Rev. Lori With A Modern Parable of Readiness
A version of this reflection was originally published in the previous week’s Friday Flyer.
Happy New Year Good People,
I hope you have entered 2026 well, leaving behind what doesn’t serve, with fresh eyes on what may come. Fixing your eyes on what I hope is our constant question, “what would love ask me to do in this moment?” This month’s Soul Matter’s theme is Practicing Resistance. Perfect for the month of January and perfect for this day and age.
January is the month we recognize Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday, Roe versus Wade, and the signing of the emancipation proclamation. Practicing Resistance in honor of these very dear remembrances is not only timely but hugely important. We need to regularly consider how we keep the meaning and messages of these occurrences in the forefront as we navigate. How do we prepare for this month and prepare ourselves to practice resistance? I believe it starts with considering what resistance means to us given our faith and our place in the world, literally and figuratively.
First, in order to ground ourselves in our identity so that we face this year with love, I share with you a parable:
A Modern Parable of Readiness
There once was a traveler who set out with nothing but a thin cloak and a determined heart. Whenever the winds changed, she gathered the cloak around her. When storms approached, she cinched the cloth tight at her waist so her hands were free—free to build, free to shield, free to lift others up. When asked why she always prepared herself so deliberately, she said, “The world is full of work that requires both strength and tenderness. I gird myself not for battle, but for love.”
May we, too, prepare our spirits so that our hands are free for justice.
Rev Lori Whittemore
(she, her, hers)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Saco Biddeford