Annual Conference 2011
It Matters What We Believe
 | Prairie Star District |
Theme
Our conference theme comes from a favorite reading in our hymnal, “It Matters What We Believe” (#657) by a beloved UU religious educator, Sophia Lyon Fahs. It begins, “Some beliefs are like walled gardens. They encourage exclusiveness and the feeling of being especially privileged. Other beliefs are expansive and lead the way into wider and deeper sympathies.” What kind of believers are we? We are our best selves when we achieve understanding and empathy. We are at our worst when we can only proclaim what we are against. How do we challenge ourselves to be our best, while avoiding the trap of being exclusive ourselves? Come and explore this theme with us. How do we articulate our individual beliefs? How do we help our children form their own moral compass? And how do we, as a church, take a public stand on ethical issues?
Call for Workshops
Applications to present workshops at the Annual Conference 2011 are being accepted. The deadline for applications is September 27, 2010. More information.
Keynote Speaker
Friday, April 8, 2011
Rev. Dr. Brian Eslinger
Brian Eslinger, former minster of the UU Fellowship of Ames, Iowa, served there for thirteen years. He is a graduate of United Theological Seminary in the Twin Cities and a former president of Prairie Star District.
Judy Lecturer
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Rev. Dr. Kendyl Gibbons
Kendyl Gibbons is a life-long Unitarian Universalist, who currently serves as senior minister of the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis. She graduated from the College of William and Mary and Meadville/Lombard Theological School, and now teaches at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and the Humanist Institute. She has served as President of the UU Ministers Association, and is a published author in Parenting Beyond Belief and the hymnbook Singing the Living Tradition.
It Matters What We Believe
Some beliefs are like walled gardens. They encourage exclusiveness, and the feeling of being especially privileged.
Other beliefs are expansive and lead the way into wider and deeper sympathies.
Some beliefs are like shadows, clouding children’s days with fears of unknown calamities.
Other beliefs are like sunshine, blessing children with the warmth of happiness.
Some beliefs are divisive, separating the saved from the unsaved, friends from enemies.
Other beliefs are bonds in a world community, where sincere differences beautify the pattern.
Some beliefs are like blinders, shutting off the power to choose one’s own direction.
Other beliefs are like gateways opening wide vistas for exploration.
Some beliefs weaken a person’s selfhood. They blight the growth of resourcefulness.
Other beliefs nurture self-confidence and enrich the feeling of personal worth.
Some beliefs are rigid, like the body of death, impotent in a changing world.
Other beliefs are pliable, like the young sapling, ever growing with the upward thrust of life.
| — | Sophia Lyon Fahs |
| From “Singing the Living Tradition” |