The following recaps were emailed as daily newsletters during General Assembly 2023 (June 21-25).
The 2023 Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly has officially begun! This year’s theme is “Faithfully Becoming.” We can feel the buzz of excitement in the air at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. We’ve been looking forward to this annual meeting of the UUA where Unitarian Universalists have the opportunity to worship, witness, learn, connect, and participate in the UUA’s democratic process.
There are many ways to connect with Starr King this year, including:
For more details about the above events, as well as workshops by our staff, faculty, grads, and students, click here. Now, on to highlights of Day One of GA!
The Starr King booth is always a highlight of General Assembly for us. Not only do we get the opportunity to meet with alumni and hear about the wonderful work they are doing, but we also have the chance to talk to many attendees of all ages about the educational opportunities we offer.
This year we went all out! The Starr King Lounge is smack dab in the middle of the Exhibit Hall with plenty of places to rest and recharge your body and mind. We even have cornhole in case you need to unwind over some friendly competition. We have plenty of literature and swag to go around and as always, we have our life-sized cutout of Thomas Starr King.
Be sure to stop by to visit us!
We centered ourselves for the work of General Assembly with this year’s Ministerial Conference at Berry Street.
The Ministerial Conference at Berry Street is oldest lecture series in North America, and the final event of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association’s Ministry Days. The first lecture was held on May 30, 1820, and has been held annually ever since, except one year during WWII.
Attendees were welcomed and scribal remarks were offered by Rev. Kate Walker, 1997 Starr King graduate. Rev. Lynn Gardner (2009 Starr King graduate) lit our chalice and offered a prayer. Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt (2003 Starr King graduate and former faculty member and trustee) was installed as Moderator and introduced the 2023 essayist: Rev. Cecilia Kingman (2003 Starr King graduate).
This year’s subject was “My Little Pony Was Right: Reflections on Fascisms Within and Without.” Rev. Kingman discussed the complicated and nuanced ways in which fascism is engrained within our society and our faith tradition. She identified the dynamics, propaganda, and tactics of political fascism, including using a two-part episode of the complex and disruptive children’s television show My Little Pony to illustrate some of these tactics. Rev. Kingman closed the lecture with a call to on attendees to recognize these fascist tactics and trends as they manifest in our society and in Unitarian Universalism, and to come together to continue the necessary and liberatory work of transforming our faith.
Rev. Kingman’s lecture was an important, revelatory, and revolutionary call to our deepest values and to the work of building the beloved community in our world.
The Banner Parade is back!
We officially began General Assembly with a banner parade, with more than a dozen of Starr King students, faculty, graduates, and staff representing our beloved school.
From there, the Opening Ceremony began, grounding the assembled attendees in the important work of the Association and with each other in the days to come. The Opening Ceremony was led by Rev. Dr. Kate R. Walker (1997 Starr King graduate), along with Erica Shadowsong and Rev. Jim Magaw. The Opening Ceremony was a joyous celebration filled with music, centering, and festivity.
Our second day at General Assembly was packed with events featuring Starr King community members. Keep reading for highlights from the Friendship Lunch, the Graduate Association Business Meeting, the Service of the Living Tradition, and more!
It wouldn’t be GA without the Starr King Friendship Lunch!
Every year, our Starr King Friendship Lunch is an opportunity to come together in community to learn more and to support our beloved school as we continue to lead the way in counter-oppressive theological education.
This year, attendees were welcomed by Jessica Cloud, our former Vice President of Advancement, who emceed the event. Yvonne Garrett (current Starr King student) and cristy cardinal (2023 Starr King graduate) lit our chalice and provided a beautiful blessing for our meal.
President Rosemary Bray McNatt then shared an update on the school and how we are moving toward our vision of becoming the hub for counter-oppressive theological education in five years.
Attendees were then treated to a special video premiere featuring 2023 Starr King graduate Isaac Castro. Keep an eye on our Facebook and YouTube channel tomorrow for the public release. We also heard a testimonial from Dana N. Moore, a student in our Master of Divinity program, followed by a special presentation from the Vice Chair of Starr King’s Board of Trustees, Rochelle Fortier Nwadibia. It was so wonderful to be together again, catch up, and share a meal.
During today’s Friendship Lunch, we announced the launch of the public phase of “Sowing Seeds: The Campaign for Starr King.”
Our comprehensive campaign is designed to sow seeds of hope and liberation by bolstering our school’s ability to help more people answer their call to progressive religious leadership and to equip those leaders and their communities with the tools to counter oppressions and create just and sustainable communities.
The campaign focuses on four critical priorities for funding that will ensure our school’s future success:
With the support of our community, we can do the sacred work of sowing seeds of hope and liberation, counter the forces of oppression that seek to divide us, and foster the next generation of progressive religious leaders equipped for these challenging times. During the Friendship Lunch, members of our community in attendance made a commitment to support our campaign.
For more detailed information on our comprehensive campaign, please visit www.sksm.edu/sowingseeds.
Starr King was thrilled to sponsor a workshop today on “Empowering Young Leaders and Building Multigenerational Community.”
This interactive workshop focused on how to build dynamic social change efforts across the generations. The workshop was led by Starr King Graduate & Research Scholar Betty-Jeanne Rueters-Ward, who opened the session by providing both a theological and historical context for why empowering young people to become leaders and build multigenerational communities is so important for Unitarian Universalism. Rev. Dr. Gregory Carrow-Boyd, Karishma Gottfried, and Lindsay Caddle LaPointe – all life-long Unitarian Universalists – each offered reflections on their experiences of becoming and being youth and young adult leaders in UU communities.
The assembled attendees were then invited into groups to reflect on and answer the following questions: How can your community support younger leaders? How can your community resource younger leaders? How can your community build multigenerational movements?
The workshop was an inspiring and energizing gathering that modeled what it means to build multigenerational communities that center and empower young people.
Starr King’s Annual Graduate Association Business Meeting took place today – a time for Starr King alumni to learn more about what is happening at Starr King, reconnect with fellow grads, and advance the work of the Association.
The meeting began with opening words and a chalice lighting by Ariel Aaronson-Eves (2020 Starr King graduate). President Rosemary Bray McNatt provided an update about both recent developments at Starr King and the future of our beloved school. Rev. Mr. Barb Greve (2007 Starr King graduate and former trustee) offered a thoughtful and inspiring reflection on his journey of ministry before, during, and after Starr King, and shared his advice to grads in attendance on their journeys.
Nancy Reid-McKee then shared a report on the recent work of the Association and moderated the election of the new slate of Graduate Association officers. The new officers of the Association are:
The meeting was a wonderful opportunity for graduates to be in community with one another and the school, and to move forward the important work of the Association.
The Service of the Living Tradition (SLT) remembers those who have died in the previous year, recognizes those who are retiring, and celebrates those who have obtained credentialed status or fellowship. Rev. Chris Buice, minister of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, TN, delivered this year’s sermon, titled, “Toward Our Metamorphosis into Who Knows What.”
In his sermon, Rev. Buice reflected on what is required for religious communities to adapt in times of great change. Using the metaphor of herding (snapping) turtles, he called upon those assembled in-person and online to reflect on the nature of change and how our congregations can adapt as we are faced with the reality of change. His core message: change is gonna come and change requires courage. He called on those assembled to be courageous and to advance change at faster than a turtle’s pace.
The Service of the Living Tradition was a timely moment of reflection and celebration.
Our third day at General Assembly consisted of worship, workshops, and honoring our beloved President, the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, as the recipient of the Award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of Unitarian Universalism. Keep reading for highlights!
We began the day in worship, led by the Church of the Larger Fellowship.
This morning’s worship service centered around the ways our liberatory faith can help us be in solidarity with those who are incarcerated.
