UUCF at the UUA GA! (initaly speaking)

taken from the UUCF and used caused they asked bloggers to pass it around: UUCF Presence at St. Louis GA, June 22-25.

We will have more events and presence at this year's General Assembly than ever before. Please come and celebrate with us, and if you can't make it to St. Louis please pass this information on to others in your church who will be attending. All are invited. We will surely be 'the leaven" at GA this year.

The new Skinner House book, Christian Voices in Unitarian Universalism, an anthology of contemporary writings by UU Christians edited by Rev. Kathleen Rolenz, our Good News editor (see fuller bio below), will be unveiled at this year's GA, and will be celebrated at two workshops, Friday, June 23, 4-5:15 p.m. in America's Center Room 226, and Sunday June 25, 1:45 to 3 p.m. in AC Room 260. Meet the authors, hear readings from the anthology, and more.

You can order the book online at http://www.uua.org/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=1608 or search for it at www.uua.org/skinner. Or call 1-800-215-9076. The book is $14.

This book is a major opportunity for UUs and others to hear about the personal stories of how Jesus and the Christian tradition has touched the lives of UUs in the 21st century. Help us spread this good news.

We will offer two communion services at GA this year in AC Room 274: Friday, June 23rd from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and Saturday, June 24, 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. Friday Preacher will be the Rev. Derek Parker. Saturday preacher will be the Rev. Naomi King. See their bios below.

As exciting as our public programs this year, likewise will be our interactive booth and service projects. First, we will be creating a prayer chapel with our booth space this year, an opportunity for everyone at General Assembly to come and receive prayer and blessings not only for their lives, joys and sorrows, but also for their varied ministries and missions and plans and dreams for the UUA itself. Second, we will offer two healing ministries for GA-goers: foot-washing at the booth, and a repeat of last year's successful distribution of free bottles of water out on the hot city streets outside the convention center. We will also have free back issues of the UU Christian Journal and Good News and pamphlets, as well as for sale items. If you can volunteer an hour or two at the booth or help with our service projects in particular, please let us know at the UUCF office. [Side Note from Ron: If Jesus' life, ministry, and resurrection went "against the grain of the universe" then and now, and the church is to keep doing so in that spirit, then I think our UUCF presence at GA continues to grow against the "GA grain" :) in these ways].

Finally, our Annual Catered Banquet, Hymn Sing, Meeting, and Speaker will be held Saturday, June 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the beautiful Episcopal Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St. Louis just a few blocks from the convention center and hotels at 1210 Locust St. The cathedral is the oldest Episcopal church west of the Mississippi River and the building is on the National Registry of Historical Places. Our speaker is the exciting minister Rev. Thom Belote. See bio below. The catered dinner will again be a great opportunity for people to have a wonderful meal at an affordable price ($20 range) without having to wait in long lines for Saturday night in local restaurants. Please RSVP as soon as possible by notifying Rev.. Ron Robinson at RevRonRobinson@aol.com or by calling the UUCF office at 918-691-3223, and supply any special dining requests such as vegetarian or vegan. Please invite others as well. The meeting and hymn sing is also open free to UUCF members regardless of whether you eat with us or not.

Come meet us in St. Louis. Don't miss out on this watershed event.

Bios:

The Rev. Kathleen Rolenz has served on the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship (UUCF) Board of Trustees since 2004. She is the editor of Good News, a newsletter of the UUCF organization and has been an active member of UUCF groups in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Cleveland, Ohio. Rolenz is parish co-minister of West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband, Wayne Arnason.

The Rev. Derek Lee Parker is a graduate of the University of Chicago (BA Geophysics) and the Earlham School of Religion (MDiv). He was ordained by Epiphany Community Church (UUA) in Fenton, Michigan. After a brief career as a paleontologist studying evolution and climate change, he has gone on to serve campus ministries, churches, and non-profit organizations affiliated with the UUA, the United Church of Christ, the Society of Friends (Quakers), and the Episcopal Church. He presently lives with his partner in Greenfield, Indiana; serves as Minister for Youth and Children at the Friends Meeting of Irvington, Indiana; and as Program Administrator for National Episcopal Health Ministries.
The Rev. Naomi King serves the Unitarian Universalist Church of Utica, in the rolling hills of central New York. Naomi also serves on the Board of Project Harvest Hope, is the liaison between the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association and the Annual Program Fund of the UUA, and the publications taskforce of the UU Historical Society. She was granted preliminary fellowship in 2004, graduated with her M.Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School in 2005, and was ordained by her home congregation First Universalist Church of Yarmouth, Maine in 2005. She won the UUMA-APF-LREDA Stewardship Sermon Award in 2005, for a sermon preached at her internship site, Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church of Carrollton, Texas. She lives in Kirkland, New York, with her partner, the Rev. Dr. Thandeka, where they can enjoy the creek and woods by their home and the terrific cultural, environmental, and personal blessings of the area.

The Rev. Thom Belote has served the Shawnee Mission UU Church in Overland Park, Kansas since 2003. He prepared for the ministry at Harvard Divinity School and earned an undergraduate degree in religion from Reed College. Thom grew up attending First Parish in Wayland, MA and is a life-long Unitarian Universalist. Thom is 28 years old.