Home stretch…

Fort Worth

We’re coming down to the home stretch at General Assembly here in Fort Worth. In some ways, things are slowing down — quite a few people have already left, people who could only take a long weekend and have to be back at work. In some ways, it feels as though the pace is picking up, as those of us who are left try to cram too many events into too short a time.

I’m sitting in the Raddisson Hotel, cramming some lunch into myself before heading off to the final session of Plenary, which I’ll be reporting on. So I’m quickly updating this blog before I have to run off. (I asked for a table near a plug, and they found one for me — but when I plugged in my laptop, I discovered the plug has no power — typical, I’m afraid, of this hotel, where the staff is pleasant and accomdating but the building is falling apart.)

I wasn’t going to go to Elaine Pagel’s lecture last night — went up to the Web room to write up some stories, and while I was writing, I turned on the live video streaming of the lecture — she was so good, I hustled right over to hear her live. A woman came in a little later to stand and listen — she obviously knew her Bible, because I could see her mouthing the words of Bible quotes as Pagels cited passages in the Gospel of John — and this woman, too, was captivated, found a seat, and sat down. I watched teenagers who were lost in rapt attention — and someone whom I know is pretty much of a humanist, also rapt in attention.

OK, so Pagels is a great speaker. But there was something more going on here.

After the lecture, I ran across Chris Walton, who’s on the staff of UU World magazine. Chris was sitting in the Raddisson lobby, typing away on his cute little 12″ Mac Powerbook, and he had just come back from Pagels’s lecture. “We are seeing a real change in Unitarian Universalists,” he said.

I wasn’t sure I agreed with him, but he went on.

“Ten years ago, I could not imagine over 2,000 Unitarian Universalists sitting and listening to a lecture about Jesus the way people did tonight,” he said. “No one got up and walked out in a huff.”

He’s right. there does seem to be a new openness to all things religious amongst Unitarian Universalists — a distinct movement away from the hardline ideologies that many Unitarian Universalists used to adhere to — there’s a new sense of intellectual openness, a new willingness to listen.

And Chirs and I agreed that this openness does have a generational aspect. The generation of younger Unitarian Universalists now coming up is far more open to exploring the Christian tradition, and not immediately rejecting it out of hand.

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Sunday morning worship

Fort Worth

At Sunday morning worship this morning, we got a good old-fashioned Universalist sermon. But the rest of the worship service was anything but old-fashioned. The music was not 19th C. Western European classical music, it was jazz, gospel, and world music. The children’s story incorporated dance and drama to tell an ancient Sufi tale. And worshipping in the Fort Worth arena with about three thousand other Unitarian Universalists did not feel like traditional church — it did not even feel like the old-time Universalist camp meetings. No, the worship was contemporary.

But the sermon, given by Rob Hardies, minister at All Souls UU Church in Washington, DC, gave a message that the 19th C. Universalists would have recognized. The line from Hardies’s sermon that stuck with me went something like this: “The spiritual life isn’t about dabbling here and there, it’s about giving your whole life over to love.” Hardies gave new life to that old Universalist theme that love is the most powerful force in the universe, by pointing out that love will transform us as we use love to transform the world into a more humane and just place.

Hardies also had a good line about the name of his church. His church is called All Souls, which he contends is the best name for Unitarian Universalist churches because we aim to invite all persons in. But, said Hardies, “Can you imagine a church named ‘Some Souls’?” Everyone laughed, and then he added, “But isn’t that the defacto name of dominant religion in America today?” Murmurs of recognition greeted this statement.

Hardies went on to add, “The good news that Unitarian Universalism must deliver to the world… the good news that has literally saved my life, is that a god who picks and chooses is not god at all, it is an idol.” Then he said we must “preach the old Universalist gospel that all souls are invited to the welcome table.”

Well, this Universalist agrees with Hardies wholeheartedly. The professional musicans and well-rehearsed worship service for 3,000 people is fine and good, but what really matters is getting that message out to the world.

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Electronic frontiers of religion

Fort Worth, Texas, at the General Assembly of Unitarian Universalist congregations

The best workshop that I have attended at General Assembly this year by far was “The Electronic Frontier: Growing Unitarian Universalism via the Web.”

At this workshop, we learned that the great majority of our newcomers learn about our congregations through our Web sites. By now, more than 90% of Unitarian Universalist congregations have Web sites. As Deb Weiner put it (she’s the Director of Electronic Communications at the UUA), people who are looking for a Unitarian Universalist congregation should be able to find one if they’re looking via the Web. And right now, hundreds of people visit www.uua.org each Sunday morning looking for a UU congregation near them!

