UUFSMA: “Striving for Liberation on a Thriving Planet”

Unitarian Universalist General Assembly Online Service

“Striving for Liberation on a Thriving Planet”

Speaker: Rev. Joan Javier-Duval

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Two Services: 9:00 am and 12:00 pm

Links: https://www.uufsma.org   

     Or https://www.uua.org/ga

By Joseph Plummer

UUF Secretary

This Sunday’s UU online service will be broadcast from the annual General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, each year’s largest North American gathering of UUs for worship. This year’s General Assembly is fully virtual.  The inspired and highly recommended service will substitute for the regular UUFSMA Sunday Service produced in San Miguel. Moreover, it will be broadcast twice, first at 10 am Eastern Daylight Time and later at 10 am Pacific Daylight Time (9:00 am and 12:00 pm in San Miguel).

Two Unitarian Universalist ministers, Rev. Joan Javier-Duval and Rev. Mykal O’Neal Slack will lead the worship, and Rev. Javier-Duval will deliver the sermon. Her words will express a world view of beauty, gratitude, and love at the heart of faithful striving for collective liberation and a thriving planet.

Community Minister for Worship and Spiritual Care for Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism, Rev. O’Neal Slack will lead the General Assembly Service toward a deepened vision of “a spiritual community committed to supporting Black folx in our faith” and “spaces for LGBTQ people to access resilience, healing, and spirituality.”

Both service leaders represent the daily work of radical inclusion and cultural shift at the foundation of Unitarian Universalism. Their leadership within the UU ministry will have a powerful echo in the musical program directed by Benjie Messer of Phoenix, AZ, who will bring together an online orchestra of many of the finest musicians in the North American community of Unitarian Universalism.

In creating the General Assembly service, the three will encourage participants to reflect upon the beauty and joy of Unitarian Universalism’s commitment to inclusion and diversity in a community of love and faith. Rev. Javier-Duval, Minister of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, VT, is mother of a kindergartner, spouse of a proud Vermonter, and daughter of Philippine immigrants. Rev. O’Neil Slack, co-founder of the Transforming Hearts Collective, is a husband and father from the South, committed to healing, truth-telling, community accountability and care. Mr. Messer completed the UUA’s Music Leadership Certification Program after leading a New Orleans brass band, arranging scores for a digital music start-up, composing instrumentals for film and media, and teaching future musicians from preschool through college.

To participate in the UU General Assembly Sunday Service, visit the UUFSMA  website at www.uufsma.org where a link will be posted for joining the event. Or participate through www.uua.org/ga where a link will also be posted.

The worship service will include a collection for the Tomaquag Museum, an indigenous museum and archive of Southern New England tribal communities.

Through grants and awards, UU Fellowship of San Miguel de Allende donates fifty percent of all donations to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page’s Donate button. More than ever, your support is essential.

Our fellowship was born in 1987 when a small group of expatriate religious liberals came together to meet as Unitarian Universalists in San Miguel de Allende. The fellowship has been active and thriving ever since. Every UU church has it’s own flavor, and we are no exception. We are a combination of expats and visitors, each actively engaged and contributing to this wonderful Mexican community we love. Because there is a coming, going, and returning aspect, our spiritual community is extremely fluid.  There is a magic in San Miguel which draws us in and binds us together—both as members of the church and of the larger community. Our programming is led by visiting ministers, community leaders, and church members, so the variety is lively. We have opportunities to meet as UU’s each week at discussion groups, breakfasts, luncheons, and in various other ways. Depending on the season, attendance fluctuates between 40 and 140. Our primary focus is on funding social action within the surrounding community. We love good music, good discussion, good food, and having visitors. We invite you to join us any Sunday morning.

Members regularly post updates and information on this site. We also post meeting minutes and announcements there.

To join our Yahoo group site click on this link:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/UUFSMA/info

Click on “membership”and follow the directions.

Posting a notice on the Yahoo site is easy. Just go to your regular mail browser, type in the address line: uufsma@yahoogroups.com , type your message and hit send!

We encourage you to use this site to communicate with other local UUs.