—by Marietta Moskin

When I left the Cleveland GA this year, I came away with an incredible feeling of belonging. I have been to General Assemblies before, but this awareness of bonds tying me to those record-breaking 4500 delegates from other churches and fellowships all over the US and the rest of the world was stronger this year than at other times I remember. Perhaps, it was because of the large size of our own delegation this year—there were 25 of us. Or perhaps the excitement of participating in the election of a new President and Moderator added to the perception. In fact, perhaps, the identity of the new President, Bill Sinkford, and what he stands for, made this election even more noteworthy. And of course, there was the election of our own Rev. Dr. Jan Carlsson-Bull to the Commission on Social Witness. But in fact, what I carried away with me from Cleveland was a new appreciation and recognition of the important role our denomination plays in the way each of our congregations is linked to the philosophy expressed by all UUs.

Judging from the ten or so GA reports from other delegates I have received, and from the comprehensive GA report submitted by Lorraine Allen, our delegation leader, to the Board of Trustees, I was not alone in these feelings. In her report, Peggy Montgomery writes: "I'm proud and inspired that our denomination cares so deeply and wants to work with such commitment to better our world's troubles. We in the delegation, however, need to bring the Actions of Immediate Witness and Study Action materials back to the consciousness and conscience of All Souls. … It's important, I think, for everyone, and especially newer members, to see how we are indeed connected to the larger body of UUs and the UUA in ways beyond Metro District, the UUSC, the Youth Caucus, the UU-UNO, and the Journey Towards Wholeness." I wholeheartedly agree with her. During the next two years, our Study Action topic will be "Economic Globalization," which got the majority of votes among the five topics presented to delegates at one of the plenary sessions. The other topics were: "Separation of Church and State," "Prison Reform," "The Changing Family," and "United States Election Reform." I hope that our congregation will take the opportunity over the next two years, not only to discuss the topic, but also to make choices for the next set of proposals that will come to us for comment from the UUA.

Peggy Montgomery had another story to tell after GA. In a chance encounter with Diane Olson, the new Moderator, Peggy learned in a quiet conversation, that Diane had initially become a UU when she left her own denomination in dismay over the overt racism expressed by its members after the murder of Martin Luther King. The friendship and compassion extended to her in the UU congregation she attended convinced her she had come to the right place. Peggy, in turn, concluded after her walk with Diane, that we had indeed elected the right candidate.

Because there were so many of us, our delegation covered many of the workshops and lectures offered at the GA so that we came back with a fairly comprehensive overview. One high spot for us was, of course, the talk titled, "A Universal Manifesto for the 21st Century," to an overflow audience by our own minister, the Rev. Dr. Forrest Church, who presented a thoughtful new approach to theological thinking for UUs. Another widely attended lecture was the Ware Lecture given by the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, who is the first African-American minister of New York's Riverside Church. Dr. Forbes is a spellbinding speaker and he was celebrating the election of Bill Sinkford as the first African-American President of a major religious denomination within the framework of his speech entitled, "The Recruitment of Human Race Activists," to enormous bursts of applause.

One of our delegates, Arthur Hopkirk, brought an interesting personal perspective to the GA's overall emphasis on racial matters this year. He attended a workshop entitled, "The Black Empowerment Controversy Video History Project," which centered around the controversy 23 years ago at another Cleveland GA during which many African-American UUs left the denomination in protest over the UUA's inaction concerning a racial riot. Bill Sinkford, our new President, left the UUA then too, although he returned several years later. But Arthur writes: "Despite having grown up as a UU, I had either never heard about the Black Empowerment Controversy within the UUA or had forgotten whatever I may have heard long ago. After returning from Cleveland, I learned that my mother had been a delegate at the 1969 GA in Boston where much of the controversy played itself out."

Arthur attended a wide range of workshops dealing with Prison Reform, the Death Penalty and racial matters. He was one of our brave delegates marching during a fierce rain storm to Jacob's Field, Cleveland's baseball stadium several long blocks away, to protest the Cleveland Indian's mascot, which along with many other such cartoon-like mascots offends the dignity of our American-Indian and African-American population.

Marion Stano came to Cleveland early to represent the All Souls Women's Alliance at the Triennial meeting of the UUWF—the Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation. She reports that the UUWF has taken on an intergenerational focus with many new younger members. The focus of the conference was, "What Women Want," and Marion returned from her first attendance at a GA with renewed affirmation about how we can integrate our own Alliance with the activities of other churches in the Metro District and the UUA as a whole. In her report at the Sunday plenary session, the President of the UUWF, Linda A. McAffrey, urged women delegates to be, "the radical change agents, as our grandmothers and mothers taught us to be." This was clearly an important charge to take back to our congregations.

Much of this year's GA was enlivened by the presence of a very large group of youth and young adults from all parts of the country, uniting in the UU Youth Caucus. The moderator of the Caucus was Allison Miller, who grew up at All Souls and who is now attending Harvard Divinity School. Her mother, Inez Miller, was one of our regular adult delegates. Inez writes on a number of meetings and workshops she attended, but I want to quote from her report concerning one of the major contributions made by the young people who range in age from 18-35. "The young adults came to consensus that they did not agree with the agenda as set forth in the program, as it placed the vote on the Actions of Immediate Witness earlier than many delegates could arrive—due to financial or work constraints. It was also placed before the workshops, which had been sponsored to better inform delegates about the substance of the issues. They wanted to make sure that we, as an association, pay attention to class issues as well as allow the appropriate time to deliberate on votes that affect the direction of time, resources and energy over the next several years."

