General Assembly 2009

I'm back from Salt Lake City, GA 2009, and only now am coming up for air. Along with many of my old friends, I was busy working for the Morales for UUA President campaign, and was overjoyed that Peter, the minister of my home congregation, was elected.
And the campaign was something. Peter noted (see this letter) that when he started this campaign, the team agreed to run a campaign they'd be proud of when they were done. I feel they've done this. While I was only involved in the periphery of the campaign, I saw many decisions made with this in mind even though tactics and expediency would have encouraged other choices.
The campaign also set a goal of having fun. And this was evident in so many ways. Our volunteer job titles included 'mindless clerical', 'schlepper', 'gopher with a car', 'gopher with shoes' among others. And who would have thunk up booth schwag like fake tattoos, a photo booth (see souvenir photo strip of me and Liz, above), and ice cream bars? All this was done creatively and at surprisingly low cost, within an overarching culture of permission and experimentation.
I loved being around these people. It was a joy to do this work. I hope that we may all carry these qualities forward in our larger work in congregations and the denomination: to always act with integrity, and to have fun.