Words from Rev. Joseph Boyd on the theme for the Month of January: Practicing Resistance
| From Rev. Joseph |
| February’s Theme: Embodying Resilience “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” ~Mary Oliver~ Right now many in the country are following what’s happening in Minneapolis and elsewhere with a mix of shock, horror, and anger. People are being killed for reasons which make no sense. Right now there are big questions about what the way forward will be for us as a country, as we continue to wrestle with questions of belonging and exclusion, questions of violence and community, questions of whether we can dare to love the world or whether we feel the world is out to get us. The answers don’t come in the form of statements only, but in the daily decisions about how we intend to live our lives. I’m learning that many adults think the answers to these questions grow more complex, but I find in myself a great simplifying happening. It has never been more clear to me than now that the values we seek to embody through mutual encouragement in our church community, really do point to the kind of world I wish to be part of creating. To the question of belonging and exclusion, I wish to live into a sense of belonging, rooted in covenant. Our covenant provides us with a compass to help us not cause more harm, and live boldly into exploration while honoring our relationship to each other, our fundamental connectedness. To the question of violence and community, I wish to boldly and peacefully abide in community, even when violence surrounds me. Through our church, I’ve learned that community is all around, and it is up to me to live into that great generosity. To the question of whether to love or curse the world, it has been one of the most difficult and gratifying choices to find ways to love the world, including my place in it at this moment in history. I believe we all have a part to play, and we’re playing it, whether we’re aware of it or not. I think one of the joys of our particular community at UUYO, is we learn to gain greater awareness of how we wish to live, and what role we wish to play in each other’s lives. We learn how to access more of ourselves, and this for me is the heart and soul of resilience. The poet Mary Oliver brings it back to the body: “You have only to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” In our church community, I think we learn to discover what we love. And the opportunity is to encourage one another to live into that, boldly, with integrity. I am so grateful to be on this journey with you at this time in history: a time when people are seeking a true alternative to a reactionary life. A place where we can live intentionally into the world we are creating for one another. In Faith, Rev. Joseph |