Rev. Emily Wright-Magoon’s Opening Words for our service honoring Juneteenth. Pastor Kevin Nelson was the preacher.
Opening Words
History, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again. –Maya Angelou
As Unitarian Universalists, we pride ourselves on moving and evolving with the times – AND we also hold dear our history & our tradition.
We cannot extricate ourselves from the past.
The sins of violence, injustice, and silence also move and evolve, taking new forms.
So, as we remember that historic Unitarian calling to develop our moral character, as we remember that historic Universalist calling to love the hell out of the world – let us do so with an eye to the past and an ear to the present.
The eye sees the past as it was. The ear listens – really listens – to the experiences of neighbors, friends, and strangers. And then we move: our hearts and hands mobilized to do the work in the world.
Come: let us renew our strength for that work.