January 25, 2006
Website Is back!
We have a new webmaster so the website should be seeing some major changes in the near future and we should start adding new content as well.
Posted by harboruu at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2005
Inauguration Day Reflections
Reflections from the Rev. Meg Riley, Director of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Advocacy and Witness Programs, and former Director of the UUA Washington Office.
And so I awaken on this Inauguration Day, my heart as bleak as today’s grey Minnesota sky. Thankfully my eight year old daughter inhabits a different bit of reality, which is leaping for joy about today’s school agenda—Snow Olympics. She scampers and squeals as she gets dressed, and I am grateful to have her energy to contrast to my own, which is almost two-dimensional in its flatness.
Unitarian Universalism is a good fit for me, in part, because I am an optimist by nature. I experience moments of cynicism, despair, and hopelessness, but my spirit is a buoyant one. But, today, I am bleak, and I notice this in my morning meditation.
I am bleak because I know how much of the work which is central to UU values will be harder in these next years. Some things we’re constantly defending: Women’s reproductive choice. Marriage equality. The United Nations. Civil and religious liberties. Child care funding. Some things we’re constantly trying to stop: School prayer. Government funding of religion. Preemptive wars. Regardless of who is President, prophetic religion is a tough sell in the nation’s capital, and these struggles have been ceaseless since I woke up as an activist nearly thirty years ago. Power, as Frederick Douglas wrote a hundred fifty years ago, never concedes anything without a struggle—it never did and it never will. But our work gets even harder, as the Religious Right demands more and more from elected officials, and I know the years coming will challenge us deeply.
Part of me, I notice in meditation, is drawn to the odd seduction of hopelessness, wants to relax into its arms, throw the oars off my little rowboat and drift slowly out into the vast foggy sea. But then another voice speaks, waking me up. ”Imagination is a moral imperative,” it says, in the sharp tone in which a parent might say for the third time, “Hang up your coat NOW.”
I consider this. I am privileged to live a life where I get to use my imagination and all of my other gifts every day at work. The UUA’s advocacy work and public witness work, putting our UU values out into the world, reaches out to the broadest swath of souls we can conceive to promote the principles by which we live—justice, equity, compassion, peace, liberty, interdependence. This is by nature creative work. Most of the time, we at the UUA work with one another joyfully, with much laughing and energy, which flourishes because of our deep respect for one anothers’ work and knowledge that we can trust another. This is, indeed, privilege.
But, imagination as moral imperative. Moral imperative? I remember this language from old ethics classes but I’m not even sure what it means exactly. To be a moral person, I MUST imagine? Another familiar line comes into my mind, from Adrienne Rich’s stunning journal, What is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics. One of my desert island books, where I’ve turned over and over for help. “Despair,” she wrote in 1991, “when not the response to absolute physical and moral defeat, is, like war, the failure of imagination.”
War as the failure of imagination? This makes total sense to me. I once went to a high school and watched a series of student-written plays. The teachers had provided boxes of props to inspire them; one class had been allowed to use the prop of a gun if they wanted. The other had not. In the class which had been allowed to use the gun, every single play, probably six of them, concluded with someone being shot. It almost became comical, how that gun defined the limits of adolescent imagination, in plays which otherwise bore no resemblance to each other. In the class without a gun, the endings were much more varied and interesting. This was not a sociological experiment, simply class plays, and no one but me even seemed interested in what that gun did to youth’s imaginations. But I was awed by it. Multiply a gun into an army, and I can certainly see the epic crumbling of imagination. So this makes total sense.
Despair as failure of imagination makes sense to me, too, on an intuitive level. I remember a parent orientation at my daughter’s preschool five years ago. The teacher, who had run the place for over 30 years, told us that they tried to stay out of the kids’ ways as much as possible and let them have about two hours uninterrupted free play each day. One anxious parent raised his hand. “But if they run out of ideas about what to play,” he said, “You jump in and help them think of some, right?” I immediately chuckled, expecting the teacher to brush away this absurd question. My own daughter and every other three year old kid I’d ever known in my life as a teacher and religious educator, wouldn’t run out of ideas if we never spoke to them again! But the veteran teacher responded soberly. “We are seeing a new phenomenon these past few years,” she said, “Where kids actually ARE unable to think of things to play.” She went on,”We link it to the absence of unstructured time in children’s lives, and to excessive amounts of time watching television.”
To hear about the demise of children’s imaginations ranked, for me, with hearing about the demise of the virgin forests. Something completely irreplaceable and precious is being lost. I have to wonder how this is connected to the increasing numbers of children who are being medicated for depression and anxiety and aggression and other mental health problems. As ever, the children are the canaries in our coal mines.
So, my prayer for each of us on this Inauguration Day is that we seriously consider how to yoke our imaginations to the common good—to commit ourselves to keeping hope alive. Though there are certain activities which I believe all citizens should participate in, such as being in relationship with elected officials about our values and opinions, activism does not need to be formulaic or follow one way. On this Inauguration Day, I challenge you to dedicate yourself to finding a way to put something creative out into the world, whether it’s learning Thai cooking or mentoring a child or painting or writing or creatively protesting injustice. Take seriously that you need to be alive, to be rowing your own little boat, not to be surrendering the most precious gifts you have been given—your heart’s desires, your soul’s longing for connection, your abilities to manifest the vision of life that is uniquely yours. No one can take that from you unless you give it to them. This Inauguration Day, hold tightly to this birthright, and pledge to dedicate your life to it.
May it be so!
Posted by harboruu at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
December 31, 2004
2005 UU Resolutions
Be It Resolved...
