Special blessing, presidential forum dates, Ware Lecture, and more No images? Click here Friend, you are receiving this email in gratitude for your support of the Unitarian Universalist Association through a recent contribution or as a member of our Legacy Society. You can update your preferences or unsubscribe at the bottom of this email. Dear Friend, There is so much happening in Unitarian Universalism right now. Here at the UUA, we’re preparing for General Assembly, planning for next year, and on the road a little more spending time in UU congregations and communities. This month, there’s an opportunity that I would especially like to highlight for you. The Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray, our UUA President, will be preaching in New York City at the end of the month, in a service she is leading alongside the Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). It’s exciting to see the growing connection and collaboration between our two organizations. The mission and ministry of the UUA and UUSC are deeply connected, especially when it comes to the good work of
advancing Unitarian Universalist values in the world. Please consider dropping by the streamed service on Sunday, March 26, for what promises to be incredible worship. Or register for the UU@UN Spring Seminar, which is a rich and meaningful intergenerational learning experience. Both events are wonderful opportunities to remember that our faith—and our practice of it—has impacts that are local, national, and global in scope. When we engage in these ways, our imagination about what it means to be UU expands, and our ability to be thoughtful global citizens grows. In faith, Rev. Lauren Smith Recent news from the UUA and President Susan Frederick-Gray
Side with Love Video: Blessing for Love and Solidarity with Trans and Nonbinary PeopleAt a moment when so many legislatures are debating hateful laws, our faith affirms what is true yesterday, today, and every day: Side With Love is grateful to partner with our friends at Foothills Unitarian Church to offer this short blessing for all our siblings being targeted by transphobia and hate, and for everyone living out our faith by organizing, advocating, and mobilizing for justice. Subscribe to Side With Love newsletters so you can get updates on our campaigns, resources and other tools for organizing, and further offerings for spiritual nourishment. UUA Presidential Election Forums AnnouncedMember congregations of the UUA, through their delegates, elect the UUA President. The campaign for President takes place throughout the first half of 2023 and will conclude with an election at our multiplatform General Assembly, online and in Pittsburgh, PA, June 21-25. One candidate for election was announced by the Presidential Search Committee (PSC) on November 15, 2022: the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt. The PSC announcement is here; find the UUA Board of Trustees' statement on the nomination here. No additional candidates were nominated by petition; you can read UUA Secretary Bill Young's statement announcing the 2023 UUA Presidential election with a single candidate here. Starting this month, there will be four Presidential Forums held at congregations around the country to allow UUs to learn more about the candidate, Rev. Dr. Betancourt. Each forum will be held in person and livestreamed. Please register in advance; each forum will have a cutoff date for in person registration, but online registration will be possible up until the starting time for each forum. Please note the registration deadline for in-person attendance at the March 18 forum in Arlington, VA, is coming up soon on March 15. Follow this link to sign up.
Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt UU Military Chaplain Receives Four Chaplains MedalCH Azande Sasa (MAJ) received the Four Chaplains Medal on February 3. This award is only awarded to one Army chaplain each year for collegial selfless behavior while rendering religious support to the military community regardless of faith or race. CH Azande Sasa (MAJ) receiving the medal. Photo courtesy Azande Sasa. The four chaplains for whom the award is named are Lt. George Fox, a Methodist minister, Lt. Alexander Goode, a Jewish Rabbi; Lt. John Washington, a Roman Catholic priest; and Lt. Clark Poling, a Dutch Reformed minister. These four gave their lives aboard the Dorchester 80 years ago, on February 3, 1943, when it was hit by a U-Boat and sunk. Only 230 of the 902 servicemen, merchant seamen and civilian workers aboard survived, but many remembered the calm, life-saving actions of the four chaplains. The chaplains helped others evacuate the sinking ship, gave up their own lifejackets to soldiers who needed them, and were last seen offering prayers and hymns together as the ship sank. Learn more about the Four Chaplains story here. Last Chance to Register for UU@UN Spring SeminarThe UU@UN Intergenerational Spring Seminar will take place April 1-3, 2023 in Minneapolis, MN, and online. Join youth (14+) and adults in-person or online for programming and activities! Hosted by the UUA Office at the UN in close collaboration with the UU College of Social Justice and the UU Service Committee, this year's seminar aims to instill in Unitarian Universalist youth and adults a commitment to global engagement and the skills to take action locally to address global issues. Learn more and check out the schedule on UUA.org. All in-person and youth registration closes March 15. Adult online-only registration closes March 30. Not sure if you should register as a youth? Check out the Youth at Seminar pages for age range details. Special Worship Service on March 26 with the Revs. Susan Frederick-Gray and Mary Katherine MornJoin the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, President of the UUA and the Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, President of the UU Service Committee on Sunday, March 26, 2023 as they lead worship at Community Church of New York. This worship will celebrate and honor CCNY’s decades of partnership in promoting UU values at the United Nations, as well as their commitment to demilitarization and abolition that has inspired and challenged UUs for over a century. This celebration will launch our 2023 Intergenerational Spring Seminar, "Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire." The full seminar experience will begin April 1, 2023 in Minneapolis and online. You are invited to join us in-person for this special worship service at 2pm Eastern on March 26, 2023. The service and celebration will also be live-streamed on CCNY Youtube Channel. General Assembly 2023: Ware Lecturer AnnouncedThe Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) President, in consultation with the General Assembly Planning Committee, invites a distinguished guest each year to address the General Assembly as the Ware Lecturer. The 2023 Ware Lecturer is Imani Perry. In-person or full virtual registration will be required to attend, live-stream the event on June 24, or access the video on-demand. Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a faculty associate with Gender and Sexuality Studies and Jazz Studies. In the summer of 2023 she will join the faculty at Harvard University as a Radcliffe Professor. A contributing writer for The Atlantic, Perry is the author of seven books, most recently South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation (Ecco Books, 2022), and two with Beacon Press: Breathe: A Letter to My Sons (2019) and Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry (2018), all award-winning titles. Learn more about Perry here. Remember to Use Official GA Pages for Housing ReservationsPlease only use the links from UUA.org/ga web pages to reserve housing. We have heard reports of scam emails that offer false discounts. For reservation support, or if you are contacted by any company that is not Connections Housing, please email uua@connectionshousing.com. Official 2023 Pittsburgh hotel properties are the Westin Pittsburgh by Marriott (headquarters hotel) and the Omni William Penn Hotel. The Pittsburgh Local Area Task Force is working on arrangements for home hospitality and will have more information in March. For information on hotel pricing, reservations, and more, please visit the GA Housing pages on UUA.org. Looking for information about safety protocols, including for COVID? Check out the Safety and Wellness pages. Masking will be required at GA, regardless of state mandates. Entering Seminary? Scholarship Available, Apply by April 14Are you a lay leader in Unitarian Universalism who will be entering your first year of seminary in 2023, or are undertaking undergraduate work to prepare for seminary? Or do you know someone who fits this description? Each year the Rev. Chuck and Nancy Thomas Scholarship supports a student in the first year of seminary or in preparatory academic work for seminary training. The UUA’s Thomas Scholarship was founded in 1998 to honor Rev. Chuck Thomas’s career in the Unitarian Universalist ministry and his family’s long-standing commitment to lay leadership. Thomas Scholars qualify for this award by demonstrating their outstanding commitment