we shake off the shackles of fear, prejudice, timidity, closed-mindedness, selfishness, and claim our freedom outright, terrifying as it is- our freedom to be human, and humane.
Every morning every day, we leave our houses, not knowing if it will be for the last time, and we decide what we'll take with us, what we'll carry: how much integrity, how much truth-telling, how much compassion (in case somebody along the way may need some), how much arrogance, how much anger, how much humor, how much willingness to change and to be changed, to grow and to be grown. How much faith and hope, how much love and gratitude- you pack these with your lunch and medications, your date book and your papers. Every day, we gather what we think we'll need, pick up what we love and all that we so far believe, put on our history, shoulder our experience and memory, take inventory of our blessings, and we start walking toward morning." - Walking Toward Morning, Victoria Safford
In the past I never had the opportunity to participate in General Assembly- due the many expenses, mainly. But when I saw that I could be a part of General Assembly... for free- as a Youth Caucus staff member, I jumped. And somehow I landed into life long friendships, compassion, faith-reigniting, and above all...hope.
General.. whhhat? What is General Assembly?
For those that don't know, General Assembly (GA) is essentially a national conference gathering of Unitarian Universalists.
The conference this year was held in Charlotte, North Carolina, from June 22-26, 2011. This year I was able to go for free, because I applied and became the Junior worship coordinator as staff for the Youth Caucus at GA. Next year I will be able to go to free again, because Worship Coordinator is a two year position.
Okay, so what do you do?:
At General Assembly, you can go to workshops, worships, be a delegate for your congregation and vote in Plenary- which takes up a lot of the time at GA. Plenary is basically business time, no, not the business time you think of in that Flight of the Concords song, it's the classic UU buisness. Meaning, people talk. a lot. Sometimes about really unimportant details. Though thankfully we have someone- our wonderful moderator, Gini who can control our "chalice throwing" (chalice throwing: when Unitarian Universalist's become angry at each other and about not very important details- compared to the larger picture) at each other.
This GA was also the 50th anniversary of the UUA-when the Unitarians and the Universalists joined together.
The Youth Caucus- is for high school aged youth and we have workshops, worships, talk about business - what we want to say at Plenary, hang out, dance, etc. This is the basic information about General Assembly- you can find more at the UUA's website-http://uua.org/ga/index.shtml
That's interesting... sorta...
For most of you, the above paragraph probably sounds really boring. But I assure you -General Assembly, at least my experience was truly amazing.
I never before have ever. ever. been in a place with so MANY Unitarian Universalists in one place. Just imagine a huge football stadium and all of them UU's. Even though hall (Plenary hall, this is where all the big business happens and worships) we were in, was definitely not as large as a football stadium, but it felt that way.
The Opening Ceremony was truly something I will have envisioned in my mind for the rest of my life.
This happened on the first day/night we were there, the congregations that were present displayed their banners in the banner parade, which took awhile. Two of my fellow Youth Caucus staffers- Sarah and Noel (they were the HUPPERS, basically the deans for the Youth Caucus) they held the UUA's 50th anniversary banner, which was a HUGE honor. I felt s
o much pride, love, passion, and even got somewhat teary-eyed during the ceremony. From all corners of the country they were banners representing these churches. It's something I will probably never forget.
Friendships
Though the rest of the week- wasn't exactly like the opening ceremony. No, they were plenty of times that I wanted to pull my hair out and scream. Being on Youth Caucus staff was stressful, raising around 6am everyday and not going to bed till midnight every night. Though Sarah (my room mate) and I usually stayed up talking about what happened during the day/the coming day. Not to mention dealing with Youth Caucus issues. But I gained so many close friendships through this experience. Not to mention learning so much more about leading worships- with the help of my Sr. Worship Coordinator, Abhi.
There were and are so many smart and inquiring youth that I had the pleasure of getting to know and so many more who I wished I had gotten to know. It struck me during FUN times- which is really opposite then what the title appears to say- it's our Youth Caucus business meeting, where we talk about different Plenary issues and if/what we want to say as a Youth Caucus as a whole. It was going somewhat longer then expected, but they were so many youth there who really cared about the issue and I thought to myself, that truly this is something you don't get everyday, not everyday do you get to be with so many youth, people, UU's, a huge community that not only cares about each other, but truly cares about our impact and voice in the larger UUA and the world.
Faith-Reigniting
I felt my faith grow even more during the Synergy Bridging Worship in Plenary Hall (this is the worship for high school seniors/others who are going in to/already in you
ng adulthood). Sitting up on the stage, next to Bill Sinkford (our 7th UUA president, he now is the minister at the Portland church), I was freaking out some. I spoke the opening words for the chalice lighting. Which was truly an honor. Sitting up there, looking into the flame of our faith, our chalice, it dawned on me how much Unitarian Universalism means to me. I don't I would be able to survive high school without it. Before I've had most of my epiphany-super-awesome-spiritual experiences with my youth community within the Pacific Northwest district. I was struggling with my own spirituality with my church. But General Assembly helped not only reaffirm my faith but made feel something I hadn't really felt before this time. And it's a feeling I'll be spending the rest of my life trying to figure out how to explain/describe to others.
So we all start walking toward morning...
This experience gave me so much hope and light. But also it shown even brighter inside me how isolated sometimes I feel at my own congregation. There are so many amazing things UU's are doing out there in the world and yet we don't know about them. General Assembly, is when I came "out of the closet" as an evangelical Unitarian Universalist. I know, evangelical, it's a "scary word". When I say I am an evangelical UU, I mean that to spread my passion that I have for my faith in every single thing I do- not converting people. But truly living by 7 principles and by my own personal beliefs. I want my church to become more involved within the UUA and the world. I want more action, more doing. I want to take our chalice, our faith, my personal beacon and let it shine. Because we have the power to change the world, (that's even grounded in our history)! We are already doing so- whether that's hosting various different fundraisers, sending your youth to help build houses in New Orleans, or simply singing and dancing. We might not believe in the same things, but we believe in each other. We need to express our joy, because I know we have some, in fact we have tons, that's what our faith is all about, that's what our 7 principles are...
We must all go forth to towards joy, to love, to peace.
And so we all start walking towards morning.
Thank you,
Elissa McDavid
For more information, please feel free to contact me - elissa.mcdavid@gmail.com
Look for ways to participate in General Assembly on the PNWD's Youth Facebook page
and the UUA's Youth Ministry Facebook page
and the UUA's Youth Ministry Facebook page
