By Linda A. Dove
February 19, 2023
I ended my last talk at the point when, in 1961, Unitarians and Universalists finally united to form one religious community. Today, in a brief overview, I select a handful of the significant issues the UUA and UUism have faced over the last, challenging 63 years. But, later, the main focus is our own Harrisonburg UU and its evolution since its founding. David Lane and Cathy Gardner will share their perspectives on HUU.
Initially, the UU Association took a directive, clerical stance towards the many UU districts even while it gave congregations financial support, including newly forming fellowships. Today, it primarily performs an educational and advisory role for our five, recently consolidated, regions. It focuses particularly on congregational governance and UU faith. Earlier, Virginia was in the Thomas Jefferson district along with Charlottesville but is now the northern-most state in the Southern Region that stretches to Alabama in the deep south.
A few years ago, pushed by vigorous grassroots protest, UUA diversified its all-white, mostly male, leadership to attract and include UUs marginalized by race, ethnicity, gender, and so on, and to abolish unconscious bias. And Beacon Press Books too has made its publications much more reflective of diversity.
UUA’s website, uua.org, has developed over the years. I do urge you to take time to dive into its well, clicking on surface links to discover many deeper pools. The quarterly UUWorld magazine is also free to UU members. The latest edition headlines Facing the Climate Crisis. The UUA was late taking on this existential issue but has divested its funds from polluting companies and speaks out to such companies’ boards to get them to change their harmful practices.
What are some other significant UU organizations you can find out about on the website? One I admire is the UU Service Committee. Its recent Annual Report recognizes HUU for our donation. In 22 countries, large and small, volunteers work in social justice programs. Poor countries initially invite UUs in rich countries to be equal development partners with them, not to act like big brother donors.
Remember the Church of the Larger Fellowship? It now brings 3,500 isolated UU folk, here and abroad, into communion with populous congregations. And, from 2005, the Church of the Younger Fellowship does the same. Has Zoom helped these programs with their remote community-building, I wonder?
Other initiatives I can do no more than list here include those that promote human rights, such as for LGBTQIA’s, Black Lives Matter, and eqUUal Access for people with disabilities. As a lay-led congregation practicing shared ministry, HUU has earned the Welcoming Congregation certification. And there are many other UUA subcommittees and interest groups we can join, including Meditation and Christian, Humanist, Buddhist, Islamic and Jewish groups. I once joined the Spiritual group but dropped out because I wasn’t into spiritualism!
The Small Group Ministry Network is significant. It was the stimulus for fledgling covenant groups and today it also sources Soul Matters. The topic for March will be Vulnerability. Last month, I accepted the UUA’s invitation to join the action project on “Love.” Today, I planned to wear my yellow T-shirt with its slogan Standing on the Side of Love. I bought it when Mary Hahn and I went together to the annual UUA General Assembly in Charlotte. But since I move house soon, I must have packed it away.
Finally, I’m very eager to see an important UUA review due out soon. Its focus is to make the UUA more effective, mission-focused, and reflective of our covenantal faith. It examines our Principles and Bylaws and aims at ensuring that UU values and core documents reflect who we are today.
Our HUU Origin Story: My Point of View
Outlines and Overviews
By David Lane
Part I – 1961 to 1991: a turbulent, difficult time (30 years)
- 30 years of political, social, racial, economic and moral upheaval
- John Kennedy assassinated, 1963
- Anti-war protests, 1964=1973
- Selma civil rights marches and Voting Rights Act, 1965
- the Great Inflation, 1965-1982
- More assassinations (MLK and Robert Kennedy); riots in major cities, 1968
- Kent State shootings, 1970
- Watergate Scandal, 1972-1974
- Oil Crises, 1973 and 1979
- AIDS Epidemic, 1981-1990s
- Gulf War, 1990-1991
- important UUA events
- AUA and Universalist Church of America consolidate, 1961
- even before consolidation, the main growth strategy of the American Unitarian Association (AUA) and its successor, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), was to plant small, autonomous, lay-led congregations just about everywhere ten or more religious liberals could be brought together (this has come to be known as the Fellowship Movement)
- this strategy was gradually discontinued (budget issues), 1961-1967
- financial support for Extension ministries shifted from UUA to districts, 1967
- all extension ministry support ended, 2004
Part II –1991 to 1998: our Harrisonburg congregation opened its doors (8 years)
- early accomplishments
- initial grassroots organizing (backyards, living rooms, OK Corral)
- chartered, 1991
- acquired Dale Enterprise School House
- built RE Building
- hired two extension ministers (while funds were still available). HUU was one of the last “fellowship movement” congregations to be established in Virginia (Charlottesville and Waynesboro were others).
