July 2005 Worship Services

Ministerial Cognitions

"Don't Panic."

---From the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I write you having just returned from General Assembly (GA), our yearly denominational meeting. This year it was held in Fort Worth, Texas. There were over 3700 Unitarian Universalists; many of them Texans. Houston’s Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church probably had the most members in attendance with 45. From Spindletop Unitarian Church, Karen Corwin, her daughter Erin, Laura Polich, and I attended this year’s GA.

I pre-voted before going to GA, having assessed the candidates prior to attending. You ask what candidates; well, we voted mostly uncontested elections for the president of the UUA (Rev. William Sinkford), the moderator (Gini Courter), the board of trustees, board of review, the commission of appraisal (which I will say more about in a minute), the commission on social witness (2-year term), the financial advisor for the UUA, the GA planning committee (2-year term), and the nominating committee. There were two races which were contested (the commission on social witness, four year term and the GA planning committee, four year term). This was due to additional candidates getting their names put on the ballot. They had to get a petition signed by enough UU’s—I think several hundred—to be put on the ballot. This may sound like pretty boring stuff, but Don’t Panic, this article will get more interesting.

When I set up my reservations for GA, I tried to get into an inexpensive hotel. I did this despite the hotel, the Fort Worth Plaza Hotel, having been reviewed by many people on the internet as not being the optimal place to stay. Let’s see, the reviewers said that the elevators were haunted (my son actually video taped the elevators making long buzzing noises and skipping floors; while, my wife and I actually got stuck on the elevator with over the allotted number of people on it—we could only have 8 people on an elevator for it to work properly—fortunately one of the people on the elevator was able to pry open the elevator doors, thus letting us out. My wife was hesitant thereafter to get on the elevators with more than two or three people at a time.) The reviewers also mentioned that the staff was not always available—only a few times did I notice the front desk unoccupied; perhaps it was haunted, too. The reviewers also mentioned that the food in the hotel restaurant caused them to feel “deathly ill.” While we only ate breakfast in the hotel, I was never ill. My son on the other hand refused to eat anything except cereal and bacon, saying that the look of the rest of the food made him ill. Don’t Panic, I wasn’t the only person at GA, whose hotel experience was less than stellar. In the Renaissance Hotel—a very nice hotel--one GA member mentioned that the ceiling in her bathroom fell in on her, and another GA attendee mentioned that the walking barefoot in her renovated motel room turned her feet black.

Back at GA, I attended Ministry Days prior to the Opening Ceremonies at GA. I will be bringing back from Ministry Days and GA many DVD’s and CD’s of the workshops and lectures for members of our church to view. I also will be bringing a copy of the new supplement to our hymnal for Rachelsarah to peruse, a copy of the commission on appraisal’s report on whether there is a UU theology, and a curriculum (with a video tape) on the history of Unitarian Universalism in the Americas. I hope we used the commission on appraisal’s report as an adult Religious Education curriculum. The commission suggested that our congregations start really discussing theology, not shying away from opening up about what we really believe. Don’t Panic, I think we are an exceptional congregation, capable of really being open and inclusive in our discussions of theology.

President Sinkford reported to the many congregations present that we have made much progress in getting Unitarian Universalism into the public’s awareness. Besides the many media campaigns in Kansas, Houston, and presently going on in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, UU’s have been in the news—particularly around the issue of same-sex marriage. But as Sinkford reminded us, we are not a oneissue denomination. Many of our congregations are now the go-to congregations for a liberal religious voice in most cities. This is true for us here in Beaumont as well. The Enterprise has called on us on many occasions for a liberal voice on such issues as the War in Iraq, same-sex marriages, and separation of church and state. President Sinkford solicited feedback from everyone in the UUA from an on-line survey—perhaps some of you had the opportunity to fill it out—and reported that his next four years will involve growing our congregations, not only in numbers, but in diversity—growing racially and politically diverse, as well as getting younger adults in our congregations. Don’t Panic, my article is almost over.

I really recommend that each and every member of Spindletop get an experience of the larger UU community, like at GA; you will come away from that experience a changed UU. You will understand see how our association works, what we are doing on the national scale, what other UU’s around the nation and the world are doing, and what opportunities there are for each and every one of you to get involved in our UUA. Please ask Laura, Karen, Erin, and myself about our experiences, we will be glad to share them with you.

Take care everyone, have a good summer, and see you in August.

Rev. Tom

Worship Services:

July 3

TBA by Harold Skiles, member

July 10

TBA by Dr. Aloc Kalia

July 17

TBA

July 24

TBA by the Buddhist Covenant Group

July 31

TBA