Starr King student JeKaren Olaoya welcomed attendees to the service and lit the chalice. The Rev. Dr. Michael Tino offered a reflection on the need for collective liberation of all people and how we are called by our liberatory theology to advance this work. Aisha Hauser (Starr King Research Scholar) followed with a reflection on how we can live this liberatory theology by centering and being in relationship with those who are oppressed, marginalized, and too often dehumanized by society – our incarcerated siblings. Christina Rivera then built on those ideas in a final reflection on how our liberatory theology demands that we channel values and collective energies into the work of prison abolition. JeKaren closed the service with a powerful benediction and extinguished our chalice.
The service was a powerful reminder of how we can live into our deepest values, and as important grounding for the day ahead.
How can we as religious leaders hold space for those who have experienced trauma and maintain safe, healthy, and boundaried space? How do we create inclusive space for those with traumatic experiences that is not re-traumatizing? How do we hold space for ourselves when we have experienced trauma and are called to be in and lead religious communities?
Rev. Leslie Takahashi (Starr King Adjunct Faculty) and Michael Macias (2023 Starr King graduate) led an important program to help answer these questions with practical tools for leaders and congregations to tackle these tensions. Rev. Takahashi and Macias provided definitions of trauma to create a common understanding of what trauma is and how it may manifest in our communities. They contextualized trauma as a faith matter that affects our communities and individual spiritual health. And they offered resources for processing trauma, being in relationship with those with traumatic experiences, and how to create communities that hold sacred space for those who have and are currently experiencing trauma.
This workshop provided necessary and timely tools as we work to build inclusive communities, model our values, and continue to navigate these challenging times.
What is the future of Unitarian Universalist faith development in these changing times?
This year’s 2023 Fahs Lecture centered around this question. The lecture brought together several religious educators to explore how we can continue to leverage religious education to advance a more rooted, more loving Unitarian Universalism.
Mx. Katharine Childs, Kirsten Hunter, QuianaDenae Perkins (current Starr King student), and Emmalinda Maclean served on the panel and shared their reflections and experiences of engaging in religious education, the ways UU religious education has been evolving as our world has been changing, and what they see as the future of UU religious education in our congregations. Aisha Hauser (Starr King Research Scholar) moderated the lively discussion on fundamental questions of religious education and how we can support our faith’s youngest leaders and their families.
During the workshop sessions today, Rev. Marti Keller, Rev. Jay Wolin, and Rev. Alison Miller (current Chair of the Starr King Board of Trustees) led an enlightening workshop on Mussar, Jewish ethical teachings that promote personal growth and lifelong spiritual development, and how this practice can spiritually enrich people on both an individual and congregational level.
Sponsored by the Unitarian Universalists for Jewish Awareness, the workshop leaders shared more about what Mussar is, explored Mussar practices, described how Mussar practice can deepen personal and collective spiritual development, and offered insights from congregations who have convened Mussar study groups.
It was a powerful workshop that brought together a variety of experiences and perspectives in the service of our spiritual development.
During today’s General Session, Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt (2003 Starr King graduate and former faculty member and trustee) spoke to the assembled attendees in the Presidential Candidate Forum.
Moderated by Rev. KC Slack (2016 Starr King graduate) and Rev. Matthew Johnson of the Election Campaign Practices Committee, Rev. Dr. Betancourt shared what she has learned during her presidential campaign, her vision and hopes for how we can advance the work of Unitarian Universalism, and what her priorities will be as UUA president. One of her refrains during the forum was “Will you do this work with me?” – calling into the space the values of communal love and shared leadership that she brings into the work.
She closed the forum with the message: “I hope that we can risk this messy, loving, world-changing, saving faith together.”
This evening, members of our community and the broader UU community joined together to celebrate Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt as she receives the UUA’s 2023 Award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of Unitarian Universalism.
