UUA Welcoming Congregation Renewal Ritual

OVEMBER 2020

***Written permission and attribution must be obtained before the use, reprint, or redistribution of these words beyond this site. 

This ritual was created upon the renewal of Throop Unitarian Universalist Church's Welcoming Congregation status, conferred by the national Unitarian Universalist Association. 

INTRO

As we think about the fact that for everything, there is a season, we must ask: what is this season of life? In a month that has already brought so much anxiety and hand-wringing and then a sense of relief and resolve for the future -- where do we go from here? This upcoming week is a time of remembrance, a time of slowing down to honor lives lost, and to refocus on paving the road for a more loving future.

This week is Transgender Awareness Week and this upcoming Friday is the 21st annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time when we honor and uplift the lives of those transgender beloveds we have lost in the last year. It’s also a reminder of the continued disproportionate violence that transgender people experience in this country. And we recognize that this is compounded across intersections of race and class, as well.

We uplift and honor those beloved souls lost, named and unnamed, and we pray that all those beloved people experiencing violence, discrimination, and vitriol may know that they are indeed whole and holy. They, too, are sacred and special and a reflection of the sacred love that holds us all. And we pray that more communities of faith learn this ever-powerful lesson, and that they may come alongside and learn from our beloved trans loved ones. 

And so with this as our backdrop for the coming week of memorials, remembrances, and celebrations of life, it feels all the more essential for us to share this morning that Throop has been recertified as a LGBTQ+  “Welcoming Congregation” by the Unitarian Universalist Association.

The Welcoming Congregation program began in the 1990s, as Unitarian Universalist congregations made clear that our faith is one of radical welcome, radical hospitality. It’s this sort of designation -- this upfront welcome to LGBTQ+ people -- that made me feel safe to enter a Unitarian Universalist church for the first time, some 10 years ago. And I know I’m not alone in that experience. A house of worship for all people, indeed.

And so in the late 90s, Throop became one of those several hundred officially designated welcoming congregations. 

And then in 2015, the program was refreshed, reminding UU congregations that this welcoming work is not a destination point, not merely a certificate one can hang on the wall. Rather, it’s a lifelong journey of listening, learning, and leading by example. The UUA asked congregations to renew their welcoming congregation designation, showing their renewed commitment to this important piece of our faith, as well as a demonstration of growth and understanding of the many ways that the diverse conversation around LGBTQ+ life, justice, and flourishing has evolved in the last 30-some years. 

So, this fall, we completed our renewal application, sharing the many ways Throopers like you all lead this congregation on this lifelong journey of educating, honoring, and supporting one another toward a true radical welcome of all. And just last month, our staff team was overjoyed to learn our renewal had been approved by the UUA. We are just one of 18 congregations that have renewed their welcoming congregation status in the last 3 years. We hope Throop can serve as an example to the hundreds more congregations who have yet to do so. 

So this morning, we celebrate this renewal -- this public recommitment to this work and to the beloved LGBTQ+ souls who are integral members of this church, as well as those souls we have yet to welcome into our community. Now, let us hear a short poem from enfleshed, a collective of clergy committed to communal survival and liberation. 

READING
Love cannot be bought or sold; it does not make a profit.
Love does not hide from truth.
Love dives deep.
Love takes on flesh.
Love is queer.
Love is platonic.
Love is asexual.
Love confronts evil.
Love delights in pleasure.
Love touches and weeps and flirts and feeds and creates.
Love is risky.
Love challenges systemic evil in all its forms.
Love is simple but not easy.
Love is collective.
Love rises up.
Love apologizes.
Love believes.
Love corrects.
Love holds accountable.
Love pays reparations.
Love heals.
Love tells its story.
Love embraces everyone, every creature, every creation.
It knows us intimately. It holds us collectively.
Love transcends every boundary that seeks to confine it.
It will not tolerate violence in its name.
It does no harm.
It only sets free.

LITANY

As a covenantal community, a congregation of many, we all share in this responsibility of radical welcome. Let us now share this commitment together, aloud, with a litany of welcome. The response to each phrase is “Together, we affirm our commitment.” The response is on your screen for easy reference. I will invite you to say it aloud at home after each statement. 

One: In times of joy, we will radiate that joy to all beloved people of our community.
All: Together, we affirm our commitment

One: In times of sorrow, we will support and care for one another.
All: Together, we affirm our commitment

One: In times of change, we will recognize the beauty in a lifelong pursuit of growth and education.
All: Together, we affirm our commitment

One: In times of conflict, we will appreciate its teachings, engage restorative healing and justice-making, and learn to grow with and from it.
All: Together, we affirm our commitment

One: In times of hatred and discrimination from our larger world, we will unlearn harmful ideas and words, and all be accomplices in the fight for justice.
All: Together, we affirm our commitment

May it be so. Amen.

OUR SACRED CHARGE
​
Church, we have shared our commitments and responsibilities with one another, re-affirming the importance of our journey toward welcome and justice. We have done the work, and we have received recognition from our national church body. And, still, we must remember that our sacred charge does not end here. We must remember that this certification is not merely a badge of honor or rainbow colored image we can add to our website. 

Church, it’s the bare minimum. May we feel the fire of commitment burn inside each one of us, igniting within us the belief that each life is whole and wholly. That our congregations are sacred safe spaces for so many, and we must not further injure or wound one another. That radical welcome is a lifelong journey of education, support, and growth. And that we are each accountable to one another -- to the whole that is this beloved community we call Throop. May we love one another with open hearts and minds, without flattening our differences. May we love without reservation. This is our sacred charge. 

May it be so. Blessed be. Amen.