The young adults objected from the procedural microphone and their motion to change the agenda passed by an overwhelming majority. The Youth Caucus, sitting in a block of seats, often became the focus of reactions and applause. Their speakers, when they did get to the microphones, presented their causes clearly and with admirable emphasis and maturity. Their contribution to the GA was impressive.

Magda Mraz also commented about the Youth Caucus in her report. She attended one of the Bridging Ceremonies, which she describes as "a both touching and spectacular rite of passage between youth and adulthood. I was moved and amused to watch the 'spiritual' young ones walk around with exposed midriffs, orange hair spikes and shoulder tattoos, yet hear them speak with an endearing sincerity."

Our ministers were much in evidence during the GA. In addition to Forrest's major speech and Jan's election to the Commission on Social Witness, Galen Guengerich, with the help of Nancy Bernstein, was working hard in the background to help Bill Sinkford win his election. Melaney Mashburn presented facts about our All Souls religious education program during the Sophia Fahs lecture, attended mostly by RE directors from all over, although some non-RE listeners like myself were sprinkled throughout the large audience. The Fahs speaker was Thomas H. Groome, Professor of Religious Studies at Boston College, and the author of a textbook used in Catholic schools. His lively presentation certainly fit in with our UU point of view. Finally, our Minister Emeritus, the Rev. Richard Leonard, spoke up during one of the plenary sessions on behalf of awarding the Olympics to China in opposition to one of the proposed Actions of Immediate Witness.

Jim Moskin attended a workshop on "Making the Web Work for You" and came to the conclusion that except for the Lifelines Series, which provides a framework for sharing information on the Internet, All Souls has fallen behind in its use of this new technology. He also noted that our new Moderator, Diane Olson, attended the workshop with great interest in the potential of new electronic voting devices to make voting at future GAs run more efficiently and with less controversy. Much of his time at the convention was spent rehearsing with the GA Choir that included members from all over the US and Canada and performed at the Closing Ceremony. Of the GA Choir, Jim observed that, "it is like a metaphor for the Denomination: we arrived from all over, worked together, and by the end, we sang with one voice."

Dan Beshers attended a talk by historian Roger Wilkins, author of Jefferson's Pillow, about our slave-owning founding fathers and their views on the evils of slavery that eventually became the basis of efforts to rid the nation of slavery. Dan also attended a session on "Globalization and Economic Democracy," among several workshops mentioned in his report. Fran Mercer spent much of her time at a table promoting the work of the UU-UNO office and hosting a cocktail party given by George Dorsey for the UU-UNO. Claire Gunning attended a session on "Socially Responsible Investing," chaired by James Gunning, her father. She also participated in the new Young Adult Bridging Ceremony.

Carolyn Jackson submitted a thoughtful report on an impressive list of workshops and lectures she managed to attend. She particularly noted Jan's workshop on faith-based initiatives. "Alternately encouraging and containing opinionated UUs, Jan managed to wring out a consensus on our opposition to faith-based initiatives as proposed by the White House. While some UUs take the constitutional amendment against government-established religion as an article of faith, others are unsure what it means and if they agree with the implications." Carolyn also attended a workshop dealing with Hispanic stereotyping called, "What Do You Say After, 'Hola, Cómo Estás?'" which caused her to look at how her own reactions during New York's Puerto Rican Day Parade squared with her position as co-chair of All Soul's Journey Towards Wholeness. Such personal introspection certainly is the goal of many of the workshops offered at the GA!

There are long reports from Lorraine Allen, who attended such offerings as workshops on large denominations and the work of church boards, among many others. She was particularly interested in a workshop presented by Warren Ross, the author of a new book, The Promise and the Premise, which dealt with the fact that the UUA is now 40 years old.

I personally concentrated on such topics as ecology, women, and religious education. Among the more "off-beat" workshops I attended, was one entitled, "Walden Pond Forum," that dealt with nature, equity, and spirituality in terms of our seven principles. Another one I found personally helpful was titled, "Healing Grief Through Story Telling," presented by Rev. Jennifer Justice, who is also a professional storyteller and demonstrated her talents convincingly.

Of course much of what we bring back from a GA are memories of the colorful opening and closing ceremonies, the long plenary sessions, the parade of banners, and the wonderful ceremony of the Service of the Living Tradition. There are formal breakfasts and lunches and cocktail parties to attend and the informal get-togethers, such as the annual cocktail party given by Dick and Polly Leonard that helped to gather all of our delegates together. My personal thanks also goes to Christina Bellamy who used her skills and experience, acquired in other years, to find just the right restaurants for group dinners for members of our delegation, adding much to the enjoyment of the GA experience. And my thanks to Lorraine Allen who made writing this article much easier by having pulled it all together first for her official report to the Board.