Minister’s Message

Contemplating his time imprisoned by the South African government, Nelson Mandela said, “I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed.” May we take heed of Mandela’s words, and may we understand them.

Certainly, the architects of overt and systemic institutional oppression must be held accountable for their actions. And if they are to heal, we who hold them accountable must do so in ways that reject demonization. The Truth and Reconciliation tribunals were conducted precisely in such a way that people had to take responsibility for their actions and continue to be held in relationship, in relationship equitable and inclusive rather than oppressive, de-humanizing, and exclusionary. But it is not just those who purpose to oppress who need healing.

Many of us would never seek to hurt or exclude any person for their identities or genders or races or incomes or education and more. Yet because oppression is systemic and not just personal and intentional, some of us benefit from systems of oppression even when we don’t want to.  And so we must all take action to be liberated from the ways we benefit from. We must look at how our systems oppress, even if we do not see ourselves as in agreement with them. We must look at how we benefit from the oppression of others even if we do not mean to be oppressive. It is a never-ending work.

Reconciliation does not happen without acknowledgement of wrongs. Justice will not emerge without accountability. And reconciliation and accountability will mean that some of us must allow ourselves to be uncomfortable when we see that our way of moving through the world is with a freedom and a privilege that harms others. That is a difficult process of healing to face, and that is why it is good to do this work in religious community, so that we are not alone in our discomfort as we learn, we are not alone in our pain as we change, we are not alone when we wound unintentionally.

May we find the strength and the drive to build Beloved Community in all the ways we can as you remember, today and every day, 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, Rev. Rita (she/hers)