All Our Fullness — Why Now?

Lia Rivamonte, Beloved Community Communications Team

Long ago, I was part of a small acting troupe from a local theater that toured rural areas in the upper Midwest. Typically, we performed in a school gym or an auditorium and it was the school principal who served as emcee, introducing us by name to the students and faculty. The challenge to pronounce our names was exasperating for them; funny and ironic, to us. Waiting to go on stage, we never knew what might emanate from the mouth of the person who introduced us. The show was about growing up Asian American, an attempt at humanizing us by interweaving music with humorous and moving stories about Asian American history, culture, family life, and the immigrant experience. 

The botched intros seemed to illustrate, at that time, how necessary it was to dispel the notion of Asian exoticism and inscrutability, that has long permeated Asian-ness in the country; notions that exploited difference in order to justify unequal treatment. While our names sounded strange and we may not have looked like the majority of the students or their families in their community, the narratives we shared were probably similar to their own predominantly European immigrant histories. That touring show took place 30 years ago. 

The pandemic revitalized that sense of foreignness of Asian Americans; some blaming us directly for Covid. And while there have been no recent reports of violence toward Asian Americans, renewed skepticism and opposition towards all immigrants is a hallmark of the incoming administration. We have yet to see how “successful” this anti-immigrant campaign will be not only in terms of government policy and economic feasibility, but also in regard to an unabashed retreat from that to which we had once aspired: a democracy where all are treated with equal respect, where all feel that we belong. 

The cultivation of a sense of belonging and genuine human connection has taken on a new urgency. For many of us, present-day hyper-connectivity through social media has served to heighten our awareness of disconnectedness. Our social media posts often portray our accomplishments, our close happy times with family and friends, career successes, vacations, smooth life transitions, etc. In the Unity All Our Fullness (AOF) initiative, we want to go deeper with you to cultivate authentic inclusion and connection. 

As Rev. KP Hong, Unity’s Minister of Faith Formation says, “At the heart of a faith community is creating belonging where there has been exclusion, border, social fragmentation, and segregation.” The current Unity Church fourth Ends Statement may be aspirational, “to know each other in all our fullness and create an ever-widening circle of belonging for all people,” but as KP says, “A religious vision of belonging is always revolutionary, prophetic, imagining a way beyond othering.” This is the belonging that we call Beloved Community.

Did our theater presentation make a difference? Did we persuade the mainly white, Euro-American students to see Asian Americans as having the same desires and needs, despite seemingly unpronounceable names or other perceived differences? Maybe, for a minute. What I do know is the kid in the audience who was a Korean adoptee or whose family owned the local Chinese restaurant was always the first to greet us backstage; often in tears, grateful to hear their own story elevated and told as something about which to be proud. It felt to them as if they belonged — if not in that gym, in the larger world they hoped would be waiting for them one day.

We, too, are waiting. It is easy to isolate and never stretch ourselves, but I think we are all a bit tired of living among strangers. As curious Unitarian Universalists, who believe in the interconnectedness of our universe, how about starting with ourselves? 

With this in mind, we warmly invite you to All Our Fullness, to share your personal story in response to one of the following prompts: 

• When did you become aware of your own cultural identity?
• Share a story about a time you encountered difference; and what difference did it make.
• What stirs your yearning for multicultural community?

We welcome videos (two minutes or less), art, photographs, and/or your written response (300 words or so). Submit via the All Our Fullness online form.

Thank you! We are grateful in advance for your participation. Responses will be shared with the congregation on Unity’s website and/or in commUNITY in the coming months. Please note that your contribution may be edited for length and clarity.

Feel free to direct any questions about AOF to [email protected].