The following is an excerpt from the Theological Statement that opens the May 2018 Report of the UUMA Ableism Task Force. The members of that Task Force were Rev. Josh Pawelek and Rev. Barbara F. Meyers, co-chairs; Rev. Mark Belletini; Rev. Erika Hewitt; Rev. Evan Keely; and Rev. Theresa I. Soto.

Failing to use a microphone is a form of exclusion. “When I’m excluded, I feel weary, frustrated, and invisible."

In Unitarian Universalist worship, we march for justice and stand for causes all the time; we also see clearly, raise our voices, and hear the truth. We bless the hands that reach out, and the feet that follow the ways of righteousness. If we like something, chances are good there will be an able...

The blasphemy of body hatred has no place in this temple.

Come one, come all! Come with your missing pieces and your extra screws Come with your hard edges and your soft spots Come with your bowed heads and upright spines Come all you flamboyant and drab verbose and quiet fidgeting and lethargic All you with large vision and tender hearts All you with...

This name now symbolizes all that you truly are and are becoming.

We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention. Please turn off or silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.

The human race is a vast rainbow bursting into view of white and black, red, yellow and brown. Yet for all blood is red, the sky is blue, the earth brown, the night dark. In size and shape we are a varied pattern of tall and short, slim and stout, elegant and plain....

A while ago my friend told me that his son had come home from school with a new put-down expression. “That is sooo gay.” My friend explained to his son that perhaps he didn’t want to say that—after all, he lived in a family with two daddies—“gay” as a put-down just didn’t seem the...

Long ago the chalice of communion wine was set apart for priests alone. We would have all share in the bounty of the earth: wind and milk, bread and meat, that none may go hungry. Long ago those who spoke their minds freely were put to death by fire. We would use fire to warm all bodies and light...

Note: This call to worship was written to be preceded by the first three sentences of "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver (Singing the Living Tradition #490). As we enter into worship, put away the pressures of the world that ask us to perform, to take up masks, to put on brave fronts. Silence the voices...