A message from The Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, tenth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association
We must continue our theological tradition of dissent—as it emerges in our legal strategy to protect the most vulnerable and in our continued commitment to community building, even amid the anxiety-inducing chaos intentionally created to rob us of our hope and demoralize us with fear — Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt
Faithful dissent is our theological inheritance. Today’s Unitarian Universalism emerges from a heritage of dissenting churches that is hundreds of years old, a tradition of faithful people who grounded their religious living in how best to be of service to one another. We have a long history of holding our values collectively and living them in community.
Today, many of the institutions and ideals that our Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist forbearers worked for across our long history are under attack – including public schools, children’s access to learning supports, protections for individual rights, and the value of diversity and pluralism in society at large.
In such times, communal care matters perhaps more than ever. Communal care is the living promise of faith communities; it encompasses all that we offer to each other and all that might come into being because of our choices. Communal care is also how we work for justice; how we teach one another and learn together.
Communal care calls us to become good ancestors, to provide a foundation of love and justice that will sustain those who are yet to come. And so, we must continue our theological tradition of dissent – as it emerges in our legal strategy to protect the most vulnerable and in our continued commitment to community building even amid the anxiety-inducing chaos intentionally created to rob us of our hope and demoralize us with fear.
Let us rise on the efforts of our ancestors and heed the call of generations yet to come. There is much faithful work to do today in our Unitarian Universalist congregations and communities. Find resources for this time at the link below:
This week, we celebrate the ten-year work anniversary of our Office Administrator, Lin McKissick!
As the office administrator, Lin is often the first voice, face, or email people connect with at Wildflower. Her work maintains that connection, as she serves our congregation in so many ways, often behind the scenes, but never unnoticed. She is supportive of all our teams, our staff, our Board, our lay leaders, and our community partners. And she knows our congregation and our neighbors by name. Her many years of service and commitment to our congregation and the community help to create an environment for everyone to grow spiritually together, spreading love, justice, and joy.
Here’s a little behind-the-scenes look at Wildflower. The Spiritual Life Team (a cross-team gathering of Wildflower lay leaders and staff) had a wonderful retreat and planning day on Saturday, February 1st, at Austin Youth River Watch‘s location in Del Valle. And the weather was perfect for indoor and outdoor discussions and walks! It was a great time of bonding and getting to know one another better, and imagining our upcoming season of worship, music, learning, and activities at Wildflower this spring and summer. We are thankful to AYRW (one of our past Second Offering recipients) for generously sharing their space with us, and we express much gratitude for the Wildflowers who helped to make the day successful and nourishing for all (including a yummy breakfast, snacks, and lunch for our full day of work).
While we worked a lot, we also made time for worship and spiritual practices, as nourishing ourselves is important as leaders. We learned a new song, “There is Only Love” (lyrics can be found here), and we sang some familiar songs, too, like “Rise Again” by Urban Voices Project, and “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher).”
Faith Presbyterian and Wildflower Churches Host Gun Violence Awareness Installation in Travis Heights
AUSTIN—Wildflower Church and Faith Presbyterian Church, 1314 E Oltorf, have joined a coalition of congregations, universities, and local advocates to display Vidas Robadas installations across Texas. The installations honor and memorialize the 3,996 Texas residents who, on average, lose their lives to gun violence every year. Gun violence is the leading cause of non-accidental death in Travis County, according to a recent news release from the county judge. A total of 178 firearm-related deaths occurred in 2023, with 107 classified as suicides and 71 as homicides.
The two congregations, in partnership with Texas Impact, erected Vidas Robadas (Spanish for “Stolen Lives”) following their Sunday services on January 26. The outdoor installation features 100 T-shirts, each listing the name of a local person who has died by suicide or murder. Vidas Robadas will be on display on the church grounds until February 9. Members of the public are encouraged to visit the display, read the names of victims, and reflect on the cost of gun violence to our community. Texas Impact, which started the Vidas Robadas project, is an organization that equips people of faith with information and outreach tools to educate their communities. One of the goals of Vidas Robadas is to connect Texans across the state, so that they can band together to demand stricter gun legislation at the 2025 Texas Legislative Session in 2025.
“Last week we celebrated the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom we lost to gun violence. And even long before his death, Mrs. Coretta Scott King was a proponent of limiting gun and weapon access. The King Holiday is a reminder of just how impactful gun violence is, to a person, a family, a community, a nation, and our world. Our congregation’s mission is to spread love, justice, and joy. When Texas UU Justice Ministry brought this project to our attention, we knew it was a conversation we didn’t want to have alone,” said Simone Monique Barnes, Wildflower Church’s Director of Membership and Spiritual Life. “Vidas Robadas is a way to continue the work and legacy of The King Family, advocating for peace and nonviolence.”
Having members of our congregations and neighbors in our surrounding community who have experienced gun violence firsthand, we feel it is critical to engage in this issue. And our church campus is located directly across the street from a public high school, which personalizes concerns about the impact that gun violence and school shootings have on students, parents, families, educators, and the communities that surround them. Vidas Robadas localizes and connects communities to the reality of gun violence, honoring gun violence victims and at the same time witnessing the need for change. Our faith traditions call on us to be stewards of peace and to care for the Beloved Community.
