For many of us, our identity as a UU is tied so much more strongly to our own congregation than it is to the
wider movement. I recall some thirty years ago, when we moved from Schenectady to Framingham, MA, we first visited the local UU church. It felt very foreign to me. Did you know that UU churches in New England
don’t have round sanctuaries and they have steeples John rather than domes on their roofs? How strange!

But then, as we recited the Bond of Union, I discovered that the words were the same as we used in Schenectady. It was a transformational moment; I really felt, for the first time, that I was part of a denomination, not just a congregation.

A few weeks ago, I attended the St. Lawrence District (SLD) Assembly and found the experience to be very uplifting. First and foremost, our own Reverend Margret did us proud, delivering the Gould Discourse, lecturing to the Assembly on Transformation, a theme, as we know well, that is central to Margret’s role as an interim Minister —and a theme that was central to this particular District Assembly meeting.

That is because, at the District Business Meeting that followed Margret’s lecture, SLD voted to dissolve itself. This move was part of the broader movement within the UUA toward “regionalization.” This means the UUA’s 19 districts, first organized in the 1960s—each with their own governing board, bylaws, and budget—are moving to organize themselves into five regions. We are now part of the Central Eastern Regional Group (CERG), covering New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia Delaware, DC and Maryland. The move is intended to streamline governance, leverage staff more effectively and better serve congregations.