Dean ones,
On Sunday, May 1, I shared the following responsive reading from Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto, which was written in response to the United State’s initial attack on Iran. I am sharing it again with Rev. Soto’s permission…
Responsive Reading: We Will Rise and Still Will Build
For many of us, the idea of sin carries the weight of spiritual trauma. As a Unitarian Universalist, I embrace the human condition as a shared one. I do not think we are bad because we are human. I think that we are all human and that being human is joyful and messy and sacred. At the same time, when we do intentional harm to one another, we damage the web of connections that holds us together. This is what I call sin. If the word sin doesn’t work for you, I invite you to substitute the words “intentional harm”.
Leader:
On a day when you wake up
to another war, bombing Iran.
Despair whispers:
You can do nothing.
Government is immoral.
War is inevitable.
But these are lies.
We will rise and still will build.
People:
We have felt this grief before.
Leader:
The supports for our communities are breaking.
Cruelty is no longer ashamed.
People:
We will rise and still will build.
Leader:
We acknowledge
with breaking hearts
the heavy truth—
War is a sin.
People:
A sin against ourselves.
Leader:
War is a sin.
People:
A sin against our
shared humanity.
Leader:
War is a sin.
People:
A sin against that which is greater than
ourselves and our beloved communities.
Leader:
We confess:
At times, hopelessness has made us silent.
Fear has narrowed our possibilities.
People:
We extend forgiveness
to ourselves where we have been silent.
To one another where we have disregarded
essential connections.
Leader:
Humans are fragile.
People:
And courageous.
Make us willing.
Leader:
Willing
People:
to stay connected.
Willing
Leader:
to refuse to look away.
People:
Willing
to risk being misunderstood
for the sake of life and of community.
All:
We will rise and still will build.
—————–
Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto is a Unitarian Universalist minister, activist and writer (bio here). A year ago, Rev. Soto led a writing workshop for MVUUF. If you missed it, you can read a description of the workshop below, and watch a recording of it here.
Workshop: Sharing Our Joy, Holding Our Sorrow
Join us to talk about and practice different kinds of writing that express the depth and height of human feeling. Don’t consider yourself a writer? No problem. This workshop is designed to focus on what we have in common, both in difficult and in happy times. You’ll need a pen and paper and a willingness to be thoughtful about your own experiences and those of others.