Dear Members and Friends,
Today marks the anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King’s first march in Selma when the late John Lewis and many others were severely beaten; the wider world witnessed the brutality of white law enforcement officers under the orders of civic leaders who sought to keep Black people from exercising their right to vote. Hundreds of Unitarian Universalists heeded King’s call and joined him for the second march on March 9. On that day, Rev. James Reeb, a Unitarian Universalist minister working in Washington D.C. and a father of four, was beaten so badly he died two days later.
On this day, many leaders of our faith tradition committed to supporting the vision of Rev. Martin Luther King. It was a turning point for many congregations, including this one. Rev. Ed Lane from Westport not only attended the Selma march, he became an avid critic of many government policies. He was the board chair of Beacon Press when Beacon published the Pentagon Papers, an action that could have been treated as treason. It was a time of great conflict but UU Westport navigated the conflicts and did not remain silent like so many houses of worship. Your congregation did the hard work to take a stand and discern the collective call to actively advocate for compassion, equity, and justice in the wider society, and it has done so for decades. It’s a significant and inspiring part of you are, and to continue to do this work requires ongoing buy-in—and the challenging yet meaningful work of engaging differing perspectives and strong personalities.
This past Sunday, I loved how Rev. Jamie Boyce shared a compelling vision of faith community as grounded in “radical hospitality.” I loved her call to be courageous and to welcome transformation. She called us to throw open our hearts and our lives to welcome those we encounter. I’ve heard from two of you how much you appreciated Rev. Jamie encouraging us all to take refuge in a community that is always welcoming our hearts in a new joy, calling us to be our best selves, and entreating the gathered community to abide together on a path of discovery.
You are, indeed, on a path of discovery, and I am grateful to be on this collective journey with you!
I’m grateful that so many of you have taken the opportunity to read Rev. Terasa Cooley’s book, Transforming Conflict. This next week, consider participating in one of the group conversations about our congregational read—you can sign up HERE for March 11 at 2:00 PM, March 13 at 7:00 PM on ZOOM, and March 17 at 1:30 PM. Whether you’ve read her book or not, don’t miss the March 24 worship service when Rev. Cooley will share with us. If you can, please join in one of her workshops that day, either 12-3 or 5-8.
Many blessings come when we gather together in the spirit of radical hospitality and when we engage our differences in open and healthy ways.
This Sunday, may the choir nourish and inspire you. And may the upcoming Sundays lead to shared courage and transformation.
May we all be blessed by navigating together a journey of discovery!
Warmly,
Alan
History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily… An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on the minority that is not binding on itself. This is difference made legal. On the other hand a just law is a code that the majority compels a minority to follow that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal… We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men and women willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always right to do right.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
When you walk through a storm,
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm,
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark.
Walk on, through the wind,
Walk on, through the rain,
Though your dreams be tossed and blown;
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart,
And you’ll never walk alone,
You’ll never walk alone.
— Oscar Hammerstein
I can be angry. I can hate. I can rage.
But the moment I have defined another being as my enemy,
I lose part of myself, the complexity and subtlety of my vision.
I begin to exist in a closed system.
When anything goes wrong, I blame my enemy…
Slowly all the power in my life begins to be located outside,
and my whole being is defined in relation to this outside force,
which becomes daily more monstrous, more evil,
more laden with all the qualities in myself I no longer wish to own.
The quality of my thought is then diminished.
My imagination grows small.
My self seems meager.
My enemy has stolen all of these.
–Susan Griffin
