Call to Worship: Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church, March 28

 A Call to Worship for the Transgender Day of Visibility

Welcome!  I am Michelle Paquette, and my pronouns are she/her/hers.

In our Unitarian Universalist faith we teach that we may each participate in a in free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

Many of us have been engaged in a search for our personal truths, a personal voyage of discovery.  This search may lead us to uncover deep truths about ourselves, and bring those truths to the surface.

As we find and live our truths, we may change how we identify ourselves, how we present ourselves to others in appearance, role, and identity.   This is a deeply personal act, in which we reveal these deep truths to others, and render ourselves vulnerable to them as part of trying to live our authentic lives. 

We ask of others that they also do something in response to our revelation.  We ask that they honor our worth and dignity, and accept us as we accept them.  

This isn’t always an easy thing to do.

Something I have stumbled over quite a bit in my life is a tendency to commit what I call “acts of assumption.”   My mind tries to match  what I perceive at first glance against cultural templates I’ve been taught over my life, to try and produce conclusions about a person I see before me.

I unconsciously commit these acts of assumption with every person I meet.  If that person then reveals something to me that conflicts with my assumptions about them, there is a bit of an internal conflict.  Which is correct, my assumptions or their revealed truths?

It’s not easy to reveal a deep truth about ourselves, only to have it rejected out of hand with a gesture, a remark, or a misgendering pronoun.

It’s not easy to realize that our assumptions are wrong, that the person we see before us is not who we thought they were, that we have perhaps made an unconscious error.  Still, it is easy to recover from this, learn, reset our assumptions, and move on.  It’s not so easy to have deep truths about ourselves casually rejected, authenticity denied.

In our Unitarian Universalist faith we strive to see the worth and dignity of every person, accept one another, and engage in a in free and responsible search for truth and meaning.  I love this about our faith, and I love the experience that this provides me.  I love being able to enter into a space where I know I can express my deep truths, be my authentic self, and know that I am in the company of others who honor my worth and dignity, and who accept me as I accept them.   Thank you for your gift.

This week, on March 31, we celebrate the Transgender Day of Visibility. 

We celebrate the Transgender Day of Visibility  in today’s service, which affirms the truth in each of us. As a community, we support each other through each of life’s transformations.  Later in the service, we will hold the Ceremony of Renaming for members of the community who are claiming their identities by living with a new name.

Let’s celebrate our revealed truths today, as we worship together.

Call To Worship - March 31, 2019 - "THE ADVENTURE OF GETTING OLDER" and Trans Day of Visibility

Rev. Sammons will explore the adventure of getting older, both as a minister now retired and as a person who wants to remember the poets adage: “Birth and death are the landmarks but it’s the field between that’s important.” Rev. David Sammons is the Minister Emeritus at MDUUC.

Rev. Sammons is building his sermon on an excerpt from “The Fountain of Age” by Betty Friedan.

Welcome!  I am Michelle Paquette, pronouns she/her/hers.

“Birth and death are the landmarks but it’s the field between that’s important.”  OK, where was this advice 50 years ago when I needed it most?

It was impressed on me at an early age that I had a duty of self-sacrifice, a duty to live my life for others, and that actions for myself were selfish.  I spent much of my life doing this, living the way others demanded.  I essentially marked time, rusting away, soul corroding, waiting for death to ring down the curtain on this performance.

Betty Friedan made the point in “The Fountain of Age” that wearing out is far preferable to rusting out.

Several years ago, I had a crisis of sorts that forced me to re-examine the way I lived my life.  I acted. Rather than rust out, I was going to live, live MY life, and see if I could wear it out instead.

Well, so far, so good!  I’m definitely alive, definitely enjoying life, and while I may wear out I’m definitely not rusting out.

Oh, the dress!

This is something special just for today.  These colors come from a flag designed by Monica Helms, the Transgender Pride flag.  I’ve learned that 70% of folks think they have never met a transgender person.  Now, none of you are in that 70%!   I wear these colors proudly as a transgender person today.

This is the Transgender Day of Visibility, a day to show your support for the trans community. It aims to bring attention to the accomplishments of trans people around the globe while fighting fear and prejudice, by spreading knowledge of the trans community.  This is not a day for mourning: this is a day of empowerment and recognition.

This year, we need allies more than ever.  No, what we need are co-conspirators!  Come and join us at 4 this afternoon in Civic Park, downtown Walnut Creek!

For the transgender communities, today is a day to celebrate our lives, our successes of the past year.

For my trans siblings, we who transcend gender have looked beneath the surface, and have seen depths that most do not realize even exist.  We know these depths within ourselves, these places that most may never encounter. We know the strength, the resilience, and the wisdom we hold deep within us.

Now, let us all, together, explore the adventure of getting older, and perhaps  find ways to wear out rather than rust out, as we worship together.