| UUA Trustee Tidbits - Sep 2010 |
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UUA Trustee Tidbits Joan Lund, September 2010 Routinely this is the time of year when congregations are welcoming the "new year," members and friends returning, and guests in our midst. It has been a relaxing summer for me ... hopefully for you, also. As I write this, a few weeks before publication, I am awaiting the birth of my first grandson; happily, I am already the grandmother of four granddaughters. At General Assembly in June the delegates passed a Statement of Conscience (SOC): Creating Peace. I wrote about it briefly in a report to the District following GA (on the District web page: www.floridadistrict.org), and hope in your community you are/will be involved in this SOC. Historically and today morally our faith calls us to create peace through the work of peace building, peacemaking, and peacekeeping, by addressing the roots of conflict. This includes negotiation of fair and sustainable peace agreements, mediation between disagreeing parties, and post-conflict reconciliation. UUs advocate the culture of peace through change in public policies, religious consciousness, and individual lifestyles. Our faith believes that initial response to conflict should be in a non-violent manner, yet we acknowledge the right to defend ourselves and stand with others who are countering aggression. We know true peace requires the cooperation of all nations and peoples and that the creation of peace is accomplished in different ways. We continue to affirm a range of individual choices, including military service and conscientious objection. Even though our religious tradition calls us to create peace at times we have not had the courage to speak and act against violence and injustice. We have not acknowledged our own complicity in violence by not acting in constructive ways, by not speaking out to unjust power exerted by our own nation. The Creating Peace SOC challenges, individuals, congregations, and our Association to engage with more persistence, creativity, and depth in the task of creating peace. Our theological principles are grounded in the fundamental unity and interdependence of all existence, the transforming power of love, the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, human freedom, cooperative power, justice, peace, humility, and open-mindedness. I have condensed the full SOC, which can be found on www.uua.org. There are many ways each of us can be involved in creating peace within our congregations and communities. All of us are knowledgeable and creative, so let's just do it! I look forward to hearing from you at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 818-931-9727. Happy September one and all.
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