Fawn Smith

“Lunch With Jesus” is a story sermon written for the UU Fellowship of Fayetteville’s Easter service in 2015. Jesus is relevant to Unitarian Universalism in a way that continues to grow, mostly as one of our sources belonging to the “words and deeds of prophetic people.” If our religious ancestors had not reclaimed the historical Jesus – the transcendental, human, unitarian, universalist, and Liberationist Jesus, then UU would not be as it is today. I updated and reprised the sermon in 2017 as its message was still relevant, and even more urgent with the political and social changes surrounding us. Also, we had a number of new folks and children who had not heard it, and I love telling the story. This is the updated version from 2017, and a reminder: it is written more as a sermon, prose to be spoken.

“Lunch with Jesus”

Rev. Jim Parrish

The stories attributed to Jesus in the New Testament of the Christian Bible are known as the parables, and many of them are not so miraculous or supernatural, but of a human nature… a human nature that tells a story of how we should be and act on the side of love over separation, fear, and hate.

In our story for all ages this morning, “Jesus, The Carpenter’s Son,” author Sophia Lyon Fahs imagined the way Jesus learned what his religion, Judaism, meant to him ethically and morally. She wrote about how it influenced the way he wanted to live and teach, and why his religious life came to be one of peace and acceptance of others over violence and separation.

Jesus hung out with foreigners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and other people considered of common or “low stature,” but he also invited those with power or wealth into equity. He didn’t ask them for belief or loyalty, but by his actions and words demonstrated that they were all equal and loved in his heart, and that of his G-d. Jesus was open to people being people and finding love there.

Which, when you think about it, is really the best parenting model there is. How do we teach children? By yelling at them?

The Disciples would yell at Jesus that he was not “handing down the law!”

and I know that sometimes, as a parent, I would “hand down the law,”      and get nowhere…

But as I look back at my parenting years, I see that modeling what I believed to be “how we should live” (and this was not perfect) was the most effective thing my spouse and I could do as parents.

Jesus, in his sermons and parables, modeled a society that broke down barriers and lifted people up.

