Ministry Days Begins

Hello!

Thanks for setting this up!  When I go to GA, I first attend Ministry Days that begins 48 hours before GA.  We clergy gather to listen to a speaker (this year Rev. Lillian Daniel), do the business of our Minister's Association (yes, that means another annual meeting for me), reconnect with colleagues, and attend workshops.  This year I have brought a special guest with me, my son.  He will be in a UU summer camp learning about the environment.  I will confess to laughing when I received a request from the camp provider asking if my son had my permission to visit a toxic waste site in Louisville.  Only a UU camp would send my son to a toxic waste site.

Thus far I have some Louisville recommendations.  First, the chow.  I like to eat and this evening tried a Persian restaurant named Saffron.  Pretty good.  Next, I visited the Muhammad Ali Center.  Very interesting.  Was Muhammad Ali a civil rights leader, sexist, provocateur, boxer, "the Greatest," or something else.  I think he was at different times all of these things.  What most impresses me about him is his relentless drive.  What makes a person so resilient?  He is without a doubt a devout Muslim from the Nation of Islam.  What I like about him is that he said he said he was "pretty" and that "black" was bold and beautiful when black people were openly and regularly told to sit down and shut up, and that they were ugly.  I do like that he defied other people's ideas of who he was or could be.  I was also interested that it was a white police office that convinced him to start boxing at the age of 12.  Human connections can trump racism, if only we let ourselves choose to come closer in love.

In Love and Faith,
Sharon