UUA Trustee News

I don’t think I was more than nine years old when I first heard the UUA Headquarters called, “The Vatican.”  When people said “The Vatican,” they smirked—it was a joke—but they also were trying to describe the sense of distance and apprehension they felt about a far-away place that seemed to have some unaccountable power over them.  Because children learn what they hear, and because the UUA Headquarters was far away from my home in Knoxville, I took on some of these attitudes myself, as I grew.  Who were those people, anyway?  Trying to force us to do things?!

Over time, however, this view didn’t stand.  Arriving in Oak Ridge in 2003, I learned something of the church’s history.  Not only did staff from the Association help start the two congregations in the area—in Knoxville and Oak Ridge—in 1949, it was also the Association who made it financially possible for Oak Ridge to call an effective minister, Arthur Graham, in 1954.  And then to build a church building in 1956.  Down through the decades, the Association had been present to provide support and guidance at crucial junctures of the congregation’s life.  Well, what is this Association, source of both suspicion and aid?

In recent years, instead of hearing people say, “The Vatican” or “The Association,” I’ve heard people start to say, “Our Association.”  It’s ours.  And when they say, “our Association,” they’re describing not a building in Boston filled with staff—not the headquarters—but the whole family of covenanted congregations.  Our Association of Congregations.  When we’re talking about something far-off and mysterious, it’s easy to fall into name-calling.  When we’re talking about family?  Well, that’s something different.  And when it comes to the Association, we’re talking about family.  Our family.

There is a change afoot in our movement—congregations are realizing and claiming the power of interrelationship.  What I saw in my first meeting with the UUA Board of Trustees was a room full of leaders who love this faith, talking about how they could best serve our movement as its representatives.  What I saw, in other words, was enthusiasm for the grassroots power of congregations and communities with vision and commitment.

Unitarian Universalism has nurtured me for a long time now.  At times, I’ll confess, I have wondered and worried about its future.  A movement that has not grown numerically in the last fifty years, as our country’s population has exploded and diversified, has some challenges.  A movement whose member congregations are sometimes unprepared for engaging a new tech-savvy generation has some challenges.

And yet, coming back from Boston, from hearing the good news from all over the country, I am heartened.  No—I am inspired.  There is hope for us.  And as there is hope for us, there is hope for the communities our sister congregations want to serve and to help transform.  This hope and this power rests not in a building in Boston, but within and between vital congregations doing ministry that is authentic, stubborn, and loving.  I bet you’re seeing some of this power, too.  Tell me about it!  Where do you see the stirrings of life?  Of love?  Of transformation?

Yesterday I attended the March for Equality in Washington DC. It was a thrill to see so many from all over the union gathered to celebrate the equal rights which will arrive in our time. It was heartening to see so many of a new generation, demanding that our nation’s laws match its time-honored ideals. And it was inspiring to walk alongside so many Unitarian Universalists, all of us “standing on the side of love.” Among them, of course, were TJ District President Jim and TJ District Executive Annette Marquis, raising the TJ District banner high! Annette had challenged District congregations to send 10% of their members. From the looks of it–from the dozens of people pouring out of buses and holding signs and wearing the golden “Standing on the Side of Love” t-shirts–a good number of congregations did exactly that. It was a joyous day, and a strengthening one. Back home, especially in the South, it can be difficult to stand on the side of love. Sometimes, it can seem a lonely path to walk. And yet, in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in your family, whenever you speak out and stand up for tolerance, for inclusion, for freedom of conscience, you stand on the side of love. Whenever you choose cooperation over competition, you stand on the side of love. Whenever you reach out to the forgotten and neglected, you stand on the side of love. Our Universalist ancestors placed their faith in a Love whose embrace was infinite and all-powerful, a Love that would someday shine out over, and through, every soul. Thinking of all of the marchers under those blue skies in our nation’s capital, and thinking of all of you back at home living brave lives rooted in our common values, I find myself daring to believe that not only will our nation one day reach the ideal of justice, but that the whole world will attain the glory that we in our faith call “the Beloved Community.” It will not be today. It will not be tomorrow. And it will not roll in “on the wheels of inevitability,” as Martin Luther King, Jr, reminded us all. It will take each of us, in all of our ways. But, thanks to you and thanks to the power of an all-embracing Love, we will get there. Thank you for the ways in which you carry the light, and shine it out on a world that needs it so badly.