The future of Unitarian Universalism, if there is a future for our faith, will look different from our present. To develop multicultural competency will make us and our congregation different. To be a place truly welcoming of people of whom we haven't previously been all that welcoming will make us and our congregation different.
The UUA Commission on Institutional Change collected hundreds of testimonials. One of them said:
“I wish more of my people looked like me. For that reason, I fear that I may always feel a little bit like an outsider. I will explain it to you in the following way. It is quite obvious to me that the UU setting is a sanctuary for gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual people. It is not as obvious that it is for people of color.”To change that – to de-center the cultural assumptions of whiteness – will change us. Some of the things that made this place comfortable for some of us will be lost. Change is hard because it involves loss. It’s appropriate to grieve.
If we can pull it off, change will also involve gains – exciting and invigorating multicultural community – different voices, different music, different ways of thinking and doing. A healing and a new wholeness scarcely heretofore imagined will be ours.
May it be so. Amen.
Yours in faith,
Meredith
Practice of the Week: Have Faith
Moment of Zen: How to Die
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