UUA General Assembly
GA 2008, Ft. Lauderdale, FL Click here for information.
Doug McCusker's Postcards from GA
7/1/2008 8:26 PM This is my final postcard. Actually, the 2008 UUA General Assembly adjourned 2 days ago, but I didn't want to leave out my final impressions. The last day, which was Sunday, June 29 was a fitting end to an excellent GA. As is always the case, the Sunday morning worship at GA is amazing. If you've never experienced a UU worship with over 3000 people it would be hard for me to describe what it is like. The singing and the music create such intensity that you can feel the energy from the assembled throng. The solemn parts grip you by the heart and the sermons grab you by the collar. This year's was no exception. Rev Marlin Lavenhar gave a stirring call to action that picked up right where Van Jones' address at the Ware lecture left off. The theme of the worship and all it's components focused on getting America back on track to being what it professes to be about but has never quite achieved. There were 2 plenary sessions on Sunday that wrapped up the business of this year's GA. Six actions of immediate witness passed: Single Payor Health Care, Oppose a US Attack on Iran, End Present-day Slavery in the Fields, Raise the Federal Minimum Wage to $10 in 2010, Extend the Tax Credit for Wind and Solar Power, and Oppose the Florida and California Marriage Protection Initiatives. The Single Payor Health Care AIW was the only one that involved a lot of debate. A couple of by-law changes were passed. The one that included changes to how the Ministerial Fellowship Committee can terminate the fellowship creditentials for ministers was hotly debated but eventually passed. There were several Responsive Resolutions to the reports which were delivered throughout the GA. The most interesting one was the one proposed by the Young Adults for a Conversation on Young Adult Ministry much like what has recently occurred for the Youth. With a few ammendments it passed.
Pete Fontneau sang in the choir for the Closing Ceremony. I heard from many people that it was a very good ceremony, but I had decided to skip out on it in favor of going to the beach. I just couldn't come all the way down to Fort Lauderdale and not go to the beach. Other than the shark that swam by and forced everyone out of the water for a half hour, the water was warm the sand was fine and the surf was fun. It was my own personal closing ceremony.
Well, another year's General Assembly has passed and as usual it was a thrilling experience. The announced attendance was 3,020. It was much more intimate than my previous GA's and there was never any congestion problem getting into any of the workshops. The hard core GA junkies were all there, but most of the casual attendees stayed home. There weren't that many folks who were attending for the first time. That made the business sessions more efficient, but I also missed seeing the look in people's eyes who are experiencing their first GA. The most prevalent themes revolved around holistic denominational and congregational growth, establishing a culture of generosity, multi-generational worship, jumping into social justice action as we stand on the precipice of big changes ahead on the national and international scene, preparing for a new UUA President, anti-racism, anti-oppression, multi-culturism, ethical eating, immigration and farm worker's rights and of course, transforming national security fears into peaceful dialog and cooperation.
I had a great time and I hope that my postcards gave you a glimpse of what GA is like and what we as an Association of UU Congregations do when we get together to make our religion the transformative movement that changes lives.
In faith and unity,
Doug
6/29/2008 at 8:28 AM I'm still buzzing from last night's Ware Lecture. Van Jones gave an amazing speech. We all walked out of the hall and all anyone could say was "WOW"! He fired us up and set the path for action. I hope you were able to see the streaming video, but if you didn't, don't worry I'll buy the DVD and we'll watch it together at AUUC. Yesterday's plenary had a few more reports, some videos from breakthrough congregations and we voted to accept "Ethical Eating" as our Congregational Study Action Issue for the next 4 years. Bull Run UUs from Manassas, VA was selected as a breakthrough congregation and their video was great. It really showed why they are growing by leaps and bounds. I attended a long workshop on financial stewardship that was presented by Wayne Clarke. It provided a new way of looking at stewardship through the lens of appreciative inquiry and introduced new language to substitute for words like "pledge canvass". I've got some good information to bring back to Dean Wanderer and Vicki Long that we can use immediately at AUUC. All of us from Accotink attended the Presidents forum to hear from the 2 candidates that are running for the President of the UUA next year. The place was packed. The 2 candidates differentiated themselves and presented 2 very different choices for our next president.
There's one day left of GA, and I'm content that I've gone to all the sessions that I needed to go to. Today, I'm going to try and get to the beach in between plenary sessions. Until the next postcard...
