"District Assembly"

I had a great weekend at the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Central Midwest District (CMWD) meeting in Waukesha, WI, about 80 miles east of here. That’s a mouthful. It was a 2-day conference (Fri. even through Sun morning). The topic of the meeting was “leadership in times of profound change."  I attended 3 inspiring services with wonderful music from people of all ages. The keynote speaker, Sharon Daloz Parks, gave an outstanding lecture on leadership. After deciding last week to stop buying books and start using the public library, I bought 5 books (oops…two on leadership, one on sustainability, one on “worship that works” and one on the 7 principles of U-U). I got a bunch of free CDs with advice and success stories for congregations and lay leaders. We also had a forum with the two candidates for president of the UUA. That was very interesting, and I definitely left with a preference for one of them (Laurel Hallman). I roomed with someone I’d never met before who attends another church in my city and we had fun getting to know each other. Hopefully we'll be seeing each other again.

After being anti-religion from the age of 20 to 46, now at the age of 49, I love the U-U religion. I love the positive spirit, the encouragement to question and grow, and the commitment to equal rights and social justice. I look forward to working more on the social justice projects in my church.