As you may or may not know, 2011 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Canadian Unitarian Council and the Unitarian Universalist Association. In honour of this milestone, this year's Annual Conference and Meeting in Toronto, Ontario will also be a celebration of this special fiftieth anniversary. One way that I hope we can mark this occasion is by adding another 50 to this event - that being 50 Young Adults from across Canada (and beyond as our American UU's neighbours are welcome too!)
This year the YA ACM planning contingent is bigger and more motivated than ever before and WE WANT YOU! We want to see this ACM full of beautiful, smiling 18 to 35 year old faces, participating as delegates, leading workshops, singing in the choir and generally reveling in the amazing UU spirit that is created at the ACM each year. But we know that making this dream come true will take work and we also know that getting to Toronto and affording the cost of the ACM is easier said than done for many YAs.
So to address this issue, I along with the YA ACM planning group created a survey to help get a sense of what are the interests out there from YAs for the ACM and also what are the biggest barriers for attendance too. The survey is really quick to take - click on the link that says "ACM YA survey" on the left hand side under Events and Networking. Please fill it out and then let all your UU YA friends know about it too. Help us help you get to Toronto this May!
I look forward to reading your responses, working on making this ACM a meaningful and joyous event for YAs and seeing you there in May.
namaste,
a
Monday, December 13, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
fall into winter
As I write this, the rain that has been pouring down for the last two days, has finally turned to icy snow and I can no longer deny that (in this part of the country at least) winter fully is upon us. November and the last days of fall completely flew by me as I flew around the country meeting with UUs from across Canada. After attending the Western Regional Gathering in Winnipeg in October I went to three other gatherings in November! It was a whirl wind and I hope to provide some more reflections of my travels and meetings here soon but in brief here goes:
Montreal was next after Winnipeg where the Unitarian Church of Montreal hosted the Eastern region for a full weekend Regional Fall Gathering. The fellowship (and the food - all lovingly prepared by UCM volunteers) had was wonderful. At this gathering, in addition to workshops and singing and an inspiring, standing room only Sunday morning service, there was also a CUC sponsored Lay Chaplains Basic Training and a Basic Youth Advisor Training.
Into southern Ontario, my next journey was to the Central Region Fall Gathering, hosted by the First Unitarian Church of Waterloo. This was a day long meeting, which begun with a moving call to action in Rev. Jessica Rodela Purple's sermon that morning. Overall we had a great day of networking, workshopping and general reconnecting for UUs from the Central region.
After this event, my travels took me further west to the BC Heartwarming, hosted by the Unitarian Church of Vancouver and organized by the ministers of the BC region. Opting out of traditional workshops and plenary discussions, the ministers organized a powerful and intimate program of sharing and spiritual reflection in large and small groups that spoke to those aspects of our UU faith that excite us and feed and ultimately have been transformational in our lives. In addition to this mulitgenerational program there was also a full program for children and a BC Youth Adult Committee organized, day long, Youth Con that included a scavenger hunt through downtown Vancouver and elections for new members to the BC YAC.
Having had the privilege to meet folks from congregations and fellowships, large and small across Canada I must say that I feel incredible proud of who we are and what we have to offer the world. I am also extremely hopeful for our next 50 years as we at the CUC continue our transformational journey to increase our capacity to nurture and grow vital religious communities in Canada.
in faith,
a
Montreal was next after Winnipeg where the Unitarian Church of Montreal hosted the Eastern region for a full weekend Regional Fall Gathering. The fellowship (and the food - all lovingly prepared by UCM volunteers) had was wonderful. At this gathering, in addition to workshops and singing and an inspiring, standing room only Sunday morning service, there was also a CUC sponsored Lay Chaplains Basic Training and a Basic Youth Advisor Training.
Into southern Ontario, my next journey was to the Central Region Fall Gathering, hosted by the First Unitarian Church of Waterloo. This was a day long meeting, which begun with a moving call to action in Rev. Jessica Rodela Purple's sermon that morning. Overall we had a great day of networking, workshopping and general reconnecting for UUs from the Central region.
After this event, my travels took me further west to the BC Heartwarming, hosted by the Unitarian Church of Vancouver and organized by the ministers of the BC region. Opting out of traditional workshops and plenary discussions, the ministers organized a powerful and intimate program of sharing and spiritual reflection in large and small groups that spoke to those aspects of our UU faith that excite us and feed and ultimately have been transformational in our lives. In addition to this mulitgenerational program there was also a full program for children and a BC Youth Adult Committee organized, day long, Youth Con that included a scavenger hunt through downtown Vancouver and elections for new members to the BC YAC.
Having had the privilege to meet folks from congregations and fellowships, large and small across Canada I must say that I feel incredible proud of who we are and what we have to offer the world. I am also extremely hopeful for our next 50 years as we at the CUC continue our transformational journey to increase our capacity to nurture and grow vital religious communities in Canada.
in faith,
a
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