Meeting the Moment: An Ingathering Message from Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt

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Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), welcomes you to a new congregational year, pointing out:

  • The importance of community support during times of transition and need.  
  • The past year’s accomplishments and shares her hopes for the future, encouraging widespread sharing of her message. 
  • UUA’s commitment to working together and community engagement on initiatives like UU the Vote 2024, aimed at enhancing voter education and democracy.
  • Significant actions taken at the recent General Assembly, including a statement of our support for Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex individuals, — part of the UUA’s commitment to inclusivity. 
  • A call for a focus on community and togetherness rather than simply doing more, framing this as a vital expression of faith in divided times. 
  • A warm welcome to the new congregational year.

Full text is below.

Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt is the 10th UUA President, elected at General Assembly in June 2023 for a six year term. Rev. Dr. Betancourt has served Unitarian Universalism for more than twenty years in many roles. 

Beloveds,
It is my joy to bring you greetings, celebration, and welcome as we lean into a new congregational year. We are in a time of great transition and great need in the world, and this can put immense pressures on all of us. The work that lies before us is a long journey work and how we are with one another, how we support each other, will have everything to do with how we meet the moment. In this video message, recorded for all our congregations and communities to share at this time of ingathering and renewal, I offer a review of all we have accomplished together in this past year and some of my deepest hopes for meeting the moment in the coming year. Please share it widely in your community and beyond.  
In this coming year, I want to reassure you that your Unitarian Universalist Association is excited to serve as your colleagues and your collaborators – UUA staff are here to help resource us all in these times. Your UUA Organizing Strategy team has launched UU the Vote 2024 to continue to build our collective power in community, between and beyond the election cycles of this country. In the coming months, our goals are to get an even larger number of UUs involved in voter education and protecting democracy and to live ever more fully into answering this question: 
What does love require of us in this political season and beyond?
In my first year as your UUA President, we’ve also laid groundwork together for new initiatives like the Climate Justice Revival that is coming at the end of September, we’ve carried forward ongoing processes like responding to the Widening the Circle of Concern report from our Commission on Institutional Change, and we just held a historic General Assembly, all virtual, this past June.
After a democratic process involving thousands of Unitarian Universalists discussing our faith, values, and core theology, delegates at our 2024 GA voted decisively to approve a new statement that articulates those historically grounded promises and commitments in accessible and compelling invitational ways. One of the most significant actions we took at GA this past year was to approve, with overwhelming votes of support, our Business Resolution embracing Transgender, Nonbinary and Intersex and Gender Diverse people is a fundamental expression of UU religious values. This vote – your vote as Unitarian Universalists – solidifies and strengthens our ministry to and with Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex members of our communities. And it strengthens all of us in our commitments to our liberal and liberating faith. 
At this time of ingathering and beginning again, this time of renewal, our call is not to do more things. It is instead to be together to make a commitment to our communities. The simple act of joining together in community is a significant expression of faithfulness in such divided times, and it lies at the heart of how we practice our Unitarian Universalism.
Welcome, Beloveds, to the promise of a new congregational year.
Yours, 
Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt, UUA President