Worship has always been a big part of our UURMaPA conferences, and our next in April, is no exception. On April 21st, we will feature an opening worship to center our attention, and on April 23rd, a closing worship to remind us of our connections and of our cyber-experience being together.
This spring, our worship services will be produced by a team of people led by Joan VanBecelaere. She gathered Kathleen Fowler, Chris Jones-Leavy, Alison Wohler, Jef Gamblee, Mark Belletini, and David Bumbaugh.
In addition to the opening and closing worship services, they will produce a service of remembrance, honoring those ministers and partners who died since our last conference or were not included in a previous remembrance service. We will remember our departed colleagues and partners who died before March 25th. Those who died after that date will be honored during the fall conference.
This service has always been important to our conference attendees, as they are reminded of their colleagues’ ministries and their own ministry. Kathleen Fowler had the enviable job of compiling biographical data and composing the obituaries. She found the experience of working on the obituaries to be captivating. She said, “It was enriching to learn the passions and interests of the various ministers and spouses and how they felt their faith was calling them to be in the world and to express their theology.
“Through social justice action, through offering a welcoming and compassionate presence to the world, through thoughtful self-reflection, through self-revelation in sermons and, of course, through ministering to folks in the pews, these individuals paint a picture of offered love, again and again. They are an inspiration to me and make me proud to be a Unitarian Universalist.”
This spring, we honor the ministry and legacy of:
Rev. Robert Lewis
Jean Newton Box
Rev Dr. Faith Grover Scott
Rev. Dr. Arthur E. Curtis
Rev. Doddie L. Stone
Rev. Margaret A. Keip
Rev. Ronald Wayne Knapp
Rev. Coleen Squires
Maxine S. Steeves
Rev. Harry H. Hoehler
Lackey Rowe
Paula Kreisberg Ulrich
Rev. John Richard Weston
Edwin Charles Lynn
Rev. Daniel Brosier
Rev. Dr. Patrick O’Neill
Rev. Barbara Carlson
Our conference begins April 21 and wraps up April 23. Registration is open at uurmapa.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2752248 The fee is $45, and there are no tariffs, no matter your nationality. Financial aid is available, and if you need it, write to treasurer@uurmapa.org before you register. After you register, please send a selfie to jeffbriere@gmail.com for inclusion in the beauty pageant, AKA, the slide show.
The preliminary program schedule and more information about the theme presentation by Karen Hering, Ministorys, odysseys, and a concert with Melanie DeMore is posted on our website, uurmapa.org and on our Facebook page facebook.com/groups/2003125769981908