This coming Sunday, Unitarian Universalist churches around the country will be gathering to begin another church year, Homecoming Sunday.
Why call some Sunday in the early fall Homecoming, some of you may ask? Worship, pastoral care and programming continue through the summer. It has been a long time since Unitarian churches closed during July and August. Are we simply reflecting the school calendar, with students re-gathering in person this fall? For a community that values education so highly, following the schools would seem almost natural.
The truth is that the language of “Homecoming” is a residue of the time when our churches did close and, in New England, our ministers retired to their second homes in Maine to avoid the worst of the heat. In more recent times, many congregants also travelled during the summer. Coming home in the fall was literally the experience for many members. Our religious tradition is shot through with privilege.
Despite the history, September continues to mark the start of the church year. This is a time to celebrate and renew the bonds of community and the promises of covenant that in our faith form the basis for it. That has been perhaps the greatest challenge of these Covid days, having to discover new ways to create and sustain community. Our faith tells us we are not alone, but the lack of human contact has left many of us lonely.
On Sunday, we will, with intention, affirm what binds us even now, even while we yearn to be together in person.
Many congregations, in areas where the Covid infections rates are low and slowing, will begin offering some in-person worship this fall. Most of those congregations are limiting numbers, taking reservations, requiring vaccination, masking and distancing. Others, like First Unitarian, will continue to worship virtually for a time longer. With the metrics for the virus reaching new highs here in Oregon, the risks of gathering in person outweighed our yearning to be together.
We won’t be in-person, but we will celebrate. The Family Worship that many came to love last year will return, at 10 AM, from the Chapel. And, for the 11 AM Sanctuary service the choirs will be singing again. They will be masked and recorded but it will be so good to have their regular presence in worship.
I have faith that we will be able to gather in person soon. We will make that decision with the guidance of our Public Health Team, of course.
Our emergence from these Covid-days will be deliberate, with changes to the church that we knew. But emergence and a return is in our future.
This year, the need for our religious voice and presence has rarely been greater. We will need an effective church to support and to challenge us all. Last weeks “decision” by the Supreme Court to allow the effective ending of abortion access in Texas enrages us. It is also a sign that we are entering a time when public policy, at the national level at least, will most likely be an obstacle in the path of creating Beloved Community.
First Unitarian will be moving forward, not back. Our vision of Beloved Community is wholistic. Our theology of human agency and hope calls us forward. The need for a just transition in our culture is crystal clear. So, too, our need for personal transformation.
We will embody our hope in concrete ways. There is need to organize at both the national and the local level. The 8th Principle, adopted last spring, needs to move from commitment to practice. Our personal and our political work must align for our longstanding affirmation of Beloved Community to have meaning in our lives.
Through the coming year, our Sunday offerings will all be directed to the broad goals of climate justice, from disaster recovery and mitigation to innovative solutions that center the experiences, well-being and building of power for those who are most adversely affected by the climate crisis.
Climate justice holds that the extractive systems of colonialism, imperialism and racism disproportionately and systemically impact Indigenous, Black, Brown and poor communities. A climate justice approach acknowledges that these communities are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate catastrophes and that developing strategies and solutions that center their health, environmental and economic interests strike at the core systems of injustice.
We will focus energy on a range of issues this year, but we will focus our giving in ways that will have maximum impact, in solidarity and accountability with coalitions working for a justice transition away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable community for us all.
We will gather this coming Sunday to begin an important year in the life of First Unitarian and an important year in our lives as well. We will gather in faith, in hope and in love.
On Sunday, as we enter this year of transition which will include the call of a new Senior Minister, I will be preaching on covenant, on what in our faith abides to support and to guide us. I look forward to
“seeing” you in church.
Here is an in-gathering message from Rev. Susan Frederick Gray, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association (Ingathering video message).
This will be a challenging year, but we are not alone.
Blessings,
Bill