Reach and Transform

By Ted Resnikoff

30DoL_23_Reach_Out

30DoL_23_Reach_Out

Day 23: Do More than Stand on the Side of Love

Love Reaches Out. That's the theme for our General Assembly this year in Providence, Rhode Island. As a staff member who spends much of his time supporting the Youth Caucus Staff at each GA, I'm looking forward to what we will experience and learn from one another during our time together in June. I know that the Youth Caucus Deans have thought a lot about how to create an experience for youth attendees that will inspire and equip them to reach out in love in their home communities, long after GA has ended. From workshops leadership and anti-racism that provide us with skills to make change to opportunities to worship and explore spiritual practices that sustain us, Youth Caucus will reach out. The newly revamped Young Adults at General Assembly (YA@GA) also promises to provide opportunity for learning, community building and spiritual depth that will carry long beyond the five days. General Assembly is an opportunity to be energized, equipped and inspired to put faith into action and to reach out in love.

Read Peter's message below, and then check out the GA resource pages here at Blue Boat for links to more information. GA registration opens in March. We hope to see you there! - Jeremie Bateman

Yesterday, members of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ participated in the Moral March on Raleigh in Raleigh, N.C., as part of a group of thousands of concerned North Carolina citizens and committed individuals from throughout the country. We sang, prayed, and marched together to raise awareness about the threats to voting rights in North Carolina that are spreading to other states.

As we stood surrounded by people who shared our concerns and listened to our collective cry for change, we both paused and reflected that this is love reaching out in action—raising our voices for those who are being silenced by voting restriction tactics. Showing people who we don’t even know, have never met, that we love them, that they matter, and that we won’t let their power be taken away from them.

Back in April of last year, the UUA and the UCC once again stood together in Rhode Island and celebrated and worshipped with citizens of that state as they worked to pass marriage equality. And soon after, they became the 10th state to grant all people the freedom to marry the person they love!

We must, as communities dedicated to justice, peace and love, reach out to others to share the transformational stories of what our unique faiths have to offer. Each one of us has a powerful story to share about how our faiths have touched our lives, how it has transformed us, and helped us to make the world a better place. We need to be telling these stories, listening to others, and helping people grow in spirit and in service.

Thanks to you and everyone who embraces the principles of love and justice, we now have nearly 20 states with marriage equality, and we continue to move closer to comprehensive immigration reform that will recognize the human worth and dignity of the 11 million undocumented individuals living in the United States. At yesterday’s march, we stood side by side with the NAACP and other partners to show that we are equally committed to voting rights and access to a fair and open democracy in this country. While there is still much more to do, let’s take this time to pause, reflect, and celebrate all we have accomplished together and all that we will accomplish in the future.

Thank you. In Faith, Rev. Peter Morales and Rev. Geoffrey Black UUA President + UCC General Minister and President Tags: 30 Days of Love, National Standing on the Side of Love Month, racial justice, UCC, UUA, voting rights