President Peter Morales Visits the Capital Region UUA

UUA President Rev. Peter Morales was the featured speaker at the second annual joint service of the Capital Region Unitarian Universalists of New York (CRUUNY) on Sunday, June 13th.  Close to 600 UUs from the congregations of Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga and Glens Falls filled the ballroom at the Saratoga Hilton for this special service/celebration, entitled "Sharing Beloved Community."  During the Chalice Lighting, each congregation shared a few words about its contribution to the heritage of Unitarian Universalism in the Capital Region.  The service featured a four congregation joint choir, a bridging ceremony for high school graduates, and the exciting introduction of a start up group with whom CRUUNY has begun to work to form a new congregation in Clifton Park.  Additionally, the choir sang a very moving song entitled "To Love and Bless," written especially for this service by Michael Harrison, music director of the Saratoga congregation.  

In his three-part homily (Honor, not Worship; The Living Spirit; UUs in a New World), Reverend Morales emphasized the need for us to be creative and forward looking if we are to meet new challenges and indeed become “the religion for our time.”  He advised us, for example, to “honor” but not “worship” our past – for when the past, including our past successes, become our fundamental identity we inevitably pay less attentive to the very real and present needs of those who are now coming through our doors for the first time.  As UUs we tend to be uncomfortable with demonstrations of enthusiasm for our own religion and joke about ourselves as “God’s frozen people” – but we must recognize that inherent in that joke is the danger of our becoming a dwindling elite. 

Morales illustrated his point with an anecdote about a meeting he attended in a picturesque and stately New England church in which the parlor was lined with valuable antique furniture, each bearing the sign “Please Do Not Sit,” while those at the meeting were directed to sit on uncomfortable metal chairs for an all day meeting.  Our buildings and our congregations must never become literal or figurative museums, Morales reminded us, but rather they must be places of welcoming - places of vibrant community in which we are both comfortable and stretched, places which attend to our emotional and spiritual lives as well as our intellect, places that both nurture and challenge us to live meaningful and purposeful lives! 

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President Morales also led a two hour discussion at the First UU Society of Albany on Saturday June 12.  The theme was "how can our congregations lead the way and be a beacon for those who  seek a liberal and spiritual way to bring meaning to their lives?"  He kicked the discussion off by saying that, after having served as president for almost a year, he is more convinced than ever that Unitarian Universalism is the religion for our time.  He stated that there is a tremendous interest in, and  need for, liberal religion. To meet this need, we need to be more welcoming, more relevant in the lives of UUs, and more involved in the big moral issues facing our society today.  

Morales noted that growth of our movement is a central goal for all UUA presidents, although each president approaches it differently.  He said that he is focusing less on public relations campaigns, and instead offering to partner with our fastest growing, most diverse congregations. Morales emphasized that much can be learned from how those congregations grew in spirituality, in mission, and ultimately in membership. (Ed. Note: Morales was the organizer several years ago of a discussion among a dozen "breakthrough" congregations that was recorded on DVD, which we highly recommend, see http://www.uua.org/publications/listeningexperience/index.shtml.

Other highlights of Morales' responses to questions:
•    He observed that how we treat immigrants, especially those from Mexico and Central America, is the equivalent of the Civil Rights movement, and constitutes a "struggle for America's soul."  Morales opined that the controversial Arizona immigration law, whose purpose is to  identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants, is a "reaction to fear."  Morales said we should take great pride in the fact that UUs were the largest religious presence at the recent demonstrations against the law in Phoenix.  And he posed this provocative question: If a person living in Albany decides to retire in Phoenix, why can't a citizen of Chiapas, Mexico have the option of working in Phoenix as well?
•    Challenges our faith faces include ministering to an increasingly diverse population (only one quarter of Americans ten and under are "white"), as well as attracting and retaining more minority ministers (he noted that the barriers of culture, class and race are much more difficult for us to overcome that those of gender and sexuality).  Morales emphasized that it would  be tragic if we evolved into an "ethnic enclave" of white, upper middle income congregations: both because that would deny many people access to our liberal religion, and because it weakens our voice on the social issues of the day.
•    Morales said we need to "get religion" in order to thrive.  But religion isn't so much about what we believe, but instead what we love, what we truly value, what we deeply care about- "if we love the same things, we have the same religion." He also said we should  not try to tell visitors how we are unique, but instead show them, by acting out our faith.
•    Morales doesn't agree with the claim of some humanists that we are abandoning our faith in "reason"- a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning" will  always be central to our faith.  But he stressed that Unitarian Universalism needs to also feed our hearts and our souls.   
•    "Peace" is more than the absence of violence- it needs to be waged with the same resources with which we wage war.  We need to build an infrastructure of peace, not simply settling for a "ceasefire."

All in all, a wonderful visit with our President!