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Excerpts from a sermon by Rev. Dr. Oscar Sinclair on March 2, 2025 Emerging in our discourse about race and class at Unity Church, is the deeper consideration of the wider world, our current socio-political situation, and how we got here. In his sermon on March 2, 2025, Rev. Dr. Oscar Sinclair described a phenomenon characterized by Bruce Rogers-Vaughn, in his book, Caring for Souls in a Neoliberal Age, as “third order suffering.” Here are excerpts from his sermon, Barnraising, in which he describes the origins of this phenomenon and its antidote. … Despite the preacherly temptation to repeat myself, I really don’t want to get in the habit, for the next four years, of starting every sermon with a litany of crises of the week. I don’t want to, because when we do we lose track, a little, of what is going on. The crises aren’t the underlying problem. Donald Trump isn’t even the underlying problem. They are symptoms. Now, symptoms can be dangerous: anyone who has had the stomach flu can tell you that. But you do not cure a disease by treating its symptoms: you seek to understand the cause, and address that.
Bruce Rogers-Vaughn knows the symptoms well. A psychologist and theologian, he’s seen a “marked change in the people he sees now in his practice compared to 30 years ago. His patients are more on edge, experiencing an amorphous dread. The selves he encounters are more diffuse and fragmented, prone to greater levels of addictive behavior, haunted by shame and loneliness, unaffiliated, and burdened with many private sufferings.” Rogers-Vaughn also has a possible cause in mind: he sees this deterioration tied up with cultural shifts over the last generation and a half, particularly the rise of neoliberalism in creating what he calls ‘Third Order Suffering.’ (…) First order suffering is suffering that is intrinsic to life: illness, death, heartbreak, natural disasters. This suffering presents challenges to theologians and utopians alike, but it is unavoidably part of the human condition. Second order suffering is suffering caused directly by human actions. It is the suffering of Ukraine, Gaza, South Sudan, the Rohinga people, so many caught up in the system of crime and punishment in this country — both victims of crime and those who are in prison. In third order suffering, the cause of suffering becomes more opaque. Rogers-Vaughn calls this suffering “the new chronic” rising from the cultural moment we are in. Neoliberalism (we’ll unpack this in a bit) leaves individuals more or less on their own, cut off from communities of support and consolation, left to interpret suffering as a sign of personal failure. Third order suffering is the suffering of not being able to get ahead of the bills, even when you grew up understanding that you are supposed to be better off than your parents, who never seemed to struggle in the same way. (…) Rogers Vaughn argues that Neoliberalism turns everything into a marketplace, where value is understood in economic terms. So, education is not valuable because “an unexamined life is not worth living,” education is valuable because it is an investment in your future, specifically an investment in future earnings potential. A house is not valuable because it is a home, it is valuable because it is the vehicle for the majority of the net worth of most American homeowners. (…) Rogers-Vaughn describes folks caught in this kind of suffering: “the terms used to describe first and second-order suffering now fail them, largely because the sources of their suffering are no longer easily identified. Their oppressors… no longer have faces. Yet to say the oppressor is some abstract ‘evil’ seems not to capture the thing. Their options are either to look within, blaming their sufferings on themselves, or to stare into the fog. Most people today take the first option. The primary [symptoms] are either profound but diffuse depressions or… addictions. An apparent symptom for the second option is a violent striking out into the fog, literally in a blind rage.” We can see these symptoms all around us. The symptoms are the crises we are seeing weekly in the world. “A violent striking out into the fog, literally in a blind rage,” is a description of the election last November. The system is broken, we don’t know how, so we will throw a human wrecking ball at the fog in the hopes that somehow that makes it better. That’s a symptom of third order suffering. Striking out is a response. But it is not our response. On Sunday we tell each other we can make the world a better place. When things don’t improve that week, we repeat ourselves. What is our response, our faithful response, to this kind of suffering in the world? Religion is always concerned with understanding and alleviating suffering. What should our response be, as a church, to this particular kind of suffering? (...) Ministry is an antidote for third order suffering, because rather than see value as economic, ministry sees value as intrinsic and connection as a need. (….) Community Outreach Ministry Teams here at Unity, and all of them are, in different ways, courageous responses to third order suffering. In the midst of a diffuse and fragmented world, with anxieties rising and fog about who or what is to blame, these are groups of people who choose not to descent into nihilism and striking out at the fog, but to deepen their sense of ministry; to engage in connection, service, and lives of faith. (…) We have tools in this community, we have hope in this place, we have courage to look straight at suffering in the world, see that it is still in need of improvement, and then we repeat ourselves and get to work.
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Maura Williams, Clover Earl, and Angela Wilcox, Racial Justice Ministry Team  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.
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:
Will Hommeyer and Teresa Connor, Sanctuary Justice Ministry Team  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:
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. |
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Beloved Community ResourcesUnity Justice Database
Team Dynamics House of Intersectionality Anti-Racism Resources in the Unity Libraries Collection Creative Writers of Color in Unity Libraries The History of Race Relations and Unity Church, 1850-2005 Archives
August 2026
Beloved Community Staff TeamThe Beloved Community Staff Team (BCST) strengthens and coordinates Unity’s antiracism and multicultural work, and provides opportunities for congregants and the church to grow into greater intercultural competency. We help the congregation ground itself in the understanding of antiracism and multiculturalism as a core part of faith formation. We support Unity’s efforts to expand our collective capacity to imagine and build the Beloved Community. Here, we share the stories of this journey — the struggles, the questions, and the collaborations — both at Unity and in the wider world.
The current members of the Beloved Community Staff Team include Rev. Kathleen Rolenz, Rev. KP Hong, Rev. Lara Cowtan, Drew Danielson, Laura Park, Lia Rivamonte and Angela Wilcox. |
