Jill McAllister

We’re busy at the Fellowship – finishing up painting in the classroom wing and getting ready to move all the furniture back in in a few weeks; weeding, watering and mowing the grounds; watching the online auction and getting ready for the in-person event on June 28; caring for each other and encouraging each other as we navigate life in this country; gathering on Sundays to center together; looking towards the transition in ministry which will happen next month.  This week we are nourished and nurtured by Juneteenth, the Summer Solstice, Immigrants Day and more.  And each day, from day to night, amidst deaths and births and other changes, we are being breathed – each of us held and moved by Life. 

For the next several weeks, I look forward to meeting with and talking with as many of you as I can.  Here are several opportunities for us to get together:

~You can sign up for a conversation with me at this link: https://calendar.app.google/XsnZe2AFZiwfooqP8

~You can join me, with others, for one or two happy hour gatherings:  Thursday June 26, or Wednesday July 2, 5:30 PM, on the deck and patio at the Fellowship.  Bring your own favorite beverage and a snack to share if you like. 

~ You can attend one of the several events planned for July 11,12 and 13 – my retirement weekend.

There is much to share! I look forward to connecting with you.

It has been a particularly horrifying week in the USA. I will be taking to the streets this weekend along with many of you, because I can, and because I need to be surrounded by a feeling of shared resistance.  

Often these days, I’m asked “what can UU’s do to counter the erosion of rights, the corruption, the misuses of power, and so many other things?”  Just like you, I wish I had an easy answer. If there were such an answer, we’d know it.  

For myself, I think about where we are this way:  First, I need to stay aware.  Not consumed by information, but also not in denial.  I need to be ready to move — to change, to help, to respond – in ways I may not be able to imagine. I need to be courageous. I need to be clear about what my values are and what I’m willing to risk to keep them alive.  I think this is what love means now. What I’m willing to risk, to give up, to lose.  When I say I try to live with love at the center, love as the guide, it’s a serious commitment, not at all sentimental.  I don’t know if I’m up to it or if I’m capable, but I know I have to try. 

And, we need to be helping, supporting and protecting those who are most at risk – especially refugees, immigrants, and trans people — in all the ways we can.  But you know all this as well as I do.  And knowing that helps me.  

I’m grateful that this week we are once again hosting my colleague and friend Rev. Mwibutsawineza F. Ndagijimanayburundi. Rev. Mwibutsa lives in Ottawa, ON, where he settled after going to Canada as a refugee from his homeland, Burundi, in East Africa. It was in Burundi that Mwibutsa, then studying to become a Dominican priest, heard about Unitarian Universalism, and eventually established the first UU congregation in East Africa, becoming a UU minister along the way. I have shared in that process with him – a beautiful international form of shared ministry. He has continually been an inspiration and a guide for me, especially in my learning that Unitarian Universalism is not just a “casual faith” but can be a lifesaving force. These are days in which we need to lean into and learn more about that aspect of who we are, and who we can be.

Some of you will recognize that Mwibutsa is a new name for the person you originally met as Fulgence Ndagijimana. There are reasons for this – having to do with the legacies of colonialism, a need to understand oneself in changed circumstances, and more. Mwibutsa will tell some of this story in his sermon on Sunday morning.

For more than ten years the Fellowship has supported Mwibutsa’s work to sustain and grow the UU presence in East Africa ( Burundi and Rwanda), through the NGO he created, Flaming Chalice International. Our support has made a difference not only in individual lives but in the survival of one of the newest UU communities in the world. It is my hope that this relationship with Flaming Chalice International will continue to be a part of the Fellowship’s dedication to outreach and justice for a long time to come. Please join us on Sunday to welcome Rev. Mwibutsa.

On May 22 the Fellowship hosted a meeting of leaders of local religious congregations plus a few community service organizations.  The invitation was issued at the request of our own justice teams:  could we bring together other religious folks to begin to create networks for resource sharing and shared response to the effects of government cruelty we’re all seeing?  More than 30 people attended the meeting, from seven or eight congregations and several agencies.  All were grateful to be able to talk together, to tell each other what they are seeing and experiencing in their own groups.  Folks losing livelihoods as government jobs are discontinued, immigrants and refugees in deepening fear for their safety, the effects of discontinued federal funding on shelters, schools, family support, healthcare and more basic needs. 

What didn’t happen, and remains to be seen (and needed) is leadership.  All necessary movements require someone(s) to take a step and articulate next steps, to invite and organize.  Or, necessary movements need to emerge within already operating structures.  Corvallis has many networks and agencies working for common goals and the common good.  All of the religious organizations who attended the meeting have working structures and are part of wider networks. Possibilities for shared response certainly exist.

The next clear step to a broad religious network, to coordinating efforts for greater impact, did not emerge in this one meeting.  That doesn’t mean that we haven’t begun.  Out of the chaos of the immense changes that are happening, I’m convinced that what we need to be doing together is being formed, little by little.  Here at the Fellowship, that means staying engaged in the work we are doing and step-by-step connecting our work with the work of others.   If you have not yet found your place in the work of the Fellowship, you are most definitely needed and invited.  Please, join in!