Woke up at 7am. Checked in at the LREDA meeting at 9am. Worshiped with LREDA until 10:30am (can't go wrong with a worship that included a quote from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"). Then, LREDA's key note speaker, Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed lead us in a 2 hour exercise about race and multiculturalism. If you don't know already, Mark Morrison Reed will be coming to speak at First Church in the fall. A real interesting guy. I suspect we'll have lots to talk about after his visit. As for today, I'm still deconstructing all that I learned from his workshop, but I will share that I did come to one realization today. And, it is this - In all that we do and say we teach our children the golden rule, "Treat others the way you would want to be treated." And, yet, we all come from such diverse life experiences, it is ludicrous to think we all would want to be treated the same way. So, we must do better. We must teach our children to go beyond the golden rule, we must teach them that we are all unique individuals with unique needs and ways we would like to be treated, and to be in good relations with others we must do the hard work of starting difficult conversations and truly listening.
At 12:45pm, Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed concluded his workshop and we broke for lunch. LREDA resumed at 1:15pm for the business meeting. Just like in our congregational meetings, several members of the governing body spoke. Perhaps it was the early morning wake up yesterday, or the contents of the business meeting, but this is when I started to falter. Sheer exhaustion over took me and I truly wondered if I would make it through the day. Luckily, the business meeting was over quickly, and then members of the Religious Education Credentialing Committee (RECC) spoke. For those of you not familiar with Credentialing - it is a process in which DRE's undergo specialized professional development in order to gain competencies and be credentialed by the UUA. You can learn more about credentialing at the UUA website.
I've been interested in getting credentialed for several years now, but conflicts of interest (my father is on the credentialing committee) and tight fiscal budgets have prohibited me from pursing it. As it turns out, this may be a good thing, as the RECC is changing some of the credentialing requirements, so that they better suit the needs of the modern religious educator.
At 3pm (the time at which the LREDA meeting should have dismissed), we moved into our final breakout sessions of the day. The Fahs Collaborative - which is dedicated to faith formation through education - organized several discussion groups about several hot topics of the day. I participated in the discussion group about Full Week Faith (aka, Family Ministry) - an area I would like to explore in the coming year. Sad to say, there were no new insights from this discussion.
As for the rest of the day - I registered, checked in at the Mid America table, and then proceeded to the EqUUal Access Booth. For those of you who may not know, EqUUal Access is an independent organization dedicated to the full engagement of people with disabilities in our congregations and larger community. I found EqUUal Access shortly after my daughter, Lily, was born prematurely and I have been an active member since last year, GA 2013 (In fact, it was upon EqUUal Access's request that I submitted a workshop proposal for GA this year).
And, so, there, at the EqUUal Access booth, is where I spent my evening (5pm - 7pm) - talking with lay members, ministers and fellow DRE's, informing them about plenary decisions concerning disability, and encouraging them to call their senators in favor of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (more on this in a later post). Truly fulfilling work - people and connections.
Finally, at around 7pm, I joined over one thousand of my fellow UU's in carrying a banner in the banner parade - they, with their congregations or organizations banner, I, with the EqUUal Banner.
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| For the second year in a row, I carried the EqUUal Access Banner during GA's Opening Ceremony. |
Following the banner parade, I joined my parents for the opening ceremony. But, my tolerance for loud noise and focused concentration were starting to wear thin, so I left early. My plan was to relax in the hotel for a bit, and then venture out once again to experience a one of a kind worship service planned by The Sanctuary Boston. However, this blog post seems to have taken more time than I expected it would, and now I have missed the start of service. And... I'm okay with that. Maybe I'll actually catch up on my sleep tonight, and be well rested for the four workshops I plan to attend tomorrow.
Until then, be excellent to each other!
- Meredith Plummer
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