Minister’s Message
Here is the final question from the Question Box Service on October 23rd: “Where is the arc of justice bending?” It references an 1853 quotation from Unitarian minister Theodore Parker: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.” And this is the same quotation Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. references in his 1953 march to Selma. It is, indeed, an Ultimate Question, one we ask as we seek meaning and our place in life.
In a time when most of the headlines of just about every news outlet seem to be terrible, it can be hard to believe that the arc of the universe bends toward justice. But how will it bend if we do not bend it? Our human hands are required to make the justice and liberation about which we dream. Our hands joined with other hands. I consider the whole quotation, because it gives me a perspective to help me when it is hard to see goodness and right in the world. “My eye reaches but little ways.” My limitations—of life span and of imagination—require that I have faith that small actions can make good changes. Our postcard writing for UU the Vote in a time of voter suppression. Our efforts to live in ways as gentle on the earth as possible in a time of climate collapse. Our welcome to queer communities in a time of court reversals of marriage and healthcare protections. Our efforts to love beyond belief and within a diversity of identities. All of this makes a difference to the quality of our lives right now.
I have faith that our efforts matter, because working for justice is an end in itself. The actions taken make good in the world right now. May you remember all this, as you remember also that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may it be so.
Blessings and warm wishes, Rev. Rita