to Unitarian Universalism as lay leaders. To apply, applicants must email a completed application along with two letters of recommendation, a resume, and a two to three page essay that describes their path to seminary, highlighting their work as a lay leader in their congregation and in the larger community. For more information and to find the application for this scholarship and other ministerial scholarships available from the UUA, please visit UUA.org. Applications open on February 15 and must be submitted no later than April 14, 2023. Energy Work at Your Congregation: Resources and RecordingsWith Justice 40, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) there are so many opportunities for our congregations to be leaders in the transition to a just and equitable clean energy future, including for individuals, buildings, communities, and state/county/city level advocacy. The UUA is partnering with Interfaith Power and Light, the Energy, Environment, and Study Institute and others to help UUs learn about and access these funds. Missed the initial briefing back in December? Check out the recording on YouTube: Federal Funding for Energy Work at Houses of Worship. You can also watch the recording of last month's webinar, "Planning the Energy Future of Your Congregation," and check out resources from that talk. There will be more on this topic soon - stay tuned! Are you an energy wonk with a knack for navigating federal policy? Do you love helping others brainstorm opportunities for clean energy upgrades? Or maybe you're just really excited about the IRA and other federal funding opportunities for equitable decarbonization? Side with Love and Create Climate Justice are looking for a few good UUs to skill up our congregations on these amazing opportunities! Volunteer to help support shared learning and facilitate an emerging peer learning circle around federal opportunities to fund the clean energy transition. Ready to jump in? Email Environment@UUA.org. Save the Date: Legacy Giving Webinar for CongregationsSaturday, May 6 | 1 pm - 3 pm ET / 10 am - 12 pm PT The UUA’s Legacy Gifts Office offers a number of services, including an online workshop to assist congregations in creating legacy giving programs. This webinar will cover the basics of legacy giving and how to set up a legacy giving program in your congregation. We aim to equip congregations with the knowledge they need to start a legacy program. To register for the webinar, email us at legacy@uua.org or call (888) 792-5885 (select option 3). Upcoming Events in MarchTaproot: A National BIPOC GatheringThursday, March 9 | 8 pm - 9:15 pm ET / 5 pm - 6:15 pm PT Congregational Life is excited to explore and co-create a network with congregational leaders in emergent ways through Taproot: A National BIPOC Space. The organizing pillars of this collective are rest and renewal; analysis building; and leadership development. BIPoC Leaders rooted in the Unitarian Universalist congregations are invited to take part in this monthly, virtual gathering as we explore these pillars in creating means to ground ourselves in resilient communities of care. This space is explicitly for people identifying as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC). All participants are asked to register for this event; you will receive the Zoom connection information in your confirmation email. UUA Board of Trustees March DatesMeeting: Friday, March 10 - Saturday, March 11 | schedule TBD The UUA Board of Trustees holds monthly videoconference calls (using Zoom) and four major meetings per year. Agendas, meeting packets, minutes and reports are available online. Register here for the March meeting; meeting agenda is here. The Board also hosts monthly Open Houses. All are invited to attend and participate. Bring your comments, questions, and suggestions, and chat about the Board’s work and the Unitarian Universalist (UU) issues that matter most to you. To attend the March Open House, please register here. Connecting with State Action Networks on Climate AdvocacyWednesday, March 15 | 7 pm - 8:30 pm ET / 4 pm - 5:30 pm PT UU State Action Networks do powerful justice work across the country. How can your congregation engage with your State Action Network on climate justice advocacy and actions? Join Deb Cruz and Rev. Lisa Sampson Garcia to learn more! Hosted by Rachel Myslivy, monthly Green Sanctuary Team meetings for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice are held on the third Wednesday of the month. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs. Register here to attend on March 15. UPLIFT Trans and Non-Binary Monthly GatheringTuesday, March 28 | 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. All you need to bring is yourself (and other trans/nonbinary friends, if you’d like)! These gatherings focus on getting to know each other and on sharing our collective dreams, ideas, and talents for this space. Expansive definitions of trans, nonbinary, and UU all apply. Non-UUs are welcome if they are OK with being in a UU-focused community. If you are interested in this space, and you aren’t (entirely or at all) cisgender, it’s a space for you. To attend the next gathering and join the community, register today. Seasons of Giving is the monthly e-newsletter from the UUA's Stewardship and Development Office. Questions can be directed to Suzanne Murray at development@uua.org or (617) 948-4392. Check UUA.org and UUWorld.org, as well as UUA regional websites, for the latest updates. |