The UUA, the association of Unitarian Universalist congregations of which this Fellowship is a member, will be electing a new president this summer. The nominating committee has announced a candidate, Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt. I’m excited about her candidacy and the vision she articulates for our faith moving forward. For context, the UUA elects a president every six years. In the short history of Unitarian Universalism – which has really only existed since the Unitarian Church and the Universalist Church merged in 1961 – there have been eleven people to serve as president. · Susan Frederick Gray (current: 2017-2023) • Sofia Betancourt, William G. Sinkford, and Leon Spencer, 2017 · Peter Morales, 2009-2017 · William G. Sinkford, 2001-2009 · John A. Buehrens, 1993-2001 · William F. Schulz, 1985-1993 · O. Eugene Pickett, 1979-1985 · Paul Nathaniel Carnes, 1977-1979 · Robert Nelson West, 1969-1977 · Dana McLean Greeley, 1961-1969 Of course, the Unitarians and the Universalists had their own presidents prior to the 1961 merger. Rev. Dr. Betancourt served briefly in an interim role as co-president in 2017. I have been outspoken in my admiration for Rev. Susan Frederick Gray, our current president. I find that she leads with warmth, passion, energy, love and ferocity. I expect that Rev. Sofia Betancourt, if elected, would continue in a similar vein and with similar priorities. The Presidential Search Committee (PSC) describes their work on the UUA website, in announcing their nomination of Rev. Dr. Betancourt. They interviewed mostly women of color for the position. They planned to nominate two candidates. One declined the nomination, and the committee decided to nominate only one candidate. An alternative path to nomination exists, however: nomination by petition. If another candidate wants to run for president, they have until February 1st to complete the petition process. Here’s a bit of the Presidential Search Committee’s report: The PSC received applications from Unitarian Universalists who represented a range of experiences and talents, including ordained ministers and non-ordained leaders. The candidate pool was comprised of majority women and transgender/non-binary individuals, and a majority of people who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). At the conclusion of its process, the PSC unanimously nominated two exceptionally qualified leaders to be candidates for President. One of those nominees declined the nomination. Once the nominations were made, the committee determined that the only fair and appropriate course of action was to move forward with the nomination of Rev. Dr. Betancourt, rather than reopening the application process. https://www.uua.org/pressroom/press-releases/psc-nominee-president Rev. Dr. Betancourt now has a website for her candidacy. There she explains that she will campaign from now until June whether or not another candidate emerges by petition to run against her: [the presidential campaign] offers us a profound opportunity to discuss the values of our faith, our spiritual commitments, and the work of our collective liberation. No matter how many names are on the ballot in June, we will be available to discuss my vision, your hopes, and what facing the unknown together asks of us as a community. https://sofiabetancourt.com/ She also offers this statement about her priorities for our faith: I believe in a Unitarian Universalism that draws on its noble heritage of freedom, reason, and justice to be nimble in responding to the needs of our faith community. While we cannot know what will come in the next six years, we can commit ourselves to radical inclusion, faithful witness, and the embrace of a wide range of voices and leaders for our faith. Together we will empower youth and young adult leadership, encourage collaboration across our communities and congregations, deepen our theological engagement, and invest in religious leaders of all kinds. All this while dedicating ourselves to the work of justice in the world. https://sofiabetancourt.com/ I encourage all Unitarian Universalists to engage with the broader work of the UU movement as it is reflected in important decisions like this one. Like the revision of the statement of values that we hold as UU’s, the election of a new president is a moment to affirm who we are and where we are headed. PRAYER: May all those who are called to leadership in this faith tradition be grounded in love and in the purpose of creating a better world for all people. May our leaders inspire us to the full power of Unitarian Universalism for inclusion, transformation, and liberation. Amen. Rev. Andrew Frantz |
I am still experiencing shock and mourning two days after hearing the news of the deadly shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. I learned about the shooting on Sunday morning during the rehearsal time before the worship service. I had already planned a very emotionally heavy service for Transgender Day of Remembrance, the annual occasion to remember and honor the many transgender people who have died from violence in the past year. By the time I began to speak from the pulpit, I hadn’t processed the emotional trauma of this news: 5 dead and 18 wounded at a mass shooting in a gay nightclub; a suspect is in custody. As I shared the news aloud, I heard the gasps from some in the sanctuary who were just learning of it in that moment.
