Weaving the Web

As we all go to the polls this Tuesday, we know how high the stakes are. (If you’ve only realized that recently and aren’t registered, you can register right up to and including Election Day — please do!) UUCPA is also a democracy and we vote at least once a year at our annual meeting in April, and sometimes at special congregational meetings, but people tend not to think of the vote as quite so important.

While our congregational votes don’t determine U.S. immigration policy or who will run the houses of Congress, they are quite important as well. For example, the vote about our name last month meant a lot to many of us — some of whom realized they couldn’t vote because they weren’t members.

It can be a little confusing. To be a member of the UUCPA community, all you have to do is show up. And there are many ways to make your voice heard. But to make it heard via voting – to be a voting member — you have to do a few other things:

  • Be at least 15 years-old or successfully complete the Coming of Age program
  • Meet with one of the ministers
  • Make a formal declaration of membership using the form available on the website, in the office Monday through Friday, or at the Information Table on Sunday.
  • Make a financial contribution each year.

In order to vote, you must have belonged to the church for at least 30 days, so if you’re thinking about membership, don’t wait ‘til next April!

Whether we’re formally called a church, a congregation, a community, or something else, what we are is you: everyone who, in the words of our relational covenant, “makes our community all that we want it to be.” I hope you’ll do that in every way you can.

—Blessings, Amy