Five Ways to Live Unitarian Universalist Values in the New Year
1. Learn More about the 2004-2006 Study Action Issue on global warming.
The UUA Commission on Social Witness has provided a wealth of information, in collaboration with the UUA's Washington Center for Legislative Advocacy. Read more about this important world issue and take action in your congregation and your community!
2. Become involved in a covenant group/small group ministry in your congregation.
Covenant groups are a transformational practice through which we, with others, can discover our own underlying assumptions about reality and examine our ways of being, some of which have become so habitual that they seem to us just 'the way things are.' Visit the Small Group Ministry website and the UUA's small group ministry page to find out more!
3. Become a more active lay leader in your congregation.
Our congregtions need all of us to strengthen the voice of Unitarian Universalism in our community and the wider world. The InterConnections lay leadership site offers you QuickStart information, Frequently Asked Questions, a link to the InterConnections newsletter, and more!
4. Talk to other Unitarian Universalists and share information and learning.
The UUA hosts over 250 email lists and several bulletin boards which can help you connect to other UUs around the globe and share learning, ideas, and fellowship. Visit our communication forum page and follow the links to subscribe to uua-l, our news and information email list, or any of the others that will feed your mind and your deeper connection to our faith!
5. Nurture your spirit - read a Skinner House book!
Mary Wellemeyer's Admire the Moon has just been published, and offers a loving look at life, the spirit, and the worshipping center of our souls - perfect for reflection in this new year!
Posted by harboruu at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2004
Sinkford Values Statement
In conjunction with a press conference sponsored today by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, UUA president William Sinkford issued this statement about Unitarian Universalist moral values. The press conference was held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, and featured representatives from several denominations addressing the topic, “Defining ‘Moral Values’ For the Next Four Years.” The full text of Rev. Sinkford’s statement is below.
Statement from the Rev. William G. Sinkford
Moral values are not just particular opinions on “hot button” topics in a divisive election year. Moral values grow out of our calling as religious people to work to create the Beloved Community. Moral values instruct us to “love our neighbors as ourselves” and always to ask the question, “Who is my neighbor?” They are fundamentally inclusive rather than exclusive, and they call on generosity of spirit rather than mean spiritedness.
In this post election season, let me express some of the moral values held dear by the Unitarian Universalist community, which I lead, and by many other progressive people of faith:
* We believe that feeding the hungry and clothing the naked are moral duties, and we will continue to work on behalf of economic justice.
* We believe that ensuring equal civil rights for gay and lesbian families is our moral duty, and we will continue to work for Marriage Equality nationwide.
* We believe that serving as stewards of the earth is a moral duty, and we will continue to do everything in our power to protect the environment.
* We believe that safeguarding a woman’s right to choose is a moral duty, and we will vigorously oppose any efforts to eliminate or significantly compromise reproductive freedom.
* We believe that providing affordable health care for all Americans is a moral duty, and we will continue to advocate for medical rights for the young, the old, the frail, and all of those in need.
Posted by harboruu at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2004
Pastoral letter from Rev. Sinkford
October 2004
Dear Friends:
Since our congregations opened their doors for the new church year last month, they have been ministering in a deeply divided nation. The United States seems to have vanished beneath the battle lines drawn between blue states and red states, conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans.
Most destructive and divisive in this political campaign is its tone of fear and fundamentalism—the notion that there is only one way to be religious, only one holy scripture worthy of being followed. Only one way to be patriotic. Only one way to be a family. And, sadly, only one way to be an American.
We religious liberals share our pews with those who do not share our theology. Liberal Christian, Jew, humanist, Buddhist, Pagan -- all find a home in our UU congregations. We know pluralism as a blessing, and our lived experience, that our differences need not divide us, is a great gift that we can offer this campaign-scarred nation.
Jason Shelton, a UU minister and director of music at our congregation in Nashville, Tennessee, wrote a wonderful hymn this year. He reminds us that when we stand on the side of love, we embody healing virtues:
The promise of the Spirit
faith, hope, and love abide
And so every soul
is blessed and made whole
The truth in our hearts is our guide.
We are standing on the side of love.
My friends, after the wrenching divisions of this campaign season, we need that blessing and that wholeness. In this spirit, I offer a prayer, in the hope that we may each play a part in the healing we all need:
Spirit of Life and Love,
Be with us now in prayer.
We seek the blessing and wholeness that come
>From knowing we are bound to one another.
Let faith, hope and love abide with us.
May we open our hearts, finding there the discipline
To avoid stridency,
Which deepens not understanding
But widens the chasms between us.
May we open our hearts, finding there the courage
To join our hands with other people of faith
With whom we do not always agree,
Knowing that to clasp hands with others is to extend our reach farther
Than we ever could alone.
May we open our hearts, finding there humility,
Knowing that many who disagree with us
Are grounded in a faith
As deep as our own.
May we always acknowledge and honor the humanity
of those with whom we disagree.
May we remember what religion is:
a binding together of that which has been sundered.
For in this remembering, we lay wide the possibilities for reconciliation and healing.
Amen.
Dear friends, as Americans, there is more that unites us than divides us, and there can be but one common destiny for this nation.
So let us stand purposefully on the side of love. The message of fear has been trumpeted throughout this election season. The message of love is quieter, but it is the antidote to that fear. Let us do what we can to help this quieter message be heard. And let us all do our part to bless and make whole a country wounded by partisan conflict and weary of division.
In faith,
Rev. William G. Sinkford
President
Unitarian Universalist Association
(A video version of this letter is also available - click on the link at http://www.uua.org/president/041013pastoral.html). Rev. Sinkford has produced a message for young people; it, and a video version of that message, can also be found on the UUA website: http://www.uua.org/president/041013young.html
Posted by cathy at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)