The Award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of Unitarian Universalism is one of the most prestigious awards given by the UUA, bestowed to those who have strengthened the institutions of our denomination, clarified our message in extraordinary ways, and exemplified what Unitarian Universalism stands for.
The dinner brought together many of the people who have touched or have been touched by Rev. McNatt’s career of service to Unitarian Universalism. Speakers at the dinner included Rev. Kimberly Quinn Johnson, Larry Ladd, Rev. Elizabeth Maclay, Jay Pacitti, Rev. Julie Taylor, Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt (2003 Starr King graduate and former faculty member and trustee), Rev. Sam Teitel, Rev. Dr. William Sinkford (1995 Starr King graduate), and Charles Du Mond (former Starr King trustee).
The dinner was a joyous celebration of our beloved president and her manifold contributions to Unitarian Universalism.
Are you feeling a call to ministry? Are you discerning seminary?
Starr King’s Director of Admissions and Recruitment Matthew Waterman hosted a gathering for those contemplating these questions. Several discerners came together to connect with others on similar journeys, learn more about the process of applying to and attending seminary, and ask questions to help clarify their next steps.
It was a beautiful assembly of people and wonderful opportunity to be in community with discerners and wanderers.
Day Four of General Assembly was packed with Starr King events, including the President’s Lecture, our Comprehensive Campaign Kickoff, the Ware Lecture, the election of the new UUA president, and more! Read on for details.
Saturday began with a panel discussion on understanding and exploring the call to ministry and ways to answer that call.
The panel featured Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kwong, Rev. Dr. Michael Tino, Rev. Amanda Poppei, Rev. Greta Jo Seidohl, Benjamin Gabel, and Starr King’s Director of Admissions and Recruitment Matthew Waterman. The panel discussed the various paths to ministry those who are feeling called can explore and articulated the process to become a Unitarian Universalist minister. And the panelists each shared the ‘why’ behind their own calls to ministry and their experiences of answering that sacred call.
It was an informative and inspiring session to help those in discernment understand and advance down the path to ministry.
Saturday featured the annual Starr King President’s Lecture at General Assembly. This year’s President’s Lecture focused on the pilot program of our distinctive Educating to Counter Oppressions model for congregations – WEAV.
WEAV stands for Who and What are UUs? Embodied Justice, Advocacy, and Vision. The program was created by faculty member Dr. Shannon Frediani and utilizes our ECO model in a small group ministry format to inspire participants as agents of sacred social change.
President Rosemary Bray McNatt was joined by Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco (UUSF), to discuss this pilot program. The workshop began with Rev. McNatt providing context for how and why WEAV was developed to help bridge the gap between the reality within many UU communities and our vision of a UU beloved community. “The work of countering white supremacy culture is a spiritual task and the tools we need are many and varied,” Rev. McNatt explained. “We are excited at Starr King about this program – this possibility – for our communities and congregations.”
Rev. Shennum then provided a breakdown of the WEAV curriculum and reflections on the experience of testing this curriculum within her congregation. “Even though this was a small sample [in the pilot program], I feel it has created ripples through our congregation,” said Rev. Shennum. “I am constantly being asked when I will be offering the next round of sessions and I am excited to offer it again in the fall and the spring.”
“I am grateful for Starr King School for the Ministry and the opportunity they provided to UUSF through this program,” she concluded. “And I am excited to see another pathway move into our congregations and communities as a tool to further our spiritual work of dismantling white supremacy building beloved community.”
After a robust question and answer session, Rev. McNatt closed the session by inviting those in attendance who are interested in this program to sign up for the next iterations of testing. If your congregation or community is interested in participating in a pilot WEAV program in the coming year, please send your congregational/community name, representative, and contact information to tjoye@sksm.edu.
During today’s general session, the election results came in for several important elections, the most significant of which is the election for the next president of the UUA.
We are thrilled to share that Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt (2003 Starr King graduate and former faculty member and trustee) has been elected as the next president of the UUA.
