UU Chicago area Ministers at an action for Dreamers 3-5-18
This Monday, Rev. Bret and I, along with several other local UU clergy joined a faith leader action in support of Dreamers. We met at Willow Chicago, a church in the loop, for a rally in support of immigrants and refugees. We heard moving words from a young woman about the incredible sacrifices of her Korean mother, which enabled her to live and thrive in this country and inspires her to keep fighting for her right to be here. We heard from a Dreamer who is now an immigration attorney about the importance of working together to resist injustice. We sang together:
“Oh, Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true and with thanksgiving, I’ll be a living sanctuary for you.”
Rev. Bret led us in a prayer and then we all walked together to the ICE office and stood outside, locked arm in arm, singing over and over, “prepare me to be a sanctuary…a living sanctuary for you.” What does it mean to be a living sanctuary? It feels empowering to be together with other faith leaders, to stand in solidarity, to use our privilege, and to demonstrate our values. But what does it mean to be a living sanctuary? How do I extend comfort and safety, protection and privilege beyond my own person, my own family, my own house? It is impossible to know the real and ongoing impact of our actions but we know that deportations and raids continue. We know the uncertainty and terror felt among immigrants is real. We need to keep working together, in relationship with immigrant communities and the organizations that serve them, to better understand how to support and protect those who are most vulnerable. The Sanctuary Resolution Team is meeting monthly to plan actions and foster that kind of relationship building.
We can become a living sanctuary through our relationships, which are messy and complicated. To be in meaningful, transformative relationship, we must be willing to make mistakes; to grapple with our assumptions; to say I’m sorry; to be frustrated, and yet, remain at the table. Relationships require us to practice living in covenant, and that doesn’t mean we get to circumvent the messiness. On the contrary, it guarantees the messiness. It means that we will most certainly fall out of covenant sometimes, and yet we can return again and again to repair and renew. Relationship building is hard work. It takes practice and it takes time…a lifetime.
As a congregation, we are living into the commitment to relationship building through 1-on-1 relational meetings. Looking around the sanctuary last Sunday after the 11 a.m. service, I saw several people engaged in these conversations. How happy that made me! Some of you have expressed a wish for more training on how to initiate and practice these relational meetings. Good news: our Journeys 2 Justice session this Sunday at 12:30 in room 3 will be devoted to this practice. Drea Hall, Director of Organizing with Community Renewal Society (CRS), will lead us in a refresher and practice session. CRS, like most community organizations, operates through this foundational practice of relational meetings or 1-on-1’s.
Also on Sunday, March 11th at 4:30 we have an opportunity to carry our relationship building beyond our congregation and into the broader community. St. Nicholas Church, just down the road from us, will host a community event in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees and Dreamers. Our church and the interfaith community have been invited as co-sponsors. This is where the power of one-on-ones can really become generative. When we reach beyond our walls to learn from our community partners – to discover what they care deeply about and what they value – we begin to build relationships of trust and truly prepare ourselves to be a living sanctuary. This is how we build the Beloved Community.
Practicing Beloved Community at UCE 