Here we are, at the beginning of another New Year.  What is the focus for these first few days, weeks and with any luck months?  Is it the usual… lose weight, exercise, exercise more, write that book, cook with healthier foods, contact loved ones you have not seen or spoken to in many months or even years.

As we are living with this pandemic, we are experiencing social shifts, environmental challenges, losses of many kinds.  We find ourselves at times at a loss on how to move forward.  That’s when without noticing we many feel drawn to something different than the choices from the past.   

You may join the choir, lend a hand at the monthly meal, work in the garden or with the immigrant community, decide to increase your yearly donation by $50.00 monthly (if twenty of us did this it would increase the church’s yearly budget by $12,000.00).

It’s also possible you are still looking for something else, something that touches your heart and possibly your soul.  Social justice work is spiritual work.  It leads us to evaluate, challenge, and question the dominant culture.  This is holy work. Our culture is an oppressive one to people who are anything other than the white, middle income, cis gendered, male, straight, well-educated people.  Walking in another’s shoes and learning or experiencing what it’s like to be there, is a step toward spiritual transformation.

The 8^th Principle Transformation Committee would like to recommend the hard work of looking within, asking questions and openly seeking answers. There are so many good books to read challenging the white experience as the “norm”. What do you want to do before it’s your time to leave this life?  Only you can say.  Are you feeling challenged to grow and to make a real difference?  The best we can do is our best.  What is your “best”?  Colluding with the dominant culture is working against the earth, black folks, indigenous, POC and LGBTQIA+ folks.   They cannot do this work alone. 

The Board of Trustees has adopted a “Resolution on Anti-Racism and Support of the Proposed 8^th Principle”.  You can find it on the UUCA website.  It Is an in-depth plan for challenging our assumptions about race, gender and identity.  They have made the commitment to working as a Board of this Church to do this challenging work.  How about you?

Are you willing to decipher the norms your life is wrapped around?  Are you willing to take a step into the unknown and consider what you might do to improve the lives of others who differ from you?  Fairness and justice begin here. One person, one New Years Resolution at a time.

Linda Hale, 8^th Principle Transformation Committee