From Your Minister
Dear Ones,
I’m writing to you from Baltimore, MD, where the annual national gathering of Unitarian Universalist congregations, called General Assembly, is just wrapping up. It’s been an inspiring week that began with our three-day convocation of Unitarian Universalist ministers and ended with the four-day General Assembly of congregations.
Our theme this year has been Meet the Moment. As part of different learning cohorts focused on various topics, we’ve explored these questions:
- What is the moment we are in?
- What are the most urgent and important needs and opportunities of this moment?
- What do our values call us to do in response to this moment?
You can learn more about the Meet the Moment theme and become part of an ongoing cohort exploring these questions for one of several topic areas on the Meet the Moment website.
In addition, I’ve attended several very inspiring talks. One was by Deepa Iyer, who wrote the 2025-26 UUA common read, Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection. After attending the session, I’m even more excited about engaging with this book at UUS and the ways it can help us with our crucial justice work. Last night I also attended an extraordinary lecture given by Imara Jones, who helped us understand more deeply how the anti-trans movement was carefully constructed to divide people and separate us from each other and our values. When the video is available, I look forward to sharing it with the congregation.
I’m looking forward to sharing more about all of this with you when I preach a two-part sermon series about Love in Action on July 6 and 13. I’m working with our GA delegates to identify when they’ll be able to share their reflections with you, too, so look for an update about that in our weekly emails.
Finally, I’m pleased to share that in July we’ll be part of the JUULIowa UU Summer Sunday Co-op. For the co-op, our Unitarian Universalist congregations here, in Ames, and in Dubuque are collaborating to present Sunday services in July. We will be welcoming each other into our virtual spaces to share worship, create connections, and inspire our fellow UUs across the state. So on July 6 and 13, UUs from Ames and Dubuque will be joining us online and on July 20 we’ll be inviting people who are watching our worship service online to join Ames’ worship service while Kara Beauchamp leads a highly interactive in-person worship service in UUS’s sanctuary.
I hope that this summer brings all of you opportunities to rest, recharge, and get re-energized. Because to survive and thrive we need one another and we need our collective wisdom.
Love and Blessings,
Rev. Diana
