Last week in New Orleans, delegates gathered for the yearly General Assembly (GA) of our national denomination, the Unitarian Universalist Association.  Several UUSS members were there with me as voting delegates or active observers.  Rev. Lucy was among the online delegates watching from Sacramento, and some cast votes online in the UUA elections.  You will hear in coming weeks about the key issues and votes taken up by GA delegates, including a UUA Statement of Conscience on Escalating Economic Inequality, an issue we at UUSS have studied and acted on this past church year.

Most historic and moving to me was the election of the UUA’s president.  The Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, 42, is our first woman elected and the first from “Generation X.”   For the past year I served on her campaign team. Last August she preached here and met many Central Valley UUs at a reception here.  Many of you made endorsements and contributed funds to her campaign. With no polling data, we were uncertain who would win until the results were tallied and candidates notified at 5 PM Saturday.  What a relief.  What a joy!  Read UU World coverage of the election issues and results.  Under that article is a link to an 18-minute video of Saturday’s announcement in the GA hall, with Susan’s acceptance speech and her two opponents’ gracious remarks.  In that video you also will see the three interim co-presidents who were appointed by the UUA Board in to serve after the Rev. Peter Morales’s abrupt resignation in April.  Susan has had an active social media presence and is on Twitter: @revsusanfrederickgray and Facebook:  Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray.  Congratulations to all the candidates for an inspiring campaign year.