When I heard about the shooting last week, I sort of knew who Charlie Kirk was. I had heard of him as a right-wing podcaster…from the left-wing podcasters I listen to. In the immediate aftermath of the event, I really appreciated the voices calling for calm and unity—and denouncing all political violence. One message I heard was: “Let’s not hear celebrating from the left regarding this killing. We know that Kirk’s ideas were contrary to what we stand for, but he is a human being who leaves behind a wife and children. If we are celebrating his assassination, we have lost a big piece of our humanity.”
 
I encourage all Unitarian Universalists to take this point to heart. We are a people of values rooted in love. We are a people of compassion and decency. We value peace and abhor violence.
 
It will be interesting to see how Charlie Kirk is remembered in a year—or a decade. Since his death, I have seen some of his speeches which are blatantly racist. Overtly, disgustingly racist. Celebrating him as a hero, therefore—as many are doing—is antithetical to what I stand for.
 
This seems at first like a contradiction, but it is not. I loudly denounce the racist ideas that Charlie Kirk championed. And with equal vigor I denounce the violence that ended his life. These two things are unified by the value of love that I hold most dear. Love for all human beings, honoring their worth and dignity, causes me to be anti-racist and against Charlie Kirk’s ideas. Love for all human beings causes me to lament this loss of life: a 31 year-old man who did not deserve to die.
 
The times that we are living in challenge us deeply. How can we resist authoritarianism? How can we keep ourselves safe? We must answer hatred with love, we must answer hate speech with love speech—and we must answer violence with proclaiming that all human life is sacred. When we stop loving our political enemies as people, we have indeed lost a big piece of our humanity.
 
PRAYER:
May the voices proclaiming that all people are worthy drown out the voices that disparage Black people and women.
May the hearts of this nation be enlightened to the beautiful truth that we are all one human family.
May those promoting and celebrating racism be removed from power, that they may cease poisoning society with these harmful and deadly ideas.
May all people of good faith fearlessly proclaim the truth that love heals and unites.
And may we love our enemies, our neighbors…may we love everyone with no exceptions.
Amen.
 
Rev. Drew Frantz
September 16, 2025

A friend and colleague of mine, UU minister Rev. Ben Atherton-Zeman, was arrested recently for protesting against the removal of a Black Lives Matter street mural in St. Pete, Florida. The mural was next to a museum of African-American history in the city and was being removed due to a Florida state law banning street art. Eradicating a Black Lives Matter mural next to an African American history museum is in line with other authoritarian efforts I see in our nation today: erasing history and monuments to civil rights leaders while celebrating confederate leaders. On local TV news, both Rev. Atherton-Zeman and a fellow (Methodist) clergy member who was also arrested spoke about their calling and their commitment to oppose injustice and oppression.
 
The effect of this Florida law against street murals was also felt in Orlando. There a longstanding rainbow crosswalk that was painted as a memorial to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting has also been painted over. Now police stand guard over the crosswalk to prevent people from re-painting the rainbow colors or even chalking rainbows on the crosswalk. Anyone who does so is threatened with arrest. The communications director of the Human Rights Campaign was interviewed about this situation, and pointed out that the police effort to prevent rainbow murals in the street is greater than the effort to protect the LGBTQ+ community from violence.
 
I’m aware that these two symbols – the Black Matters Matter slogan and the rainbow – are also displayed prominently on our UUFCM building. When the government targets these symbols and sends police to enforce the mandates, we all should be worried. I honor my friend Ben for the principled stance he took, kneeling in prayer on the Black Lives Matter mural, and his courage knowing that he was likely to be arrested. May we all find the courage to resist how and where we can, living into our values of inclusion, equity and interdependence.
 
PRAYER:
God bless the artists who express their love, their pain, their values, and their hopes in the murals and street art that beautify our cities.
May these artistic expressions thrive and endure.
May the creator of all send strength and courage to those who oppose oppression, fascism, and authoritarianism.
With the hope of a more loving and just world, and the commitment to make that vision a reality, Amen.
 
Rev. Drew Frantz
September 9, 2025

The group on Facebook is called Ecstatic Dance Lansing, and that’s how I found out about the event Friday night. I found my way to the address they advertised, a park by the river, adjacent to an industrial area, not far from REO Town. They said there would be a drum circle and a dance, so I had brought a drum and some rhythm instruments. As I walked across the grass and over a small rise I saw the group set up in a wide circle, most sitting on blankets, and Megan and Sara greeted me.
 
The last time I had seen these people was several months ago at a similar event. At that time Sara was pregnant, and now I saw her with a tiny baby in her arms. Megan is the spiritual leader of the group, and soon after I arrived she set the sacred space for the evening. First we did the drum circle, and I enjoyed keeping the rhythm with a young man next to me I had never met. (Later when I talked to him I was surprised to hear him say he’s been attending drum circles this summer in Mount Pleasant.) Then Megan and her partner sang a few songs, and finally we all danced to a play list she had created. Like any ecstatic dance, the dancing was free and mostly individual, with some spontaneous moments of group dancing. At this event were about 12 or 15 adults, the precious baby I already mentioned, and three other children. There was an altar set up on a picnic blanket, and I used the Tarot cards there to draw three cards for myself: Messenger (inverted), Six of Cups, and Ace of Cups. We sang, danced, drummed, laughed, and cried. As is the tradition at an ecstatic dance, Megan brought us together in a circle at the end for an opportunity to share what the experience had been like. The evening dew had fallen on the grass and the sun was setting as we packed up and walked back to our cars.
 
These two hours in a city park--grass underfoot, a majestic tree in the clearing, the river glimpsed nearby, and the new moon in the sky—was a profound spiritual experience of joy, connection and community. No church, no sermon, and no coffee hour. But the like any intentional moment of religious worship, I connected on Friday night to the divine beyond me; I reflected tearfully, held in sacred silence, on my journey in life; and I had moments of sharing and connection (with and without words) with the others in the circle. I could not ask for a greater blessing.
 
PRAYER:
Blessed be the fluid community of Ecstatic Dance Lansing.
Blessed be the children running in the grass, the singers and their songs, and the dancing both timid and exuberant.