mjae: GA 2022 - Portland

The Rev. Susan Grey @ rally on the day SCOTUS trashed Roe v. Wade:

"I am furious. I am filled with holy fury at the way our lives and our rights are being taken away. Women's rights, transpeople's lives and healthcare, BIPOC communities lives and freedom - we are in this struggle in solidarity. There are more of us than there are of them, and we will win.

There is a holy spirit in us. A spirit of courage and power that knows that liberation is only possible when we are free - when every single one of us is free. We cannot be divided in this movement by identity. We have to fight on all the issues, because the system of fascist, authoritarianism, Christo-ethno-nationalism is coming for us all. And we're not going to take it. We will not be silent. We will not give up our rights. We will disobey the law. We will protect each other.

Reproductive justice is health care. It is a fundamental right. It is about liberation. It is about bodily autonomy. Are you ready to fight for one another? We are in this struggle together, my siblings. And the spirit of love and the spirit of justice and the spirit known by so many names is with us in this struggle. We will not be silent. We will fight for every single one of us. And we will win. And we will not stop fighting until we win. Can I get an amen?"

Accountability, Justice, and Wholeness: UU Theologies of Liberation

Rev. Sofia Betancourt

"Religion pushes us past ignorance to love hard enough to do better."

"There is something at our core so unshakeable that our dignity cannot be taken away."

"How does what you believe drive your understanding to make justice in the world?"

I believe in multiple truths and the arc of universe toward justice. This makes me work toward justice of journey for multiple communities, and any answer that's held out as unassailable is probably to be questioned.

Collective salvation - to be saved together. Collective liberation - I cannot be free until all are free.

I cannot be whole (not the opposite of broken. Broken is fully human) -- resonant, complete self and presence and promise in the world.

Accountability toward justice to find our way toward wholeness. (Grace that does not need to be earned. Intrinsically whole yet work to do in this lifetime to ...)

"Dignity and worth require communal lamentation and repair." Can't skip ahead to wholeness, even though it is a promise of our faith.

"We have to tell the truth about the harms that we have caused and GRIEVE about it."

Without repair, we cannot build toward equity. Without equity, we cannot build toward wholeness.

Collective wholeness... calls us to the work of spiritual practice. Calls us to lament. Let me be a conduit for making amends. In the service of our greater wholeness.

"What helps you hold the promise of wholeness when days are difficult?"

"Just because we have inherent worth doesn't mean we're always manifesting that worth."

"Wholeness - living as fully as possible into the fullness / promise of what it is to be human. Inherent worth should be so big that it's hard to conceive of."

"I don't mean perfection. Living into a full promise. Not possible alone. That's why UUs still gather in community."

"Covenant without consequences is not covenant. You can come back when you do the work of repair. We must be able to say no in UU spaces - with love - based on our principles. We will be here when you are ready to do the work. But we will not wallow in harm until then. You can always come home, but you gotta come right."