I like to begin by standing across the street in the Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens admiring the front of our Sanctuary. The building hasn’t changed but the view is decidedly different now. My eye is drawn to the left by a new, inviting entryway flanked on the right by a collection of ferns and white azaleas clustered beneath our grand old Olive tree and on the left by trio of magnificent Sago palms. I jay-walk across Santa Barbara St, walk through that beckoning entry and descend a broad stairway into our new courtyard. The first thing I see is two slightly mounded, lush grass areas separated by a brick patio with a splendid Magnolia tree in the center. I also notice Olive trees standing like sentinels at the four corners of the courtyard offering the promise of peace & shade in the years to come. I’m drawn to the central Magnolia. Once there I turn towards the Sanctuary. I see a long, stucco covered retaining wall punctuated by an understated, embossed UU symbol. Behind the symbol palm plants explode upward with yellow roses, agaves, jasmine and various ground covers extending outward to the left and right. Perhaps most striking are the two stairways that swoop down from each end of the Sanctuary wall like embracing arms.

To my left, towards the Blake Building, I ‘m drawn to a narrow passageway laced with Jacarandas and azaleas, that opens upon an earth-colored cobblestone labyrinth. This space always makes me pause as I imagine the sacred rituals, the laughter of children, the quite reveries that will add magic in the years ahead. I’m startled to see the green eyes of a centipede vegetable planter staring at me from the left. As I turn to my right I see a gateway to the playground and a curving amphitheater topped with another large Magnolia tree. Further to my right are two doorways. One goes to a new storage area but I take the second door which welcomes me into an elevator. I push the proper buttons and find myself lifted up to a surprising new terrace & gathering space. Once again I’m presented with a choice. I can enter a doorway to the Parish hall administrative offices or I can enter the Sanctuary through a heavy mahogany door. But I choose neither. Instead I walk to the edge of the Terrace and look down upon our wonderful creation . It’s beautiful.