At 1U 2023-2024 was a year of purposefulness concerning our Welcoming Congregation activities and outreach among our members and in the community.

The Five Practices of Welcome Renewal are purposeful actions that every congregation works to integrate into congregational life in order to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, two-spirit, genderqueer, non-binary, and feel fully welcomed, centered, and embraced.

1U chose to officially Renew our Welcoming UUA Congregation certification by being deliberate in activities and functions of our church during the year.  The UUA guide offers the following five ways that a congregation can choose to report their commitment to supporting the LGBTQUIA+  on a personal level, and in all aspects of 1U life.   See full description here. 1U intends to continue and expand our “Welcoming” each year.

Learn about the Justice Teams and other opportunities to participate in justice.  Some teams would like more organizers, others need more volunteers for specific projects. All teams create email lists so they can share information and opportunities.

Discussion Opportunities:

• Wrestling with Our Understanding of Racism— Monthly discussions.
• Common Reads with Adult Enrichment.

 Giving Time and Sharing:

• Serving the Community — Meet new people and find ways to be engaged.
• Share the Plate —  Volunteers are often needed by these organizations. Which one interests you?
• Friends of the New Image Youth Center — Participate in events and activities to support the youth at the New Image Youth Center
• Green Team — Enhance environmental justice and advocate for practices that are both earth friendly and equitable.

Showing up:

• Connect with partners through our Justice Teams or UUA and Florida initiatives.
• Link here for UUA’s Side with Love and UUtheVote’s opportunities for action  opportunities and support.
• Support policy and/or initiatives in the public square or government buildings. Get on email lists so that you can receive and share information.
• Join the 1U Justice GoogleGroup here to stay informed and inform others of justice news and opportunities
• Contact the Justice Council if you’d like to discuss a new opportunity for 1U at justice@orlandouu.org.
• To view Justice Events calendar, click here.

Justice, Values and our Covenantal Faith 

Justice work at 1U  emphasizes the covenantal center of action for Unitarian Universalists as it relates to our values. See here for a more complete description of Our Beliefs.

Justice and Unitarian Universalist beliefs: Our beliefs are diverse and inclusive. We have no shared creed. Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love.

Inseparable from one another-enriching and guiding our justice work are these shared values as follows and the actions (with others-the covenantal aspect of UUism) that these values guide us toward:

• Interdependence: We honor the interdependent web of all existence.  We covenant to protect Earth and all beings from exploitation
• Pluralism: We celebrate that we are all sacred beings, diverse in culture, experience, and theology. We covenant to learn from one another in our free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
• Justice: We work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all thrive. We covenant to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression. We support the use of inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregations, our Association, and society at large.
• Transformation: We adapt to the changing world. We covenant to collectively transform and grow spiritually and ethically.
• Generosity: We covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources. Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality
• Equity: We declare that every person is inherently worthy and has the right to flourish with dignity, love, and compassion. We covenant to use our time, wisdom, attention, and money to build and sustain fully accessible and inclusive  communities.