This worship service was the most emotionally raw Sunday morning I’ve experienced in my years of ministry. I worry that the shocking news along with the gut-wrenching slide show of 73 trans people who have died this year was overwhelming. It may have felt like too much for those in attendance. If you are still feeling the grief, sadness, anger, fear associated with this event, or feelings brought up by Sunday’s worship service, take care of yourself. Reach out for support to me, to loved ones, to anyone in your support system. Be gentle and loving with yourself. I said this on Sunday, and I repeat it here: This is the place where the pain is—and this is the place where the hope is. Because we care enough and love enough to feel the pain when our fellow humans (especially queer and trans in this case) are harmed, we keep open the place within ourselves for compassion. From that place comes hope. I believe in dancing. I believe in joy. I believe in striving to create safe spaces for queer people. I believe in everyone exuberantly and joyfully being their full selves. I have hope for our human community and for our American society. PRAYER: May healing come to the victims of the shooting in Colorado; to their families, friends and loved ones. May the day come when people who are transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer not be afraid to live in public, to gather in public, to be themselves in every corner of the world. May we hasten that day by fiercely promoting love for all people, with no exceptions. Blessed be. Rev. Andrew Frantz
Election Day is coming up soon – Tuesday November 8. This year I will again be volunteering for the day with Election Defenders, who are mobilizing teams of UU ministers (and others) to go to key states, including Michigan. My assignment is to be available in the Grand Rapids area for the day, to show up at any polling place where conflict arises with the aim of helping voters and de-escalating conflict. I follow political news closely, and there are alarming trends in this country: political violence, election denialism, undermining faith in voting, voter intimidation. In this environment I am called to use my power in defense of the democratic process, and this is one way for me to do that.
I encourage everyone reading this column to vote and to encourage your loved ones to vote. One of the issues on the ballot in Michigan is reproductive freedom. As I’ve written before in this column, Unitarian Universalism is strongly and formally in support of reproductive freedom. As a religious institution, we are within our legal rights to advocate for issues such as this in elections–but legally we must not advocate for specific candidates. For the reproductive freedom ballot question–question 3–I was somewhat taken aback to see the huge sign at the Catholic church, just two blocks away from our UU fellowship, telling people to vote “no” on this question. Since then I have read news reports that the Catholic church is leading the effort to oppose this ballot question. They are within their rights to do this, and expressing what they presumably hold as a religious value, but I think they are on the wrong side of history and of popular opinion in this case. More importantly, I think the Catholic church is on the wrong side of this question morally. To love pregnant women is to allow them the freedom to choose what happens with their bodies, not to grant that power to the government. A “yes” vote on question 3 reinstates the abortion protections that were in place under Roe v. Wade, and in the context of my value system that is the right vote. On my cell phone today I got a text message from UU the Vote, our voting rights advocacy group within Unitarian Universalism. It was a blessing and I share this blessing with you: May our values call forth the energy to do the work of love, justice, and democracy. May our fears be enveloped in love larger than any hate. May we manifest our faith in actions this election week. Amen to that. PRAYER: May voters be safe on Election Day. May poll workers and election officials be safe. May all citizens follow their conscience, their higher reason, their humane values, in casting their votes; and may democracy be strengthened by the exercise of the votes on this day. May divine blessing come to those of every faith and of no faith. May every person be blessed and loved and safe, with no exceptions. May it be so. Rev. Andrew Frantz I have been reading the Hebrew scripture Ecclesiastes, recommended to me by a Jewish friend as containing beautiful and meaningful poetry. There are two passages that strike me today as relevant to this season of autumn and the upcoming holidays of Samhain, Dia de los Muertos, and All Soul’s Day. Here is the first:
The people of long ago are not remembered; nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those who come after them. (Ecclesiastes, 1.11) This scripture says: we are all forgotten after we die. To the contrary, however, I think that the lesson of the season–conveyed by the traditions of Samhain, Dia de los Muertos, and All Souls’ Day–is that the dead are alive to us in memory. Perhaps both of these things can be true: those who pass away could be forgotten by current and future generations–or we could keep their memories and legacy alive. To do so is a conscious act, and rituals like the ones celebrated at this time of year in Samhain, Dia de los Muertos, and All Souls’ Day help to keep the ancestors present in our lives. One more thing about this passage from Ecclesiastes: here we have a writer from more than two thousand years ago, whose words have survived generations and have been passed down to us through multiple languages. This fact alone, ironically, disproves what the writer is saying: no, the generations of yesterday are not forgotten–here we have proof of that in the words of our ancient ancestors. The second passage that I am sharing today is the one that I find most evocative in my reading of Ecclesiastes: All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow. (Ecclesiastes, 1.7) At first this seems to be a riddle or a paradox: streams are always flowing to the sea, yet the sea is never full. This suggests the infiniteness of the sea. But science tells us what poetry does not: that water cycles continually, from ocean to cloud to rain to streams…and back to ocean. This is why I say that this passage is also relevant for this time of year when the dead are said to be close to the living. The cycle of water is like the cycle of death and life. In our living existence we are like the flowing stream. The stream meeting the ocean seems like the death of the stream, but in reality the water continues its flow. May we, like the waters of the living stream, be aware of the water in its other forms–may we be aware of the lives that have gone before us and the ones who will follow after we are gone. PRAYER: Spirit of Love and Life, bless the author or authors of Ecclesiastes, wisdom in an ancient text preserved through the miracle of human intentions for millenia. Bless the translators and scribes and scholars who bring this text to us today. May we know and feel the connection between ourselves and previous generations of humans. May we celebrate their wisdom, learn from their mistakes, and keep them alive in our memory. Blessed be. Rev. Andrew Frantz I went to my friend Dave’s wedding in Ohio last weekend. The bride and groom are both from Jewish families and the groom’s father is a rabbi, so the whole ceremony was full of Jewish tradition–most of which I had never experienced before. I came away with a sense of deep tradition, and full of the joy and hope of love.
