UUFR Enriches Our Lives, by Bonnie Tilson
Our family came to UUFR in the late 1990’s when our daughter Emily asked to belong to a community of people like her friends, who were Jewish and close to each other in spirit and action. I grew up in a small Presbyterian church and fully appreciate the desire for a community with which to connect, but I couldn’t foresee participating in a traditional religious community with little social justice action. My husband David grew up Catholic, where he experienced no sense of community whatsoever and never had opportunities to participate in social justice work at church. We no longer held religious beliefs.
I began researching and came upon a UUFR ad in the Yellow Pages that talked about people seeking their own religious beliefs and opportunities to participate in social justice work, with all people being welcomed.
We attended Sunday mornings and then took classes introducing us to the history and ideas of Unitarian Universalism. We joined and created a family tradition of Sunday’s at UUFR followed by a coffee shop visit. All was working out well, until it became difficult to awaken the family on Sundays. We stopped attending. But we still felt pulled by UUFR’s call for social justice work and came back years later for its enriching community.
As the years have passed, we have felt more and more at home at UUFR and have appreciated the many opportunities to contribute to our community and social justice programs through UUFR. David and I jumped in to learn about antiracism through attending the Living the Pledge workshop. We participate in the Race and Culture Book Group, and I served on the AIR committee. We write postcards encouraging folks to vote through UUFR’s participation in UU the Vote. We have rallied for reproductive justice in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Raleigh. And we make contributions most Fridays to food security for unhoused people through UUFR’s work with the Bryant Community Engagement Center.
Thank you, UUFR, for providing many ways one can contribute to other members, the larger Triangle community and humanity in general. Making contributions to others enriches our own lives. We have made many close friends and expect to make many more. A feeling of community abounds at UUFR.
