Black Lives Matter Pastoral Letter 2016
Delivered to the Pennsylvania Poor Peoples Campaign Movement Family at the State Capitol
February 4, 2018
Good morning. I am the Rev. Lyn Cox. I serve as the Interim Minister of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, but I’m here because my ordination vows compel me to support the Poor People’s Campaign, not as a spokesperson for my congregation. I would like to take a moment to say a blessing and give thanks for this opportunity. You are welcome to join me in prayer.
Spirit of Life, Source of Love, known by many names and many faiths and yet fully known by no human mind, we thank you for being among us and waking us up to be here today. We thank you for our spiritual and ethical traditions that have guided us to this moment; guided us to side with love and justice; guided us to reject the evils of economic inequality, systemic racism, the war economy, and ecological devastation. Strengthen us to speak the truth with love. Sustain us in our care for one another. Open the ears and hearts of those to whom we deliver a message today. We trust in the foundations laid by the teachers, prophets, and exemplars who have gone before us with your message of liberation. In their memories we pray. Amen.
I have only brief comments to add. As a Unitarian Universalist, my faith is rooted in the knowledge that no one is outside the circle of love. The calling of my tradition is to make the beloved community manifest in this lifetime, with room for every person to reach their potential without the human-made evils of poverty, racism, xenophobia, war, and environmental destruction standing in the way. Unitarian Universalists take seriously Dr. King’s observation that we are tied together in a single garment of destiny. My tradition tells me we cannot rest until all of us together, of every faith and no faith, have taken apart the systems of oppression that are harming us and our siblings and tearing holes through our society. And yet my heart is joyful, because this campaign offers us a path forward, and introduces us to beloved companions for this journey. May we be ever grateful for the opportunity.
February 4, 2018
Good morning. I am the Rev. Lyn Cox. I serve as the Interim Minister of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, but I’m here because my ordination vows compel me to support the Poor People’s Campaign, not as a spokesperson for my congregation. I would like to take a moment to say a blessing and give thanks for this opportunity. You are welcome to join me in prayer.
Spirit of Life, Source of Love, known by many names and many faiths and yet fully known by no human mind, we thank you for being among us and waking us up to be here today. We thank you for our spiritual and ethical traditions that have guided us to this moment; guided us to side with love and justice; guided us to reject the evils of economic inequality, systemic racism, the war economy, and ecological devastation. Strengthen us to speak the truth with love. Sustain us in our care for one another. Open the ears and hearts of those to whom we deliver a message today. We trust in the foundations laid by the teachers, prophets, and exemplars who have gone before us with your message of liberation. In their memories we pray. Amen.
I have only brief comments to add. As a Unitarian Universalist, my faith is rooted in the knowledge that no one is outside the circle of love. The calling of my tradition is to make the beloved community manifest in this lifetime, with room for every person to reach their potential without the human-made evils of poverty, racism, xenophobia, war, and environmental destruction standing in the way. Unitarian Universalists take seriously Dr. King’s observation that we are tied together in a single garment of destiny. My tradition tells me we cannot rest until all of us together, of every faith and no faith, have taken apart the systems of oppression that are harming us and our siblings and tearing holes through our society. And yet my heart is joyful, because this campaign offers us a path forward, and introduces us to beloved companions for this journey. May we be ever grateful for the opportunity.