Dear Ones,
After 38+ years, the UUA has embarked on a revision of Article II of our denominational Bylaws and Rules. This is the section of our governing documents that defines our Principles, Sources, and Purposes. These were never meant to go so many years unrevised, but so much has transpired in our world and in our denomination, wholesale revision does did not find a place. But since 2017, with changes to normalize gender neutral language to introducing an 8th Principle to a Study Commission overseeing a vote to change in ways that better reflect our highest aspirations as a faith community, dedicated members of the UUA have brought a considered process to the member congregations through GA workshops and ongoing dialogue. The Study Commission created a draft that will be presented at the 2023 GA; with an affirmative vote of 50%, the UUA and congregations will study the draft and decide in 2024 whether the changes will be adopted.
I know that some of us feel strongly about the principles as they are, and so we will embark on some conversations to learn why such changes have significance and how they affect our sense of the Unitarian Universalist faith we hold dear. Whatever the changes, love is the center—of why we gather, of how we care for each other, of what our future holds.
May you spread love and receive love, today and every day, as you remember you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May your feel it so, and may it be so.
Blessings and warm wishes, Rev. Rita