Looking forward to our Winter Retreat and the Annual General Meeting

You wouldn't necessarily think that a district general meeting would be that much fun, but it always comes in February, about the time when I start getting cabin fever because of the chilly rainy weather, I'm missing my comrades in "arms" (or rather vestments), I'm wanting to kick back a bit and not worry about the next sermon coming up. Our district AGM (annual general meeting) is coming up this weekend and tomorrow is the first day of our UUMA winter retreat, all down in Salem, Oregon.

A colleague emailed me recently and asked me to help her with the music for tomorrow night's worship, which I'm glad to do. When we get together as colleagues, there is such a sense of relief and feeling of camaraderie and worship is always calming and joyous. We also have a tradition in our chapter of saying "yes" to requests from colleagues; our foremothers and forefathers in the PNWD have taught us to respond in this way as part of our own spiritual discipline and that's why I say yes as often as I can.

Our program on Thursday will be a chance to get acquainted with Peter Morales and Laurel Hallman, our candidates for UU president. I know both of them equally well and I see that they each bring certain gifts to the role. I haven't decided for sure who I will vote for---and it all depends on whether I actually make it to GA in SLC in June---but I am leaning toward Laurel. I think she has the depth and experience to be a good president. I like Peter however, and his thoughts about growth are intriguing. So we'll see .

On Friday, our chapter has its business meeting and later on in the afternoon, congregational delegates begin to arrive. That evening is the banner parade, always a stellar event, and the kickoff assembly.

Saturday is a full day of workshops. Chalice Spark Kari and I are doing a workshop on blogging. We intend to start a UU blog right on the spot, show our attendees how to contribute to it, and get it up and running so that they can have some hands-on practice. We only have an hour and fifteen minutes, so I'm not sure how far we'll get, but it will be fun to talk blogging with others.

William Schultz, formerly of Amnesty International, is our keynoter and I'm looking forward to hearing him speak. There's the requisite banquet and hoopla of awards that night, followed (usually) by a band and dancing.

Sunday morning we'll worship together and head for home. I'll probably be offline most of the time I'm there but may check in periodically. Miss me, 'kay?