Current Social Justice Issues, March 30th, 2025

Our Unitarian Universalist principles—of justice, equity, and compassion—are under threat. How do we respond with courage and clarity, without losing our grounding in love and dignity?

This Sunday, join us for a powerful Social Justice Service that invites action, reflection, and community. Guest speakers from Mountain Action Indivisible will share how local efforts can make a national impact, and Charis Caldwell will speak to the importance of compassion and courage in times of political and moral challenge.

With themed music by TRUU’s Co-Music Directors, Micha Schoepe & Paul Dankers, this service offers inspiration and tangible steps for those ready to rise in defense of our values.

Welcome (WA):
Good morning! Welcome to Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist community. My name is Thelma Zabel, and I will be serving as Worship Associate today and will be joined by members of the TRUU Social Justice committee. Debbie Bruell of Mountain Action Indivisible and Charis Caldwell will offer their insight into current Social Justice issues.
Our Words of Welcome.

If we have any guests who feel comfortable introducing themselves or being introduced, we invite you to do so. And, if you prefer to sit quietly, I hope you feel our warm embrace. For guests online, please use the Chat to introduce yourselves. Anyone??

And, we invite everyone to join us after the service for coffee and lively discussion.

I want to express our gratitude to Sue Lavin and Garry Zabel for serving as set-up and hosts and to Liza and Andrew Ferrier, our coffee/tea hour hosts. Thank you to our co-music directors, Paul and Micha and much gratitude to Andrew Ferrier for learning to fly Zoom and YouTube, allowing people to join us online.

If you would like to connect to our community, please leave contact information on the back of the Order of Service, We also invite those with Pastoral & Caring Committee Concerns to use the back of the Order of Service as well.

I invite your attention to the announcements in your Order of Service and I’d like to highlight a few specific items:
Tomorrow, that’s Monday, March 31st, TRUU is serving dinner at Extended Table. We meet at 4:15 at the Methodist Church in Glenwood. We need volunteers to help serve or to bring baked potatoes or potato salad. See me after the service for more information.

And this coming Saturday, April 5th, there will be a rally in Glenwood Springs. Mountain Action Indivisible has asked our social justice committee to cosponsor it and you will hear details from our guest speaker, Debbie Bruell.

Please silence your phones, watches and the like as we move into worship with a musical prelude by Micha Schoepe & Paul Dankers.
Prelude Music (Micha Schoepe & Paul Dankers): “Mercy Now” by Mary Gauthier
Chalice Lighting (Thelma, Pat, Larry): Chalice Lighting in Times of Conflict by Amy Russell
Reader One: You who feel your heart is breaking, come in.
Reader Two: You who are confused and wondering. Come in.
Reader One: You who are angry, in pain, or not wanting to be here. Come in.
Reader Two: You who are hopeful and energized. Come in.
Leader: Come into this community of your heart where you have been held in love and in comfort; where you have shared your joy and your spirit; where you have asked questions because you felt they needed asking; where you have found friendship and companions; where you have sometimes not agreed—and sometimes not felt comforted, and sometimes not felt heard.
Reader one: Bring your broken heart and your grief. Share them.
Reader two: Bring your confusion and your questions. Share them.
Reader one: Bring your anger and your pain. Share them.
Reader two: Bring your hope and your energy. Share them.
Leader: For here in this place, we can be together. We can gather in all the conflicting emotions tumbling around in our heads and our hearts. We bring them together here, and lay them on the altar of community. For community means that fragile, not-perfect human beings can come together in the name of peace and seek to find peace again.
Reader one: Peace!
Reader two: Hope!
Reader one: Healing!
Reader two: May it be so.

WA: Please rise in body or spirit, for our Opening Hymn. We will remain standing through our Sung Aspiration.

Opening Hymn (Micha Schoepe & Paul Dankers): #1028 The Fire Of Commitment
Spoken Unison Covenant (WA):

Love is the spirit of this community and service is its [law].
This is our covenant:
to dwell together in peace;
to seek the truth in love;
and, to help one another.

Sung Aspiration (Micha Schoepe & Paul Dankers) Spirit of Life, Hymn #123
Spirit of Life, come unto me.
Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold me close; wings set me free;
Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.

WA: Please be seated.

