Friends, this month's newsletter article is a little complex, and is about potential changes proposed for the Unitarian Universalist Association's organizing documents. While I will be addressing this proposal in more detail from the pulpit at a later date, the Article II Study Commission is offering a series of feedback sessions in November that you may want to participate in, so I wanted to make you aware of this proposal in time to participate in these upcoming sessions.
What Are These Proposed Changes?
In 2009 calls to re-examine how we are using and living our Principles as a religious movement began in earnest, through recommendations that came out in a series of denomination-wide studies. In response to these requests for re-examination, the Unitarian Universalist Association's Board formed a Study Commission to look at possible changes to Article II of our Bylaws, which include the Seven Principles and the Six Sources. In response to feedback and brainstorming sessions both during and following the 2022 General Assembly, the study commission has released a proposed entire re-write of Article II.
In this proposal, the Seven Principles that so many of us are familiar with are replaced by Seven Core Values: Love, Justice, Generosity, Evolution, Pluralism, Equity and Interdependence. Instead of Six Sources, they make a very broad statement about how "we draw upon and are inspired by, the full depth and breadth of sacred understandings, as experienced by humanity." I cannot even begin to summarize the content of these changes without preaching an entire sermon here, so instead, I suggest that if you have any interest in this at all, that you visit the page of the Article II Study Commission and read the full DRAFT of their recommendation:
https://www.uua.org/uuagovernance/committees/article-ii-study-commission
On that page there is also a schedule of the upcoming feedback sessions and a chance to sign up to participate and share your feedback.
When the Study Commission released this draft, they submitted it with the following suggestions about how to read the draft, which are inspired by Appreciative Inquiry practices.
They suggest you read it three times:
1. Read it the first time to observe how it makes you feel.
2. Read a second time, observe what it makes you think.
3. Finally read it a third time before thinking about any suggestions.
There's a lot to consider regarding these proposed changes, and I'm still thinking it all over myself. My initial impressions are in uncomfortable tension with each other (and I am reminding myself that being uncomfortable isn't actually a bad thing, but an opportunity to grow).
First, when I read the seven values that they've named, without thinking about what they're supposed to replace, I feel like they definitely fit how I live out and talk about my Unitarian Universalism. In very deep and meaningful ways.
Second, I definitely feel a sense of attachment to our Principles and our Sources as they stand now, and it worries me to see a proposal that takes them out of our foundational organizational documents.
Surely, I will not be the only one who is processing complex feelings and thoughts around this proposal. And that good news is that we have lots of time to do some inner and outer work around this proposal.
What Are We Going to Do?
Here are some initial steps we can take as a congregation regarding the proposed re-write of Article II:
· If you have the initiative to read up on the proposal, and attend the feedback sessions that are being held now through mid-November, I encourage you to do so.
· I will be offering a two-part sermon on the work of the Study Commission, and the proposed changes, on January 8th and January 15th.
· We will have a series of Listening Circles and/or Discussion Groups in February and March around these proposed changes
· Our delegates to General Assembly this year will have the significant responsibility of hearing Holston Valley UU's feedback and voting to represent our congregation at the 2023 General Assembly. We should take special care in our process of choosing our delegates and instructing them of our wishes this year.
· We will keep looking at the Eighth Principle as all of this is going on: we have been assured by Paula Cole Jones, who is involved in both the Eighth Principle project and the Article II Study Commission, that continuing to do work on the Eighth Principle will be a worthwhile endeavor. Because if the revisions don't pass then the Eighth Principle continues to be an important possibility for our community's future. And if the revisions do pass, then our work around the Eighth Principle connects strongly to the seven values that are being proposed, especially Justice, Equity, Interdependence and Love.
What Isn't Changing?
This news of potential changes may cause some anxiety, so it's important to me that we take a look at what isn't changing.
First, remember that these are proposed changes, and that it will be a two-year process to see changes actually come to fruition. You can get information on what this long process looks like by visiting the Article II page link that I gave you earlier in this article.
Second, the autonomy of local Unitarian Universalist churches to govern themselves remains. The provisions that make our congregation the final authority in congregational life and governance are outlined in a separate article of the bylaws entirely, which is not up for debate or revision. We remain a free and independent church, regardless of how these revisions go.
Third, Unitarian Universalist freedom of belief is still sacrosanct, and is even spelled out in section C-2.5 of the proposed Article II revisions.
Fourth, Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church will continue to be a place where we build loving and accepting community, where we work together for justice, and where diversity and equity are celebrated.
I know this is a lot to take in, and I hope you can take some time to see how you feel and what you think about it all. I hope you'll work with me as I sort out my position, and that we continue to affirm that we need not think alike to love alike.
And I hope you will engage with our listening circles and our broad democratic process as we find our way.
With Curiosity and Love,
Rev. Tiffany A. Sapp