Greetings From GA

Quite a few of us First Unitarian Church of Orlando members were in Ft. Lauderdale for GA, or more formally:

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
47th Annual General Assembly
- A Meeting of Congregations -
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
June 25-29, 2008

Here are some photos and reflections ...

Here is a picture of some of us who attended the Florida District ingathering session on Wednesday.

A familiar face and voice did the chalice lighting at the Opening Worship on Wednesday night.

Jenny carried our banner in the banner parade.

After the banner parade, the banners were hung all over the Convention Center.

There's our banner - right at the entrance!

 
Friday afternoon we  went to a Public Witness Event in  downtown  Ft.  Lauderdale  -  "Valuing ALL Families"

Some of our members (and a former member) relaxing at the event.

Some First Unitarian members pause for a photo before going into their 5:00 PM Saturday workshop. 

The speaker on Saturday night (Van Jones) was excellent.




Some First Unitarians hang out together after the Ware Lecture.

Some thoughts about GA:

The week after GA was over most of our GA attendees met to share experiences, thoughts, and inspirational stories (along with pizza and beer).


 

From Steph:   My favorite quote was from the lecture by Forrest Church:
"Do what you can
Love what you have
Be who you are. "

From Jenny:  I don’t have exact wording or context, but from the Friday morning worship service preceding the Plenary, the Rev. Fredric J. Muir asked if life is a problem to be solved or a mystery to be lived. He suggested that building and living our vision of Beloved Community will take all our resources. Specifics that resonated with me, both about the GA itself and our mission in the world after it, were the ideas of balancing “enjoying life or improving it” and “saving the world or savoring it”.

From Diane P.:  This is from the Sunday morning worship service:  "Whatever breaks your heart, that is your passion.  Put your energy into that."

From Libby:  My favourite quote was from a  workshop on spirituality and it was offered by a member of the audience:  "rather than thinking of it as a spiritual path, think of it as a spiritual jigsaw"

From Gladys:   The quote I have is from Forrest Church, "We must live our lives in such a way that our lives will prove worth dying for." 

From Jean:  I felt lucky to be 'working' the convention, as it gave me a definite sense of purpose and reason for being there.  As my assignment was registration, the training happened early on Tuesday together with 'early registration' for ministers, speakers and early arrivals.  The coordinator of the crew working registration strongly suggested that we make a conscious effort to get well acquainted with other members of the team, as we would be working together through the week.  Although it is more my style to stick with friends I know well, I did as requested and found myself delighted with new friends from Oregon, Bradenton, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Meyers, Michigan and North Carolina!  It re-enforced what I already knew - that working together is one of the best ways to develop friendships that go beyond the superficial.  That's community building that we can do in our congregation every time we have a new program or project!

From Dayle:  I have a whole list of quotes and thoughts.  Here are just a few: "Relax during the interim period and take a look at who we are."  "During times of change, it's OK to fail."  Board member welcome on Sunday morning: "Welcome to the best church in Seattle!   We are so happy you have found us!" "It is good to call members and ask how they are,  not will they do something."

From Susan: My quote is from Van Jones, and it went something like this: "MLK didn't say I have a complaint, he said I have a dream."