What a gift to have the Heavenly Voices Gospel Choir in worship on Sunday January 19! We are so grateful that Tim Olsen, our music director, is helping UUSS connect a bit more with the students at Union College.
Several of you asked after the service who wrote the spoken word piece that was in the sermon. That was Wendy’s, and it was created a couple of summers ago during a week of study leave when we were invited to the Beloved Community Project at Star Island. We joined the Rev. Dr. Leon Dunkley (who preached at our Installation), Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker (who preached at last year’s Stewardship Celebration Sunday), and other ministers and scholars, some white, some people of color who grappled intensely with racism in our denomination. We spent a lot of time praying, singing, writing, reflecting, sharing deeply, sitting in the quiet together, speaking hard truths, asking tough questions. And most importantly, we kept showing up, we kept listening when it got hard to hear, we kept turning to curiosity and facing our discomfort, together. We prioritized relationship because without it, justice and beloved community are far less possible. Within the next week or so, the sermon will be uploaded to the website if you missed it — thanks to the efforts of Josh Wickert and John Bacheller!
This past Sunday, we noted that we, your co-ministers, are going to start striving to be more explicit in naming the presence of white supremacy culture (wsc) because we have started to realize that the work we’ve been doing has gone under the radar for a lot of folks, or the characteristics haven’t translated or they have been misunderstood. The Board of Trustees selected as part of the Annual Focus of Ministry this year that Ministry Teams in particular, would continue to educate about white supremacy culture as we live our principles more boldly. It is such hard work and our denomination, heck, our nation needs us to do this.
There are so many offerings right now for our spiritual development — because that is part of what makes us different from simply another non-profit in the community. We are first and foremost a religious community. The Children/Youth Religious Education Team is offering conversations on the text Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America. The Anti-racism Team is hosting open circles for discussion and wrestling with real life and also “entertainment” examples of how to do this work well (3rd Sun. and 3rd Tues). And Ibram Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning and Robin Diangelo’s White Fragility books are giving much fuel for exploration over the next couple of months. Ibram Kendi will also be speaking at RPI on Feb. 1, and we hope to see many of you there. Green Sanctuary is also hosting some discussions for philosophical and practical things we can be doing to become more Earth-friendly. The destruction of the Earth for profit is deeply entangled in the subjugation of people for power.
Reading books and talking about them, of course, are just a place to begin. Translating what we are learning into faithful action, grounded in accountable relationships is also important. Showing up and listening, over and over, helps to build trust among people from different backgrounds and identities. Risking being vulnerable, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, utilizing reputable resources to strengthen our resolve and making our work more effective, all take time and practice. In our January theme of 2020 Visions of Justice — what do you envision? What will the world sound, smell, feel, look, and taste like when justice is the norm? When we learn how to celebrate more of our differences? When those with dominant identities listen and learn from those with traditionally marginalized identities? What spiritual creativity is required in this terrible and terrifying moment with a government running amok on the brink of destroying what’s left of our democracy?