Greetings, beloved community.

We are just on the cusp of a new era in the life of this community.  In any space defined by liminality, that sense of being neither here nor there, there will be things we need to keep, things we need to discard, and things we need to transform somewhat.  Our Unitarian Universalist movement has always been one where the leanings of reason and the spirit, rather than scripture or tradition, have formed the basis for what we do.  We have a flame as one of our central symbols, and fire has that quality of both liveliness and responsibility, in that it only provides warmth and illumination if we tend it carefully.

Lately I have been considering the just completed General Assembly, which no doubt you heard a lot about from Patte and Mary when they did their service last month.  What intrigued me as much as the debate and what did pass are the amendments that did not pass – especially the Article II amendments seeking to aid Peace and Reason to Justice, Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Interdependence, and Generosity.  When I considered the extent to which peace and reason are at work in what we do, and the arguments voiced by the delegates during the Assembly, it made me reconsider the interconnectedness of all the other values.  What do we mean by peace and reason?  Are these values a byproduct of what we already value, or are they distinctly cultivated in and of themselves?  And when we value something as a group, what does this mean to us as individuals?  How do we use what wound up on the proverbial “cutting room floor” and reaffirm the ways in which these other UU values shape our lives and our work?

Poised on the threshold, the question is always what do I keep, what do I let go, what do I transform?  It is a question we need to ask ourselves and not just our communities on a regular basis.

Regards,

Rev. Valerie