What a General Assembly I missed this year!: a presidential election, rallies, controversy, great democratic process, the start of a new campaign, interesting sermons, a great keynote, fundraising for...) There are more videos on the UUA site , which I haven't seen yet, but I hope to soon - especially the Ware Lecture (keynote). Please comment if you have more news or good links about/from GA

This brought tears to my eyes:

I'm back from a family wedding in Texas. I posted my photos on the shared album at SnapFish, but you have to login to see the photos: http://tinyurl.com/justinwedding We had a great time! I friended...UUpdates , & other forums. It was good to hear that our new UUA President Peter Morales said, "Unitarian Universalists "really want us, as their leaders, to be ambitious about moving into the future."

Thomas Starr King in his former glory in the U.S. Capitol before being usurped by Ronald Reagan. It is sad that Thomas Starr King has been demoted from his place as one of California’s...both Universalist and Unitarian congregations, famously observed, “Universalists believe that God is too good to damn them.   Unitarians believe that they are too good for God to damn.”  

I have a church-related meeting from 8:30 am - Noon in Bethesda, so someone from Davies could spend the day with me or I could pick up someone in Mont. Co. to go with me: Clean Energy Open House Sat....the left. PARKING: Please park in the parking lot at the corner of Willow Ave. and Carroll Ave., just four houses down from the expo. Contact: Jay Tomlinson, 240-396-2025 or jay@chesapeakeclimate.or

I woke up not feeling like going to church. It was a sunny day and I knew it would turn warm. I could go outside and do something else besides church. But I work at home and have a long to-do list, so...the backroads with neighborhoods of blooming cherry trees. I don't have any blooming trees, so it was beautiful. And then I got my son & his friend to help me plant the bulbs. :-) Wonderful day!

-- Perhaps you noticed today's newspaper headline that the number of people who identify with any particular religion continues to decline in America?  The survey is detailed at www.americanreligionsurve...community that respects that "free-ranging" spirit?  Isn't that precisely what we are about -- a part of our  legacy and mission -- as a religious community?  Your thoughts on this? 

-- Does Unitarian Universalism have a mission?  Do we UU's have anything special or even unique that is worth emphasizing, nurturing and sharing with the world...with our own local townships and neighborhoods... our mission and reason for being -- to foster, promote and institutionalize a truly freed religion and religious community.  -- As always, I welcome your own thoughts on what I've said here.         

Last night, the driver who picked me up at church to bring me home from choir practice asked me a lot of questions.  He started by asking what Unitarian Universalist means.  I gave him my stock answer...history lesson.   Keep in mind, I only live about 10 minutes from church, so this conversation was only about 10 minutes long.  I was exhausted by the time I got off the bus and went in my back door.

I'm feeling mixed about two things right now: Jesus and my ex-spouse. And I feel incredibly sad about both of them. I feel like it means something if I want to have a relationship with Jesus. Like...to think I'm something that I'm not. But then I'm also afraid I'll turn out to be the cliched Jesus freak. Yikes. I'm tempted to make this private, but I don't think I will. So there. ::razberry: