• Home
  • rainbow flagA Welcoming Congregation
  • Safe Congregation SealKeeping Safe
  • Capital Campaign
  • DONATE/REALM
  • TUCWomen
    • About TUCWomen
    • Join Us
    • Events
    • Contact
  • Contact
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport

10 Lyons Plains Rd., Westport, CT 06880 - Ph: (203)227-7205 Sunday Services: 10:00 AM

Unitarian Universalist Association
  • Calendar
    • Calendar
    • SOUNDINGS
    • Communications Guidelines
    • ZOOM Instructions
    • Tips For Making Videos
    • Event & Space Reservations
    • TUUCWSocial Email List Ground Rules
  • Welcome Visitors
    • UU Orientation
    • Directions & Services
    • Special Ceremonies & Dedications
    • Our Congregational History
    • Our Faith
    • What is a Unitarian Universalist?
    • We are Unitarian Universalists
    • How did you become a Unitarian Universalist?
    • History of the Flaming Chalice
    • UU History in 8 Minutes
  • About Us
    • Our Mission Statement
    • Our Vision Statement
    • About Our Ministers
    • Our Staff
    • Getting Involved
    • Board of Trustees
    • Governance
    • Healing and Resilience Task Force
    • Congregant Celebration
    • Pastoral Care Chaplains
    • The Caring Support Network
    • Our Welcoming Congregation
    • Photo & Video Galleries
    • Links – Beyond Our Walls
    • SOUNDINGS
    • Communications Guidelines
    • Events & Space Reservations
    • Pledging
  • FAITH FORMATION
    • Faith Formation for Children and Youth 2022-23
    • Welcome to Family Faith Formation
    • This Week in Family Faith Formation
    • Faith Formation Age Groupings 2022-23
    • What to Expect on Sunday Mornings
    • OWL Information at a Glance
    • Youth Ministry
    • Adult Faith Formation
    • Soul Matters
    • Keeping Safe
    • Faith Formation Registration
  • Social Justice
    • Welcome to Social Justice
    • Advocates for Prevention of Gun Violence
    • Beardsley School Committee
    • Immigration and Refugee Committee
    • KIVA Microfinance Committee
    • Racial Justice Committee
    • Westbridge Coalition
  • Music Program
    • Our Minister of Music
    • The Music Committee
    • The Bell Choir
    • The Choir (Women and Men)
    • Special Projects Choir
    • Once & Again Singers
    • Children’s Choir
    • Teen Choir
    • Sight-singing Classes
    • Cabaret
    • Voice Classes
    • Love Is the Spirit
    • Tune My Heart To Sing
    • Support Our Music Program
  • Sermons & Poetry
    • Minister’s Messages
    • Sermons – Audio
    • Sermons – Video
    • Rev. John T. Morehouse’s sermons
    • From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace
    • Facing Grace – Rev. John’s blog
    • Rev. Frank Hall, Minister Emeritus – sermons
    • Rev. Frank Hall, Minister Emeritus – Dear Friends
    • Intern Minister’s sermons
    • Guest Minister’s sermons
    • Poetry & Readings
    • Communications from Your Ministers
  • Live Stream

In The Interim – October 31, 2013

October 29, 2013 by Rev. Roberta Finkelstein - InterimSenior Minister

Several years ago I attended a class on visionary leadership. At one point we were shown a video that illustrated the traits of visionary leaders in well-known historical figures, including Christopher Columbus. As the sound track extolled Columbus’s bold vision, jaws around the room dropped. Afterward we sat stunned as the clueless workshop leader said, “Why don’t we talk a bit about visionary leadership?” In the silence that followed I finally raised my hand and said, “I am having a great deal of trouble wrapping my head around the idea of a genocidal megalomaniac who had no idea what side of the globe he had sailed to being held up as a visionary leader.”

