General Assembly 2008

Fort Lauderdale, Florida -
There is something about a gathering of thousands of UU's that is inspiring and uplifting. I had forgotten how lost I can get when I feel I am the only one, or that my congregation is the only congregation, out there working this work. The description of Unitarian Universalism that I liked best this week was "one light, many windows." It speaks to the many ways that we express that spirit which we each manifest. The words and the music, the social witness and the social action, the education of children, youth, and adults. They all form a brilliant mosaic of who we are as a religion and who we are as a people.

The problem I have, though, when I envision myself in a room filled with sunlight filtering through many different pieces of glass, is that I want to examine each and every window. I want to linger over the round portal adazzle with colored prisms, I want to stand in awe before the huge plate glass absorbing the majesty it frames. I want to let my mind wander freely with each and every spectrum-shift, color-change, hue and shade. And then I forget - the purpose of all this is not to examine the windows, but to experience the light. It is not the filter we must focus on but the brilliant source of spirit that is so overwhelming we dare not confront it directly. This is why we come together, so that the spirit we live in can be brought to a larger presence in this world and so that we can take that presence home with us and share it with those who stayed behind. So that we can live in it until we gather again next year to raise it up again to a white hot brilliance.

This year my focus has been on peace-building. That's good because peace-building served as a thread connecting many of the workshops. Next year we will consider what the UU position on making war should be. We will consider whether Just War, or Pacifism, or something else will define our stand with regards to resolving conflicts on our planet. I read Stassen's "Just Peacemaking" just before I left home and his thoughts have been echoing through these halls all week long. It is a third way - to actively engage in constructing peaceful solutions before conflict can build an unstoppable momentum. Solutions that honor the needs of each party, and taxes each equally. The theme was struck by Paul Rasor in his workshop Beyond Just War and Pacifism. It was echoed in the New Identity workshop lead by Jorge Zeballos and Shelly Tochluk. And it was brought to its ultimate expression by Van Jones in Saturday evening's Ware Lecture. There is a third way - and it will be found within the incredible creativity of Unitarian Universalism.