Greetings, dear ones. This past year has been incredibly intense and difficult. The uncertainty, the fear, the losses, the deep pain of this COVID-19 pandemic has been immeasurable. Our congregations have made real sacrifices, shifting from in person gatherings to online services, all in an effort to help keep one another, our neighbors, and our wider community safe and well.Ê
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I also know the real sacrifice and loneliness of not being able to gather in person. I miss singing together, breaking bread in community, gathering in peopleÕs homes, and visiting my own parents and siblings. There is real loss and pain right now.
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At the same time, I have witnessed a remarkable blossoming in many of our UU communities. There is an increased focus on community care, equity, inclusion and interdependence in how we approach ministry within and across congregations. Because of how quickly we moved online, there is unprecedented access to our ministry. Leaders are asking innovative questions about membership, partnership, and ongoing virtual community now that participation is not bound to buildings or physical location.Ê
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And there is good news with multiple vaccines in distribution. Many of us are beginning to think about how and when we might return again to in-person worship and gatherings. As we contemplate this, it matters that our UU values continue to guide our decision making.ÊÊ
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Our PrinciplesÑthe core theological values we affirm and promote Ñ both challenge and guide us. We cherish each individual as inherently worthy and deserving of dignity. We recognize that we are inextricably interconnected in a web of relationship with all people and all life. No oneÕs life is expendable. And while it has always been true Ð this pandemic has brought into stark relief the fact that our choices impact others, even those we will never meet. Therefore it matters that we continue to center compassion, care, public health, and resilience for everyone, especially people who are most vulnerable to Covid-19. This means that our congregations are likely to wait longer to resume in-person operations than other entities.Ê
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For example, we all understand the vital priority of trying to support schools being able to open safely. However, to do this, we all have a role to play in lowering community spread.Ê
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There will always be some people who are willing and able to take greater risks when it comes to the virus. But beyond what any individual one of us most desires, our decision to regather must be rooted in our core value of protecting the lives of people who are most at risk of severe complications from this virus. It matters that our commitment to inclusion and to deep care guides our decisions such that no one is left out.Ê
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Folks who are high-risk, and those who live with someone who is high-risk, have already been living on the emotional edge for months. Let us use our institutional power to relieve their stress, not increase it. Let us never put an already weary, already vulnerable high-risk member of our community in the painful position of having to ask their congregation to value their life.Ê
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We are called to hold fast to our first principle and our seventh. To live in the dynamic intersection of the inherent worth of every person and the interdependent web into which we are all born. When this pandemic is over, even with all of its painful, devastating losses, may we be able to say that our Unitarian Universalist congregations did all that we could to save lives.
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