Dear friends,

Well, the world still feels like a mess, doesn’t it? It does to me. Yes, the vaccines are rolling out, yet children returning to school are contracting it and exposing their unvaccinated parents and causing more quarantining. Yes, places of business are opening up, yet people are out and about without masks or physical distancing. Many of us feel the short-term benefit of a browse through store or a meal at a restaurant just isn’t worth it. Living in pandemic times is our normal, but it remains challenging and sad.

Making matters even worse, eight people, including six Asian-American women, were killed in Atlanta last week, likely targeted at the intersection of anti-Asian sentiment, misogyny, and toxic attitude toward bodies and sexuality. This week, 10 people including a police officer, were killed with an assault rifle by a person identified as both Muslim and mentally ill.

Easy access to weapons in both cases compounds the anger, fear, and frustration so many of us feel. Lack of community and resources for dealing with pain, meaninglessness, life challenges, and illness results in violence. Our hearts are with the victims and their mourning families. Some of us become more fearful of our neighbors and of strangers who might attack us in either a way targeted at our identities or in a random and inexplicable way. Some of us are angry that we are so unsafe in our own communities. Some of us are frustrated that our government does more to advocate for the gun lobby than to include sensible responsibilities in connection with our constitutional rights.

All of these feelings are why our Fellowship is important in this world. Here, we are a community that helps us to hold pain with tenderness so that we do not become calloused and apathetic. Here, we are a community where informed and thoughtful people can discuss an issue critical to our principles of dignity and interdependence. Here, we are a community that calls us to address our government, to demand the changes that make all of us safer and better cared for. May you remember it is you—your feelings and your actions—which create this community, as you remember as well 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