“I am here to humbly accept the role of president of the Unitarian Universalist Association,” said Rev. Betancourt upon becoming President-Elect. “I promise to love you for six years. I hope you will stay in the messiness of what it means to be in that kind of relationship with me for six years so that we can do the work of this faith together.”
Congratulations, Rev. Betancourt! We are excited for your continued leadership and stewardship of our beloved faith.
On Saturday evening, we celebrated the launch of the public phase of “Sowing Seeds: The Campaign for Starr King” in an intimate gathering in Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt’s suite.
Our comprehensive campaign is designed to sow seeds of hope and liberation by bolstering our school’s ability to help more people answer their call to progressive religious leadership and to equip those leaders and their communities with the tools to counter oppressions and create just and sustainable communities. Starr King has identified four critical priorities for funding that will ensure our school’s future success: sustainability, scholarships, faculty support, and experiential learning.
The gathering brought together trustees, donors, and friends of the school to be in community together and to celebrate the public phase of this campaign and the work to make our vision of the school a reality. Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, Jessica Cloud (former VP of Advancement), and Erica Toyama (Acting Director of Advancement) shared more about the goals for our campaign and our vision for the future of Starr King. And they thanked those in attendance for their faithful support and stewardship of both the school and the future of Unitarian Universalism.
It was a joyous, fun celebration of the school, our community, and the work ahead.
Visit www.sksm.edu/sowingseeds to learn more.
“What we inherent is not necessarily what we will become.”
The Ware Lecture is always a highlight at GA, and this year’s Ware Lecture was extraordinary.
Every year, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) President, in consultation with the General Assembly Planning Committee, invites a distinguished guest to address the General Assembly as the Ware Lecturer. This year’s Ware Lecturer was the distinguished author, scholar, and professor, Imani Perry.
Perry’s Ware Lecture focused on the stratification of belonging in our country historically and today, and how we need to take seriously and heed the testimonies of those often undervalued, marginalized, and forgotten. Weaving together her personal story and the story of some of our spiritual ancestors, Perry centered those voices and experiences often forgotten in history to highlight important testimonies that call upon our deepest values to act today.
She then spoke to what is required of us to answer this call in the current moment as oppression and violence against people based on their identity has risen to new heights. “In the face of people who oppose knowledge and human dignity, who seek to use law and violence to make us cower as they did back then, we have to sustain courage. Courage to read the books. Courage to face down the bullies. Courage to do our level best to break the unjust laws or refuse them – be disobedient to them,” she explained. “But we also must have humility. We have to be humble when it comes testimonies from the voices unheeded both in the past and the present, and this isn’t always easy.”
She closed the Ware Lecture in conversation with the assembly on the themes from her lecture.
It was a powerful and thought-provoking address on what it means to engage with the known and unknown stories of the past in order to understand what it means to be in right relation and to build the beloved community today.
The final day of the 2023 Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly included wrapping up the UU Polity class, as well as honoring our beloved president and celebrating multiple graduates! Read on for details.
“Throughout the whole journey of Starr King, I have most definitely had my moments where, you know, I doubted myself… And when I was doubting myself with that, I was doing it because I was trying to think of those big things you’re going to change in the world… And I finally figured out that I don’t need to worry about that. If it happens, it happens. What I need to worry about is what little things I am going to do to change the world.”
Meet Isaac Castro, a 2023 Starr King Master of Divinity graduate. During our Friendship Lunch on Thursday, we premiered a video that follows his story of answering the call to ministry and what led him to Starr King. Click here to watch!
Throughout General Assembly, our UU Polity class convened, exploring UU polity and governance by using GA as an in-person and online laboratory for participating in and witnessing decision-making within the Unitarian Universalist Association. Led by Rev. Dr. Meg Richardson, the class delves into the histories, theologies, and the challenges and promise of liberation by dismantling white supremacy culture.
