I write these words as spring wends its way towards summer here on the east coast. This is my last note to you as President of UURMaPA and after General Assembly, I will hand over the responsibilities of UURMaPA leadership to Richard Speck, incoming President.
It has been a rewarding and joyful experience over these past six years. I came onto the Board in the summer of 2019, and my first UURMaPA conference as a Board member was that Fall, focused on the the Rainbow History Project pioneered by Rev. Dorothy Emerson. After her death, it was carried on by the UURMaPA Board.
What a monumental and important work that was, celebrating the story of LGBTQIA+ in the UUA with stories from the lived experience of those involved, many of whom are or were part of this cohort of retired folx. That legacy lives on: be on the lookout for a book from Skinner House documenting much of the stories and history from that project (hopefully before the year is out).
Like most of you, I never imagined the arrival of the pandemic in a few short months after that! The changes we’ve seen since that time are remarkable—and through it all the growth of an inclusive, vibrant UURMaPA.
I recall our perhaps clumsy but hopeful initial Zoom gatherings, trying to figure out how to replace the in-person experience of General Assembly events with a virtual meeting. And I remember thinking that surely, by the fall conference of 2020 we’d be back in person!
Well, you all know how that went. Yet in these four+ years we’ve honed the online conference experience to a point where there’s a rhythm to the event and an expectation of quality programming that increases its value.
But most importantly, this virtual world enabled us to provide opportunities for more and more retired UU ministers and partners or spouses to make real connections. Moving beyond the limits of geography and the expense of travel, Zoom allows us to not feel so alone in the world. We can find the support of kindred spirits despite time zones and area codes. And the number of our Zoom “small groups” meeting on a regular basis shows how this commitment to connections has grown and deepened.
I also think that this refocusing of how we connect prodded us to think of how we interact, and what guides those interactions. Our conversations about covenant and accountability rooted us in community and made real the assumptions we might have had about what that community could be. To state expectations about how we will be in community didn’t set up a bunch of onerous rules and regulations, but rather created a spirit of inclusion and respect—one that was probably there already but now made explicit.
I am proud of all that we did together over these past six years, with different participants in leadership, but all with the same intent and commitment: “to be an inclusive multicultural community that serves the interests and enhances the well-being of retired Unitarian Universalist ministers and their life partners…” (from the UURMaPA purpose statement).
I believe that UURMaPA is one of the best ways we have to connect and support one another in these difficult times, and I am so glad YOU are a part of it!
Wishing you all the best, —Susan
Reverend Dr. Susan Veronica Rak, retired