I was looking for a new story that illustrated this, a modern parable of Jesus, and not finding one, I wrote this about a Jesus of today…

~~~~

“The Parable of Lunch with Jesus”

Jesus was sleeping late in the back of our old Camp-More Recreational Vehicle. We’d pulled into the Indiana KOA in the wee hours of the morning, having gotten a late start the day before.

Somehow Lord Krishna and his biker gang had found us at our previous campsite, and of course, all heaven broke out. Krishna and Jesus played music into the wee hours of the morning, and us campers spent the night laughing, singing, and dancing along with them.

The next day, when we finally had enough sleep to be safe on the road, Krishna with his colorful entourage of bikers, and us in our old RV, waved goodbye and parted ways… a LOT later than we’d planned. So when we finally got to our next camp it was lunch we would be waking up to serve, which is typical these days.

Some background…

I’d met Jesus in New York City during an Occupy Wall Street event, he being a stockbroker, and I a protester… it’s another story altogether, kinda complicated…

suffice it to say he asked me and a couple of others to help him to his next gig, and after several doubting days (my name could have been Thomas), eventually we found his message compelling, so we joined up.

I’m Artie, and the other two disciples on this trip are Yolanda and Charles. I’m a natural born Unitarian and atheist, so some of this trip is a bit of a stretch for me. But my parents and UU church raised me good, open to questions and being curious, so I’m going to go with the experience as it is and see what it teaches me…   even though I just shake my head now and again and wonder what rabbit hole I’ve dropped into.

I’ve gotten more used to the idea of Krishna, Asase Ya, Buddha, or Artemis showing up on our trips to just to hang out, and from what I’ve seen it’s actually confirmed my non-theism, that the religion is not about being supernatural, but super-natural…

however what I’m left with will take some time to unpack and sort out… let alone explain or teach.

Getting back to the journey – Jesus has an appointment with fate, always has, always does, and we help him get to it, whatever or wherever it is.  

On the way his job is to spread the word of love and acceptance, what else? It’s up to Yolanda and Charles and me try to keep the old RV going, help with the crowds, and figure out what he’s talking about for the parables. Some days are better than others.

Today, like I said, we’re late waking up at the KOA campground, so we forget about breakfast and start getting our camp ready to serve lunch. I fire up the grill and we get chairs set up and the picnic table ready. I’m the cook, so I haul out our lunch staples; Jesus’s Bologna (the kind that is sliced with the wrapper still on it to peel in red rings), cheese, Wonder Bread, and Miracle Whip.  Jesus loves his fried bologna sandwiches, with American cheese and Miracle Whip.

So we set up and we wait for Jesus to wake up, not for long, Jesus has an uncanny timing to know when he’s on.

Though this time he is still brushing his teeth as he looks out of the RV, kinda foaming at the mouth, grinning, and looking a little sheepish. He gives us a look asking forgiveness, and goes to spit and rinse.

Just to let you know, when I met Jesus on Wall Street, he looked like a banker, an old white male banker, and now, well now he looks more like a Bob Marley.

This is one of those things we had to work through before I would sign on to be his RV driver… again, another story altogether.

Back to lunch.

Our campsite is next to the playground, so there are a number of kids swinging, running and laughing nearby… Jesus really likes this, the music of heaven he calls it. Jesus finally steps out of the RV with guitar in hand, he looks around, smiles, and settles into a chair.

And he begins playing, accompanied by the other disciples. Charles and Yolanda are talented with drums, guitar and other instruments, and can actually sing.

My job is driving and cooking, I do both pretty well, and I try not to get out of rhythm clapping.

But the music, that’s what it is about, the Jesus music. He plays Sesame Street and street music, he sings Dylan and Seeger, Klezmer tunes and Muddy Waters. He does gospel and blues, and sometimes a pop tune, but he never does what I call old white protestant hymns, which is fine by me.

He sings what someone needs to hear; calming, healing, uplifting, laughter, memories, hopes and dreams. Everyone is included, no one hears a sour note…

That is the music that happens.

As usual the kids nearby are fascinated and drift over, and with them their parents, to make sure they are safe.

I greet them quietly and let them know they’re welcome to listen, and they are welcome to lunch with us. They are taken in by the music, and we have lunch.

Lunch is… well, you know the stone soup story, or the fishes and loaves.

These modern parents look at Jesus’ bologna and white bread and say, “wait, I have some leftover chicken,” or these days “veggie” chicken strips, or a nice quinoa salad.  And maybe, seeing the grill going (I grill the bologna for Jesus, yes, I do) they’ll bring some extra burgers, veggie or otherwise, to fry up with buns and fixings… watermelon, slaw, and potato salad show up.

