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I’m just back from our annual Unitarian Universalist General Assembly (GA) and thought this would be a good time to share some of my thoughts with you.
You probably know, if you didn’t intuit it, that GA has been pretty sparsely attended since the beginning of the pandemic. Covid didn’t create the hybrid GA in which delegates and others could attend virtually, but it certainly accelerated the trend. The last time I went to GA, there were over 6,000 participants in person. This year there were just over 2,000.
Everything was simulcast and recorded, so if you weren’t there and you are interested in seeing anything, much of it will be available soon at https://ga-recordings.uua.org.
Delegates and others attended worship and listened to speakers. In daily General Sessions (formerly called plenaries) delegates debated and voted on Actions of Immediate Witness. We elected Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt as our new president of the UUA. I took the photo at her installation, during a laying on of hands led by my friend Rev. Adam Robersmith.
We agreed to engage in a year of conversation about a new Article II with a few amendments passed.
And even though everyone seemed to agree with the young adults who proposed we divest from investing our endowments in companies that don’t share our values, we voted the proposal down. (The overwhelming consensus is that if you want “brown” companies to be more “green,” or if you want them to be more inclusive and fair in their practices, you have to work with them, because companies in financial distress rarely act abundantly.)
All of the voting happened online, through an app. Most of us went back to our accommodations to vote before 10pm. Results were announced through the app.
And everything — except for the Service of the Living Tradition on Thursday and the Ware Lecture on Saturday night — happened between 11am and 5:30pm.
Honestly, it cost me so much time and money, I found myself wondering why I went through all of the trouble of being present!
Next year, as has been the plan for a few years now, GA will happen ONLY online. There will be no gathering in person. The following year, 2025, GA will be simulcast again, as we gather in Baltimore, MD. Nothing is planned beyond 2025.
My feeling is that after Baltimore, we probably won’t go back to gathering in person. Online is less expensive, and more environmentally sustainable and inclusive than in person. It just feels hard to justify the waste.
So, next year, I would love it if we could set up our own mini General Session Hall in the sanctuary here at UUCSC. Everyone would be able to come and take part, as we watch it on the big screen (really the front wall) and debate among ourselves the issues. We could even eat together (because everything is just a chance to eat together) and we wouldn’t have to wait in long lines for burgers and fries, which seemed to be the lion’s share of the food available.
Imagine what fun we could have, being more involved in our association!
Meanwhile, I am off for vacation during the whole month of July. Joe and I will be spending the first full week in Cleveland. It’s not exactly a vacation hotspot, but a lot of people we love and miss are there.
See you in August!
In Peace,
Rev. Denis
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