I feel such anticipation for the start of our new program year together, full of expectation about how our religious community can make a difference in our own lives and in the larger world. It is a very big weekend we have ahead of us, and I look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it.

We begin ingathering in an informal way—on Saturday, September 7 by marching in the Pride Parade and hosting a table during PrideFest. Annette Schmit-Cline has been busy organizing volunteers. Check elsewhere in the Weekly and in an email about contacting Annette to offer your participation. This year I am excited to announce that I will march alongside clergy and religious leaders from ELCA, Presbyterian, Episcopal, UCC, and other denominations and religions. We want to demonstrate to the entire Mankato and surrounding communities that people of faith move together in support of LGBTQ+ lives. This action is part of our Welcoming Congregations Program renewal process and aligns with our Trans Initiative.

And on September 8, we gather as a religious community for our annual Water Communion, a celebration of our hope that Unitarian Universalism remains a saving faith for us and for the world. We celebrate our generations together. We gain inspiration from words, from music, from ritual. We teach our children the power of giving from your heart by collecting coins for their discernment, for their social action as young UUs.

Why show up for Pride, why show up at the Fellowship this weekend? Because this is one way we remind ourselves that our lives are worthy, that our spiritual and moral development leads to sustained action for the good of our communities and the good of the earth, that religious life is radical in a time when life can seem meaningless and all too fragile. Until then, and in all times in between, may 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 “Amen.”

Blessings and best wishes, Rev. Rita