Maura Williams: What’s the role of a ministry team in a faith community with a strongly voiced commitment to racial justice? How do we advance justice, wholeness, and equity, or dismantle dominant culture, as stated in our congregational Ends? Where should we start?

After reflecting on these questions, gathering input from stakeholders, and discerning an authentic path forward, the Racial and Restorative Justice Team has been reimagined as the new Racial Justice Ministry Team (RJMT). We are back with refreshed commitment to our work. 

Statement of Purpose:
Justice can be defined as love made public. We focus on how to dismantle white dominant culture by expanding our individual and congregational capacity to center relationship and love as foundational to our work in the world. We see this as the first step before the hard work needed to achieve racial justice. The RJMT brings the double helix to life, integrating spiritual and antiracism practices within and among, so we can step into courageous action in the beyond. 

Our initial efforts this spring follow two pathways.

1. Energized by a Racial Justice Team Circle conversation, Maura Williams, Clover Earl and Angela Wilcox continued talking about how we collectively could better understand the ways that abstractions like "racial inequity" and "dominant culture" inhabit our everyday experiences. As a result, we are excited to host two Urgency of Awareness Workshops on Saturday, April 19, and May 10, from 9:00 a.m. to noon with Jodi Pfarr, consultant, podcast host, and author of the book The Urgency of Awareness. 
   
   In a society that categorizes and labels people, those of us who benefit from privilege are often unaware of how our social system consistently favors some over others. This disparity seems to broaden daily. Jodi will challenge perceptions of our and others’ experience and offer tools to help us be more present and effective in our multicultural communities. Registration is required by April 6. Participants will receive a complimentary copy of the book; childcare will be provided. Follow-up circle conversations on April 29 and May 14 will explore how the workshop concepts impact our experience. 
2. We are committed to cultivating relationships with people in the wider community. Ray Wiedmeyer and I have attended most monthly meetings of the Saint Paul Recovery Act Community Reparations Commission. Watch for more about this and other RJMT community work in the next months. 

Angela Wilcox: Jodi Pfarr facilitated a training about identity and awareness at my school several years ago, and the impact was immediate: her model helped us understand the way our identity changes the way we do our work, without the shame that can sometimes put people on the defensive. The simplicity of this model, along with her humor and gifted storytelling, makes her the most effective trainer on this topic I’ve worked with. I’m excited to experience how Jodi can help prepare us for our work beyond the walls of Unity, equipped with tools to help us better understand our own identity and approach commitment to our community with greater intention.

Clover Earl: Since resigning from the Board of Trustees last year, I have been in search of a place here at Unity Church to call home, and recently joined the RJMT. In my five years on the board, we had myriad conversations about dismantling white supremacy culture in support of our aspirational multicultural end. We used Tema Okun’s characteristics of White Supremacy Culture to challenge ourselves to take note of how we, as individuals, were showing up and behaving in our monthly board meetings. 

Turning the spotlight on or own behavior is both uncomfortable and courageous work. In the weeks since January 20, our world has turned inside out and upside down. Chaos rules the day. It seems urgent that we as a congregation continue the identity work begun with Team Dynamics and challenge ourselves to deepen our understanding of how to connect across difference. It is my experience that doing this work in community, with the support of those qualified to guide us, like Jodi Pfarr, is well worth the investment in time. We would be delighted to see you at the workshops this spring! 

Notes:

• Register for the Urgency of Awareness workshops
• Learn more about Jodi Pfarr
• Visit the White Supremacy Culture website
• Revisit the Team Dynamics workshops at Unity Church on the “Antiracist Multicultural” playlist on the Unity YouTube channel

The Sanctuary Justice Ministry Team (SJMT) has recently been officially recognized as a Community Outreach Ministry Team at Unity Church. What began under the guidance of our former co-ministers, Janne and Rob Eller-Isaacs, has blossomed into a powerful effort where a dedicated team of congregants continues to provide support to not only the immigrants in our community but to asylum seekers, and queer and trans individuals. Rooted in our Unitarian Universalist values of human dignity, compassion, and justice, this work continues the church's long-standing commitment to sanctuary justice. 

Two members of the SJMT share why they have chosen to become involved in this work.

Teresa Connor: The call to sanctuary justice came to me as a facilities staff member during the pandemic, a time when Unity Church provided hospitality to the sanctuary guests hosted by the congregation. Their stories opened my heart and provided an opportunity to get to know each other and continue conversations that touched on our shared values, concerns, and hopes. To welcome the stranger, to travel with them on their journey, to hold these beloveds in all their inherent dignity, and informed by our shared humanity, led me into deeper engagement. The work of the SJMT is an invitation to hold the complexities of the challenges our guests and other migrants face, and to journey with them. To do this work in community (both within Unity and beyond), I have felt called to engage in broadening circles of love and to advocate for our migrant neighbors who are vulnerable to unjust policies and actions. I am reminded of the line from the Marge Piercy poem that we will all find familiar, “The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real.”