Starr King offers our UU Polity class in conjunction with General Assembly every year, and this year the course was again hybrid – allowing those attending General Assembly in-person and virtually to learn together. This year’s class guests included the Rev. Mr. Barb Greve, Rev. Jonipher Kwong, Rev. Dennis McCarty, and Starr King School for the Ministry president Rev. Rosemary Bratt McNatt.
It was an insightful class and a wonderful gathering of Polity Wonks!
During General Assembly’s final General Session, our beloved president Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt was presented the UUA’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of Unitarian Universalism.
The Award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of Unitarian Universalism is one of the most prestigious awards given by the UUA, bestowed to those who have strengthened the institutions of our denomination, clarified our message in extraordinary ways, and exemplified what Unitarian Universalism stands for.
The presentation of the award began with several video testimonies by a few of the people who have been touched by Rev. McNatt’s many years of service.
“Rosemary, you love big. And one of the ways that love expresses itself is that you show up big,” Rev. Julie Taylor noted. “Service is love expressed.”
“[Rosemary] is someone who has poured into so many people and has helped to lift up so many people through her teaching and her preaching and just her general presence,” shared Rev. Sam Teitel. “And so, her hard work and her love in Unitarian Universalism is something that has not only an effect on our movement, but that is genuinely a global force.”
“You completely broke open my idea of what was possible for my religious life, and eventually for my professional life. There are so many of us for whom that is true,” Rev. Kimberley Quinn Johnson reflected. “I’m so grateful for the way that your life and your work continue to expand what is possible for me and for so many others.”
UUA Co-Moderator Charles Du Mond (former Starr King trustee) read the citation for the award. Among other things, Du Mond said, “Our movement’s gratitude to the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt is broad and deep. She has demonstrated deep commitment to justice work, service, teaching, stewardship of the association, and love of our faith. Rosemary is an extraordinary religious leader. It is with great joy that we honor her for all that she does for Unitarian Universalism and thank her for her superb service over many years.”
“It is so gratifying to receive this award and especially wonderful to be recognized for service that I would have done anyway. It is easy to do work that you love with people that you love on behalf of a faith that you love,” Rev. McNatt shared in the video presentation.
“This faith of ours, messy and complicated as it sometimes is, has given life to so many and saved the lives of so many. We have a responsibility not simply to preserve it, but to grow and develop it for this new and perilous time,” she reflected. “And so, I accept this award with a continuing commitment to do all I can to build the world we all dream about.”
Congratulations, Rev. McNatt, on this well-deserved honor!
During the final General Session, those elected to leadership positions within the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) during General Assembly were installed in their new positions.
We are thrilled to see so many of our Starr King students, graduates, and faculty moving into leadership positions and offering their unique gifts to the work of advancing this faith. Specifically, Rev. Amanda J. Weatherspoon (2016 Starr King graduate) was elected to the UUA Board of Trustees, Rev. Zackrie Vinczen (2017 Starr King graduate) was elected to the Nominating Committee, Rev. Dr. Meg Richardson (Starr King faculty) and Dana N. Moore (current Starr King student) were elected to the Commission on Appraisal, Rev. Shana Lynngood (1999 Starr King graduate) was elected to the Board of Review, and Rev. C. Nancy Reid-McKee (2018 Starr King graduate) was elected to the Commission on Social Witness.
As we celebrated the election and installation of each of these leaders, we also celebrated the installation of our beloved Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt (2003 Starr King graduate and former faculty member and trustee) as the new President of the UUA. During her installation, outgoing UUA president Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray issued a charge to Rev. Betancourt as she takes on this new role and responsibility. Rev. Betancourt was then presented with a stole in commemoration of her installation, and Rev. Adam Robersmith (2005 Starr King graduate) offered a blessing and led the laying on of hands.
Congratulations to all who are taking on these leadership roles. We are excited to see all the ways that these leaders will use their skills, their knowledge, and their gifts to advance the work of Unitarian Universalism in the years to come.