Wisdom Story (Thelma): Our wisdom story gives us an insight into the history of social justice in our chosen faith. It is by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer, adapted from the story, “Circles of Light: The Flaming Chalice.”
In the dark nights and the darker days of World War II, guns blazed all over Europe and airplanes dropped death from the sky. Many people tried to escape from the war. These people were called refugees.
Some Unitarians in the United States decided to help the refugees and formed the Unitarian Service Committee. The committee members went to Europe to try to bring refugees safely out of the war. But the refugees came from many different countries. They spoke many different languages, like German, or Yiddish, or French, or Italian, or Polish, or Hungarian. Most of the refugees did not speak English. Most of the Unitarian committee members spoke only English. How could the Unitarians explain they were there to help? It was difficult for the refugees to understand them.
Dr. Charles Joy was in charge of the committee. He knew that the Unitarians needed a symbol everyone could recognize, no matter what language they spoke. It would have to be a picture, a symbol with no words. That way, anyone could understand the message: “We are here to help you.”
Dr. Joy asked an artist named Hans Deutsch for help. Maybe an artist could draw the right kind of picture that could be a symbol for the Unitarians. The two men met in Portugal. Mr. Deutsch understood why a picture would be helpful. He had come from Austria. But now he was a refugee, because of the war. In Portugal, people speak Portuguese. Mr. Deutsch was used to speaking German.
Mr. Deutsch made a drawing of a chalice with a flame, surrounded by a circle. He showed it to Dr. Joy. The symbol really worked. Soon refugees all over Europe began to see this symbol wherever the Unitarian Service Committee went to find and help them. When refugees saw the picture of a chalice, a flame, and a circle around the chalice that looked like it was protecting it, they knew they could trust the committee members. They did not need to speak English, or even know how to read, to understand the symbol. The picture gave the message of hope, freedom, and love that the refugees were looking for.
After the war was over, Unitarians began using the flaming chalice and its circle as a symbol in worship. Later, the Universalists joined the Unitarians to form the Unitarian Universalist Association and people started to draw the symbol with two circles, instead of one. One circle is for the Unitarians and one circle is for the Universalists. The circles are so close together that they overlap. The circles are connected, just as Unitarian Universalists believe that all of us are connected to one another.
The chalice is not in the exact middle of the circle. It is almost like the chalice has moved over to let something else come into the circle. This reminds us that as Unitarian Universalists, we always leave room for other ideas and other ways.(I’ll focus on that shortly when we talk about common ground.) There is always room for more in Unitarian Universalism.
We, as Unitarian Universalists, have all kinds of chalices. We light a chalice on Sunday morning in worship, and at other times when we gather in our faith home together. Some family homes use chalices during meals or on special occasions. Chalices come in lots of different shapes, sizes, and colors, just like Unitarian Universalists.
The flaming chalice is a faith symbol for the Unitarian Universalists. It is a symbol of learning, caring, and love. It is a symbol of hope, freedom, and light. It is our faith home symbol.

Pastoral Prayer and Meditation (Thelma):
[This is the time in our service where we honor and acknowledge those we hold in our hearts this morning who are not here in this space: those we love who are facing challenges, those we love who are celebrating milestones, those we love who have passed away. By saying their names in this space, the TRUU community can hold your sorrow or joy as well. Please speak up, so everyone can hear. [pause]
And for all those who haven’t been named, who are also in our hearts.]

Musical Meditation (Micha Schoepe & Paul Dankers): Long Time Sun by Jai-Jagdeesh
Reading (Sue Coyle ): Our Reading today is entitled To Be a Unitarian Universalist Inspired by Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen’s chapter, “Our Work for Social Justice,” in The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide.
By Erika Hewitt
To Be a Unitarian Universalist
To be a Unitarian Universalist means we’ll never be done with the work:
the work of telling the truth about oppression
the work of resisting any laws, policies, or practices that deny anyone their humanity
the work of stubbornly seeking out the spark of the divine each other, no matter what
the work of creating heaven on earth
To be a Unitarian Universalist also means we’re not alone in the work:
we are not alone because of our promises to love one another
we are not alone because we are companions on the journey
we grow ourselves into allies,
helping one another get free —
because none of us is truly free until we are all free.

Reflection: Current Social Justice Issues
Intro (Sue Coyle) Debbie Bruell is from Mountain Action Indivisible. She will speak to us about what we can do in our area in response to current social justice issues.
Intro (Paul or Micha) Please edit to make your own introduction.
Charis is an ordained Presbyterian minister who married Paul and Micha back in 2011, back when it was still against the denomination’s policies to do so. Charis is a strong believer in Social Justice and today offers us a glimpse into her own process for action on social justice issues based on her understanding of ethics, social mores, and morality. It’s not a simple or easy process, but the work is necessary toward finding your own path during these difficult times.