Part III – 1998 to 2023: My Time At HUU (25 years)
- WHAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION in 1998
What made and still makes HUU unique among religious communities here in the Valley (“the only game in town” when I joined)
- individual differences valued
(Love Makes A Family)
- interactive Sunday worship
(joys and concerns, talk back, community dialogue)
- not held together by creeds or traditional god-talk
(all persons free to build their own theology)
- not defined by church government or leadership model
(no single authority, leader, decision-maker in charge)
- no clear-cut organizing principle evident
(what was the glue that held such diverse individuals together?)
- WHAT KEPT ME COMING TO HUU after 1998
What I’ve discovered/rediscovered over the years:
- we’re a learning community, evolving and changing
(trying to figure out what religious community means for us here and now in this place)
- our mission (our three key tasks) is central and unifying
(action oriented, the work we do as a community)
- many/most take part in that work in some way
(huge investment of time, energy, expertise – shared ministry)
- over time close connections have been fostered among members and friends
(task groups, book groups, and especially covenant groups)
- we listen to each other better than we used to
(more heart, less head connections)
- we care for each other better than we used to
(helping each other face key life transitions as extended family)
- social and climate justice remain key community commitments
(Dana Offering, Interfaith Association, CAAV)
(the connections we make, the relationships we build)
- WHERE ARE WE NOW in 2023? A good place!
- no break in key activities during Covid
- solar panels project
- hybrid worship initiative
(becoming a connected as well as a gathered community)
- new (and sometimes distant) faces on Sunday mornings!
Impressions of HUU since I’ve been attending
By Cathy Gardner
As a fairly new HUU participant, I have been asked by Linda to provide a brief account of my impressions of HUU since I have been attending, both joyful ones as well as those that may give me some hesitation. Like many others, I observed the services from the safety of my home for a few months during the pandemic, and several weeks ago began attending in person.
My religious background includes a Catholic upbringing as a child, followed by a long absence from any religious activities, and finally 28 years of attending a Presbyterian church in my former state and here as well, when my husband and I moved to Harrisonburg nearly 5 years ago. I have never been a strong believer in blind faith, and always felt a bit reluctant with some of the dogmas of past religions I had participated in. This led me to examine what I liked about my past experiences, what aspects I was not always comfortable with, and how I actually define the essential nature of God. I think it is fair to say that I am still searching, as many of us are.
First, I am drawn to HUU for some of the same things that kept me going to the congregations I formerly attended.
Community: gathering to share joys and concerns; sitting together during a potluck lunch; conversations before and after the services; community outreach and support inside as well as outside the walls of the HUU building ; the opportunity to listen to another’s point of view; being a part of something outside of one’s own little world.
Music: I have always been drawn to the beautiful music in the various churches I’ve attended, and welcome the familiarity of many of the hymns I enjoy listening to here.
Messages: My favorite aspect of the Presbyterian Church that I attended for many years was the manner in which the sermons were presented. The minister was a wonderful speaker, and always delivered his messages in such a way that there were more questions being asked than answers being given. I am often left with more to think about after an HUU message, as I was after my former minister’s sermons.
Second, I am drawn to HUU for the opportunity to explore my spirituality in ways that don’t necessarily mesh with my past experiences.
