Dear friends,

This has been a hard week–perhaps for almost all of us, but most particularly for those of us who are survivors of sexual assault and violence.

To the survivors in our community: as your clergy, we want to tell you how much you are in our hearts. Over the years, we have heard some of your stories, and we know many stories remain untold. What we hope you hear from us is that we care for you, we believe you, and we are available if you need to talk. Please reach out if you need us, and take care of yourself in all the ways you need to–whether that means turning off the news, taking a break from social media, spending time with family and friends, simply noticing and honoring your feelings (whether of fear, strength, anger, sadness), or walking outside.

To everyone: as you may know, Zeb has been acting in solidarity by showing up–joined several times by WES members and by other Unitarian Universalist clergy–to protest and engage in civil disobedience at the Senate. There may be more opportunities to show up in this way, with or without civil disobedience; if you’d like to join Zeb, please be in touch with him at zebg@ethicalsociety.org. And we hope that you will be at WES for platform tomorrow, when our guest Christian Hayden will lead us through some connecting and deepening conversation together, and our chorus will surround us with music that can help to hold all we are feeling. Being with each other is important, especially in weeks like this one.

In the coming weeks, we will be creating special space for all of us–survivors and supporters–to gather, and we may seek to create some particular spaces for survivors and/or for women. If you would like to be part of that creation, please let Amanda know atamandap@ethicalsociety.org.

Right now, our hearts are full with our care for you.

Amanda and Zeb