Freedom in Community, an Orientation Chapel Service
REFLECTIONS ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE IN COMMUNITY AT UNION FROM JESS MILLER AND MONIQUE FORTUNÉ
James Chapel
Tuesday, August 27, 9:30am
JESS MILLER
My experience and growing philosophy of what it means to be in community at Union could be simply stated as:
It is what you make of it
If you are passionate about something, follow it where it wants to lead, follow through on what it is calling you to.
And Pursue collaborative spaces and projects over heroic solo enterprises.
But I’ll unpack that a little.
As it has been stated already during Orientation, we will be uncomfortable and we will be busy here at Union. With this in mind, Union might just be at best a place you come to, take what you want from it, and leave going back to wherever you have come from. This is a valid and necessary experience here, but know that it will lack depth for you at times and puts limits on our collective ability as your Union family to nourish and strengthen your gifts with you.
On the other side of this coin, being involved at Union sometimes means having a new relationship with burnout, knowing when to step back, especially when you find yourself spending more hours on extracurriculars than classes and assignments. Set your intention. Understand, explore, and hold to your boundaries. This place will ask a lot of you, sometimes too much of you. But only you will know what you are able to show up for. Sometimes that will mean stretching yourself deeper into Union, and sometimes that will mean retreating away in our own particular ways. We don’t want anyone subscribing to an idea redemptive suffering here.
At Union, my experience of community has been formed by looking out at what is, especially that which is uncomfortable, unjust, or non-functioning, then dreaming of that already but not yet possibility of what could be, and connecting with others who are doing the same. Last year a group of us re-started the student-run newspaper, The Heretic. Union has had many iterations of student newspapers in the past, all with different names through the years and all serving different functions. But forming this community at Union through this channel wasn’t as simple as just starting back up this caucus and putting out content. Rather, we saw the institutional memory of Union being lost with staff and faculty turnover, we felt passionate feelings about campus renewal and lack of communication from the administration with no constructive way of expressing these thoughts, we wanted to express ourselves creatively but felt confined to an academic format in many classes. We didn’t want bitterness and frustration to fester in silence and isolation so all these reasons and more catalyzed a small group to dream of how we might build toward a better future, and this dreaming led to planning, developing a sociocratic leadership model and practicing it together, creating a website, becoming a caucus, calling for and publishing work. All of this was all extracurricular, on top of our own workload, but it meant enough to us to see the end to some systemic growing pains that we decided that extra work was worth it. Through it we shared ourselves with each other, disclosing our particularities and passions, and practiced for our future vocations whatever they might be. You can’t orient a school around social justice liberation and then be surprised when we practice the revolution on you, our local context. I’ve gained skills that will help me as a student at Union as well as life beyond Union. Some of my close friends have been coworkers on The Heretic.
Adrienne Maree Brown, a Detroit-based activist, organizer, womanist, and afro-futurist writer highly influenced by the work of Octavia Butler came out with her third book this past Spring titled Pleasure Activism where she poly-vocally addresses the question “How do we make social justice the most pleasurable human experience?” I wanted to close my reflection on community at Union with a short excerpt from her second book, Emergent Strategy, which became for me a permanent bedside staple. In this book she offers a framework for resistance that is rooted in the miracles of nature; decentralized, collective leadership; and personal, relational, organizational, and movement-wide transformation.
She asks this and I will ask of you the same, “Do you already know that your existence - who and how you are - is in and of itself a contribution to the people and place around you? Not after or because you do some particular thing, but simply the miracle of your life. And that the people around you, and the place(s), have contributions as well? Do you understand that your quality of life and your survival are tied to how authentic and generous the connections are between you and the people and place you live with and in?
Are you actively practicing generosity and vulnerability in order to make the connections between you and others clear, open, available, durable? Generosity here means giving
what you have without strings or expectations attached. Vulnerability means showing your needs.”
MONIQUE FORTUNÉ
Welcome to Union. Welcome to New Student Orientation Chapel. As we, the Union family welcome the entering class and returning students, administration, faculty and staff – I reflect on the words from one of my favorite Broadway musicals, Rent – ‘No day but today.” Anyone who knows me knows that I am a dedicated Broadway fan. I borrow the words of Jonathan Larson to remind the entering class that our Union journey is still a process for all of us. I advise you to take this Union journey one day at a time. Yes, there will be times that you will have to take this journey one moment at a time. Believe me.
I think about my own Union journey. One year ago, I was where you are. I am here. We are here. I am excited to say aloud – “I am a second year Master of Divinity student.” I got through my first year. It was not without firm lessons and tender mercies. I am aware that in many ways, I did not choose Union. Union chose me. Long story short – it has been a twenty-year journey of “stop and start”, doubting myself and questioning my call. God is a God of order. I finally paid attention to the direct and indirect messages from the Creator that it was time to study at Union.
As I prepared today’s reflections, I can now laugh to myself about my academic challenges during the first term at Union. I had a particularly difficult time with the Old Testament course. I realized that I had to deconstruct what I had learned about the Hebrew Bible. I had to come out of my denial and realize that I had been selective about how I read the text. Gratitude for a compassionate and brilliant professor, patient and caring teaching fellows and supportive classmates. The incredible Union community assisted me with an academic lesson as well as a life lesson. Selectivity was not serving me in the classroom or in life. Before my Old Testament course, I tended to go straight to the soothing and “feel good” psalms or proverbs. For me it would be, Psalms 23, 46 or Proverbs 1 or Proverbs 31. I had a hard time and wrestled with what I called the “gloom and doom” stories in the books of Daniel and Hosea. As I courageously and anxiously pushed through the course, I realized I was selective in life as well. I always wanted to go to the “feel good” experiences and avoid or be in denial about the challenges in my life. Sometimes, we must balance the joy and pain in our lives. There are times we must face our hurt before we get to the joy. We can learn from our pain and joy. As you move through your first year, be open to it all – joy and pain. Construct now your own questions and lessons. Watch. Look. Listen. Union family, still, still jump into your experiences - heart, mind, and soul with faith and a sense of wonder.
Your entering class name is “Freedom in Community.” Watch. Look. Listen. Jump in. I encourage you to allow grace – for yourself and others. Stand in your power and praise. You are free to connect to the community that is Union. You are not alone. You are blessed. Remember to be a blessing. The Union community needs you. Take it one moment at a time. Take it one day at a time. There is “no day but today.” Say it with me – “No day but today.” “No day but today.” “No day but today.” Welcome. God bless you.