The messages so thoughtfully presented by members and outside speakers alike illustrate how very many ways there are to see the world, both spiritually and otherwise, and serve to add dimension to my own perspective. Because there is no one definition of God at HUU as one finds in many denominations, I am inclined to feel more comfortable with the simple notion that a deity, whatever form that takes, carefully assists us in understanding our need to love one another, care for one another, and to respect and care for the world around us, however we choose to go about it. I venture to guess there are as many different notions of spirituality as there are people sitting in this room and participating on Zoom today.
Finally, although still very new to the HUU community, I have two observations that have prompted me to wonder about the long-term viability of this wonderful community.
The lack of young people I see attending the services
Younger and older generations of people can learn so much from one another, particularly in the context of issues such as social justice and climate change, as well as negotiating together the many challenges that face different age groups in our community.
The absence of a minister, whether part time or full time, does stand out to me
I’m bringing this point up with the understanding that I’m certain this is not a new topic of discussion in the HUU community. In fact, this was confirmed by Linda when I raised some points with regard to my observation. I learned that this community has had ministers in the past, and that there have been several practical reasons that it has not worked out. My understanding is that there is a task force that looks at different HUU issues, this being one of them, and that practical, budgetary and ideological aspects are examined. I have also learned that there are individuals and groups within HUU designated to address various other needs that arise among its members that a minister would commonly handle. I recognize the challenges that exist in finding a minister who respects the autonomy of the existing community, and in agreeing if a minister is even essential given what appears to be a very smoothly run small church community.
I’ll conclude by saying that there are many reasons that HUU is such a strong and diverse community of people, and many reasons I continue to attend. I’ll add that I can well imagine the benefits of leaving things exactly as they are for as long as sustainable.
Being new to the fold, I have furnished observations only, as Linda asked me to provide.
Note prepared by David Lane
The Fellowship Movement (UUA Website)
Between 1948 and 1967, Unitarianism experienced a period of enormous growth, perhaps the most significant increase in numbers for any time in Unitarian, Universalist, or Unitarian Universalist history. One third of the people who swelled our ranks during these years came through the doors of newly organized “fellowships.” The story behind the Fellowship Movement is one of the most interesting in all our efforts at evangelism.
A fellowship was defined as a minimum of ten religiously liberal laypeople who expressed sympathy with the purposes of the AUA, had bylaws, and made an ongoing financial commitment to the AUA.
. . . fellowships differed from churches in a number of ways. One, of course, was their usually small size. Other characteristics of included greater intimacy, spontaneity, informality, and directness. Do-it-yourself and lay-led, they offered and demanded more personal involvement and participation, more identification with the group, and a greater sense of responsibility for the community’s operation. In the words of one observer, “fellowship members ‘joined an experience’ rather than an institution.”
Lay people in fellowships created Sunday services, developed and carried forth religious education programs, and maintained an environment where differing voices might be heard.
The Fellowship Movement (UUA World, April 28, 2008)
Between 1948 and 1967, the main growth strategy of the American Unitarian Association (AUA) and its successor, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), was to plant small, autonomous, lay-led congregations just about everywhere ten or more religious liberals could be brought together
The congregations planted as lay-led fellowships between 1948 and 1967 saved Unitarianism from near extinction and converted a regional religious movement into a truly national one.
Thirty percent of the UUA’s current congregations—323—started as fellowships during those two decades
The fellowship story doesn’t end in 1967. Many new lay-led congregations have emerged since the end of the fellowship movement. Of the congregations listed in the 2005 UUA Directory, 277—more than one-quarter—were established between 1967 and 2004.
Unitarian Universalism today reflects a number of changes that can be credited to (or blamed on) the fellowship movement. Today’s popular small group ministry program, for example, owes some of its ancestry to the culture of intimacy in small fellowships. So does the equally popular concept of shared ministry. Highly participatory morning worship services have spread from fellowships to the more traditional Unitarian Universalist churches. Some of these changes were welcomed, others resisted.