Wow! The UUA’s General Assembly was an enriching and inspiring experience, even as a virtual gathering. I’ll admit to being a bit skeptical, to the point of almost not attending, but I’m so glad I changed my mind! And I have so much to share with you all! I also look forward to hearing from the other folx in our congregation who attended.
One big reason I endeavor to go to GA every year is because I always leave feeling like my creativity has been revitalized. And this year, I definitely needed that. We, as a congregation, need that to help us figure out new ways to forge ahead. Don’t get me wrong, I am so proud of how we’ve managed to pull together, stay together, and to keep growing our community and our connections. But there’s no denying that this pandemic and the social justice issues that have been magnified because of it have worn us down, taking more of our energy and joy away from us and adding frustration and despair (to name only a few of the many possible emotions on the spectrum). I am very interested in refueling all of us so we can keep providing the essential ministries of this church, bringing more love, more peace, more hope to the world.
The theme of this year’s GA was “Rooted, Inspired, and Ready”. This concept of rootedness had me curious. I found a few different ways we could approach it. One of the first actions GA attendees encountered was in the opening worship service: land acknowledgement. This ritual of naming the indigenous tribes that once lived on– and with– the land we now occupy, allows us to think deeply about the people that were here for 15,000 years or more, the people who developed a deep knowledge of the Earth, understood what it meant to live sustainably, who understood what interconnectedness with the land really means. And it’s not just a surface recognition- it’s digging further into the roots, right? Who were these people? Where are they now? How did that happen? The hope is that an understanding of this will awaken us all and inspire social and political action that will benefit the indigenous people of this land today.
“Our roots are gnarly”. These were words that I heard by the Rev. Joan Javier-Duval during the Sunday morning worship service (which is available to all to watch on youtube). I really like this metaphor because it helps me to know that there is some untangling that we must do when learning about the roots laid down by our Unitarian and Universalist ancestors. I came away from the youth synergy worship with an understanding that there are some roots that lead to oppression– we need to stop giving them life- and some roots that lead to love– we need to find them and lift them up, let them inspire us! I look forward to reading the Rev. Dr. John Buehrens’ new book, “Conflagration”, about spiritual friendships transcending differences. Sounds like our transcendentalist ancestors laid some roots we need to uncover and allow for more room to grow in the present!
One last take away (of many more!). We need to dig into our own roots. They’ll be gnarly, for sure. Let’s discover ourselves through our ancestors. I’m looking forward to developing a way for us to do this as a congregation. As always, I’m open to your ideas and creativity to help us find ways to explore!
Until next time– CHEERS!– we made it halfway through 2020!