UU General Assembly Notes & Links
What a General Assembly I missed this year!: a presidential election, rallies, controversy, great democratic process, the start of a new campaign, interesting sermons, a great keynote, fundraising for a terrific cause, about 7,000 Unitarian Universalists all in one place, and more. Here is what I've learned about it:
First, but most recent, is a sermon at my church concerning GA, the Knoxville shootings, & Standing on the Side of Love by a member of the staff at UUA's Washington Office.
On the same topic, Beliefnet reported about GA in
Unitarians Say They're 'Standing on the Side of Love': "The "Standing on the Side of Love" campaign will try to rally local leaders and clergy to publicly oppose violence and mobilize their more than 1,000 congregations online. Their goal: to counter the estimated 7,500 hate crimes nationwide against individuals motivated by race, religion, political ideology or sexual orientation." And the Salt Lake City Tribune ran Interfaith rally points to spiritual side of immigration debate
A Letter From UUA President Peter Morales "Together, we can grow our faith and help heal the world. We can be, we must be, the religion for our time."
"Moderator Gone Missing" proves that even UUs can have the human trait of telling rumors.
Here's a review on my favorite issue: Rethinking our approach to diversity: "Our earnestness is sabotaging this project because guilt always deals cruelly with vision.... We’ve got to lighten up, laugh at our mistakes, apologize for our gaffes, and forgive the inevitable blunders." Yes, I have to learn that easier said than done for me. And Morrison-Reed, one of our great authors on racial diversity, accused UUs of oppressing the working class (I know where that's coming from & can relate). My husband might say "I told you so - it's all about class" but I still think it's more than that. It's also about knowing people as individuals and respecting them as individuals, so we have to get to know them and their culture and history and be respectful of that culture to really know them and be respectful of them. And respect is about accommodation, too. It takes some time and effort, but I enjoy learning and growing and hope that if we lighten up, more people will enjoy it, too.
And about diversity of belief: “What’s wrong with a Pentecostal Unitarian or Universalist?” was an interesting read about a service.
If you believe that God speaks to us in strange ways, including thunder storms, or not, you might be amused by God Speaks to the UUs which is the telling of an incident during a comedy performance. "You put several thousand UUs in the middle of the Mormon Jerusalem [referring to Salt Lake City - the location of this year's GA], just half a block from Temple Square - and you gotta know you’re just asking for a major, major smiting."
There was a vote on the Principles & Purposes which failed, but it went through a lot of process and we'll be seeing it again and changing the bylaws that refer to it according to this article.
I am so proud of my faith organization: Utah Pride Center Receives Over $29,000 in Donations from Unitarian Universalists
There were also musicians and singers with original music, like Amy Carol Webb's STAND! It's much more exciting to see it here:
This video, which was linked in Facebook by Rev. Om Prakash John Gilmore & someone else commented that this was her favorite part of GA, too - I believe it's the closing ceremony, has a lot of inspiring music & a sermon by a self-identified Indian Muslim-Hindu Unitarian who felt like an alien from outer-space. He makes some references to Star Trek, which many UUs love. It's almost an hour and a half, but I felt it was worth it. It was also a good-bye to Rev. Bill Sinkford as our president for the last 8 yrs. - our first African American president and the first African American president of any historically predominantly white religious organization. (Disappointment has been expressed in some blogs that our new president, who happens to be our first Latin-American president, was not part of this ceremony.)
There are more videos on the UUA site, which I haven't seen yet, but I hope to soon - especially the Ware Lecture (keynote).
Please comment if you have more news or good links about/from GA.
First, but most recent, is a sermon at my church concerning GA, the Knoxville shootings, & Standing on the Side of Love by a member of the staff at UUA's Washington Office.
On the same topic, Beliefnet reported about GA in
Unitarians Say They're 'Standing on the Side of Love': "The "Standing on the Side of Love" campaign will try to rally local leaders and clergy to publicly oppose violence and mobilize their more than 1,000 congregations online. Their goal: to counter the estimated 7,500 hate crimes nationwide against individuals motivated by race, religion, political ideology or sexual orientation." And the Salt Lake City Tribune ran Interfaith rally points to spiritual side of immigration debate
A Letter From UUA President Peter Morales "Together, we can grow our faith and help heal the world. We can be, we must be, the religion for our time."
"Moderator Gone Missing" proves that even UUs can have the human trait of telling rumors.
Here's a review on my favorite issue: Rethinking our approach to diversity: "Our earnestness is sabotaging this project because guilt always deals cruelly with vision.... We’ve got to lighten up, laugh at our mistakes, apologize for our gaffes, and forgive the inevitable blunders." Yes, I have to learn that easier said than done for me. And Morrison-Reed, one of our great authors on racial diversity, accused UUs of oppressing the working class (I know where that's coming from & can relate). My husband might say "I told you so - it's all about class" but I still think it's more than that. It's also about knowing people as individuals and respecting them as individuals, so we have to get to know them and their culture and history and be respectful of that culture to really know them and be respectful of them. And respect is about accommodation, too. It takes some time and effort, but I enjoy learning and growing and hope that if we lighten up, more people will enjoy it, too.
And about diversity of belief: “What’s wrong with a Pentecostal Unitarian or Universalist?” was an interesting read about a service.
If you believe that God speaks to us in strange ways, including thunder storms, or not, you might be amused by God Speaks to the UUs which is the telling of an incident during a comedy performance. "You put several thousand UUs in the middle of the Mormon Jerusalem [referring to Salt Lake City - the location of this year's GA], just half a block from Temple Square - and you gotta know you’re just asking for a major, major smiting."
There was a vote on the Principles & Purposes which failed, but it went through a lot of process and we'll be seeing it again and changing the bylaws that refer to it according to this article.
I am so proud of my faith organization: Utah Pride Center Receives Over $29,000 in Donations from Unitarian Universalists
There were also musicians and singers with original music, like Amy Carol Webb's STAND! It's much more exciting to see it here:
This video, which was linked in Facebook by Rev. Om Prakash John Gilmore & someone else commented that this was her favorite part of GA, too - I believe it's the closing ceremony, has a lot of inspiring music & a sermon by a self-identified Indian Muslim-Hindu Unitarian who felt like an alien from outer-space. He makes some references to Star Trek, which many UUs love. It's almost an hour and a half, but I felt it was worth it. It was also a good-bye to Rev. Bill Sinkford as our president for the last 8 yrs. - our first African American president and the first African American president of any historically predominantly white religious organization. (Disappointment has been expressed in some blogs that our new president, who happens to be our first Latin-American president, was not part of this ceremony.)
There are more videos on the UUA site, which I haven't seen yet, but I hope to soon - especially the Ware Lecture (keynote).
Please comment if you have more news or good links about/from GA.