Just as we are part of this Fellowship, formed as a community of individual members, our Fellowship is, in its own turn, part of a larger body formed as a community of congregations. That larger body is the Unitarian Universalist Association (also known as the UUA).

The UUA provides many valuable services to its congregational members and their individual members. These range widely, from the development and publication of curricula used in the education of both children and adults, to the credentialing of professional religious leaders, to the coordination of our annual General Assembly, to publication of UU World, our UU hymnals, and many other resources that support our liberal faith. The UUA maintains an office in Washington, DC, working to make our values visible to our nation's leaders, and it provides funding for significant efforts to help our movement grow and to programs that represent UU values applied to the cause of greater social justice. For instance, our Fellowship has received UUA funding to assist us in making the transition to professional ministry and in support of our Rainbow Cafe ministry to GLBT youth in the region. Beacon Press, the UUA publishing house, publishes both works of liberal religion and many other works of true social significance. For example, it published the first American edition of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, and the first complete edition of The Pentagon Papers. And these are only a few examples of what the UUA does - our association works hard to assist us in many different ways!

Of course, it takes resources to accomplish all of this. The UUA receives income from several major sources, including grants, endowment revenue, contributions from individuals, and contributions from congregations, based on their size. The UUA manages, fairly successfully, to fulfill all these objectives within the limits of that income. But every ten years or so, in order to accomplish something outside its ordinarily extraordinary functions, it turns to its member congregations for help.

Given our Unitarian Universalist practice of congregational polity - that is, the principle that the congregation itself is the ultimate authority - the UUA cannot tell us to do anything. But when it requires our support, it can certainly ask us for help. And it has done so. The UUA has asked us, as it has asked every one of its member congregations, to participate in a special, one-time fundraising program called "Association Sunday." Some of you may remember "Ministry Sunday," a similar UUA-wide fundraising effort in 1995, which raised millions of dollars in support of ministerial training and assistance to retired ministers in serious need.

The funds raised for Association Sunday will be dedicated to supporting efforts to help our movement grow. One part of the plan is to fund a nationwide campaign increasing UU visibility by underwriting National Public Radio. Other funds will be available to support local and regional initiatives to increase the growth of Unitarian Universalism.

In recognition of the importance of this goal, and in appreciation of the many forms of assistance that our Fellowship has received from the UUA and our larger movement, our Fellowship's Board agreed in June to support this important effort. We will celebrate our association with the UUA on "Association Sunday," October 14th. Our service that day will include a second collection for the "Association Sunday" program. I hope that you will consider joining me in contributing as generously as you can in support of this worthy goal. Thanks!