Remembering Mandela
The Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern celebrates Nelson Mandela’s long commitment to the work of justice.
One would think that almost 20 years of revolutionary activism, 27 years in prison, and five years as the head of state would entitle him to an honorable retirement, but Mandela never stopped taking on new challenges. In 2005, he went to London before a G8 trade meeting and reminded the leaders and the gathered crowd that the G8 had pledged several years earlier to cut world poverty in half. “Do not look the other way,” he said to them; “Do not hesitate. Recognise that the world is hungry for action, not words. Act with courage and vision.” (Sermons in Stones, December 5)
What is compassion?
The Rev. Sean Dennison writes about compassion as a commitment of “Cabaret Church.”
Cabaret Church is a community of people who believe that compassion is powerful and necessary. We are well aware that we are human and that means we make mistakes. We fuck up. We hurt people. In our commitment to art and resistance, we push boundaries and break rules. Sometimes we struggle to live up to our commitments and instead stay silent when we should have spoken up. We need compassion. (ministrare, November 29)
The Rev. Myriam Renaud asks, “Compassion—what the heck is it?”
Suffering brings you to the limit of the ordinary realm of “S/he.” It is at this borderline that compassion and religion arises. Compassion for suffering may then propel you into the “higher pinnacle” of “Thou.” From this place, this summit, you can see more clearly what actions on your part and your community’s could ease the pain. And, upon returning this place, you are spurred to make it so. (The Naked Theologian, December 3)
Beloved imperfection
Frustrated by her preschool daughter’s behavior, the Rev. Robin Bartlett turns to Facebook, where her friends remind her that home is where her daughter doesn’t have to be perfect.
I hope you have a place . . . inside your house or inside your heart, where you don’t have to be the best at anything; where you don’t have to try; where you just are. The place where you know yourself beloved. We are beloved just by virtue of our birth, and we forget that truth, or we never learned to know ourselves that way. . . . We succeed, we are loved. We fail, we are loved. (Religious Education at UU Sherborn, December 4)
Jordinn Nelson Long refuses to do it all.
[No] one is waiting at the finish line of your life to give you a cookie for completing all the tasks that no one else cared about. If you choose unhappiness to prove that you’re “good enough” for it, your own resentments will be your reward. (Raising Faith, December 4)
Social commentary
With love and grief, the Rev. Jake Morrill recounts the history of Tennessee, where he serves as a minister.
When you can’t any longer get coal out of coal mines, the coal company will start blowing up mountains. When you can’t any longer get your prescription filled, the heroin dealer is just a phone call away. Heroin, they say, will ease your worries a while. But the pain never ends. It runs through everything. It’s there when you’re born. It is there when you die. And your babies (they’re crying) will know it, as well. Given this life, that anybody at all would think to sing is a blessing. (Quest for Meaning, November 24)
The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum shares her experience with Healthcare.gov, and how the Affordable Care Act will affect ministers who serve small congregations.
So the good news is that the UUA’s plan is very competitive with comparable plans. And the bad news is that “Obamacare” didn’t bring us cheaper, better healthcare. It actually brought us healthcare for the average small business employee that is going up 9.3% this year along with deductible increases. So that’s sad for me, who had held out hope that while it would get all those uninsured people a better situation it might actually take a load off the small church, as well. It seems that is not to be the case. (Rev. Cyn, November 26)
The Rev. Tom Schade looks beyond the church-and-state issues of a recent ruling about clergy tax exemptions.
This ruling will bring new attention to the finances of the grass-roots church of all denominations. But let’s see it for what it is: part of the destruction of autonomous and self-directed voluntary organizations for the poor, the working class and the middle classes. It’s coming close to the clergy, now. We, in the clergy, might want to blame the IRS for this downturn in our personal economies, but the larger picture is growing class divide, and the impoverishment of the majority. (The Lively Tradition, November 25)