Last week was the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly, our annual national gathering which includes workshops, worship, guest speakers, and the business of our denomination, which is carried out be delegates from member congregations of the UUA. (This year it took place exclusively online, which allowed me to serve as a delegate for UUFM even while in Pittsburgh for a doctoral class. Next year it will be both online and in Baltimore, and I hope to attend in person.)
This was a big year with lots of important votes. The biggest was that we passed the revisions to Article II of the UUA bylaws. Many of you heard me preach about this several months ago. Here’s a link to a UU World article about that historic vote, which passed with an 80.2% yes vote:
I want to emphasize that this updating of language is a normal part of our denomination’s understanding of ourselves as a living tradition, one that evolves over time. This is neither the first nor last time we will make such changes together.
Other business items that we passed include three Actions of Immediate Witness:
- World on Fire: Humanitarian Work and Climate Change (95.6% yes vote)
- Centering Love Amidst the Ongoing Impact of COVID-19 (86.1% yes vote)
- Solidarity with Palestinians (73.5% yes vote)
The delegates also adopted a Responsive Resolution titled “UUA GA Support for October 7 Hostages” with a 77.0% yes vote, and a Business Resolution titled “Embracing Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex People is a Fundamental Expression of UU Religious Values” with a 91.8% yes vote.
Each of these votes happened after discussion, some of it painful. Each is too complicated to describe here, but I will share information about them all over time. Each of these issues is important to our faith.
Our faith is a democratic one, and our General Assembly, like our congregational meetings, is where we live out that democratic way of being. It is a profound part of what we believe in, together.
The bottom line is this: our values have love at the center, and we live them out in a wide variety of ways. The core of who we are has not changed, but the ways we express our beliefs have, as we learn to be more and more inclusive over time. That’s a good thing, something for us to be proud of.
In gratitude,
Rev. Diana