Holiday Message from UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray

Practicing Gratitude this Holiday Season

Each year at about this time, I share a holiday message for Unitarian Universalists and UU congregations. This year, I was moved to share how my own gratitude practice has been helping me find joy, compassion, and humility in the present moment.

RESPOND TO THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN YOUR CONGREGATION

As communities of faith, we have a significant role to play in the prevention of pandemics and the response to pandemics when they occur. We have resources, including information on moving meeting and worship to online formats. REDUCE RISKS AND BUILD RESILIENCE IN YOUR COMMUNITY

“What is love
calling you to do?”

Side with Love is a public advocacy campaign that seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression. It is sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association and all are welcome to join. Subscribe to get updates.

We Must Dismantle White Supremacy 

White supremacy affects everyone, and each of us has agency to undo it. There is work to do in congregations and there is personal work to do.

White supremacy is the idea that white people are better and more deserving of wealth, power, and privilege than people of color. White supremacy pervades our culture, institutions, and relationships. It is a self-perpetuating system that continues to fuel colonialism, exploitation, oppressions, inequities, and brutalities that people of color experience.

More resources can be found here at UUA.org and below.

Expose the Impact of White Supremacy

Communicate with others about the harm caused to people and communities of color by different expressions of white supremacy (systemic, overt, microaggressive).

• Look at national racial disparity statistics. How does the research finding of “two Americas” play out in your locality?
• Share and discuss eight one-minute videos that unpack systemic racism in employment, wealth disparities, infant mortality, housing, education, environmental health, incarceration, and health care access.
• Read and respond to “10 Insidious Ways White Supremacy Shows Up in Our Everyday Lives” on the Everyday Feminism website.

Centering voices of people of color helps to destabilize white supremacy as the dominant cultural norm in a UU setting and beyond. Use these collections to share the voices of Unitarian Universalists of color:

• Packet of worship and religious eduction resources (PDF) created by Unitarian Universalists of color for The Promise and the Practice, a campaign to support the UUA commitment to Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU).

• Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry, edited by Mitra Rahnema (Skinner House, 2017); essays and responses from Unitarian Universalist religious professionals of color; UUA Common Read 2017-18 with discussion guide
• Voices from the Margins edited by Jacqui James and Mark Morrison-Reed (Skinner House, 2012); a compilation of readings
• Black Lives Matter collection of readings on the online UUA Worship Web

UUA Common Read 2021-2022

The 2021–2022 UU Common Read is Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment by Zach Norris, published by Beacon Press. The Common Read builds community in our congregations and our movement by giving diverse people a shared platform for reflection and a shared focus for action. Further, a Common Read can take us on a powerful faith journey as we explore—individually and together—what it means to be human and accountable in a pain-filled world.