Deeds, Not Creeds

At the end of last week I traveled to Statesboro for our monthly UU Coastal Cluster clergy meeting. The ministers from Charleston down the coast to Brunswick,  from Columbia to Augusta to Statesboro, try to get together regularly to support each other and get to know one another as people come and go in our area. We move our meetings around so we can visit the churches and see the cities and towns where we do ministry. It’s a time I treasure, to be with my colleagues in fellowship.

This last meeting was a little uncertain for some of us who were coming from the coast, but as of Friday the storm had not hit and we were able to have a good meeting and return home safely. But since then, our coastal UUs have had a rough time of it. The new interim minister in Columbia was evacuated from her home, barely having unpacked from her move from Arkansas. As we know from the news and from social media, a number of dams burst in South Carolina and have made things much worse for the midland population than the effects of the storm in the coastal towns of Savannah and Charleston.

Times like these make us aware of how little control we have over our lives; many people inland, who watched the storm approaching the coast, were thinking it wouldn’t affect them beyond heavy rain and maybe minor flooding of roads. Now they have no power, no fresh water, they have left their homes suddenly as dams burst and the gushing waters threaten to cut them off from an escape route, or even to wash away their cars. How frightening to be faced, especially if you are elderly and not as mobile, to have to evacuate and not know how long you will be away from your home and from resuming life as normal.

Now think of how that is true for all the refugees fleeing Syria; the people displaced by the terrible mudslides in Guatemala; the storms and flooding in the French Riviera…we truly are fortunate to be where we are, secure in our homes, our lives, our family and friends close by or at least able to be in touch by phone or email.

And finally, think about how you might be able to assist in the rescue effort going on in these places. From donating water to folks in South Carolina to sending off money to rescue organizations working in the midst of the devastation of war, we can support one another as world citizens and as human beings. We don’t know if one day we will be the ones in need of that kind of support and compassion; the Golden Rule that Pope Francis so eloquently evoked during his visit to this country still rings true for the way we can model our faith: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” As UUs the “Do” is emphasized: “Deeds, not creeds.” Living our faith means never standing still in the face of injustice, cruelty, crisis, or despair. We are fortunate and, yes, blessed, to have our religious community to help us widen our vision and renew our strength, as Mark Morrison-Reed reminds us: 

“The central task of the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. There is a connectedness, a relationship discovered amid the particulars of our own lives and the lives of others. Once felt, it inspires us to act for justice.”

May we be the ones who make it so.