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Have you ever felt like social justice work was just one more item on your long to-do list? I’ll be honest; I have felt this way at times! We know how important these efforts are, and yet it can sometimes seem stressful and overwhelming to fit them into our busy schedules.

As Unitarian Universalists, we affirm the importance of promoting justice, equity and compassion in human relations. So how do we find the strength, the energy and the enthusiasm to help heal our communities and our world? I believe one answer is that we do this work in spiritual community together. By coming together as a community of loving hearts, we can transform this work into an activity that brings more joy and meaning into our own lives.

When we do advocacy and service work in community, it can reconnect us with friends and family and nurture our spirits. In the summer and fall at UUCB, there have been multiple opportunities to participate in fun and meaningful activities that have helped create a more just world. At monthly immigration vigils, we have offered healing prayers for those harmed by a broken immigration system.   At the GRIP Harmony walk, we had the chance to meet our neighbors and walk together for an important cause. For the Bring Your Weight in Food Drive, children, youth and adults of all ages joined together to collect food to give to those in need in our community. In all of these activities, we shared laughter, smiles and the warmth of love.

This month there are many opportunities to promote justice and compassion in our world. Saturday January 5 is the monthly immigration vigil, from 11-12 at the West County Detention Center in Richmond.   On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 21, we will have a service project open to people of all ages. Stay tuned for details! On Saturday January 26 at 5:30, families are invited to serve a dinner at the GRIP Souper Center. In this month and in the months to come, may we each find ways to bring healing to the world around us, and may our own hearts be healed along the way. May it be so.