Watching General Assembly, I was surprised by my repulsion to the song, ‘Come and Go with Me to That Land’? Referred to as a “spiritual,” the song evoked in me stories of suffering on slave ships coming to a “new world” of conquest for profit and power.
“Why are we singing this song? What were they thinking??” I wondered, feeling wide open to the brutality of that passage. Yet the song is imbued with Joy!?
Described as,”a traditional gospel blues song,” it invites all of us – drawn to UU spiritual community – not to deny or look away from the suffering, but from it to choose intentionally and courageously to journey together to a world-in-the-making: a world made possible only by shared power and vision ever-evolving; a world rooted in relationships of covenant and accountability; with a brave-and-bold willingness to be changed by our spiritual journey together.
What I saw at GA this year is a Unitarian Universalism giving voice to open vulnerability, where no one is perfect or has the answers. Where creation is on-going and needs all of us. Where ‘God’ itself is evolving, through us.
It reminds me of the song ‘Becoming,’ which affirms:
“We are who we’re becoming; we are all we have done; we are what we are dreaming, we’ve only just begun.”
I am moved beyond words by this maturational shift in Unitarian Universalism, toward the vision of shared power and leadership that glimmered at me and called me into ministry many years ago.
May we dare to sing to one another, “Come and go with me to that land”.
Rev. Mary
