From Your Minister
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I have been thinking about the courage I encounter every day in our far-flung religious community. What Paul Tillich called “the courage to be,” as well as the courage to do—the courage to believe, the courage to hope, the courage to fight for justice, the courage to feel. I encounter courage every day as I interact with you. I’ve been reflecting on all the ways you’ve shown me how to be courageous:
You show courage when you embrace Unitarian Universalism, a faith without certainty, a faith which includes doubt, a faith which offers no easy answers.
You show courage when you claim this spiritual or religious identity which is not easily understood—in fact, is easily misunderstood—and still work to find understanding.
You show courage when you claim, with compassion and pride, identities you have been taught to hate: physical, emotional and/or mental identities which you have been told are inferior, and yet which you inhabit with a whole heart.
You show courage when you continue to have your heart broken by cruel and inhumane systems, by systemic abuse and mistreatment, rather than numbing out or shutting down.
You show courage when you are willing to face history, even difficult history, rather than believe propaganda or lies.
You show courage when you acknowledge the pain that your privilege has brought to others, when you use your privilege to open doors for others, when you recognize that others suffer more even as you experience your own, real, suffering.
You show courage when you face illness, even chronic or terminal illness, with compassion for yourself and your loved ones.
You show courage as you age, when you let go of life as it was and accept life as it is today, relinquishing control and independence and surrendering to what is possible.
You show courage when you get out of bed when every cell of your brain, or body, or spirit aches, going through the motions when it is all you can do.
You show courage when you refuse to fulfill the negative expectations that others place on you, clinging instead to your knowledge of yourself as a spark of the divine.
You show courage when you acknowledge mistakes you’ve made, even terrible mistakes, without equating yourself with those actions, or believing that you are a mistake.
You show courage when you sink into the storm of deep grief, believing that you must go into its depths even as you fear you will never re-emerge.
You show courage when you insist on maintaining self-respect in relationships which diminish you.
You show courage when you are vulnerable with other people, even when you feel shame or inadequacy.
You show courage when you love yourself after being told you are unlovable, and this allows you to love others who have been equally insulted or demonized.
You show courage when you face your final days with no assurance of life everlasting, only the steady relinquishment of life on this earth.
You show courage when you do something you’re not great at, but try it anyway—writing, or playing an instrument, or allowing yourself to love someone new.
You show courage when you speak up in rooms where no one will agree with you publicly, even if they do so privately.
You show courage when you walk away from security, let go of the familiar and accept that you must change.
You show courage when you watch vulnerable ones you love, be they children or friends or partners or parents, move out into a world which is often cruel and capricious, breathe deeply and allow them to go.
You show courage when you live. Every day. Thank you for showing me your courage, so that I may better know my own.
- From Your Minister - July 1, 2020
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