Saturday, March 9, 2019

At Church On Sunday 02/24/19 - The Future of Universalism and Social Justice

On 02/24/19 Rev. Lane Campbell and Rev. Michelle Yates made a presentation on the question of where Universalism will be in 20 years by 2039. They addressed three questions and the third question is:

The last question we wanted to talk about this morning was sort of what's the future of universalism as it informs of our social justice efforts.  Where do you think that will be in 20 years?


Rev. Yates : I think it's very interesting the ways in just the past 10 years we've been showing up.

I feel like there was the the civil rights era and then there was a bit of a slow down. Then we've had a big round trip up with the yellow shirts. UUs are known as yellow shirts when we show up to rallies and events and social justice action things because we have it as standing on the side of love. How do we live that -  we show up in that way?
  
I think in some ways it's being more brave than we were before because I think sometimes there's still that concern of if I show up to this rally am I safe? If I show at this rally is my family safe? Are people going to judge me?

But finding courage and resolve for our self -  this is where I need to be. I felt a conviction when we did the social justice GA in Phoenix, like this is history, this is the moment.  I want to say to my children that I was there. And that moment, this is the moment, and it might be hard, but I want to say that I was there.  I showed up. Doing this work here so that we can show up out there.

Rev. Michelle Yates speaks from 08:15 - 09:36

2 comments:

  1. It seems that what Rev. Yates is trying to describe is "prophetic witness" although she doesn't use that phrase.

    Social justice work is best left to advocacy and community organizational agencies who are professionals at social change. The point of a church doing social justice work is that it deepens spirituality, reminds people of their holiness and sanctifies the world.

    The future of social justice work for Universalism will be to find ways to use social justice work to deepen the spiritual life of the church. One of the sources for the "living tradtion" is the prophetic words and deeds of women and men who speak truth to power with the transforming power of love, for without love, as St. Paul says, we are just a "clanging gong, and claning symbol."

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  2. UU principles are counter cultural. They go against the grain and upset the status quo. UU principles if enacted upset the apple cart. Upsetting the apple care triggers blow back. Blow back generates fears of bodily, social, and psychological harm. And yet, our faith, and our covenant gives us courage and makes us brave.

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