Church of the Larger Fellowship UU Worship

Justice has always been contextual. It is a hard truth and one that we must understand as we work to dismantle systems of oppression. As an abolitionist, I am called to understand what justice looks like when we dismantle the idea of locking people away.

We are called to create communities where all people can thrive. For this to happen, we need to be able to bring our whole selves, unapologetically. Our identities, our backgrounds, and our accomplishments, and also our struggles, our mistakes, and our places of brokenness. Unitarian Universalist theology creates a space for this to happen. Will we make it possible?

What do we owe each other? Not in theory. Right now, in this country, in this moment — when people are being taken from their children, their homes, their languages, and placed behind walls designed to make the rest of us forget they exist. This sermon is about the covenant that follows us into the wilderness.

Bio (feel free to edit):

Rev. JeKaren Bell (she/her) is an ordained and fellowshipped Unitarian Universalist minister, certified Death and Grief Doula, artist, and poet with more than fifteen years as a religious professional. Rooted in African earth-based and Womanist traditions, her work sits at the intersection of grief, transformation, and communal care. She is the founder of The After Practice, offering guidance for leaders and communities navigating loss, conflict, and institutional change. She currently serves the Unitarian Universalist Association as Co-Director of the New UU Communities Fund. She is married with two bonus kids and two dogs.

It has been 63 years since Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. handwrote one of the most famous letters in United States history. We will read excerpts from the letter and consider how far we have and have not come as a country.

In the West, we are socialized by the logic of empire to understand identity as a static or fixed self. However, as embodied beings, we change and grow from every lived experience, emotion, and life lesson.  What happens when we pay close attention to the various selves we have been and are becoming?

Many years ago, I heard a line in the movie Kung Fu Panda, "You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it." I learned later that this sentiment is attributed to French poet Jean de La Fontaine. We will explore what this means for our lives and our communities.

Twenty years ago this week, I brought a group to volunteer in New Orleans, and began a spiritual journey of understanding resurrection in a new way. On this Easter Sunday, I will wrestle queerly with the notion that what is dead might once again live.

The phrase "it's easier to wear slippers than to try and carpet the world," has stuck with me since first hearing it many years ago. The phrase is a way to embody our role in movement work. This week, we'll explore the ways we can wear slippers and impact what we can locally as a way to keep from falling into despair at the state of the world.

In the Northern Hemisphere, this weekend marks the beginning of spring. In this service, we will connect our spiritual journeys to the Earth, honoring the green shoots of new life that herald the beginning of something beautiful.

Using Grover’s fear in The Monster at the End of This Book, the sermon explores how fear often comes from the stories we tell ourselves about what lies ahead. The message reflects on courage, curiosity, and the spiritual practice of continuing to turn the page even when uncertainty is present.