Another highlight yesterday, needless to say, was the meeting of the UU bloggers who are here at General Assembly. One clear thing came up for all of us — at least part of the reason we are blogging about Unitarian Universalism is that we want to welcome those people who might be looking for our liberal faith.

I’m really coming to believe that if a congregation wants to grow these days, it had better pay close attention to its Web site.

When I have a little more time, I’ll try to write more about this topic — but now I have to run off an report on yet another General Assembly event for the UUA Web site. Where am I headed? Off to “The Prom You Never Had.” Ironically, I’m one person who never had any interest in attending my high school prom — that will just mean that I am able to maintain journalistic objectivity.

More about General Assembly tomorrow!

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Meeting with other UU Bloggers

Fort Worth, Texas

We’re sitting here at the UU bloggers meetup at General Assembly. Here’s who’s here:

Enrique, from the Blue Chalice — Annabelle and Curtis, from Talking UU Technology — Chris, from Philocrites — Joseph, from Radical Hapa — Phil, Phil’s Little Blog on the Prairie — James, from Left Coast Unitarian — Patrick, who’s a regular reader and commenter — and Larry, who’s also a reader, and looking to incorporate blogging into his church’s Web site.

John from Returning, and Jess from Jess’s Journal were here earlier. Greg from (r)evolUUtions could not make it, but his wife stopped by to send his greetings.

Hi, all you other UU bloggers who are following General Assembly from afar! More on our meeting later….

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Watching General Assembly live, online

Electronic Communications Room, General Assembly, Fort Worth

Yes, you can watch the best of General Assembly live online. Go to the streaming video page of the UUA Web site, and click on the link in the upper right corner to get the live video coverage. You will need “Real Player,” a free download (link to that site on the streaming video page).

Dwight Ernst, our tech guru here in the electronic communcations room, just announced that about 50 people are watching the Service of the Living Tradition as I write this. There are another 10 to 20 people downloading the archived videos of earlier events, inlduing the session with Pete Seeger earlier today.

What are you waiting for? Check it out!

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Long lines and general craziness

Fort Wroth, Texas

Today’s General Assembly schedule called for a lunch break from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. I realized this just about at 11:00, and ran out to try to beat the crowds streaming out of the Convention Center. Dwight from the Web staff recommended the Corner Bakery on Main and 6th, but by the time I got there there were at least 50 people in line — and probably more. Lines everywhere, and still more crowds of people streaming out of the convention center.

I finally wound up back the the Human Bean. The line was short — only seven people ahead of me — but the staff was overwhelmed, and the food was running short. After nearly ten minutes, I got to place my order.

“Large coffee, half decaf, and one of your breakfast sandwiches,” I said.

The very pleasant young woman at the counter said, “Sorry, we can’t make you one of those until our boss comes back with more food.” No chicken salad either, which was my second choice.

That sounded ominous. I thought quickly. “What do you have?” I said.

She looked at the young man making the sandwiches. He said, “We have grilled chicken breast….”

“Great, that’s just exactly what I want,” I said.

The young woman laughed. “Just what you want because we still have it?”

“Exactly,” I said.

As I waited for my sandwich (which took another ten minutes — they really were overwhelmed), I chatted a little bit with them. Their boss had been told that 4,000 people were going to be at the conference, but he just hadn’t expected how busy that would make the coffee shop. They looked hot and tired — but they also said that everyone from General Assembly was very nice and polite. And I could see that as people waited patiently in line, and didn’t complain when they learned how limited the menu had become. Made me proud to be a Unitarian Universalist. Looks like we’re learning to really live out our faith in the wider world.

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Yesterday’s opening ceremony was quite good, with excellent music. We got to sing a few more songs from the new hymnal supplement, and there was great music from Geoff Kaufmann, Gabrielle West, Stan Strickland, and others. But the real musical highlight was the appearance of Pete Seeger, who came out and told the story-song of “Abiyoyo,” familiar from his several recordings of it. Pete Seeger is getting old, but he was still the consumate performer. He sang one of his most famous songs, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” inviting everyone to join in. The singing was a little ragged at first.