Pretty soon we’ve got a good crowd, everyone has plenty to eat, and they’re singing songs they’d thought they’d forgotten, or just knew from somewhere deep inside.

People will drift in and out of the circle, no one feels unwelcome, as we greet them when they arrive, and say goodbye with their names as they leave.

In between the singing Jesus will say a few words, talk about Love and Mercy and Justice, how it is a blessing to be together in peace, how bountiful the world is when we come together to care for each other.

He pays attention to the children and the music they want to hear, saying that they are the pure in heart, and closest to love. He notes how wonderful it is to be at peace, even for a short time.

RV campgrounds are usually pretty peaceful places, but they can have rough elements, and we’ve had some incidents with hard characters that have scared me… Them taking exception to whatever they wanted to, so as to be in control…

But the hardest people to deal with on this trip have been some of the police we’ve encountered, City or county authorities… On highways or in parks, or parking lots when we stop in a city or town. And this is where Jesus’ story goes, where we taken him…

Sometimes we disciples get to participate… we met up with Coyote and the Standing Rock Sioux to sing for the earth and its people…

But mostly we take him and wait at the gate…

Towns small and large, north and south, east and west… we will camp, and Jesus will walk into his next story.

We wait until he calls us to pick him up… and there is the weirdness for us, as time on this journey sometimes seems to stand still, or suddenly pass quickly, and we’ll be at another call, another place, and not remember having driven there… just being where he was needed…

We left Jesus in Ferguson, Missouri for a time, 

and in New Jersey.

Then Texas.

In Detroit.

In Chicago.

In New Orleans…

He was lost until I heard of a transgender woman killed in New Orleans… I had a suspicion.

And when she’d called to be picked up, I knew. We collected Jesus outside a morgue, and it took a while for the journey to begin again. She was silent and weeping for a day or two, keeping to herself and playing her guitar softly.

Do demi-deities age? Grow weary? I ache inside for all I have witnessed, and I don’t know if there is enough belief in love in the world to heal it…

I think Jesus believes there is, enough love that is…

She perked up eventually, and we had lunch at a campground with a lovely dance, and now we have a new direction, a new set of campsites to visit on the way to an intersection with fate.

He, sometimes She, or sometimes Ze – I believe has been doing this for thousands of years, passing through the world telling people that there is a better way to live.

A way of life that lays down fear for understanding,

To lay down creeds and dogmas for an open heart.

To give up power and authority for shared peace and plenty…

Jesus, or whoever it is, changes some hearts and minds along the way. 

But it is a long road, and it inevitably leads to death, somehow, some way…

Sometimes in jail,

sometimes she’s gassed,

sometimes he’s shot on a balcony,

sometimes they die of old age,

Sometimes she’s beaten to death,

Sometimes with witnesses,

Sometimes alone and neglected…

Male, female, queer, transgender, black, Latinex, European, African, Asian, Islander, rich, poor — too many descriptions of so many ways for humanity to be human.

Always a story where power and hate takes a life… Where he tries to make sure the story is told…

But there is always another story to tell, so many stories. And many don’t believe…

But we hope that someday there comes a time there is only one story… of love and acceptance. Someday…

The irony of Jesus is, that some folks told his story one time, put it in a book, and forgot to write the next story, and the next…

They got stuck on that one story and even changed it to meet their needs, made a power base out of it, out of his death…

lots of kingdoms and Pope-doms, and evangelical-doms (I made that word up) 

People have made a lots of money, fame, and fortune from his death… They even made a movie out of it… several in fact.

They never understood that his death wasn’t the point, that his life was.

The sermon on the mount and his parables are probably the only sure things left from the life of Jesus.

So he, or she or they – Jesus, keeps trying, and I’m serving lunch with Jesus until we get him to his latest destination…

somewhere where he will be a homeless man in an alley, Or a single mom on the edge of collapse,     Or someone asking for clemency before being put to death by the state.

Always telling their story, while preaching peace with songs, with some food, laughter, and community… or trying to, until someone in authority, with power and privilege puts an end to it…

another end to him and to us.

But there’s hope, always hope.

maybe someone will pay attention this time… try to change things for real.

Try to change our society towards love and acceptance once again…

Because of his death… again

and the death of others who are related to Jesus… And really, we all are

Then Jesus will look for whoever needs him next… and the story will start again…

