(Includes portions of the planned Feb. 10 service, which was cancelled due to the snow storm)
When MLK called for clergy of all faiths to travel to Selma to participate in the civil rights marches there, UU clergy and lay people showed up and put our lives on the line for racial justice. Less than five years later, African-American UUs challenged us to support their empowerment within and beyond Unitarian Universalism, and our responses to that challenge led to heartbreak and the exodus of many African-Americans from our religious body.
Five decades later, Unitarian Universalists of Color called upon our still predominantly white congregations and Association of congregations to eradicate white supremacy culture from our systems and structures. Their call has helped us move forward, and it has also been met with significant resistance and backlash. In this final sermon in my series addressing Unitarian Unversalism’s challenges to become an anti-racist, anti-oppression, multi-cultural religion, I’ll attempt to make the water we swim in visible, and suggest the psychological work that white Unitarian Universalists need to do to be able to embrace this difficult and liberating work in our congregations and our Association of Congregations.
Worship Leader: Terra Anderson
Special Music: The UUCWI Chalice Choir
David Edwards, Choir Director; Sheila Weidendorf, Accompanist
