Session 5: Living Our Values in the World

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Goals

  • Examine what it means to live out our values, through the lens of the COIC report and findings.
  • Apply the report’s findings to the context of your community/congregation and also within the larger geographic communities you serve.

Materials

  • Chalice and something with which to light it
  • A copy of Widening the Circle of Concern: Report of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change (2020)
  • The text of the covenant guidelines to which the group has agreed, on newsprint if in person or accessible as electronic text to share if online
  • Newsprint and markers (if in-person) or a computer to record discussion contributions

Preparation

  • Read the Living Our Values in the World chapter.
  • Identify a recorder for this session.
  • Prepare a chalice and something with which to light it.
  • Post the group covenant. (If in person, post newsprint; if online, plan to “share screen” and/or post the covenant guidelines or a link to them in the chat.)

Chalice Lighting

Share these words, from “The Missing Remnant” by Rev. Sofia Betancourt:

The good news is that we are in control of what we do with our daily living period. If we, each one of us, represent a missing remnant in the fabric of our collective future—then together we can lean into a possibility that we have yet to fully experience in human history. A collective wholeness. An unassailable good. That is the kind of salvation I am here to fight for in the small moments of every single day.

Now share these words, from DeRay Mckesson in On the Other Side of Freedom:

Protest is telling the truth in public. Sometimes protest is telling the truth to a public that isn’t quite ready to hear it. Protest is, in its own way, a storytelling. We use our bodies, our words, our art, and our sounds both to tell the truth about the pain that we endure and to demand the justice that we know is possible. It is meant to build and to force a response.

Light the chalice.

Discussion

Take a moment to review the group’s covenant. Ask the group if anything should be added or amended. If there is consensus, add or amend the covenant and save the changes.

Make sure a recorder from the group is ready to document discussion.

Invite the group to consider: What is the difference between a charitable approach to social action and a justice orientation? Ask the recorder to note responses in two columns titled “charity” and “solidarity.”

Discuss these questions:

  • How does this congregation/community go about learning about the experiences of those we seek to serve in our justice work?
  • How does our congregation follow the lead of those most affected?
  • Who are the Black, Indigenous, and people of color whose lead we follow, and on what issues? On what other issues might our congregation seek to follow them?
  • To what organizations led by Black, Indigenous or other people of color is our community accountable?
    • Who are we in relationship with?
    • If we have no accountable relationships or no relationships at all, what can we learn from that?
    • What are some important lessons from our community’s history?
  • What are the other groups led by people with marginalized identities to which we can be accountable?
  • How do we continue to educate ourselves as a congregation/community about issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Closing and Next Actions

Invite the group into a closing ritual: Ask volunteers to read aloud the Take-Aways at the end of the Living Our Values in the World chapter. You may extinguish the chalice while participants read.

Remind the group that both study and action are the purposes of this group. Offer a quick check-out. Ask the following questions and invite each participant to take a moment to reflect and then to respond in one sentence, uninterrupted, to any of these:

  • What is one idea you want to continue to think about before our next discussion?
  • What are the short-term actions that we should consider or take to translate this discussion into action?
  • What are the longer scope actions?
  • What is an element that makes the hard work meaningful and worthwhile for this group?