Dear Friends,

“I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’”—Scottish-American philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre (b. 1929)

Since December, I haven’t devoted much time to working with interfaith partners in Mankato and so I was surprised to learn that they have been planning  “A Christian Vigil for Racial Equality & Justice.” I definitely felt left out of that story, and I felt a sense of betrayal as well. I thought I had worked hard to be a good partner, to make space in my own heart for language and challenges these faith leaders brought forward that felt very foreign to me as a Unitarian Universalist. I thought I had been welcoming and inclusive, clear in articulating that our theological differences make no difference to me if we are working together for the same cause of justice in the same moment. I confess I felt a little like the kid picked last for the kickball game or forced to sit alone at lunch.

What was I to do? Turns out there was another story here, one that a Christian minister sought to share with me directly. It is a story of Christian churches needing to be clear and explicit about their commitment to justice work. It is a story about people of faith needing to acknowledge where they have fallen short in the past and contributed to racialized harm to beloved human siblings. No exclusion was intended. In this story, the people of UUFM are overtly invited, because our commitment to doing the work of justice is an explicit part of our Unitarian Universalist story in Mankato and elsewhere. Our Christian siblings are doing the work we are doing in our denomination as well—soul-searching and interrogating the ways that some of our ways have caused harm and worked to thwart rather than advance justice.

Our stories converge, and I know I am in the story of justice work, a story that points clearly to what I must do. I plan to participate in “A Christian Vigil for Racial Equality & Justice,” scheduled for Sunday, May 23 at 6:30pm in Washington Park. I’m invited to help craft the service, and I will provide more details as I get them. I pray you will join me in this story, where we move humbly with our Christian siblings as we all work to create the justice for which Greater Mankato and our world cries out.

Blessings, Rev. Rita