The theme for November is “Healing.” It’s a good theme to guide how we approach doing church and living our lives this month. As you may know, I was asked by the League of Women Voters and Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio to be a “Peacekeeper,” during early voting and on election day. The role of a peacekeeper is someone from the clergy who can wear a stole, and accompany voters until they finish voting, especially if there is voter intimidation or misinformation about who can vote. I was called at 7 pm last night on election day to drive over to a rural polling place outside Warren, Ohio, where white men in large trucks had gathered, shining their headlights on voters. Upon closer inspection of the trucks, confederate insignia was prominently displayed. So I drove out there with a fellow peacekeeper, and by the time we arrived, the polling place had closed. There were no voters, only white men in trucks gathered in a circle, in the parking lot. We drove through to confirm no one was waiting in line to vote, and that there were no polling inspectors still present, and then drove home. Nothing dramatic happened, just men who walked toward our car with curiosity as we inspected the building. I mention this because I think a key aspect of living into our mission is meeting the moment. Often when we do this, even when we feel fear or dread, it makes a huge difference. It helps to have companions. It was also helpful that we had a plan of action which grounded us: our role was to be with the voters, and encourage them to stay and vote, and we had received training of various tactics to accomplish this. After calling the Columbus headquarters, they were relieved to know that no one was still waiting to vote, and that in and of itself was worth the drive.

I think as a church we are uniquely situated to meet this moment. Of course I will join our membership and local community in offering public witness to the power of healing, justice, and peace. Later this evening I’ve been asked to speak about the need to hold judgement this presidential election until every vote is counted at a rally in Youngstown. I think we as a church can meet this moment in various ways. I heard from Gary Davenport who led a discussion on the 8th principle – accountability dismantling racism and other forms of oppression – that there was energy and curiosity about how adopting this might influence how we do church in terms of programming. These kinds of questions energize me, and I see that as a community we are well situated to more faithfully meet this moment not just in moments of crises, but continuous commitment.

At our worship associate meeting for November, Lola Lewis brought up the question about the church’s relationship to indigenous tribal members locally, and I confessed that I had no relationship with any persons or tribes locally. This sparked curiosity in the group to find out who is in our local community, and how we as a church can be of benefit in connecting with them. Melissa Smith and Lola Lewis have been doing research on the land where our church sits on Elm Street, and which tribe(s) claimed that land before white settlers arrived. Again, I am heartened by this level of curiosity and investigation.

I am so thankful to Lisbet White, Lenore Jones, Trudee Weatherby and Sarah Lown for leading our pledge drive this year: Carrying Each Other Through. Lisbet has the latest information, but last I checked in we were at about half of our budget for next year, and still had most of our pledges still unaccounted for. Also Sarah Lown has shared that she can help the church gain access to Covid-assistance grants, which I think is worth discussing. As we make decisions, I think it is important that we remain transparent with the congregation every step of the way.

On a technological note, thank you to Andy Crabb and Tim Raridon who have been volunteering on Saturday to pre-record music with our musicians for Sunday service. The quality is greatly improved with this new arrangement. I spoke with Jeff Crouse, and he has asked to come back and play for services and Christmas, after the loss of his partner Linda. It will be good to have him back in the line up. I have also met with members to begin planning music for Christmas, and learning how we will do this well through pre-recording our music. So far, so good.