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Get Involved!

Become involved with a project that has caught your passion: whether it's Green Sanctuary, Gift-Based Ministry, as a worship associate, leading a covenant group, or something entirely different, your congregation needs your involvement in order to benefit from your unique talents and gifts!

Become a religious educator. Whether you are working with children, youth, young adults, or adults, this work can be deeply fulfilling and fun!

Offer to become a lay leader in your congregation. Talk to your nominating committee. If your congregation's in search for new professional leadership, think about whether you might contribute in new and exciting ways to that venture.

Witness your faith in the company of others, on behalf of your congregation. Seek out connections with other religious groups who share similar values. Help carry the message -- beyond your congregation -- that makes clear Unitarian Universalism's values and voice in this challenging world.

Become a delegate to your UUA District's meetings. You'll learn new skills, develop a sense of Unitarian Universalism that extends beyond your own congregation, and help nurture the vitality of our faith in your district.

Don't wait to be asked: contact your congregation's Nominating Committee and tell them you're willing to serve. They'll be glad to hear from you!

- from the UUA

Social Justice News and Events

8th Principle Team Update

The 8th Principle that we adopted in 2017 is: “Journeying toward spiritual wholeness by building a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions”. Our congregation was the first in the country to adopt it, but at this moment, over 150 have now adopted it (out of about 1000), and that number was only about 30 a year ago!

Our 8th Principle Team is Bruce PJ, Portia H, Cathy M, Anam OE, Fern C, and Wayne B (with Rev. McKinley ex-officio). In February, we organized and facilitated Dinners for 8th gatherings (on Zoom only, unfortunately, although one came close to being in person…) with a focus on the idea of Covenant, talking about times when we have felt especially connected with our Restoration/UUs of Mt. Airy community, and also about times when we have felt less connected. As before, these were deep and meaningful conversations, and we look forward to doing more Dinners for 8th in the not-too-distant future.

Now that our Covenant work is coming to a conclusion, we are gearing up for following up on our Widening the Circle conversations from January to June of last year. As preparation, our Team is reading Journeys of Race, Color, & Culture by Rick Huntley, Rianna Moore, and Carol Pierce, to give a framework for our process in this work. We expect this work to start this summer, and continue through much of next year. Some of the areas we plan to examine are Governance/Decision-Making (moving to more inclusive modes of decision-making, such as possibly Modified Consensus), Radical Hospitality, and Leadership Development (incorporating the work of the Nominating Committee). Look in the weekly newsletter for dates and times of specific gatherings as they get scheduled, and participate!

Living the 8th Principle: Trevor Noah on George Floyd,
Amy Cooper, and The Uprising

This 18-minute video is a brilliant analysis of racism, white privilege, and the social contract, using George Floyd, Amy Cooper (who called the police on Black birdwatcher Christian Cooper - no relation to her), and the property destruction that came after them. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c

Following, are several links important to our congregation's Social Justice program:

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