In the Meantime

At the Rededication of the Tennessee Valley UU Church on August 3, the chalice lighter spoke these words: “Ours is the church of the open mind..., helping hands..., loving heart.” Those words drew my attention because I had just read them on UUI’s letterhead! The week of the Knoxville shooting I was with friends who are not Unitarian Universalists. They too were gripped by the horrible news, and I was pleased to tell them that you were having a vigil service and taking up a collection to contribute to the Knoxville Relief Fund. (If you were not at church for the special service, you can still contribute through the UUA’s website, www.uua.org, or send your check to Tom Klein, UUA, Stewardship & Development, 25 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108.)

The outpouring of support for the Knoxville congregation has been magnificent, including UUI’s planned intergenerational “Banner of Prayers, Blessings, and Hope.” And the events of the past couple of weeks have given us reason to be enormously thankful – for the people in church that day who put their bodies between the shooter and others, especially the children; for the sacrificed lives of Linda Kraeger and Greg McKendry, Jr.; for John Bohstedt, who tackled the gunman and stopped the shooting; for the members of the UU Trauma Ministry who flew to be with the ministers of the Knoxville congregations and aid them as counselors, especially to the children.

We know that children need special assurances if the media give cause for worry that something like this could happen in their church too. You can find resources to help you talk with your children at www.traumaministry.org/resources.htm. Of course, it isn’t only children whose concerns are heightened. When I get to UUI, high on my list of priorities with the leadership will be a review of the church’s emergency response plan.

As I write, people are beginning to talk about the full page ad taken by the UUA in the August 10 New York Times. President Bill Sinkford said the goals for the ad were to express condolences, to celebrate the bravery of those who risked their lives, and “to convey that the UUA’s commitment to social justice … will not be deterred by the actions of one troubled soul.” Whatever your impression of the ad, it will give us a remarkable opportunity for conversation about how we present ourselves to the wider world, and why.

Maybe it was Katrina that first got our attention and let us know that congregational polity is about congregations being in caring and accountable relation to each other, not about being fiercely independent and doing whatever we want without regard to others. If somehow we didn’t “get it” from Katrina, Knoxville has given us another chance. As UUA Moderator Gini Courter wrote, “When Unitarian Universalist congregations are bound together, whether by tragedy or by common purpose, all congregations are ours, and we are theirs.”

Barbara