Minister’s Message Blog

Hello friends,

It is such a full time for us in our congregation. We’re kicking off our pledge drive to plan for next year’s budget. We’re working to create new possibilities for moving from contract ministry to settled ministry. We are beginning to read and explore Mistakes and Miracles together as a congregational read.

And there’s lost happening in our larger movement as well, including exploring how we describe and envision our faith tradition through Article II of the bylaws of the Unitarian Universalist Association. 

If you don’t know, Article II of the UUA bylaws contain the formal statement of our UU Principles and Purposes: saying what the purpose of our association is, what are the principles around which we live our faith out in the world, and what the sources and inspiration are for that work and that faith….

The past weeks in our country have shaken many of us to the core. The revelations of the congressional hearings, continued gun violence, the attacks on trans youth and their families, and the Supreme Court’s removal of the protection of the rights of women and many trans folks to control their own bodies and choose how and if they want to bring life into the world.

I’ve heard from so many of you about the fear and anger and confusion that you are feeling—and your fierce call to act to bring change, to ensure health and fairness for all, to help the most vulnerable among us to access the health care they need to keep themselves and their families safe.

In her novel Akata Woman, Nnedi Okorafor writes, “Everyone is connected to something. Connection brings you benefits, but it also makes you responsible.” It is a reminder to one of the characters that she is responsible for the health and safety of her community.

My friends,
As I sit to write this column for you there are bombs and deadly artillery falling on the people of Ukraine, there are children and families in Texas and Florida whose governments are telling them that their love and very existence is wrong and abusive and abhorrent, and there are still thousands and thousands of people sick and dying in our communities and around the world—dying from disease, but also from a lack of care and love and commitment to health for all.

My friends,

As I sit to write this column for you there are bombs and deadly artillery falling on the people of Ukraine, there are children and families in Texas and Florida whose governments are telling them that their love and very existence is wrong and abusive and abhorrent, and there are still thousands and thousands of people sick and dying in our communities and around the world—dying from disease, but also from a lack of care and love and commitment to health for all.

February is a time when we often focus on love in all of the ways it plays out in our hearts and lives.
I am so often inspired by the words and thinking of others, and so this month I wanted to share with you some things that inspire me when I think about love and how we craft it together.

It’s a new year by our calendar. It’s a new year by the sun and the stars and the moon. It’s a time when so many of us make plans to change who we are, how we are in the world, how we are living in our bodies. We make resolutions to change our wretched, lazy lack of discipline in some area of our life and to start anew with new discipline and commitment and focus.

This is the time of year when the days get shorter and shorter and the night gets longer and longer. When it feels like we live more in darkness than we do in light.

Last month I shared from the pulpit my conviction that the values that we share and express as Unitarian Universalists call us to do the work of love, justice, and inclusion. For me, this is not just the work of one sermon or worship service but our daily lives.