“I don’t have much voice any more,” he said with his trademark modesty, “but if you sing it, this is going to sound good.” We sang another versesounding only marginally better. Seeger commented, “I see a few of you with your mouths like this” — he closed his mouth tight, then continued — “keeping your academic objectvity….” Everyone laughed, in self-recognition. Next verse, it did indeed sound as if many more people began to sing.

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As usual, the highlights of General Assembly for me have been the informal conversations. I ran into Sally, from a church I used to serve, and she filled me in on the progress of all the kids in that church. Had lunch with Chris and Michelle and had a long conversation about the role of worship in congregational life, among other things.

And there were the missed opportunities. I missed having lunch with Josephine — we were supposed to meet yesterday, but I had left her cell phone number at home, couldn’t remember where we were supposed to meet, and didn’t know what she looks like (we have been corresponding via email) — perhaps I’ll catch up with her before the end of General Assembly. Missed having lunch with Roger, but we were able to reschedule.

General Assembly is a big, complex meeting. It’s easy to miss connections among 4,000 people — in fact, it’s amazing that you manage to meet up with anyone at all.

Given the long lunch lines, it’s clear that Fort Worth isn’t ready for a conference of 4,000 people. Frankly, I’m not sure I’m ready either!

Later note: I can’t resist leaving the typo in the very first line…

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Day two…

Fort Worth, Texas

Another great place with free wifi Internet access — the Coffee Haus, right across the street for the Branding Iron Grill. Excellent coffee. No country music blasting, but since there’s no music at all, that’s OK.

I skipped most of yesterday morning’s presentation, even though other people said it was actually quite good. Instead, I spent an hour or so talking with Jennifer Innis. Jennifer will be the interim associate minister at the UU Society of Geneva starting in August, after I leave. We have known each other for some time, and we did a little catching up. Of course we also talked about the Geneva church — and I was able to tell Jennifer what a great church it is.

In the afternoon, I attended a couple of workshops. One workshop was on urban social justice ministries, sponsored by the Urban Disciples, an organization of Unitarian Universalist urban congregations who get together periodically to share ideas and resources. One of the presenters was Rev. Alma Faith Crawford, from the Church of the Open Door on Chicago’s South Side. Alma talked about how worship services at her church become an act of social justice in their own right. Church of the Open Door is aimed mostly at the African American gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community (GLBT). The actual worship service incorporates elements of typical black churches, so that GLBT people who have been rejected by their churches have a place to go and feel comfortable.

But while the shape of the worship service might look like a typical Black church service, the message is entirely different. And, as Alma Crawford pointed out, “The ushers might be transgender, and you might see a leather person doing the scripture reading.” To overcome class divisions, she does same-gender weddings as a part of the regular worship service — that way, there is less pressure to spend money on the wedding, and there is no class division for the people who attend the wedding. In these ways, and in others, Church of the Open Door uses worship as an act of social justice.

The second workshop I attended was an introduction to the new hymnal supplement, Singing the Journey. We got to sing nearly a dozen songs from the new hymnal. A couple of the songs were difficult, and I can’t quite imagine a congregation actually singing them. But there were some absolute gems of songs, songs that I think are going to become a central part of our Unitarian Universalist worship services. “For So the Children Come” is a song that puts to music well-known words of Sophia Fahs: “For so the children come…. Each night a child is born is a holy night, a time for singing, a time for wondering, a time for worshipping.” I predict this will become a new staple of Christmas eve services, and of child dedications.

We also got to sing a couple of great songs in Spanish, an African American spiritual called “Hush” taught by UU singer and music scholar Ysaye Maria Barnwell (of Sweet Honey in the Rock), and a song called “Blue Boat Home” with new words to the old hymn tune “Hyfrodol.”

One last song I have to mention — “Comfort Me” was written by Mimi Bornstein-Doble, and even thought the rhythm is tricky (and I guarantee you, congregations are never going to get the rhythm quite right), this song was a real standout. We have needed a contemporary song that provides comfort in hard times, and I believe Mimi’s song will be the one we start singing. Mimi, by the way, is the very talented music director at the Rocklang, Maine, Universalist church.

In the late afternoon, I went to to hear Bill Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), tell us ministers about the state of the UUA. Reading between the lines, it’s clear the UUA has little money. But generally, it sounded like we’re making some progress. For example, Sinkford is aggressively pursuing new directions in youth ministry at the UUA, hoping to provide more services directly to the congregations rather than funding expensive national events that only serve a few youth. Sinkford also came out and said that we just haven’t made much progress in racial justice in our congregations and in the wider association — it was good to hear someone actually say that in public, when we all know it to be true. There are maybe a dozen UU congregations that have really addressed racial justice, but that’s all.