The Reverend Amy Myhand, pastor of Faith Presbyterian, said, “As followers of Christ, we are called to be peacemakers, to mourn with those who mourn, and to stand for justice. The Vidas Robadas project is a sacred act of remembrance and a prophetic call to action against the epidemic of gun violence that continues to steal precious lives. Every name we lift up represents a beloved child of God whose story must not be forgotten. As a community of faith, we commit to honoring their memories by working tirelessly for a world where peace prevails over violence, love triumphs over fear, and every life is valued as God intends.”
After the installation at Wildflower and Faith, the shirts will be brought to the Texas Coalition for Gun Violence Prevention Advocacy Day held on Thursday, February 27th at the Texas Capitol. It will include a larger Vidas Robadas installation of shirts bearing the names of the victims of gun violence in Texas, a rally, and lunch and meetings with lawmakers. The community can sign up to receive updates, details, and more information. HERE
ABOUT THE CONGREGATIONS:
Faith Presbyterian Church, a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is an inclusive and welcoming Christian community faithfully committed to ministries of compassion, diversity, equality and social justice. In 2024, recognizing that gun violence profoundly impacts the nation’s children, the PC(USA) voted that every congregation take actions to promote gun safety. https://faithpresaustin.org
Wildflower Church is a deliberately inclusive, lay-led, open-minded religious community in the Unitarian Universalist tradition, whose mission is growing spiritually together, spreading love, justice, and joy! Wildflower creates community by covenanting one to another, using our Covenant for Beloved Community, and uplifting our shared values of justice, equity, transformation, pluralism, interdependence, and generosity, with love at the center. https://wildflowerchurch.org
The two congregations share a campus in the Travis Heights neighborhood in South Austin, located at 1314 E Oltorf Street, Austin TX 78704.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS
Texas Impact is a religious grassroots network whose members include individuals, congregations, and governing bodies of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faiths. Texas Impact exists to advance state public policies that are consistent with the shared values of Texas faith communities. The non-profit works on a wide variety of public policy issues within the broadly held social concerns of mainstream religious traditions. Texas Impact uses a process of discernment on public policy issues like the processes used by many faith traditions, including Scripture, the wisdom of the faith traditions, current public policy information and data, and the experiential knowledge of people of faith to develop our positions and policy goals. https://texasimpact.org/
Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry (TXUUJM) is the UU state action network for Texas! It is a 501(c)(3c) member of the Coalition of UU State Action Networks (CUUSAN), representing about 40 UU congregations in Texas. Our motto is “Bending Texas Toward Justice TOGETHER.” TXUUJM educates and organizes Texas UUs, congregations, and partners to advocate effectively for UU principles in public policy and the public square. https://txuujm.org/
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Photos from Wildflower UU and Faith Presbyterian churches collaborating to create a Vidas Robadas (Stolen Lives) installation, displaying 100 t-shirts each honoring an individual who has died from gun violence in Texas, on Sunday, January 26, 2025.
Download a PDF of the Vidas Robadas press release below:
On Sunday, January 26, Wildflower Church and Faith Presbyterian are joining a coalition of congregations, universities, and local advocates to display Vidas Robadas installations Texas in collaboration with Texas Impact and TXUUJM. Faith and Wildflower will work together to create and install 100 shirts to be publicly displayed outside as part of this state wide project.
Vidas Robadas (Stolen Lives) is a Texas Impact project focused on addressing gun violence. Through memorializing victims of gun violence, Vidas Robadas localizes and makes visible the reality of gun violence for communities across our state. The installations honor and memorialize the thousands of Texas residents whose lives have been stolen by gun violence since 2018.
Schedule for Sunday, January 26:
11:00 am Coffee and preparing the shirts & plant the stakes for display outdoors
Faith and Wildflower congregations and friends (community members are welcome) will work together in Faith’s Fellowship Hall (located across the courtyard from the sanctuary and Wildflower Community Room), immediately following the 10 am worship service of Faith Presbyterian.
1:00 pm Outdoor installation of the shirts, reflections, and Closing Circle
Faith and Wildflower congregations and friends (community members are welcome) will work together, immediately following the 11:45 am worship service of Wildflower Church.
Wildflowers (and friends) are encouraged to come to church early and to stay late to participate in this meaningful, shared experience with Faith Presbyterian. All are welcome to participate in this hands on installation and community project.
The project could use a few additional people to help with set up or clean up, or participating in the program (a reading, sharing a personal experience, poem, music, etc.). Please let us know you’re interested in volunteering by signing up here, or reach out to Daniela or Simone at Wildflower, or Marilyn at Faith if you are interested.
This shirt will be installed on Sunday, January 26th, and will remain on display for 2 weeks (through February 9th).
ABOUT VIDAS ROBADAS
Vidas Robadas is a state-wide installation campaign, where congregations, universities, and any other interested locations display t-shirts that name or represent victims from their community whose lives where stolen by gun violence.
This project seeks to connect the various silos of advocacy and violence prevention, and to unite communities of faith with other advocates to create positive change. The project starts with municipal initiatives, connecting city leaders with advocates to enact gun violence reduction measures.
Vidas Robadas will be active up until the Texas legislative session in 2025, when all of our partners and allies across the state will head to the capitol to demand legislative change.
Gun reform is hard, especially in Texas. But not impossible. We have seen progress this past session that would have been impossible years prior. We have to capitalize on this moment. Lives depend on it.
And Save the Date: February 27th Gun Violence Prevention Advocacy Day Event at the Texas Capitol
