Sunday Morning Worship July 11, 2010 was led by the Transylvanian contingent of ministers, who shared the story of his call to ministry. For some it was part of family tradition, for others, erected as the first woman minister, it was a pioneering challenge. Listening to their stories and sing songs of Transylvania, in Hungarian, was a rewarding start to the day. The axis of the day was the ministry at the service of justice and fighting oppression. The first session was conducted by the Rev.. Kinga Réka Székely (who currently chairs the Association of Unitarian ministers in Transylvania) who shared the experience of Unitarianism Transylvanian. These unit are mostly ethnic Hungarians, but after the First World War Treaty of Trianon (1920) placed them under the sovereignty of Romania. has never been an easy situation, but became worse under the Communist regime, especially under the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu (who Kinga Réka called only "The Dictator"). In those difficult times, the church lost their lands and schools, and their activities were severely restricted. The ministers were intimidated and responded to this intimidation in different ways.
recounted the story of the 1989 revolution which occurred suddenly and how life began to change so fast. However, the healing and restoration of confidence has come very slowly. Concluded by saying, "The greatest teacher is experience of defeat" and then added a mission statement for our colleagues, "Ministers should have a vision of life irrational, driven by faith and love." This view of life gives us both a unique set of tools, including a unique responsibility.
During the afternoon sessions the Rvdas. Geels Tina Ann Peart and gave us the opportunity to share stories about the role of gender in our culture and churches, and gave space to discuss issues relating to the rights of people who loves the same sex, and on roasted other efforts to do justice, to borrow a phrase from the UUA-to be on the side of Love .
The Rev.. Sienna Rebecca Philippines described the particular issues facing their community, where domestic violence is an important component of local culture and, indeed, life in villages where churches are located. He told how women started an NGO called "Do it!" To try to build solidarity around social issues and how the church sponsors two different microcredit programs.
Mark Kiyamba In Uganda briefly described how they educate their congregations to the impoverished hiños AIDS orphans through the participation of volunteers, but then used almost all his time to explain the resistance to proposed legislation that promotes severely punish homosexual acts (with supported by some evangelical churches in the U.S.). He spoke of the silent and courageous work of organizing a demonstration for the rights Guei. The organization managed to harvest a large international media support, so that the government, at least for now, has frozen the proposed legislation could mean long periods of imprisonment for homosexuals, and even imprisonment for those who do not denounce.
But after a day of good work for justice, the conference participants offered the proper tribute to the gods of soccer , as was also the day of the final of the FIFA World Cup and the Netherlands participated in it. About 20 of us went to the Plaza de Kerkrade and joined the sea orange local citizens were encouraged to 'Oranje'. Unfortunately the home team lost in overtime. Anyway, the unless it was a wonderful way to experience local culture.
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