This is for my sisters. This is for my mother, who was a counselor at an abortion clinic in Boston when I was a child. This is for my daughter in-law, for my nieces. This is for the mother of my children, for my wife. This is for anyone who identifies as female and for anyone whose body is affected by the ruling of the United States supreme court today.
 
I am filled with sadness and anger. This is an attack on human rights, on bodily autonomy. Men would never allow for laws like this to be passed about male bodies. The majority does not support this ruling, but we are in a country where minority rule is a reality because of unfair systems of voting and representation.
 
I am in Portland, Oregon, far from my home and my congregation. While far from home, I am with my people – surrounded by my people, in the stronghold of my people, the heart of the core of Unitarian Universalist power. Our power is in loving and supporting one another, in being courageous in the face of injustice. Where injustice is present, love looks like protest and resistance.
 
To all who read this message, I invite you first to take care of yourself. If the outrage and grief are overwhelming, reach out for love and support. You are not in this alone. When you are ready, I invite you to express yourself through action. In Michigan, one important action is to sign the reproductive rights petition, supporting the Michigan Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative.
 
I reach out in love to all: women, men, transgender and non-binary adults--and to children. This ruling is a blow to freedom and justice. Let us hold one another in love and strengthen each other in our work for justice.
 
PRAYER:
 
Divine Presence, Mother Father God, Spirit of Life:
 
We hear this news with sadness and outrage. May the feelings flow through us and not get stuck in a place where they harm us. May lamentation cleanse our spirits for the work to come, the work of love and justice. May outrage turn to resolve.
 
We affirm that all people are blessed, that all people are worthy, that all bodies are sacred, that all people deserve love and care for their bodies and their spirits—in exactly the ways that they choose.
 
With faith in the power of humanity to build a better world through love,
 
Amen. Blessed Be.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
June 24, 2022

I’m thinking about the recent arrest of white supremacists at an LGBTQ pride rally in Idaho, and putting this in context with my upcoming trip to General Assembly.
 
In Idaho, 31 men were arrested with riot gear and charged with conspiracy to riot: members of a white supremacist group, they were planning to violently disrupt the gay pride festival in Coeur D’Alene. Since then, the police chief reports getting many death threats phoned in against the officers who made the arrests. This event fits into a pattern of right wing political violence and of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation in the country.
 
In a few days I will be attending General Assembly, the annual national gathering of Unitarian Universalists. Our denomination is very small in the national scope of religious organizations, but it is well-known as one of the most liberal. On LGBTQ rights we have been especially proactive, being among the first religions to perform same sex marriages and among the loudest in advocating for trans rights.
 
This juxtaposition of the arrests in Idaho and the upcoming General Assembly leads me to two thoughts. First, it is possible for our GA, like a pride festival, to be targeted by right wing groups. General Assembly in previous years has attracted such protests. Just like the Black Lives Matter banner and the rainbow flag on the UUFCM building make it a potential target of vandalism (or worse), the liberal stance of the UU denomination makes our national gathering a potential target. This leads to my second thought.
 
How must we move forward and grow? In a world of increasing right-wing extremism, how can Unitarian Universalism be a continuing and increasing haven for love; an compromising example of radical welcome; a living experiment of creating beloved community that celebrates difference and diversity? General Assembly is a chance to refocus on who we are as a religious movement and to collectively discern our direction. We vote on bylaws that guide the denomination’s way of conducting business and on candidates striving to be the leaders of our movement. As a voting delegate at GA, I will keep this question in mind when considering any vote I am called to make: what choice makes us a stronger institution that can be a spiritual leader for diverse beloved community in these dangerous times?  My time at General Assembly is also a chance to retreat and reflect on our small congregation here in Michigan, and I will use the same lens to focus my reflection: how can I be a more effective leader to create greater love in our congregation and to counteract hateful ideologies in our community? Mindful of the challenges of our time, and confident in the power of our Unitarian Universalist faith, I move forward with determined hope.
 
PRAYER:
God of all who love or have loved – which is all of us--
God of the brave people at Coeur D’Alene Pridefest who endured harassment and threats,
Be here now.
Remind us that love is what we are made to do.
Remind us that love wins, that love saves, that love carries us forward in hope when there is no hope.
Spirit of Love, bless this troubled nation, bless the police officers in Idaho, and bless the gathering of ministers and other UU’s in Portland.
May all be touched and blessed by divine love.
Amen.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
June 16, 2022

I attended the commemoration of the Mt. Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School on Monday, hosted by the Ziibiwing Center and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. The event was moving and informative, and I’ll share three moments that stood out for me.
 
At the sunrise ceremony at Mission Creek Cemetery, I experienced the pipe ceremony and the water ceremony for the first time. Each one felt like a gift of sharing and community building, with the pipe offered to everyone present, and the water first blessed and then poured for everybody to drink. Each ritual was accompanied by traditional teachings, in which I heard both wisdom and a challenge to do the right thing.
 
