The Unitarian Universalist Church of Utica was well represented at this year’s UUA 2023 General Assembly in Pittsburgh. Three members including UUU President Carol Gable, Young Adult Alex Jackson, Miranda Hoefelt, and Rev Brammer were all delegates able to vote in the business of the Association. UUU was also well represented by our beautiful congregational banner recently created by Kim Bywater.
We each felt inspired by different workshops, worship services and organizing events, and were grateful for the efforts and energy of so many UUs to build this faith and change the world. Over 4000 UUs attended, both in person and online, and together we sang, laughed, cried, listened and shared ideas over several days.  We even saw UU’s from afar who once attended UU Utica!

A couple of important events of this GA were the overwhelmingly affirmative votes to continue the discussion on proposed changes to Article II of the UUA bylaws in the upcoming year. UU Utica we will continue the conversation about this proposed cultural shift designed to meet the intensifying demands of our changing world.
We were there to hear the announcement of the overwhelming majority vote to elect our new UUA president, Reverend Dr. Sofia Betancourt.  We all listened to Dr. Sofia speak several times at GA and are thrilled that she will be leading the UUA forward these next 6 years.

There were many other fun and meaningful experiences we all had during GA, but Alex’s participation in the Youth Bridging Ceremony on Saturday night was a special highlight, and singing with Emma’s Revolution and Reggie Harris a real thrill!
Next year’s General Assembly will be completely online allowing complete access to all events for those who register. Please save the dates of June 20-23, 2024!

Rev. Karen Brammer
Unitarian Universalist Church of Utica
315-939-0109
uuutica.org