Will Hommeyer: “Being in right relationship with the world" is a concept central to many Indigenous worldviews. It acknowledges the interconnectedness and sacredness of all beings — human and non-human —and emphasizes harmony, respect, and mutual responsibility with the Earth and each other.

For nearly ten years, I sought to learn from Indigenous spiritual leaders by participating in prayer and sweat lodge ceremonies, and spending time on northern Minnesota reservations, listening to stories. I also traveled to the Navajo Reservation with a small group, where we stayed on the land, split firewood, hauled water, and herded sheep to support elders who remained in their hogans*, while resisting forced relocation by the U.S. government to mine for uranium. It was as if they were refugees on their own land.

For me, being in right relationship means I cannot turn my back on a neighbor in need. I cannot look away when migrants, including many Indigenous people displaced by forces beyond their control, seek asylum. The SJMT at Unity Church provides a supportive community and spiritual foundation for this vital work. Witnessing the dysfunction and cruelty of the immigration system has been both eye-opening and heartbreaking, but welcoming the stranger into my life has transformed me in ways I never anticipated.

In response to changing immigration policies and threats to LGBTQ+ rights, the SJMT is focusing on three key areas: 

1. Educating Unity Church members on policy impacts, 
2. Advocating for just legislation, and 
3. Standing in solidarity with displaced persons. 

Our efforts are supported through partnerships with local UUA congregations, multi-faith groups, and community organizations. We invite the congregation into the transformative sanctuary work of welcoming and journeying alongside our neighbors.

The SJMT invites you to Sanctuary Justice 101 on Wednesday, April 16, at 7:10 p.m., in Robbins Parlor. If you are interested in the justice work of welcoming the stranger, please join the meeting, or sign up to get team updates.

*The hogan is the traditional dwelling of the Navajo people. 

Mike Huber, Guest Writer

This question came up when I was reading Sacred Gender: Create Trans and Nonbinary Spiritual Connections by Ariana Serpentine for a Queer Theology discussion group. When I first heard this question, thinking how my thoughts and ideas can extend from my own mind to those in my family or community and maybe even society as a whole, I inadvertently shifted the question to “Where do I end?” 

In our Queer Theology discussion group, the conversation stayed focused on how our bodies are a part of and apart from the world, something I seldom thought about. We talked about the diverse ways we express or present ourselves. We may dress so others perceive us as a potential romantic partner, a potential hire for a job, or even dress to let others know we want to be left alone. Sacred Gender points out that all of us wear clothing and accessories as gender cues to alert others as to how we want to be perceived. This led us to parse out how our internal sense of identity is tied to how others perceive us. It feels good when others see us the way we see ourselves. 

The conversation took a different turn when someone brought up the fact that the cells in our bodies are literally made from the nutrients in our food which comes from the plants and animals we eat. The oxygen and water that sustain our bodies have traveled the planet passing through creatures throughout time. The line between my body and the rest of the world suddenly didn’t seem so obvious. 

This discussion deepened my understanding of Queer Theology. My original understanding had to do with how interpretations of the Bible and other religious texts could be broadened when considering LGBTQ+ people. As I read more, what struck me was the use of the word “queer” as a verb. “Queering” is the act of questioning boundaries that are often accepted as if they are universal truths, rather than simply social norms left unquestioned. The discussion that opened this article is an example of queering the dichotomy of self and the world. 

Queering can be applied to Biblical text. In his book, Trans-Gender: Theology, Ministry, and Communities of Faith, Justin Sabia-Tanis points out that though the Bible says God separated light from darkness and “called” them day and night, sunrise and sunset are times when those terms are blurred. And for many, those times are the most transcendent. The labels we give things imply clear and distinct entities, but the real world (or God’s creation from a theist point of view) is full of ambiguity. 

Back to my original question: “Where does your body begin and end?” Queer Theology has giving me a fresh perspective on the false dichotomy of mind and body. The idea that I somehow exist in my thoughts, and I simply inhabit a body can cause me to think my experience is universal; everyone would have the same thoughts as me if they were simply as enlightened. This is as offensive as it is destructive. The notion that my body and mind are separate entities actually separates me from others. When I acknowledge that I don’t have a body but that I am a body — that all I think, believe and know is based on my experiences, whether sensory, social or intellectual — I approach others with curiosity and compassion. Mind/body dualism creates division not only individually but also interpersonally. 

My journey into Queer Theology is just beginning, but it resonates with being Unitarian (oneness) and Universalist (wholeness). Questioning where my body ends and the world begins, leads me to wonder if that is where love is. Not power, not norms... but love. 

Notes: 

• At Unity Church, the LGBTQ+ group coordinates some of the LGBTQ+ programming with the congregation. Past events have included our Queer Retreat, conversation groups, and advocacy. For more information, contact Philippa Anastos at [email protected].
• For more information about inclusion and equity in the Unitarian Universalist Association, visit “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Justice."