Boston, Mass. (April 30, 2024) – What does shared ministry look like in today’s Unitarian Universalist movement? How can Unitarian Universalists (UUs) collaborate to create a liberatory faith for themselves and others? These are the fundamental questions asked by the Spring 2024 issue of UU World, which is now available at newsstands and online.
“Today’s Unitarian Universalism asks profound questions about our shared values, how we engage one another in accountable and justice-seeking ways, how to best steward our theological inheritance, and how to continue the practices of communal care that expanded with such a wonderful embrace in the quarantine stages of the pandemic,” writes Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). “How are we called to set aside much of what we have known for long enough to not only imagine new ways of being, but to catalyze the work that such inventiveness requires? How do we best live into our role as carriers of a flame that burns with conviction? A flame that strengthens us to carry forward opportunities whose hopeful possibilities give us courage for the days ahead?”
The Spring 2024 edition of UU World features a profile of the Pink Haven Coalition, a collaboration between frontline trans organizations, the UUA, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), and others to support trans individuals in states hostile to gender affirming care. The coalition provides housing and transportation to passengers seeking care.
“It is important to remember how vulnerable trans families are in this moment. I’m humbled to be a part of this work. Everything we do to help our trans community builds our resiliency for this collective, long-haul ministry,” said Rev. Jami A. Yandle, a non-binary UU minister and the UUA’s Transgender Support specialist.
UU World staff writer Elaine McArdle reports on Community Church of New York UU’s monthly dance liturgy, which was instituted by Rev. Peggy Clarke in December 2022 as a way to spiritually engage her community. The liturgy includes the Omega Dance Company, a New York-based professional sacred dance company that ministers to faith communities across the region. Readers can see more of the dance liturgy in action at UU World’s YouTube channel.
The issue also highlights ways that the UUA and UUs are pursuing social justice priorities, in partnership with frontline communities and others. Beacon Press, which publishes books under the UUA’s auspices, is actively pushing back against book banning efforts across the country by offering resources for threatened communities. The Climate Justice Coalition is developing a Climate Justice Revival for September 2024 to advance environmental justice priorities. And UU the Vote 2024, the UUA’s nonpartisan civic engagement initiative, has launched, seeking to strengthen democracy as the country heads into the 2024 presidential election.
Spring 2024 is the first full issue edited by UU World’s executive editor Kristen Cox Roby. Roby is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of editing and writing experience. Before becoming executive editor, she spent sixteen years with the USA TODAY Network in a variety of roles, most recently as a regional storytelling editor and project manager shaping high-level enterprise journalism.
UU World celebrates liberal religion and the people it inspires. The magazine descends from a long line of Unitarian and Universalist publications going back two centuries: Universalist Magazine was founded in 1819 and the Unitarian Christian Register in 1821.
About the UUA
The UUA is the central organization for the Unitarian Universalist (UU) religious movement in the United States. Our faith is diverse and inclusive and the UUA’s 1000+ member congregations are committed to principles and values that hold closely the worth and dignity of each person as sacred, the need for justice and compassion, the right of conscience, and respect for the interdependent nature of all existence.