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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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It all begins…

Forth Worth, Texas

Amtrak’s “Texas Eagle,” train number 21, arived in Fort Worth from Chicago almost on time. Almost, because somewhere in Arkansas, some idiot threw something on the tracks, and we had to wait for nearly an hour for the tracks to be cleared then checked. We made up most of the lost time, but not quite.

Yesterday evening, I was sitting in the dining car, chatting with a fellow who had grown up in Texas, gone to Chicago for a couple of years, and was moving from Chicago to return to college in Austin. It was just after the sun had gone below the horizon, we were pulling in to St. Louis, and we were just getting up to go — when we came around a curve and saw the gateway arch at the entrance to the city. A spectacular view at that hour of the day — we gazed at it in silence for a few minutes.

“That’s just about perfect,” I said to him, “coming on that arch at just this time of day.” It really was incredibly beautiful, all blue and silver and pink against the deepening blue sky, with a hint of pink at the western horizon.

“Before I went to Chicago,” he said, “I never saw any reason to go anywhere else. But then I lived in Chicago — seeing things like this — it’s having experiences like this….

Fort Worth is certainly an experience for me. A New Englander born and bred, this city feels like a foreign country to me. It’s both a Western city and, in some ways, a Southern city, with subtly different social cues that I’m not sure I understand. And I do have a hard time understanding what people say at times, just like in a foreign city.

At the same time, the influx of Unitarian Universalists has begun. I was sitting in a Starbucks, checking out their wifi connection (they wanted too much information from me, so I did not take advantage of the 24 hour free Web access) — sitting there sipping my iced coffee — when my advisor from Meadville/Lombard Theological School came up and sat down to say hi. She’s in town for interim ministry training, since she is leaving Meadville/Lombard and heading off to Ithaca to be the interim minister there.

The clerk at my hotel was looking harrassed when I checked in. He had just gotten off the phone with someone who wanted to make sure her room would only be cleaned with vinegar and water, and from what I could hear of his end of things, it was not a pleasant conversation for him (the word “entitled” comes to mind). Not surprisingly, he had been talking to someone coming to General Assembly. As he checked me in, he asked, “How many of you will there be at this conference?”

“Oh, a few thousand,” I said. He took that stoically — I’m sure every large conference has its share of pushy, entitled people. I just don’t like it when the pushy, entitled people are a part of my religious movement.

A final note to those of you who are coming to General Assembly — you can get free wifi Internet access at Billy Miner’s Saloon, on the corner of Houston and Third, about six blocks from the convention center. Which is where I’m sitting at the moment. Good cheap burgers, $1.50 draft beers, and free wifi — what more do you need from life? Although a quickie Web search reveals that Billy Miner’s got 16 demerits from the city health inspectors at their last visit (30 means things are so gross you probably don’t want to eat there) — so if you’re fastidious, you won’t like it here. Personally, I feel right at home — and the burger was pretty darned good, too.

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Off to General Assembly

Geneva, Ill.

In about four hours, the limo will arrive to start me on my journey to Fort Worth, Texas, site of this year’s General Assembly. (General Assembly, or “GA”, is the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists from around the United States.) My plan is to post daily installments of a “GA journal” on this blog — my observations and impressions of General Assembly this year.

I’m looking forward to a number of GA events this year. Elaine Pagels is one of the featured speakers, best known for her current scholarship on the Gnostic Gospels. Pagels’s lecture will be streamed live on the Web, as will a number of other key events — a schedule of those live Web broadcasts will be posted within the next few days on the GA Web page. Another event I’m particularly looking forward to — UU theologian Paul Rasor is going to speak. I think he’s the most interesting UU theologian out there right now. And there will be a number of other workshops and events that look pretty good.

Of course, GA is really the business meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), the association of congregations of which our church is a part. I have to admit that I’m not exactly looking forward to attending meetings for business, but it does feel important. This year, a number of elections worth paying attention to will take place at GA. Bill Sinkford, current president of the UUA is running unopposed for his seond (and final) term of office — while the election itself is of little interest, I will be curious to hear what he has to say about the overall state of the UUA.

Before GA begins, I’ll be at “Professional Days,” a gathering of ministers, Directors of Religious Education, and other church professionals. Professional Days always immediately precedes GA. I’ll also post some reports from that event, but the program doesn’t look all that interesting this year — the big draw of Professional Days for me this year will be catching up with colleagues from around the country, and trading ideas and insights with them.

So that’s my little introduction to GA — hope you follow along by reading this blog, watching live Web broadcasts, and reading the GA reports that will be posted daily on the GA Web page.

My next post to this blog won’t be until Monday evening,as I am taking the train down to Fort Worth (I do hate flying). See you then!

Update: Links removed, some no longer active

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