A half hour before the wedding we gathered for the Tisch–the groom and his people in one room, the bride and her people in another. We toasted with whiskey and offered blessings to the groom; we sang Jewish songs. Evidently the traditional form of this ritual is that the groom gives opinions about the Torah and the guests ask him questions. After the Tisch we danced and sang down the hall to where the bride was gathered with her people, and there the ketubah was signed. This is a sacred document committing the bride and groom to marriage. The rabbi explained that fragments of ancient parchment have been found, showing that the same language is used in the ketubah today as hundreds of years ago. The ceremony itself featured a chuppah, like a tent with no sides that the couple and the rabbi stand under during the ceremony. It represents the home that the couple will create, welcoming to all visitors. The bride walked around the groom seven times at the beginning of the ceremony; during the ceremony seven blessings were spoken by seven special guests. At the conclusion of the ceremony a glass was smashed according to Jewish custom. In a twist of that tradition, the shards in this case are going to be sent back to the craftsman who made it, who will re-make the broken glass into a pot for honey–for the sweetness of the married couple. A short time later the dancing began, and the first song was the Hora. This part I was expecting, remembering a Jewish wedding I went to years ago. Part of the dance involves lifting up the bride and groom on chairs. Here dozens of Jewish wedding guests were energetically dancing the Hora, singing the Hebrew words…and I was hanging back. The whole day was full of songs in a language I don’t speak, celebrating traditions I’m unfamiliar with. Even though the rabbi explained everything, I was aware of my outsider status at times. This was one of those times: I stood on the edge of the crazy joyful crowd of dancers. And then Margie, the mother of the groom, grabbed me and swept me into the dance. In an instant I was spinning around with her, then joining hands with others, singing, clapping, laughing. The music got faster and faster. As the rabbi told me later, that was one of the fastest and most energetic Horas he’s ever seen. I’m grateful for the way I was included in it, and grateful to be present for the whole joyful affair. PRAYER: May the marriage of Dave and Dani be blessed. May their families, now one family, be blessed with joy and good health. May their home be a shelter and a gathering place, a temple for the spirit; may it be filled with good food and the laughter of children. May we all know the blessing of being included; the spicy pleasure of experiencing traditions from a culture not our own; may blessings and love be shared across religions and across boundaries. May love bless this couple. May love bless every family, every tribe, every person in the world. Shalom. Blessed be. Rev. Andrew Frantz
|
Rev. Andrew FrantzUUFCM Minister Summer Hours
Rev. Drew takes six weeks of time off during the summer months, and is also away for a full week at General Assembly. Although regular office hours are suspended for the summer, you may still contact Drew with any urgent Fellowship business if needed, or with significant pastoral care needs. Texting 440-935-0129 is the best way to reach Rev. Drew. [email protected] Phone/text: 440-935-0129 Pastoral Care Concerns
For support with life’s challenges, please contact Drew during his office hours or make an appointment with him. For specific needs such as rides to medical appointments or meals for people recovering from illness or surgery, please contact the Caring Team (formerly Arms Around) via Jen Prout at 989-400-3130 or [email protected]. Every effort will be made to lessen the burden on the individual or family who is dealing with a difficult circumstance. Archives
June 2024
Categories |