Constellations

Vega and Lyra Constellation by Giuseppe Donatiello

This has been a hard year for a lot of folks in a lot of ways. But in spite of that, perhaps because of it, our churches have come alive. Something is stirring in the hearts of long time members who maybe were asking themselves – why do we keep doing it? Does it even matter? But as they watched the news, and heard the stories in their community they remembered- it does matter. It matters a lot. We thought of the people most vulnerable to the lawless whims of our federal government, and got our aching bones out of bed to be here, with you. And some of our members and friends, old and new, woke up in fear, and some of those folks got their fearful bones out of bed to come be with you. And brand new folks, something stirred in their hearts, and they came to visit for the first time ( I hope we’ll hear those stories as we get to know them, of why they got up and took the risk on coming to visit a new community.) But among all of us, something is stirring..

Why? Because we are a community of people trying to live our values. Trying to keep love at the center. We don’t always get it right, but we keep trying. We’ve been doing it for over 100 years.

Our congregation in Cortland, was part of the underground railroad, and though that was long ago, I believe we still have that in our DNA, -- the will to come together, small as we are, and care for the most vulnerable in hard, scary times.

But the troubles of this world are so big, it’s easy to feel small and alone. I went on sabbatical not long after the inauguration last year, and I will tell you my heart did not feel focused on rest and renewal the way it usually does when I go on sabbatical. One reason you go on sabbatical is in part so you can step back and see the big picture, so you can glimpse a vision of the new direction ahead. What vision could guide our ministry through these scary times?

And so I reached out to my local interfaith clergy group, my neighbors, my friends and mentors. I signed up for a webinar by the Kairos Center on “survival organizing”, which turned out to be just the inspiration I needed. Shailly Barnes (who works with Kairos and the poor people’s campaign) showed us this map of Ohio during the time of the underground railroad, and said:

“…in that map we see a bunch of individual dots and each one of those represents a home, a school, a church, a community taking up this every day responsibility of meeting concrete material needs of people seeking freedom. And when they were connected from point a to b to c, they become something greater than the individual acts of protest and resistance, what they end up becoming is a vast network of projects of Survival, and that really was what the underground railroad was doing. This network of projects of survival, following the first act of enslaved people and themselves and …creating [that flow] from south to north, and that in turn provide the motive force for the abolitionist movement. In other words that movement is anchored in the survival activity, taking place to each of these dots, and when they are connected ... they can power and fuel movement that eventually changes society.”

As she described those tiny dots, I thought of us. I thought of Cortland, yes, -- not only been one of those dots on the underground railroad, but that for over 200 years, even today, what they do best are those projects of survival- of feeding the community, sewing bandages for soldiers during the wars, being a place of gathering in critical times.

Then I thought of Athens, how they fed folks during the great flood of 2009, and now how they are a primary hub of LGBTQAI+ activism in our very red valley.

Or consider Binghamton’s partnership with “beloved community” a group who offers community meals especially for unhoused people. How Binghamton UU joined in partnership with them to provide a commercial grade kitchen and supplies, and volunteers for prepping and serving hundreds of people.

I began to understand that these are not separate things- meeting survival needs and acts of protest and resistance. When we feed one anther, when we take care of those basic every day needs for the most vulnerable, it’s important, not just in the moment but in building movements that create lasting change, the way the underground railroad served as a motive force for the Abolitionist movement which ultimately ended slavery.

What we do in our tiny dots matters, has mattered in historically critical moments, AND it is the connection of those dots that creates movement, creates flow of energy and resources and connection.

That’s us! I thought. We may be small but we are the ones who know our neighbors. We know our communities in a way only those who live and seve there can. Each time we offer food or our space, or use our networks to amplify important voices, we shine like stars.

And look, we are part of a vast constellation -- a vast network. The same kind of network that overturned hundreds of years of slavery. Here, I thought, is an image to guide us forward.

The next part of the webinar was little 3 minute presentations by dozens of organizers from all over our region. One after another a savvy organizer with feet in their community, would tell us about the amazing, life saving, oppression challenging work they were doing in this great diversity of organizations and communities. The tears just started rolling down my cheeks – we are not alone (I felt it in my heart, in my bones). And we, all of us here, are exactly where we need to be to do our part now, just as we have been for generations.

The work we do as individual congregations is important, but when we connect into a constellation, a network, this is how the movement happens.

Maybe 100,000 people followed the underground railroad to freedom, and they needed each of those tiniest of places to connect to the vast network. As you consider today's problems, remember your heritage, remember that being one of those life giving, connecting points is something we already know how to do, it’s in our congregational DNA.

These are such hard times, and there are huge forces of change at work in our world, but this is how we will survive, and this is how we will create beauty and joy and places where love wins. We will reach out our hands to the people we are able to reach, and trust that they will reach out their hands beyond our own reach.

How grateful I am to have a place in this constellation with all of you.