Rev. Barbro Hansson, Minister
All Souls Church Unitarian Universalist
Brattleboro,  Vermont

Unitarian Universalism is a faith for religious liberals who affirm
values that celebrate the inherent worth and dignity of all. It is a
faith that celebrates open minds, loving hearts and faith in action. At
no time in my 51 years of life have I understood the importance of our
faith as much as I do now.

These days my heart despairs as I wrestle with reports of human rights
abuses the world over and of brutal be-havior at prisons in Iraq,
behavior that flies in the face of the values I hold most dear. My mind
aches as I listen to what sounds like empty rhetoric at best and lies
at worst by our country's Administration, leaders all too ready to hide
behind a cloak of innocence and instead cast blame far from where they
stand. My soul rages as I hear national leaders and leaders of groups
hatefully promote destruction and killing in order to meet their aims.

These days, Unitarian Universalism is vitally important because this
faith represents a beacon of hope in a world that desperately needs it.
For centuries, our religious liberal values have been like lighthouses
in the darkness, guiding people toward the good.

What could be more important than providing a religious faith that
teaches, in the words of Unitarian minister and peace activist William
Ellery Channing (1780-1842), “to awaken the conscience, the moral
discernment”? What could be more important than to provide a faith
community where people learn that, in the words of Universalist
minister and suffragist Olympia Brown (1835-1926), “every nation must
learn that the people of all nations are children of God, and must
share the wealth of the world”?

What could be more important than to ensure a place where we affirm
beliefs that, in the words of UU minister and educator Sophia Lyon Fahs
(1876-1978), “are expansive and lead the way into wider and deeper
sympathies”? What could be more important than to offer a free church
that, in the words of 20th century UU minister and theologian James
Luther Adams, “binds together families and generations, protecting
against idolatry of any human claim to absolute truth or authority”?
These days, what can be more important than to continue to offer a
place where people join together in celebration of shared values and
religious liberal principles that affirm the inherent worth and dignity
of every person, that justice, equity and compassion form the core of
human relations and, that peace, liberty and justice extend to all
peoples.

These days, I am grateful that All Souls Church is committed to its
mission and that the flame of our religious liberal faith continues to
shine forth as a beacon in the lives of our children and in the lives
of all of us.

UUrs in Faith,

Barbro