Unitarian Beginnings
Galen has been attending the church since age 8. Until he finished youth group, he was a regular attender with his parents, Margo and Hans, and brother Dylan.

He says, “I wasn’t a very reactionary kid. My parents said we’re going to church now, so we did.”

He liked, “the way RE is structured; just about exposing you to all religions. I just took it all in.”

“I remember learning about different parties & holidays.” 

Unitarian Values
He says, “In religious terms, I am a Unitarian.  A lot of friends of mine from similar upbringings, have become dogmatic or atheists.” He values having been exposed to the value of these traditions. He feels sometimes arguments about religion focus on superstition and wind up attacking aspects of religion that are not the most important.

Youth Group
When he started youth group, he recalls that meeting with the older kids was an important time. “They were really cool. I was really impressed with them. They were very  bright and really funny; they had an intellectual sense of humour and talked about really interesting things.” He mentioned the Lundervilles and Shawn Hunsdale from Beacon in particular.

Galen mentioned that he’ll sometimes run into Damon Morris at shows. [Damon is the son of former minister Rev. Sydney Morris.]

Then after youth group, Galen’s been involved in several incarnations of young adult groups but, as he says, young adults are busy and in transition, so groups sometimes form and then dissolve within a short time.

After the youth program, there’s a been a few young adult groups appear and disappear. He was part of RUCKUS (Radical Unitarian College Kids) and attended a few young adult cons.

The ages 18-35 (official young adult age range) is a “really active time in people’s lives; they’re finding a career; setting up life on their own.”

He has made it to one of the meetings of the campus ministry group at UBC and would encourage new  young adults to get connected that way.

Music
In October, 2008, Galen wrote and produced the COPE Train song as part of the Vancouver civic elections. The idea came from Lucas Schuller, a 26-year-old east side resident and  graduate of the SFU music composition program and a friend of Galen’s.

COPE’s campaign manager said to the Vancouver Courier, "What we've got is one of the youngest campaign teams that the city's ever seen… A lot of new ideas are being generated that speak to that demographic." The tune opens with the familiar dings of SkyTrain doors, and then vocals urge listeners to "Come on and play/Get on the COPE train."

Volunteers sang some of the parts; they had a recording session and put it up on the website two days later.

Galen is interested in the recording process, and the possibilities of producing music and recording his own work.  He enjoys the technical side and comments, “the hardest thing is just writing songs.” Galen is attending Simon Fraser University majoring in music on the way to a Bachelor of Fine Arts.  He’s fairly close to graduating after attending part-time for seven years. He’s not in a big rush and has not gone into debt as a student.

Around the Church Now
Galen is a regular sound booth volunteer. He laughed saying, “That guarantees I get to church at least once a month.”  He also enjoys the “spiritual experiences” of mowing lawn or shoveling snow. 

When I asked him how we could be more welcoming to young people, he said, “I think it is already welcoming. There’s always people around to introduce you; tell you what it’s all about.”

Galen has valued “being part of a community – with such a wide ranging generation span.” Connecting with elders in the church has influenced him and “developed patience and understanding.”  He mentioned Margaret Murdoch who died this past year as a surrogate grandmother as both of his grandmothers died when he was really young. “She was a good bridge to another era.” He feels the connections have helped him develop patience and understanding.

Asked about the future for the church, Galen commented, “The next century is going to be very interesting. The need won’t go away, but I question predicting the future. It will defy anyone’s attempt to predict.”

“In 1909, Canada was more of a Christian country.” At that time, being a Unitarian would have seemed very different, but Galen feels our approach is  quite common now. He also commented that although we value diversity, we are still predominantly white, middle-class. He sees that as understandable as others who have immigrated have brought their own traditions with them.

“It’s an organic entity,” he concludes.  -