Looking at American history through an anti-racist, anti-oppressive lens, we can no longer ‘celebrate’ Columbus Day the way we did when we were children. The story that went with the holiday was a myth. The same is true for Thanksgiving. We know that our Thanksgiving myth leaves out the most graphic memories of suffering and loss. It glosses over the deep flaws in the heroes and heroines.

But even flawed and incomplete mythic stories tell us truths. The story of the Pilgrims echoes the Exodus story. A group of oppressed people, urged by their god and a visionary leader, decide to throw off their chains and go in search of freedom. The journey is arduous. They complain. They ask themselves, “Would we not have been better off enslaved in Egypt than starving here in the desert?” But with help, whether divine or human, they endure.

Sadly, in our Thanksgiving story, the newly liberated people become oppressors themselves. Heady with the conviction that they are living out a divine plan for them, they are blinded to the reality of the native peoples already in residence. (Perhaps not so different from the Exodus?)

Every year, Jews celebrate Passover and retell the Exodus story. They do so because they are required by their faith to remember. Remember you were slaves in Egypt. Remember you were lost and hungry in the desert. To remember who you were as a people is also to remember who you are supposed to be. We were slaves, we should champion liberation for all peoples. We were hungry and afraid, we should practice compassion to those who are in need.

Every mythic story, no matter how flawed, tells us the truth. Our Thanksgiving story, told and heard through our contemporary experience, reminds us that many people have made arduous journeys to arrive on American soil. Some arrived in hope. Some, forced onto ships by slave-traders, arrived in despair. Still today some cross the desert, desperately seeking the promised land. All of that is part of our Thanksgiving story.

So with eyes wide open we celebrate Thanksgiving. We gather around tables and rejoice in the bounty of the earth. We give thanks for the loving kindness which unites us as families, congregations, communities, and as a nation. We remember all peoples who have come to our land on pilgrimage across the centuries since the Pilgrims first set sail as well as those people already living here. We recall that many endured great hardships; yet they gathered together after their harvests to offer praise and thanksgiving for their deliverance from the wilderness. We honor the freedom and justice they so dearly bought. We remember that the struggle is not over.

Even as our bodies are renewed at our thanksgiving tables, so may our spirits find renewal by the act of giving thanks.

In Faith,
Rev. Roberta

Filed Under: In The Interim

SEARCH

Categories

  • Events
    • Announcements
  • Interdependent Web
  • Minister's Message
  • Order of Service
  • Readings
  • Sermons
    • From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace
    • Guest Minister's sermons
    • In The Interim
    • Intern Minister's Sermons
    • Minister's Message
    • Rev. Frank Hall, Minister Emeritus
      • chautauqua
      • Dear Friends
      • Rev. Frank Hall's sermons
    • Rev. John T. Morehouse's sermons
    • Rev. Shelly Thompson, Assistant Minister for Faith Formation
  • This Week at Church
  • TUCWomen Blog
  • Uncategorized
    • Uncategorised
  • Upcoming Sermons
  • Minister’s Messages
  • Sermons – Audio
  • Sermons – Video
  • Rev. John T. Morehouse’s sermons
  • From Your Senior Minister: Facing Grace
  • Facing Grace – Rev. John’s blog
  • Rev. Frank Hall, Minister Emeritus – sermons
  • Rev. Frank Hall, Minister Emeritus – Dear Friends
  • Intern Minister’s sermons
  • Guest Minister’s sermons
  • Readings & Poetry
  • Communications from Your Ministers

     The Unitarian Universalist
     Congregation in Westport
     is a member congregation of the
     Unitarian Universalist Association

      CLICK HERE if you have any questions      about The Unitarian Universalist
    Congregation in Westport

Congregational Hours: Tuesday - Friday
9:30 AM to 4:00 PM

Summer Hours:
July & August until after Labor Day:
Tuesday - Friday 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM

CLICK HERE to contact the web master

CLICK HERE to opt in to receive
the Weekly Congregational Email Blast

Copyright © 2023 · Visit us at The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport - 10 Lyons Plains Rd., Westport, CT 06880 - All rights reserved.