(Ron) This is an excerpt from Finding Common Ground When We’re So Divided
By Carrie Kerpen Nov 10, 2020
As Lincoln famously stated, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” An America that is split down the middle cannot function or grow as it should. This divide will only be bridged by building trust and finding common ground that will allow us to move forward together. To be clear, I’m not suggesting any of us alter our beliefs or water them down to appeal to the other side—just that we make the effort to understand where they are coming from so that we can take on the future as a more united front. Here are some ways to start.
1. Actively seek out opinions that are different than your own.
If you watched Netflix’s The Social Dilemma, you know that our social media feeds have turned into what people are calling “echo chambers.” This basically means that the algorithms are only showing us the opinions of those we already agree with. Over time, we gain the false sense that everyone agrees with us because everyone in our feed sounds just like us. That’s why it’s crucial for us to do the work of seeking out the opinions of the other side. Even if we aren’t yet participating or having conversations in those spaces, just knowing what the other side thinks is a good starting point.
2. Ask questions with the intention to learn, not to convince.
Let’s bring back the idea of the “conversation.” So many discussions these days immediately devolve into arguments where the participants are essentially talking to themselves. Instead of having arguments to convince others, have conversations to understand others. Inquire about why they hold certain views or what life experiences they’ve had that brought them to those conclusions. Not only will you get a fuller understanding of where that person is coming from, but helping people question their own beliefs is actually far more effective than telling them what they should think.
3. Acknowledge—and embrace—the gray area.
Humans naturally have what is called a “binary bias.” Our brains want to process continuous data into separate, dichotomous categories. Obviously, with politics, those categories are the political parties. But it’s so much more than just black and white (or wrong and right), and it becomes dangerous when we reject the nuances. There are not simply two contrasting solutions to any issue. There’s always a gray area, and it’s our responsibility to find it.

The idea of finding common ground goes beyond politics. It lives everywhere—at the dinner table with family members, in the workplace with colleagues, and really, everywhere you go. And, as tempting as it might be to say, “forget anyone who doesn’t agree with me,” remember that there is nothing more powerful than asking the simple question: “Why?” Learning about someone’s perspective can help you understand why you feel so strongly about your own. Whether you agree or not, seek to understand. You’ll almost certainly be better for it.

Intro (Ron) And now we’ll hear from Peter about his visit with Rep. Jeff Hurd.

Special Music “Imagine” by John Lennon

Offering & Musical Offertory (Thelma):
We will now receive an offering for the support of this religious community and its work in the world. You are invited to give generously and joyfully as you are willing and able.

Online, you can make a secure donation by going to truu.org and clicking on the Offering Plate image at the bottom of the homepage. You can also mail your pledges to the address shown on the slide, or put them in the offering plate as we pass it this morning. And, as always, we are so grateful for your generosity.

Offering/Offertory (Micha Schoepe & Paul Dankers)

From You I Receive #402
From you I receive, to you I give,
together we share,
and from this we live.

Please remain seated, for our Closing Hymn
Closing Hymn (Micha Schoepe & Paul Dankers) : #121 We’ll Build A Land
Benediction/Closing Words (???): For our closing words, we are actually using this chalice lighting that was written by two young children and their parent, in honor of their mom’s ordination.
By Josh, Prudence, & Percival Robern

Shared Light, Shared Future

We are all flames.
When we gather
hand in hand
our church
our community
our home
We inspire,
We celebrate,
We come together
Sharing our light
of hope
for our shared future.

Extinguishing the Chalice (Thelma): The words of our Chalice Extinguishing are by Elizabeth Selle Jones:
We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fires of commitment. These we carry in our hearts until we are together again.

Closing (Thelma): Please rise in body or spirit and join hands for our Sending forth song, One World Home by Jimmy Byrne.

Sending Forth Song (Micha Schoepe & Paul Dankers) : One World Home by Jimmy Byrne

All the joys and the griefs, the colors and beliefs;
the sunlight shines upon us all the same
Open minds, loving hearts, helping hands, it’s a start.
One world home, one world home, one world home.
Open minds, loving hearts, helping hands, it’s a start.
One world home, one world home, one world home
One world home, one world home, one world home.

Thelma: Please join us for coffee!