In faith and unity,
Doug
6/28/2008 at 1:13AM My day seemed to intersect several times with Sarah Edelson and her mom, Christine. Sarah, as many of you know, spent most of her youth in Ft. Lauderdale so this has been a homecoming for her. She introduced me to her DRE that she had while she was growing up. Sarah and her mom have been working the SUUSI booth in the exhibit hall. Sarah told me that she really enjoys the plenary sessions. In the afternoon, I, Pete, Sarah, Christine and about 500 UUs all went to a public witness event at the city park to lend our voices in opposition to the Florida constitutional ammendment for banning same-sex marriages and the practice of deporting immigrant parents of children that are U.S. citizens. It was hot and sticky in the mid-day Florida sun but it was fun to be part of a movement that emphasized Love for All Families.
Meanwhile back at the convention center I went to an excellent workshop on a recent conversation by 12 ministers of breakthrough congregations who explored the common threads of phenominal growth. I can't wait to show you all the DVD of the conversation and share with you what I learned. I also attended a great session on racial unity. The evening session was an energetic session put on by the youth and young adults. It included performances by some very talented local musicians and provocative reflections by insightful youth and adults. It ended with a joyful bridging ceremony and lots of singing.
I think I'll sleep very well tonight! Until the next postcard...
In faith and unity,
Doug
6/27/2008 at 11:02 AM We survived our first full day of this General Assembly and we're still going strong. General Assembly involves a lot of walking both inside the convention center and outside on the street. Pete Fontneau and I have been passing up the shuttle buses, which gives us more freedom and some good exercise. Julie and Judy are also getting a lot of exercise, so much so that Julie had to pass up the excellent concert last night by Amy Carol Webb in order to rest her knees. Thursday's plenary was mainly reports and awards. Rev Bill Sinkford informed us of all the great work that the UUA staff and the office of the President is doing. He also made an emphatic advocacy for the Youth and Young Adult Ministry efforts, more on that later. Your AUUC delegates have attended all plenary sessions and have coordinated our workshop attendance so we can bring back a variety of ideas and information. Pete went to a Green Roundtable workshop, Judy Robison attended a workshop on how to use new media technology to spread public awareness of our congregation, and I covered a workshop on crisis planning. Later, Pete and I both attended a 3 hour session on appreciative inquiry to develop end statements for the UUA Board of Trustees. That was my first exposure to Appreciative Inquirey and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps the highlight of the day was witnessing our new minister, Rev Scott Sammler-Michael walk on the stage and accept his preliminary fellowship as a UU Minister. The Service of the Living Tradition is an inspiring and reverent event that honors the past, present and future by reaching out to our newest ministers and giving gratitude to those that are retiring or have died in the last year. The attendance seems to be a little off this year, perhaps because of the downturn in the economy or because of the fact that we are holding this event within a Homeland Security Zone. This requires everyone to show a picture id whenever we come and go. Many people stayed home as a boycott of this requirement.
The topic of fear and manipulation of fear has been a recurring theme in most sermons so far.
I'll close by giving you a little story. Yesterday, while leaving a workshop I walked up to a table where one of my favorite authors, Rev Dr. Forrest Church was signing his new book, Love and Death. Rev Church has terminal cancer and has only a short time left in this present life.
His book is a reflection on his life and his coming death. I bought the audio CD, which made it difficult to get his signature. But then I remembered that I had one of his previous books, Lifecraft, in my backpack. So I offered it to him and he gladly signed it with a message of love. I felt that this was our way of saying good bye to each other.
General Assembly taps into all our emotions and senses of awareness.
It's part of the reason that at the end of the day, we are exhausted but fulfilled.
That's all for now, until my next postcard...
In faith and unity,
Doug
6/26/2008 at 10:57 AM Hey everyone, the weather is warm but GA is even hotter! Last night we were drumming and dancing to kick off this year's GA. The highlight of the Opening Session was a very inspiring 7-movement UU Cantata called Sources written by Kendyl Gibbons - many of you remember her from the early years of Accotink - and Jason Shelton. Judy Robison carried our banner proudly in the banner parade. I'll post the pictures as soon as I can. Speaking of pictures, I left my camera in my seat last night and didn't realize that I was without it until this morning. I actually never feared that the camera was lost, and thanks to the ethical grounding of UUs, the camera was waiting for me in the Lost and Found. It didn't take long for us all to find each other yesterday, Pete, Julie, Judy, Sarah and Rev Scott. Several of us sat together this morning in the Plenary session and strategized how we will cover as many workshops of interest to you all and ourselves as we can. Thanks to all who gave us suggestions for workshops to attend. If we can we will and we'll take good notes. I have to run to my next workshop, so ciao for now. Come back tomorrow to catch up on the next postcard from GA 2008.
In faith and unity
Doug
Back to top
