The theme for the month of April is Wholeness. Back when I was in seminary, the Unitarian Universalist Association was doing a lot of work in the area of anti-racism which culminated in the program Journey Toward Wholeness. According to the UUA website, the work for this program took place at General Assembly from the years 1992-1997. The main thrust was to look at institutional racism in our society and in our own association. Given what’s happening in government on the federal and state level these days, this work seems as important now as it was back then. People of faith have often served as the non-political voice of the moral argument and we are in those times now. Wholeness is a term that helps us to think about what fills in the parts of us that we are missing, especially other people and our attitudes toward them. The main focus at this year’s Regional Assembly is Intersectionality. The main idea behind intersectionality is that racism, classism, and many of the other “isms” that are out there are all bound together, that untangling one by themselves won’t stop the others. Wholeness happens by recognizing all of it, all at once, without separation.
It doesn’t make the job of working toward social justice any easier, but if true social change is to take hold, all of the layers of discrimination need to be considered. If we are to be whole, be it personally, or societally, then it’s up to us to look at our history and acknowledge what has been done in the name of progress and find a way to not repeat the same mistakes again. And to find a way to heal the harm that has been done to other human beings and to the environment as a whole. For the month of April, I look forward to exploring these ideas of wholeness together, in our beloved community at UUFE.
In peace with love,
Rev. Amy