Dear friends,
I ask your forgiveness for my humanity, and my errors. Of course it was the Capitol. This is the correct email.
January 7, 2021
Dear friends,
We bore witness to an atrocity yesterday that will live on in the memory of our country, and the world, for generations. Watching the Capitol be overtaken by violence and terror was unnerving, maddening, and heartbreaking. We sat helplessly with the safety of our elected officials, their staff, and others on the line.
The first thing I did as I watched this unfold, was to center myself in my heart. I connected with the ground of my being, and love, feeling the warmth that is always there. I prayed for the people whose lives were at risk, and for our country. It was a wordless prayer, more of a beseeching really, that we would all choose peace.
Peace. For our country, and the souls of all who live here.
Peace. Now and forevermore.
I understand the rage many of you are feeling, and I also realize this must barely touch the rage of those who have been oppressed in this country for centuries. As we heard commentators say, “What if those people had been thousands of Black people, or Muslims?” That would have yielded a drastically different response.
As people of faith and liberal religion, we have a choice. Our Unitarian Universalist principles direct this choice. It includes increasing our commitment to working for racial justice, ensuring the future of our democracy, and protecting the health of all people, and of the earth. We can channel our anger into partnering with others who are working for solutions. We can listen to the love that calls us forward to promote our values, without spewing hatred.
Hatred breeds hatred. Violence breeds violence. We have seen this long enough. It is time for it to stop. We can be allies, justice workers, advocates, in love. We can show up and use the powers we have for good – through writing, speaking, calling, acting, and supporting one another. We can challenge ourselves and each to learn accurate history, examine our own blind spots, and be willing to change, for the good of others. That is love, which is I believe, to the core of my being, the answer.
May we look back at this time someday and remember it as the turning point that was needed.
Yours in faith, community, and love,
Reverend Rebecca
Two ways you can join other UU’s around the country in this work.
UU The Vote
Faith, love, and action together.
Side with Love
Side with love is a public advocacy campaign that seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression. It is sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association and all are welcome to join.
Let America Be America Again (excerpt)
Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
Click here to read the poem in its entirety
