February:  Reverend Becker takes a five-month sabbatical, and spends this time in Venice, Italy.

August 4:  We celebrate the Beckers return to Williamsburg with a wine and cheese reception.

February:  WUU board, sensing some congregational unhappiness with the minister, appoints a Leadership Team to conduct a congregational survey.

June:  As a result of the Leadership Team report which indicated a serious split in the congregation, the WUU Board requests assistance from the UUA. The UUA assigns Dr. Helen Bishop who subsequently works with the Board, staff and small groups of members in order to make recommendations for the future.

September:  Rev. Becker announces that he will resign at the end of August 2003.

 October:  Dr. Helen Bishop’s report is received; it includes a recommendation that the congregation seek the services of an experienced interim minister for a period of two years. 

July 26:  Randy and Elissa’s farewell picnic, which ended with the “Laying of Hands” by Rev. George Spellman.

September:  The Reverend Dr. Janet Newman serves as our interim minister through July 2004.   

November:  Night of Living History facilitated by Rev. Newman to create a Wall of Church History, allowing members to express feelings for the past and the future with one another in small groups. 

September 5:  The Reverend Dr. Shirley Ranck, our interim minister, begins her time with us with a water communion service. 

August 28 RE Graduation

The Science of Harry Potter Summer RE Program

On Sunday, September 10, we hung a banner in front of our church, publicly declaring our opposition to the marriage amendment.  We left the sanctuary during Sunday morning worship and walked, en masse, to the front of the churchyard.  There we completed the worship service with a short ceremony marking the unveiling of our banner.
Our church is the first in the Williamsburg area to take a public stance against this ballot proposition.  Our new co-ministers, Reverends Jennifer Ryu and Preston Moore, voiced their opposition to the ballot proposition when they first preached in Williamsburg, declaring “We are living in a time of lines drawn in the sand.  Out of fear and ignorance, hearts have hardened against some of our neighbors.  We must stand with these neighbors and against any law that tries to make some of us less than citizens.”
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Sunday evening, April 1st, the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists officially installed as Co-Ministers the Reverends Jennifer Ryu and Preston Moore. Congregation President Joe Fisler presided over the ceremony. The keynote speaker was The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, President of the Starr King School for the Ministry. She is the first woman in the United States to serve as the permanent head of an accredited theological school.

    Guests participating in the installation ceremony were:
    The Reverend Phyllis Hubbell, First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, MD.;
    The Reverend John Manwell, First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, MD.;
    The Reverend Jeanne Pupke, First Unitarian Church of Richmond, VA;
    The Reverend Robert T. Latham, First Unitarian Church of Wilmington, DE.
    Music was provided by Douglas Fraser & Molly Scholz, First Unitarian Church of Portland, OR.
Pictured: The Rev. Jennifer Ryu, the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, and The Rev. Preston Moore.

On Saturday April 14, a group of local residents, many of them WUUs, joined graduate students from the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences and undergraduate students from the Student Environmental Action Coalition at William and Mary, to participate in part of a nationwide event to draw attention to the dire issue of global warming. The group braved the cold and the rain to send the message to Congress: Step It Up Congress, Cut Carbon 80% by 2050! Organized by WUU Chris Llewellyn, the event was one of over 1400 similar rallies in all 50 states on this National Day of Climate Action. WUU Co-minister Rev. Preston Moore gets ready to speak at the Step-It-Up 2007 Global Warming Rally. For a text version of his talk click here (pdf). Audio links to this talk can be found here. For more information including links to the video of this and other talks presented during the rally click here.

On March 18 th the congregation was asked to vote for a representative of the Thomas Jefferson District who sits on the Board of Trustees of the UUA for a term of four years. 
Anna Olsen, of the UU Congregation of Asheville, NC is our newly elected representative.

It’s official! Kendall Plageman has joined our staff as a YRUU coordinator as of August 1st.

Jennifer Ryu Co-minister installs the new WUU Board, August 26

Shelia Arnold welcomes the children back from their summer world tour with a story about the creation of the Blue Ridge Mountains.