Sinkford (who is African American) also made sure to mention Hispanic Unitarian Universalists — they’re out there, but they’re not being adequately acknowledged by many UUs.

I had dinner with Mellen Kennedy, one of the movers and shakers behind the Small Group Ministry Network. We talked about small group ministries, but then the conversation swung over to theology. Mellen has been feeling that there is no theological center to Unitarian Unviersalism of recent years. I admitted that might be true, but then I said Universalist theology — the strong sense that there is hope in a hopeless world, the idea that love is the most powerful force in the universe — that’s what keeps me within Unitarian Universalism. Mellen brought up forgiveness as a centgral theological concept that we need, and I think she’s right — and that would be a great new direction for Universalist theology.

So ends day two of Professional Days. Now it’s time to head off to the Convention Center, and see what today brings.

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Professional days…

Got a tip yesterday about yet another restaurant with free wifi Internet access, so this morning I’m sitting in the “Branding Iron Grill” on Houston St. between 8th and 9th. Good cheap breakfasts, rolls of paper towels on the table instead of napkins, and good country music blasting — what more could you want?

A fellow just walked in, friendly-looking guy, and placed his order — “Aigs, bacon, pahtatoes — and make sure mah aigs are burnt [said with a grin].” Judging by the accents I’m hearing around me, I’m the only northerner in the place.

I’m skipping the morning keynote presentation at Professional Days. The title of the presentation was something about “America as a Dry Drunk.” Which sounds vaguely interesting, but it also sounds like someone was going to shake their finger at me and tell me what a terrible country the United States is. Which may be true, but I decided I wasn’t ready for a heavy dose of guilt quite yet. Better to sit in the “Branding Iron Grill” and listen to some country music singer with a fine voice sing “Why not me?” over a nice riff on steel-string guitar.

Yesterday, I went off to the Fort Worth Museum of Art. I wanted to see Martin Puryear’s sculpture “Ladder for Booker T. Washington.” It’s a remarkable sculpture, some forty feet long, suspended so that the bottom of the ladder is about two feet off the ground. Puryear turned the rungs out of maple, and they look inviting and comfortable to hold — you want to grab the first one, and start climbing. But how can you climb a ladder that doesn’t even touch the ground? And the ladder gets more and more narrow as you get towards the top — you know by looking at it that you’ll never, ever be able to climb very far up it. An amazing piece.

(For a picture of the sculpture, go to http://www.themodern.org/collect.html, click on “Find artist by last name,” go to “P – R,” click on Puryear, and then click on “Next work” until you get to “Ladder” — and no, there is no easier way to get there.)

Yesterday evening, I went to the reception for ministers and directors of religious education, the official start to Professional Days. Caught up with a bunch of old friends, learned what’s going on with them.

Now it’s probably time to head back to Professional Days, and hear the last of the keynote address. So I can feel all guilty for living in a horrible country that acts like a dry drunk.

((The woman at the counter just told a man, “It’s just the ministers today, the rest of them come in later in the week. It’s this particular religious group, I’ve started reading up on it…” — but then I lost the rest of it because of the country music. I wonder what she found out about Unitarian Universalists?))

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Three takes on Unitarian Universalism

Forst Worth, Texas

I’m sitting here at Billy Miner’s Saloon with three other ministers, chatting away about this and that, waiting for the reception for Professional Days to begin. I decide to ask them: What’s the future of Unitarian Universalism? Here are their responses.

Michelle Favreault: “I want to find out what Mike Durrall has to say in his workshop tomorrow [at Professional Days]. I was interested to hear that he thinks ministers in their forties will be the last generation to serve UU congregations, and as a UU minister in my thirties I’m intrigued by that question.”

Alice Syltie: [she laughs, then gets serious] “Somebody in my congregation said she didn’t know what we are about, she didn’t understand Unitarian Universalism any more. She thought she did once, but not any more. I want to hear what the Commission on Appraisal has to say on that.”

Forrest Gilmore: “Doughnuts, and rock-and-roll.” I ask, do you want to say more about that? [he laughs] “I’ll stand on that.”

One of the best things about General Assembly (and Professional Days which preceeds it) is the chance to ask questions like this, and get into long conversations with smart people who care about our faith.

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