A Rich Tapestry
Queer focused
One of the early stories about STC concerned the fact that many of its founders were gay and lesbian. If you were openly gay and visited a suburban church in the early days, you were often advised that "you might be more comfortable" at STC. So entrenched was this view, that when in later years the UUA embarked on a national effort to make its congregations more welcoming of queer folks, a few suburban congregations actually asked for token gays from STC to sit in on their internal discussions of homophobia.
STC on the other hand regularly participated in Pride events, provided a platform for Queer Theologians such as Elias Farajaje Jones, and has always had a queer presence in leadership.
One of my fondest memories was a board meeting when the straight members fought bravely to preserve a STC presence at the DC Gay Pride march against the wishes of some queer board members who were afraid of a backlash. Later over dinner, many expressed astonishment that Gay Pride meant so much to the straight members of the congregation.
The Role of Black Women
The leadership of black women has always figured prominently within STC. A black woman minister along with about a dozen people from surrounding UU churches founded the congregation. Several of the founding members were established powerhouses within the black community and within the larger UU movement. Many of these founding black women are still active today.
Strong black leadership from women ensured that racial diversity was a reality and not a pipe dream. These pivotal women were anything but traditional church ladies. They held office as president as well as other executive positions including at large board members, directed social action programs, led task forces and committees, spoke from the pulpit as minister and lay leaders, represented the congregation within community coalitions and held national positions within the UUA.
As one gay member has expressed time and time again, "It's because of the strong black women of STC that I keep coming back".
The one thing STC has always had a short supply of was straight men, especially straight black men. Many reasons have been offered, including the presence of so many strong black women and the openly gay presence. But the reality is that in DC, black men are a minority in churches generally. So the question is not where are the black het men, but what keeps the black women (straight, bi or lesbian) presence so consistent? The answer may lie in the music, the services and the leadership style.
Activist's Haven
A key feature of STC is that almost all of its members are activists. Almost every movement for racial, social and economic justice has a representative within our rolls. This means that most of us are way too busy saving the world most times to keep STC running and in health. And anyone who does take time to keep the congregation going does so at great personal expense, physically, emotionally and sometimes financially.
The other side of the coin, is the reason given by these same activists for joining STC, they desperately needed the spiritual support in order to keep up the fight. So every time, STC tries to close its doors due to a lack of volunteers, these activists come out of woodwork screaming, "No, we need STC." Apparently the church's very existence helps those who never even have time to attend regularly.
Pagan Onslaught
Pagans also figured prominently in the beginnings of STC. At least one of the founders was a witch, with still others identifying as pagans. Over the years, because STC provided a welcoming space for pagan ritual in the Sunday Services, the number of witches has steadily increased.
Dark Flame Coven (DFC) was in fact formed primarily through connections made at STC. The relationship between DFC and STC is long and at times so intermingled that during one period, the STC board members referred to "our choir, our committees and our coven".
DFC had celebrated Beltane and Samhain at STC for several years, and in recent years its members has taken over the Equinox/Solstice services, lead the Sunday services committee, and taught more than a few ministers the fine art of ritual. Currently a coven member acts as part time minister and the coven runs the entire Sunday service program.
In effect the pagans generally and DFC in particular, brought a key ingredient to the already high commitment to dynamic, unique and diverse spiritual experiences - ritual construction and the allure of magic.
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Wish I could be there. Very well spoken.
Katrina,
I wish you all the blessings and power you need on your journey. Thank you for these words. It is good to remember that returning to work (and thus returning to grace) bring a chance for us all to rest and have joy.
Wishing you joy in the Work.
David
Dear Katrina- Thorn reposted your blog and happy am I. Your passion, always so immense, comes blowing out in these words. So akin to my own heart and soul that it makes me have a bittersweet smile.
The Storm is only now coming to the edges of our universe and yet it will sweep and consume all that is. In the end, our beautiful universe will be so much...more? Different? Complete? Who knows?
All I do know is my soul came here to witness and be part in this period. I cannot shrink from the work. I am here with you, fae sister!
Thought-provoking piece, Katrina. Thanks.
I don't know what to call myself either. In Pagandom, I've taken to referring to myself as a Witch at Large. In the interfaith world where I'm active, I call myself a Pagan. Sometimes I call myself an uppity woman or a Second Wave Feminist. I've never really thought to publicly identify myself by my sexuality, het woman, which is very "white bread" and old-fashioned. Not only het, but serially monogamous for the most part. It seems almost a liability these days to say you're het, but I am proudly and happily so. I tend towards intellectualism but only have a BA, which doesn't carry much weight, at least in public and professional worlds, no matter how much you've studied, trained, and can articulate, even teach.
My biological heritage is Irish, Dutch, French Huguenot, Euro-mongrel. My social heritage is Roman Catholic on one side and conservative Methodist, temperance-crusading, women's rights and education on the other, with distinct East Coast sensibilities, now mellowed by more than half a century living on the Left Coast. My maternal political heritage is conservative Republican (altho what my relatives might think of current trends in the GOP I cannot imagine, since they did have brains and they did think and they did have a social conscience), yet I am much farther left in my outlook than any elected official I know. My paternal political heritage is blue collar Democratic, except that my dad broke with his family on politics and allied with my mother's family's conservatism.
I'm a former hippie, a home-birth advocate, a home death and green burial advocate, an opponent of capital punishment and resorting to warfare to resolve humankind's differences. I support the right to conscious self-deliverance. I rejoice in any and all consensual expressions of love and eros. I'm a lover and a mom.
I have never missed voting in an election and I disrespect those who don't avail themselves of this hard-won right. (I have ancestors who fought the Brits in the American Revolution.) I support workers' rights. I recognize our interdependence on this planet, so could be called a greenie. I'm a committed environmentalist in my day-to-day life (in terms of eating locally grown food, expanding public transit, recycling, preserving open space and wildlife, opposing exploitation of natural resources [strip mining, oil-drilling, nuclear facilities, agribusiness, monocultures, clear-cutting timber, overuse of pesticides, genetic modification, etc.]) I want to make the city streets "safe for dancing," as my old friend Tony Serra said when he ran for mayor of SF on the Platypus Party ticket.
Well, you got me going there, my friend. Thought-provoking read, as I said. ;-)
xo,
Macha
Lovely azaleas!
[cough][gag][snort][sneeze]
Just lovely...
I know what you mean.
I feel you. There is too much bs- particularly when people decide that their temperament is tantamount to truthful and ignore everyone else.
I get irked by immature extroverts or closet introverts who ignore you REPEATEDLY and then pretend you're out of line for being upset by the time they can't pretend you didn't say anything anymore. I find that the same people will ignore you if you blow up right away, too, and that it's because they just don't think that honoring what you value is important to maintaining a relationship, or even worse: that you don't know what you value at all and that it's all a mind game for their pleasure or annoyance. Then they call you passive-aggressive, aggressive, moody, touchy and temperamental. I call them "not listening".