The second experience I had was similar to the first, although it was held at the main event center, a large tent on the grounds of the Mt. Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. Here a group of elders were taking turns sharing about their experiences creating and using sacred pipes. I was hearing their words—about culture, about being called to spiritual leadership—as I stood in a light rain in the field next to the tent. Next to me were a group of young men by a wood fire; families moved about with babies in strollers. And I had the distinct sense of being in “church.” I was hearing words of tradition and teaching and advice spoken by spiritual leaders—like we do in traditions I’m familiar with, where a preacher delivers a sermon. The difference was being outside and the blending of the formal and the informal, the religious and the natural. I had felt the same thing at the sunrise ceremony earlier in the day. It was the experience of being in a church without walls, and of the natural surroundings enhancing the spiritual experience.
 
Finally, I want to share the profound experience of commemorating the 227 young people who died at the Mt. Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. For the commemoration, the names of each of these children was printed on a card with a piece of yarn tied to it. Attendees at the event, including myself, were asked to wear one of these cards around our neck as we danced in a great circle to the beating of drums and the singing of a sacred song. Then every one of the 227 names were read aloud, with a single beat of the drum following each name. I was moved by sadness as the drumbeat repeatedly sounded and vibrated in my body.
 
The tribe hosts this event every year. It includes free breakfast and lunch, free shuttles from the parking lot, and the expertise and leadership of native leaders from local and far-away tribes. I think that anyone who attends will learn from the experience and be changed by it. I have a deeper appreciation of the culture of the Anishinabek, and a greater sense of the scope of the injustice represented by the Indian boarding school system. I’m grateful to everyone who organized and attended this commemoration.
 
PRAYER:
Great Spirit, may there be a fruitful blending of traditions. May my religion learn from the culture and lifeways, the spiritual traditions of the Anishinabek. May my religion offer its gifts to the world. May people of diverse backgrounds seek and find wisdom and the guidance of spiritual teachers. May the blending of traditions pave the way for a world of greater harmony.
 
In the name of all that is holy,
Amen. Aho. Blessed be.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
June 9, 2022

I have been participating in a series of events to educate myself about Native American issues, especially about the history and culture of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe who have called this land their home for many generations. These events have been coordinated by the racial justice task force of this Fellowship as part of the congregation’s commitment to anti-racist work.
 
The first event I attended was a film called “Warrior Lawyers” about the native court system in Michigan, including a panel discussion with the filmmaker and one of the judges afterwards. I learned that tribal courts tend towards a model of restorative justice that emphasizes relationship and atonement for harm done, rather than guilt and punishment--an approach that is resonant with UU values. A few of the Michigan state courts are experimenting with this restorative justice model as well.
 
Secondly, I facilitated a panel discussion where three members of our fellowship talked about their experience working with the tribe, using the published report “Study of Micro-Aggressions and Other Hostile Encounters Between Tribal Members and Non-Natives in Isabella County”
as a reference and a guide. The panelists and the attendees that evening all identified as white, which meant that we were trying to understand more about the Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribe as outsiders, with a goal of being allies. The panelists were careful to say that none of them were experts, yet some of them had worked with the tribe for years. A take-home message for me from the report and from the panelists is that negative stereotypes about the tribe persist in this community; and that the Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribe, like any group of people, is not monolithic but diverse.
 
Most recently, a small group of UUFCM members took a guided tour of the Ziibiwing Center. It was my third time visiting the museum, and my first time doing so with a Native American guide. His comments throughout the tour offered a rich insight into his people’s history and culture. A poignant moment was when he asked us to name our children and to imagine if they had been taken away from us the way that native children were taken to the boarding school.
 
This brings me to the next event coming up: the commemoration of the 88th anniversary of the Mount Pleasant Boarding School closing. The history of this institution, where the mistreatment of children was brutal and deliberate with the aim of separating them from their sense of cultural identity, is just beginning to sink in for me. Monday June 6 is the day of “Honoring, Healing and Remembering” with sacred ceremonies, prayers, dances, and speakers all day (7:00–4:00). All members and friends are invited to attend. We will have a discussion to prepare ourselves for this sacred commemoration event on Sunday June 5 at 1:00. A history of the boarding school is available on our website and through our email newsletter for further reading.
 
PRAYER:
Great Spirit, divine spark of life within colonists and natives, within all of us no matter our ancestry: be here now. May your blessing be upon the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe in this moment of remembering the unthinkable violence done to their children a few generations ago in this place.
 
May the necessary truths be told, no matter how difficult to hear. May those of us who are white learn from the past and resolve to build a better today.
 
May greater love and understanding, greater harmony among all people, bless this community and every human community on Earth.
 
Blessed be.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
June 2, 2022