~~~~

So today,

I ask that you and I work to re-write this story, this parable of constant love and death in the face of hate, of discrimination, racism, of love of power and money over life…

Jesus needs help!

And the only way to do this is to re-write our own lives as narratives of universal love as he did.

We may not look to the church, or to Jesus, or even to whatever you believe god might be, for our salvation. 

But we know our internal struggles to love ourselves, so we might love others as well.                         We try our best to recognize in another their inherent worth and dignity, as we would want from them. We learn how to be accepting of difference, because we really are all different, and all the same.

The words that we hold tight are words of love, of justice, of forgiveness,                                           They are the words of our story as Unitarian Universalists… Principled words.

They are words that Jesus would approve of… indeed, he spoke them in his lifetime… as the story goes.

And I think we’d help him serve lunch, work beside him in his latest quest… To tell the story of love.

Because like him, we’re out to change the world…

One lunch at a time.

Our Unitarian Universalist Sources vs White Supremacy

Foreword: Unitarian Universalism has no creed nor dogma, we (Unitarian Universalists) vote on central Principles and Sources that guide our individual and collective religious life. Whatever religious source motivates me, its outcome shall be towards fulfilling our Principles. Here are our present (June 2017) Principles and Sources:

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:

• Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;

• Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;

• Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;

• Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;

• Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.

• Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support.

~~~~~~~

There is tension in our Unitarian Universalist world, and it comes from our lay folks and minister’s calling for reformation to the inherent racism within our internal culture. How can a religious movement that works so hard for social justice and equality still have structural racism as part of its own governance, policies and procedures you might ask? Well, like many things in life, we inherited it, and changing family systems is hard work.

A bit of background and set up… In late 2016 many Unitarian Universalist ministers and lay people went to the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota to participate in a clergy action in solidarity with the Lakota Sioux and other indigenous peoples against the DAPL oil pipeline. In that action, the president of the UUA, Peter Morales, was able to participate in a repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery ceremony because we UUs had renounced the doctrine at our 2012 General Assembly. The Doctrine of Discovery were Papal Bulls issued after Columbus opened the “new world” up to exploitation by Europe. The Bulls said that whatever and whoever was discovered in this new land could be claimed for ownership and exploitation since they were not “civilized.” It promoted a culture built on the belief that “white” Europeans were supreme in their power, in their right to rule, leading to massive genocides, land grabs and creation of “race” based slavery. It is this Doctrine of white supremacy, writ large into our laws and society, that allowed the pipeline company to take Indian land at will. This doctrine is in our UU DNA, since we grew up within the system, and we have said no to it. What made this ceremony significant to me was the underlying question of how the doctrine might actually be repudiated within Unitarian Universalism, what did this act really mean to us philosophically and theologically? What mechanisms and structures within UU could be identified as related to the Doctrine of Discovery and its relatives, Manifest Destiny, classism, and slavery, to be recognized and either dismantled, or reformed to a higher purpose? And who, when, and how might this work be done?

It was a timely question with the events that unfolded this spring within Unitarian Universalism. This is what I saw: Because of a disclosure about a UUA hiring that seemed discriminatory, a review of hiring practices was conducted that revealed a pattern of discrimination, of white male dominance. Fixes have been promised to this system, but were slow in coming, and the governance structures used to do the fixes are from the system, not made to dismantle the system. This led to resignations, and calls for immediate Anti White Supremacy work.

With the recent call for renewed anti racism/anti discrimination efforts, led by our BLUU and other Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression groups, laity and clergy, we may have a launching pad for dismantling the Doctrine and its siblings. But I wonder how deep and how wide our reformation will go? And again, what are the tools for change? What in our institutional and educational structures do we need to pay attention to in this effort to change?

Unitarian Universalist formative history includes the European enlightenment, and Unitarian & Universalist progressive ideas around religious pluralism, biblical criticism, and rationalism in Christianity. Unitarian Christianity was formed, only to be reformed again with Transcendentalism, which arguably helped bring about another reformation with Religious Humanism. These large movements of reformation helped develop our empathy to difference, and instigated our social justice forays into suffrage, abolition, civil rights, feminism, LGBTQ equality, environmentalism, and more… work that continues to this day. Our Principles and Sources evolved from this work to become our communal expression of “ultimate concern.” They are our ideals, used to push back at the inequalities of life; racism, classism, discrimination, inequality, injustice: the “isms” and “phobias” in our society, and within Unitarian Universalism. We have not always been successful in our activism, and in fact, our record of reformation is that of continuing to try to “get it right,” because this is hard, complex work. Our history has (at least) one glaring failure, that of our inability to overcome our white superiority culture to support our Black UU member’s internal civil rights movement in the 1960’s, and the divisions of class embedded therein. We stepped onto the bridge with Martin Luther King Jr., but we couldn’t overcome our own whiteness to bridge the gap within UU polity and culture to our own Black UU brethren. We continued into other civil rights movements, and support Black civil rights, but have always wondered what might have been when we lost the trust of many Black members.

I believe this latest call to reformation is to renew and widen this civil rights movement in UU, to dismantle our inherent relationship to the Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and finally, economic and social slavery. These doctrines and institutions are the foundations of classism and white supremacy in Unitarian Universalism, and ultimately in the United States. A tall order, and I’ve been wondering, what have we learned from the past, what tools do we have to change?

Black Lives of UU (BLUU), has offered up an addition to our Principles as a tool for change, to make anti-discrimination a part of our ideals, and I appreciate the thinking behind this.

Their proposed Principle #8 is this:

“We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”

I see our Principles as the ultimate outcome of what our various individual religious sources would lead us to in our lives. Humanist, Christian, Buddhist, Earth Spirit, etc.- the Principles are our collective version of “ultimate concern, ultimate outcome,” or what God may want for us, if you will. But arguably, I also see the Principles as needing to be spare, sharp in their focus, with little wiggle room on definition or meaning. The concepts of Worth and Dignity presently need deep personal thought by anyone wanting to practice them, and maybe some honing would help, but when boiled down they are as succinct as a golden rule. I do not see the Principles as perfect, and when I read the proposed BLUU 8th Principle, I see seeds of change within, working to bring them into better focus. But for a broader anti-racism/anti-discrimination move, to dismantle our inherent racism, classism, intolerance, and ultimately end our relationship to the Doctrine of Discovery, I believe we need to change our relationship to our Sources of Being, learn the tools of Inter-religious, inter-ideological Dialogue, and further develop our underlying theology of reformation as tools for change.

Whenever I ask my ministerial colleagues about teaching the Sources, about how we navigate the differences in our supposedly collective communities, I rarely get an acknowledgement of their usefulness, or even limitations. They seem to be there to show folks that “they too can be Unitarian Universalist,” an advertising gimmick. But to me, this could be one of the most powerful pieces of community, of Unitarian Universalist theology, we have… it is a collection of our evolutionary history, it throws open our potential scriptures, and it widens the circle of our people; of who belongs. I believe we need to step into our Sources deliberately, examin and teach them as UU, hold them up in light of each other, and educate Unitarian Universalists how to dwell in community in their various Sources. This is necessary to continue our reformation, our religious evolutionary journey. And most of all, I believe we need to update our Sources to include what it means to be human, to break the bonds of exclusion, of racism, of all kinds of discrimination. This is where the Doctrine of Discovery and its minions will be broken, when we learn how to listen to, collaborate with, and truly respect each other at our individual and collective source of being.

