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Goals
- Explore lifespan religious education that is liberating, through the lens of the COIC report and findings.
- Apply the findings to the context of your community.
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 Educating for Liberation 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
Light the chalice and offer these words by Rev. Dr. Natalie Maxwell Fenimore:
We seek to be a home for all who desire our company.
We seek to make a welcome for all those in search of our good news.
Come, come, little children, teens, young adults, adults and elders.
Come families in great diversity.
Come to this loving home and safe harbor - but not to find a place to escape the world.
This is a community of engagement – and of creativity.
We come together to create boldly – dangerously.
We must create the Beloved Community with an awareness of how difficult it is – because it is deep ministry. It is ministry that challenges us to bring our whole selves and engage deeply and for the long haul.
Our faith, our tradition, must call us into community. Our task is to create spaces where we might know and value each other.
Let us listen to our stories.
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.
Say that the report recommends that faith development in our congregations intentionally align with the concept of “education for liberation.” Unitarian Universalist education for liberation has these foundations:
- A theological or principled mandate for justice, equity and inclusion, the celebration of diversity
- "Power with" rather than "power over"
- Lifelong collaborative learning
- Welcoming and centering the narratives of those thought of as marginal by the majority culture
Ask the group, “What do you think of those foundational assumptions? Affirm? Question? Dispute? Critique?” Allow all who wish to respond to briefly do so.
Now ask, “Understanding that ‘education’ does not only happen in formal religious education programs, but is a component of all aspects of congregational life, how would you say our congregation aligns with education for liberation?” Invite discussion.
Then say, “Narrative and storytelling are central to human learning. The stories we tell, pass on, and teach form our religious identity (along with other identities).” Lead a discussion with these questions:
- Does your community hear, tell, know the stories of Black, Asian, Indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQ Unitarian Universalists?
- What difference does it make to know those stories?
- If you do not know them, how will you get to know them?
- To whom will we be accountable in terms of borrowing or retelling these stories?
- How can we engage respectfully with stories that do not belong to our community?
Refer to the recommendation the report provides at the bottom of p. 97. Say, “The report suggests that congregations obtain and use resources and tools to ensure a variety of entry points into the spiritual work of embracing one’s own identity and the identity of others. Resources on healing religious wounds and productive conflict engagement are also needed as a core part of faith development. This sort of education for liberation could be a source of a dynamic and invigorating set of spiritual practices.”
Lead the group to explore opportunities for the congregation/community to more intentionally embrace education for liberation, using these questions:
- Have you or your community experienced religious wounds and/or non-productive conflicts that “interrupt” engagement with discussions of education for liberation?
- Can you envision and articulate dynamic and invigorating spiritual practices that would be resources for educating for liberation?
- Can you/do you see a need for intentional and perhaps separate spaces for Black/Indigenous/ People of Color to worship, learn and grow in Unitarian Universalist community? Would you/could you support this in your community or congregation?
Note that the report recommends that “a comprehensive path to understanding the work of equity, inclusion, and diversity should be developed and maintained as part of faith development.” (p. 98) Ask the group:
- How would this be implemented in this congregation or community?
- What person or group in the congregation/community is responsible/accountable for developing a plan?
- What person or group is responsible/accountable for maintaining and continuing on the path?
Closing and Next Actions
Invite the group into a closing ritual: Ask volunteers to read aloud the Take-Aways at the end of the Educating for Liberation 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 by asking the following questions, inviting each participant to take a moment to reflect and then to respond in one sentence to any question:
- 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?