The point is that in almost every instance of our lives we are, if we pay attention, in the midst of an almost constant, if subtle, caretaking. Holding open doors. Offering elbows at crosswalks. Letting someone else go first. Helping with the heavy bags… Pulling someone back to their feet. Stopping at the car wreck, at the struck dog… This caretaking is our default mode and it’s always a lie that convinces us to act or believe otherwise. Always.

Ross Gay

To hold open a door, offer an elbow at a crosswalk or help an injured animal is to keep faith with one another. It is to keep faith with life. Our careful, constant caretaking, our belief in ourselves and other trust in each other are all part of our human nature. As poet Ross Gay writes, “it’s always a lie that convinces us to act or believe otherwise.”

So how do we embrace and hold to faith in the midst of the messages that urge us to act otherwise? Or to put it another way, how do we continue to affirm and promote our UU principles of inherent worth and dignity, interconnection and beloved community when the world feels hostile or uncaring?

We do so by keeping faith with one another. We do so by honoring the importance of renewing trust and keeping promises. We do so by continuing to kindle the light of hope, joy and connection. As James Baldwin writes, “The moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.”

This month we’ll be exploring how to keep that light on by renewing faith in ourselves and each other.

Yours in faith,

Rev. Sandra