by Rev. Dave Dunn
UUA General Assembly (GA), the annual meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Association, will be held in Baltimore, MD on June 18-22. This year’s theme is “Meet the Moment.”
At GA last year, significant changes were made to Article II of the UUA Bylaws, which details the foundational elements of the denomination. The changes were passed with 80% of the delegates voting to approve the changes. Part of the change is a representation of six fundamental values with love at the center.
UUs pride themselves on making decisions in a democratic fashion yet last year, we at UUMAN had some rich discussions as to how the denomination might not actually be as democratic as we would hope.
One way for us at UUMAN to become more involved in our democratic denomination would be for us to attend GA. The “Multiplatform” registration, allowing for both in-person and online streaming of all programming, costs $410. Online registration for the business sessions only can cost as little as $0. (That’s right, it can be free!)
Some congregations form GA “Watch Parties” sharing an online streaming feed on a big screen. (A single $410 registration could be used to accomplish this.)
Info about GA can be found here: https://www.uua.org/ga
In addition to GA, SUUSI is another summer event that is attended by UUs nationwide (including many from UUMAN). SUUSI is the Southeastern Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute that will be held on the campus of Radford University (Radford, VA) on July 20-26. It a fun, action-packed, all-ages UU summer camp full of music, workshops, nature outings….with childcare! Several UUMAN members are on SUUSI staff and we even have one member on the SUUSI Board (Stephen Shanahan).
Friction Farm, the music duo who led one of our Sunday services last July, were just two of the many talented musicians who perform at SUUSI each year.
When we lived in PA, we took our four children to the “Ohio SUUSI” every year from 1999 – 2012 (when they began going off to college). UU summer camp was so important to them that they never wanted to go anywhere else for vacation. It always had to be UU summer camp.
Although SUUSI might appear expensive at first, the cost is all-inclusive (i.e. room, board, most all workshops, music performances, etc. )
Before you make your summer plans, you might want to check SUUSI out. (https://www.suusi.org/index)
I plan on attending both GA and SUUSI in person and I hope to see you there!
Nurture our spirit. Strive for Justice. Transform the world.
