UUA Moderator Gini Courter, who preached at CUC in 2007, is a master of meeting management.  I have been so involved in national committee work in recent years that I have not been able to spend as much time as I would like in the plenary sessions that she manages with a firm but cheerful demeanor.  Next year I am going to try to live in the plenary sessions and worship the skill with which Gini brings life and meaning to these gatherings of two or three thousand ornery UUs.

This year I was able to be in the plenary hall for the enitre debate about our Statement of Faith on Peacemaking.  Ultimately the text, which had been sent back for more work last year, passed by an overwhelming vote after more than an hour of intricate discussion.  Gini managed the landscape of the hall which included different microphones for pro statements, con statements, points of order, amendments, and probably some other forms of engagement.  She walked us through amendments and amendments to amendments with a confident grace.  Humor is an important element in her toolbox, and often diffuses tension ("Hmmm, I didn't think we were going to want to discuss that particular word, but, hey, we are UUs, we want to discuss everything!").   There was a tense discussion of the phrase "non-violent resistor," ending in the insight that this phrase does not always mean "war resistor."  And we had a fascinating discussion of the word "principle" and whether we could use it to refer to something broader than our Seven Principles.  It was a wonderful conversation, and you can look in on it in "Plenary 3," in the General Assembly section of www.uua.org. 

The most important part of yesterday's work was the decision to go forward with our General Assembly in Phoenix, Arizona in 2012.  There had been a proposal to move that GA out of the state, in protest against the draconian immigration laws there.  But, as my daughter Linnea reported from the floor, "Plenary voted overwhelmingly to go to Phoenix but to not have 'business as usual' .  .  .  Fight for social justice, trips to border, etc.  Also limit business to bare minimum required by the bylaws."  She continued, "I think the boycott (moving Ga) would have a greater and more immediate effect, and so I'm not thrilled with it and voted against -- one of very few."  I'm not thrilled with it either.  GA is not intended to be a long mass protest.  And it will give all of us less opportunity to see Gini Courter in action!