Dear ones,

As human beings, we go in and out of our commitments.

The Jewish tradition has a formal process every year of returning to their commitment to living in right relationship with the whole. Last week, we read Thomas Berry’s questions: Is my next thought, word or deed sustainable for, an expression of greater intimacy with, a celebration of Earth?

As climate justice Unitarian Universalists who braid the first and seventh principle together, we ask ourselves: Is my next thought, word or deed sustainable for, an expression of greater intimacy with, a celebration of The Whole? Are we in right relationship with The Whole?

We must ask ourselves this because we get out of alignment with our highest principles. While sometimes we miss the mark, sometimes we don’t even aim. We get tired, lazy, distracted. Powerful forces are aligned against our effort to be in right relationship, tugging at us, tempting us to turn away from our commitments.

And we do. Day in and day out, we fail. But day in, and day out, we return again. This is why we have spiritual practice. This is why we have spiritual community. This is why we have relationships of accountability. This work is too hard to do alone, too hard to do without a regular practice that returns us to our highest ideals.

This month we have been through a transformative process that has brought us to commitment-making. For the earth we love, the people we love, the beings we love, for the running water, and clean air, and warm dirt we love, for our communities and the communities around us, we must make this commitment. And we must know that embedded in our highest ideals is missing the mark.

So we must build into those commitments practices of return: to self, to the commitments, and to our communities of accountability. How will you hold yourself? Who will you talk to? What is the most sustainable process for you to return to this commitment when you break it?

Build it in. We are human. And by returning again, we become resilient.

Your Commit2Respond Resource Team,

Rev. Sofía Betancourt
Rev. Peggy Clarke
Tim DeChristopher
Kat Liu
Jennifer Nordstrom

We are nearing the close of Commit2Respond's Climate Justice Month, a transformative spiritual process leading to long-term commitments to climate justice. Now is the time to commit to respond to climate change. How will you SHIFT to a low carbon future, ADVANCE human rights, and GROW the movement?