From Chris Pender

This year was the 53^rd annual General Assembly (GA). It was held in Providence, R.I. from June 25^th through June 29^th and six people from Unity Church of North Easton attended all five days: Ken and Mary Lu Love, Cheryl Brigante, Nicola Wilbur, Reverend Kristin, and myself. 

I had never attended GA and didn't really know what to expect. I knew there would be workshops and worship services but I had no idea how wonderful they would be. The Welcoming Celebration was Wednesday night and I had the honor of carrying our banner in the traditional Banner Parade. There are 1,049 churches in the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and it seemed like all of them were represented that night. The service that followed was spiritual, and had wonderful music. Our banner was hung in the main hall where all of us from Unity could see it - it truly created a sense of pride as we walked by our flag each day.

The days were similar in that there were worship services in the morning followed by various workshops in the afternoon. There were hundreds of interesting workshops to choose from. I was able to attend breakouts on Social Media, Stewardship and perhaps the most interesting, Doing Church in the 21^th Century which focused on the structure of today's successful UU religious affiliations.

Interspersed throughout each day were General Sessions where we heard reports from various committees concerning national UU issues. The most important function of the General Sessions, however, was voting on how to handle those issues. Ken Love and I were Unity Church's two voting delegates and were able to weigh in.

The two most compelling votes taken were whether or not to divest the UUA's funds currently in Fossil fuels, and a vote taken to choose a topic for Congregation Study and Action; a topic that would be investigated over the next four years during which time plans would be put in place to achieve as many positive goals as possible in the action chosen.   

It was decided that divesting in Fossil Fuels was the overall action to take but that it was wise to keep enough holdings to still have a voice at the table. There were many issues presented for the Congregation Study and Action but the winning action was Escalating Inequality. There are many books, websites and videos available to aid in the study of this issue and I am hoping to get together as a group to explore the topic. If anyone is interested in helping me organize the sessions, please let me know.

Nicola sang with a choir at one of the services and had a solo. She also enjoyed the many hallway sing-a longs that would spontaneously occur. One or two people would have an instrument and then song would break out. Please ask her about her experience next time you see her. You can see the entire service here.

For me personally, Saturday night was my favorite part of GA. It began with the Ware Lecture by Sister Simone Campbell, and ended with WaterFire, a celebration held on the Providence River Waterfront. Sister Simone is the National Coordinator of NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby. She urged us to walk towards trouble, as that is the only way that we can truly effect change. Here is a link to the whole lecture. 

After the lecture, Ken, Mary Lu, and I joined Nicola, Cheryl, Susanne Rogers, and Audrey Davies for dinner. We then went to the Worship service titled, Make Way for Love where we enjoyed a music packed service at the Dunkin Donuts Center after which the entire session left for WaterFire. It was quite a sight to be seen as 5,000 UU's followed our moderator, Jim Key and our President Rev. Morales through the streets of Providence to the waterfront to light the river fires from our chalice that had been originally lit during the service at the Dunkin Center.

If you haven't been to WaterFire, it is a wonderful experience in itself. Each Saturday night during the season fires are lit on the river and people gather to watch and enjoy the night. This night the ceremony was sponsored by the UUA and those in attendance were treated to thousands of UUs singing songs of love - you couldn't help but be moved.

We all attended many workshops and all took things away from GA that we would like to apply at Unity. Ken especially liked the Ware Lecture and the Sunday morning sermon. Some of Cheryl and Mary Lu thoughts about the session are in the articles below. 

GA is a wonderful experience that cannot be fully appreciated unless you have attended one. It is exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time. And there is nowhere else that you can go and see close to 5,000 Unitarian Universalists all in the same place. It was a wonderful experience and I hope to be able to attend next year's GA in Portland Oregon.

You can see many services and workshops on the UUA website. I encourage everyone to go to the website and take away as much as you can from what was both a truly a significant and spiritually uplifting session for me, Ken, Mary Lu, Cheryl, Nicola, and Kristin.

From Cheryl Brigante

GA offers so many different types of experiences during five days. For me, going to GA was an opportunity to refresh my mind, spirituality, and soul after a difficult period in my life.