Three UUFR Stories, by Lynda Hambourger
Out of the Mouths of Babes
I joined UUFR in 1987, on account of a child. At that time, I was married with three children, ages 11, 9 and 1. My husband and I had been married by a UU minister in New Jersey; that seemed the logical thing to do, since he was a non-practicing Jew and I was a non-believer (though I had attended church while I was growing up, mostly because I liked singing in the choir). At that time we lived in Raleigh, attending an Episcopal Church. *I* had thought if we went to church, we’d go to a UU church, but my husband had other ideas; from a non-practicing Jew he had converted to Christianity (interesting, but this is not about HIS religious journey). The Episcopal Church was a compromise: He liked the doctrine, I liked the music. The two older kids went to Sunday School, everything seemed fine.
Till one Sunday when my husband and I were called to the office of the Sunday School director. Our 9-year-old son was in the office, too. And not for a good reason. He had threatened to attack his Sunday School teacher, one of the sweetest women you could ever meet, with his 3-inch pocketknife! Why, I asked my son? “You don’t believe this stuff, Mom, and I don’t either. Why do you make me come here?” Well, he was too young to leave home alone, so the next week he and I were at UUFR.
I Was Hooked
When I first began attending UUFR, my first UU church, I was simply entranced. So different from other churches! So open-minded; such interesting sermons and discussions; so many well-informed, friendly people. A church without dogma, which addressed real, earthly issues, not imaginary heavenly ones; where lay people designed and presented their own services, and everyone’s ideas were respected. (Years later, as a member of the Worship Committee, I led services and gave sermons, one of the activities I most appreciated at UUFR.)
And there was a choir! The choir was the first group I joined at UUFR. It wasn’t big in those early years; as I remember, there were seven of us in total: six women and one bass. And a volunteer choir director, Loretta Mershon. We did our best and had a good time. Later, excellent paid professionals, like Bill Yocum and Yuri Yamamoto, led the choir, and it grew in size and expertise.
Take a Stand, But Not Alone
Over the years, I’ve been involved in many activities at UUFR, both internal (like choir, book and poetry clubs and lay administration) and external (like social action demonstrations and protests). UUFR’s location in Raleigh makes the latter particularly significant. When the death penalty was being carried out regularly, UUFR members (often including me) were always there, holding candles–as well as holding in mind the person about to be killed in our name–outside Central Prison on the nights when the 2 a.m. executions took place.
At MLK Day marches, there was always a UUFR contingent, proud behind our UU banner. I and many other UUs were active in Historic Thousands on Jones Street rallies. These rallies were organized annually in Raleigh by the North Carolina NAACP and led by Rev. William Barber. The aim was to bring the concerns of the people to the state legislature located on Jones St. I especially remember the very cold February day in 2016 when we hosted an HKonJ event that brought large crowds of people from all over the country. And the many Moral Monday demonstrations at the Legislative Building, where dozens of UUs would show up in our yellow Standing on the Side of Love t-shirts.
On one of those occasions, I brought a young grandchild, who had made his own protest sign; on another I was arrested for trespassing in the Legislative Building. There were Pride parades and rallies against NC Amendment 1, which prohibited same-sex marriage. It was important to take a public stand on issues like these, and I felt fortunate to have so many opportunities to do so in Raleigh, and very glad to have other committed UUs with whom to do it, together.