With dialogue between our sources as the base of our religious work, we can begin the deep work of dismantling racism and discrimination. First, we update the Sources to acknowledge personal experiences and life realities of class, ethnicity (race), culture, sex, gender, ability, and family and national history as deeply informing to our religious being. Religion I believe, at its base, is our instruction and expression of how we are human and interconnected: how we live in relationship to ourselves, and how we engage the world given our Sources. Our Sources need to become an active place of inter-religious, inter-personal, and inter-ideological dialogue, of learning about ourselves and each other deeply, with integrity and love, so we may accomplish our Principles together as a whole people. I’m proposing an addition to the Sources, a work in progress that will take others input to complete:

Sources Proposal:

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources”…  [add new] that are part of our active religious fabric in understanding each other, and the world we live in.”

“We acknowledge and honor the personal journey of the individual and the community that they were formed within; the family (whether genetic or chosen), education, local and greater culture, sex, gender, abilities, personal and ancestral history, religious journey, and experiences in relationship to other peoples and cultures. We listen to and acknowledge the experience of all people as valuable, and measure our own against their experiences to open ourselves, our religion, and our community to change that makes all of us more free, more equal, more accepted, and moves our society towards justice and equity.”

I believe the Sources are the place where our circle of understanding should be widened and Interfaith Dialogue learned as our tool to make it so. A place of tension and learning where no one culture, history, religious source or experience of being is held as more important than another, but as part of the whole. We should only reject sources that would teach and act to promote evil, causing intended, unnecessary suffering and harm, or are incompatible with our Principles.

I acknowledge that this is not how the Sources have been used in Unitarian Universalism, as an active place of dialogue, and because of this I believe we still feel the resonance of source rifts in our history such as our Humanist/Theist tensions. We rarely address our tensions, to our continued detriment, and because we do not live in our Sources, we let our inherent racism, ties to patriarchy, and underlying white supremacy continue to occupy them and us. This is where the real work is done, in the trenches of difference, where the sources of our being should be shared with trust and vulnerability, so there is equality and equity built between us. Where a source is measured for its worth, and held accountable for its harm. Our curriculums of change, like “Welcoming Congregation,” and “Building The World We Dream Of,” are built out of this kind of dialogue, so why do we not make it part of our living tradition, part of our vision and goals.

We can tout the Principles as the ultimate goals for our religious life, but without tools to get there, without a theology of collective difference to draw upon, we’ll never get there. “Being UU” is about learning to accept each other with our human differences, and working to make sure that our differences are equal in worth, dignity, and acceptance… and that a dream of equality and equity can only come to being when we truly acknowledge and honor difference. May we learn to truly be in dialogue, to clearly see each other, to become the community that has the tools to continue to build the world we dream of.

In Love and Tension,

Rev. Jim Parrish

Spring, 2017

Example of inter religious/inter-ideological dialogue: http://dialogueinstitute.org 

Example of inter religious/inter ideological dialogue principles: http://dialogueinstitute.org/dialogue-principles/

After a summer like the one I had, I really don’t want to do a “what I did” report… let’s just say that it was a very active summer, with family and friends. Some interactions were unexpectedly interesting; some joyful, and some difficult. I have to say that the summer was rich, varied and energizing in ways I did not expect, and left me with profound questions that are part of our human experience; being born, living, and having to die. I found that when I got into UUFF’s pulpit in August, for the first time in weeks, I felt like I had come home. I missed being with you, and missed the focus sermons bring, even though I know it is good to recharge the batteries by being away. Balance in all things!

This year I hope our Mission is woven all through our services, our religious education, our stewardship and our social justice work. We began this integration at our Board and Ministry Council Retreat held in August, where we talked about how our Mission leads into a Long Range Plan, with roles, responsibilities and goals.

The Board and committee/team leaders explored creating goals from the Mission that match their roles and responsibilities to the Fellowship. Within this missional goal-setting there will be shared Themes to work with… so we have Services, RE curriculum, and Social Justice working together in an underlying framework.

Our Mission is this: As a diverse, accepting faith community, we promote justice and service while seeking personal and spiritual growth.

Our Mission compels us to: Work to understand what diversity means in our changing the world and become multi-culturally capable, to have clear justice works in progress through education and outreach, and to have meaningful religious exploration opportunities for youth and adults- including worship. It also compels us to be stewards of our Unitarian Universalist faith– to not just maintain, but to grow it for the future.

And when I say “faith,” because we do believe in things seemingly unproven and yet manifest in life, I mean that we believe in the innate oneness and goodness of humanity, in our interconnection to all. We believe that justice and peace can be attained in the long arc of the universe, no matter the present turmoil (which is part of change). Some of these beliefs are being proven in scientific ways. Empathy and altruism are part of our DNA; yet humanity has the ability to be cruel, divisive and deadly.

But with our continued work within UUFF, and with allies, we know life can get better.
I personally believe that the successful work done to promote the citizenship and equality of LGBTQ folks is proof of our beliefs… that the turmoil caused by lifting the veil of racism in our culture is proof that there is deep work still to be done. We have a mission, and it is not just to paint the building or keep the lights on (though we build community in this); it is to be a beacon of truth, freedom and liberal religion in NWA. It begins with us- learning how to be anti-racist, to be culturally capable, to be leaders and allies, to become deeply educated and spiritually motivated people that move the world by our modeling and works.

It was fun to talk with students at the University’s Razorbash in August, describing UU to them. Many times we’d talk and agree that religion should let an individual explore their inner being in a loving community, look for answers to the meaning of life that make sense, and find what will motivate them to be good people. We strive to do good works, to live in harmony with diversity, to understand what justice means, to continue to learn, teach what they learn, and be good stewards of life in its interconnections. Students at the U of A would look at me like, “There is a religion that does this?” I got to say, “Yes- it is us; it is UU.” And all I did was describe our Principles and Mission.

At our Blessing of the Backpacks Service in late August, we let our students, teachers and administrators know that they are held up by our community in their work to teach and learn, and that they represent us in their endeavors as well. All of us at UUFF are Unitarian Universalist in our lives and livelihood, and we have a mission that goes beyond our walls. We sang, “This Little Light of Mine, I’m Gonna Let It Shine,” to close the service, and that is what we’ll do. It’s what we’ve historically done in the arc of the universe, always have, and hopefully, always will.

So May it Be,
Rev. Jim