Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Memorial Congregation

(keep the following number in mind; 86)

I think I have to start this post with a question: do you know who Frances Ellen Watkins Harper is?

anyway…..

Last month I got to spend a weekend in Kansas City at the BLUU Revival with approximately 115 African American Unitarian Universalists (and a couple of Unitarian Universalist adjacent folk). Even more, I got to be part of the team that set the frame for the weekend. What’s more, I was part of the group that planned out the worships.

It was a wonderful weekend. And it has got me thinking.

Part of the reason Revival was so freeing was none of the people in the room had to hold back in bringing their full selves into the room. We all knew the white gaze was not going to be there. Those of us who got to plan the worships knew that we could play music and have readings and rituals from the African diaspora and not have to explain why we were using them or having to do a 10-minute education session about them. That is freeing too.

So to the 86.

86% of churches in this country are mono-racial/cultural, even after all these years since King remarked that 11:00 a.m. on Sunday was the most segregated hour of the week.

This leads to a question: why are we trying to integrate UU congregations? Let’s be more honest than is comfortable; we can count the number of truly integrated UU congregations on one hand. What most UU congregations have is a token integration; people of color are seen as an exotic occurrence, a way of showing just how open and accepting white liberal religion is/can be. And, until recently, the way diversity/inclusion was talked about in UU circles was that this was for white people and that people of color were “allowed” to be a part of it; that white people were magnanimously gifting to people of color liberal religion.   (trust me when I say that some of the words you good white liberals use/have used when talking about people of color and religion and why UU churches are so white would turn your stomach if I repeated them back to you)

Which brings to mind another question: is it time for a separate but equal Unitarian Universalism?

Since we know that 86% of congregations in this country are mono-racial/cultural and we also know that the only set of churches that have stayed stable or have grown in the religious world in the last 20-or-so years (at least if one looks at longitudinal studies) are ethnic churches, shouldn’t we be putting our energies into growing churches in the places where they are most likely to grow? In other words, isn’t it time for UUism to go to the ‘hood or the barrio instead of the the exurb or non-inner-ring suburb?

The history of Unitarianism/Universalism/Unitarian Universalism in communities of color has been mostly sabotage (the only majority minority UU congregation I know of survives because it has kept an arms-length distance from other UU congregations), yet when people of color find their way to UU congregations the welcome they receive is FAR from welcoming.

What would the reception be for Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Memorial Congregation–an explicitly majority minority congregation–be today?

 

Black Theology Saved The World Once, And It Can Do It Again pt.2

There was a wedding over the weekend. This post is about the sermon.

Back in January I wrote a post saying that if the resistance paid attention, Black theology could save the world. I think Bishop Curry’s sermon shows how it is possible.

Not only did Bishop Curry use MLK Jr. correctly, he was able to tie King, Song of Songs, Teilhard de Chardin, and spirituals together in a way that was prophetic, pastoral, and playful. And all in 13 minutes.

If liberal ministers want to spiritually sustain/edify/fortify those who are in the resistance fight everyday, Bishop Curry’s sermon shows a way to do it.

And, since Bishop Curry did use King, I know you good UU ministers and lay preachers are going to want to use him too. So, here are a few rules that will make it easy:

1. Before doing anything else, read “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (you can find it here)

2. Do NOT use the “I Have a Dream” speech. I repeat, do NOT use “I Have a Dream”.

3. If you are going to use a King speech, it must be post-1965.

4. Understand that King understood that there is both personal sin and collective/systemic sin. If you are not comfortable saying the word “sin”, do NOT use King. King believed in sin.

5. Read “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” and “Why We Can’t Wait”

 

more later. maybe.

 

When You Become Homeless…Church Homeless, That Is

(for those of you who know my religious situation, I am not talking about my other denominational affiliations/connections. this post is only about Unitarian Universalism)

It happened so slowly I didn’t even recognize it.

First….the special Sundays–Blues Sunday and Gospel Sunday–went away. (Jazz Sunday is still around, but it moves around on the calendar so I never know when it’s going to happen)

Then….the voices/readings from the pulpit became whiter and whiter.

Then….when I did go, I was constantly mistaken for a long-time member of the staff. (I happen to love that staff member, but all Black women don’t look alike)

I went off to seminary. And things really changed; I’ve been in the pulpit there twice since 2010.

But because I was doing things on the national level, I didn’t notice how much distance there was between me and my “home” congregation. And since one of the other congregations in town invites me to preach, I didn’t notice how much my “home” congregation doesn’t.

Until I got an email…..

Kim, I hope this is the right address for you!! I have been thinking about you a lot in recent weeks, partly because I have benefited from your writings in “The Wednesday Word.” Additionally, in the otherwise well-planned and meaningful Maundy Thursday service that [x1] developed last year, there were no Words of Institution in the service. Although [x1] developed the service, [x2] led the communion service last year. When I asked them about the omission of the words of institution, neither was certain they knew what they were. I said I’d like to be responsible for that part of the service this year, and they agreed, although they may want to change what I wrote. I used a stripped-down quotation, leaving out (in the First Corinthians version) references to the Lord Jesus (just “Jesus”), and Paul’s words about proclaiming the Lord’s presence until he comes. In preparing what I thought should be included, I referred back to the lay-led service you and I did, together with others, in 2002.

The experiences (both of doing the service with you and preparing the communion portion of the Maundy Thursday service) were very meaningful for me. Other people from [congregation] have told me they thought you had given up on UUism, which wouldn’t surprise me, given all your wrestling with where you might serve as a minister after seminary that you and I discussed before you went to seminary……

I’ve been sitting with that since I received the email in March. All that I have done on the national level, and people from my “home” congregation think I have given up on UUism.

I’m homeless.

Thank God for BLUU and the UUCF. And Starr King (they let me claim them). These three have made my homelessness so much softer than it could have been. In that, I am extremely lucky.

But I do not like forsaking the assembly. And so I am in a bind.

Some of you have heard me say that I am an ecclesiology girl. I believe in the church. I love the church, notwithstanding all its flaws. And many days, I believe in Unitarian Universalism. Some days, I love it.  Yet, I am homeless.

I am reconciling myself to that within Unitarian Universalism. We’ll see how it goes.

The Wheels On The Bus…..(Black Church Memories)

Three weeks ago, after I got off the Red Line at Porter Square, I saw something that I haven’t seen in this area but something which is a Black church staple.

A church bus.

The church I grew up in had 2. My cousins’ church had 1. Most of my friends’ churches had at least 1.

This got me to thinking…..does any UU congregation have a church bus?**   How many UUs have any idea what what a church bus is?

I’ve been wrestling with what I was going to say in this post since that Sunday. Am I going through a fit a nostalgia? Am I asking for too much from UU congregations to wonder why UU congregations don’t provide this really simple form of hospitality and welcoming?

What does it mean that no UU congregation I can think of offers a transportation ministry?

What avenues would be opened if UU congregations did have a church bus? Who would get to be included?

of course, these thoughts bring up other issues like where UU congregations are in relation to both population centers and where their members/friends live, etc.

I’m still wrestling with this Black church memory and what it could mean for Unitarian Universalism.  Maybe we can wrestle with it together.

 

**–my friend Patty tells me that First Church Roxbury has one. Fits the profile.