Norma Poinsett on Unitarian Universalism
The following is an excerpt from remarks Norma Poinsett made on March 3, 1999. Norma is a Trustee at Large for the Unitarian Universalist Association and has been attending First Unitarian Church since 1958.
If Unitarianism is the only religion I can stand, should I be its advocate?
The seven UUA principles are utilized in many ways. They are often the subject of sermons; a rich source for religious education curricula; sometimes used as responsive readings; and can provide themes for books and poems. My goal is to live by these principles, although some speak more loudly to me than others.
I was born in the rural area of Learned, Mississippi, 20 miles south of the capital, Jackson. Growing up in the segregated south in a family that strove to validate its inherent worth and dignity, I was exposed to the hypocrisy of separate and unequal education on all levels. There were no schools for blacks past eighth grade. My parents, the country school teachers, and church leaders instilled in us the critical necessity of dignity and self-respect.
My parents moved all 11 of us children to Southern Christian Institute, a Disciples of Christ school built after slavery for first grade through junior college. My religious views were enlarged at daily assemblies, Sunday morning church services, and Sunday evening Christian Youth Fellowship. The interracial faculty encouraged us to pursue excellence and work for justice and peace in the world. A class in religions of the world further enhanced my religious outlook. The class visited a Jewish synagogue and a white Catholic church. We were received graciously. Yet, we knew that our academic curiosity was the only reason we could attend.
At SCI, I missed the warmth and friends at the Baptist church back home. I had joined at age 9--mostly to satisfy my mother. I recall that one day I asked her if we could go fishing (my sisters and brothers always put me up to asking for such favors, why I don't know), and she said, "Girl, instead of asking to go fishing, you should be thinking about your soul with Revival Meeting in its last days." To me, feeling a fish tug on my line and finding a guinea's nest with 40 eggs in it gave me more joy and spiritual wonder than a revival meeting. I joined church that night to get Mama off my back.
Church was a social outing for me. I could not believe in a Jesus who gave white children a school bus and an elementary school a quarter of a mile from our house. To this day I can still see that freshly painted school from our front porch. We passed that school daily on our way to ours, which was a mile and a half through a field of corn, cotton, ribbon cane, and sorghum and, best of all, the molasses mill. At Tougaloo College, a school built by Congregational missionaries soon after slavery, I was active in a Sunday afternoon interracial college youth human relations group. We discussed Christianity and touched upon social justice issues. Both blacks and whites in the groups sensed that a change was soon coming in race relations.
I had enjoyed singing in the choir during my six years at SCI. Our concerts ran the gamut from madrigals to spirituals. The years in the choir at Tougaloo further expanded and enriched me culturally and religiously.
I taught second graders one year in the Delta, in the small town of Hollandale, Mississippi. The big cotton plantation owners were forced by law to allow all black school-age children to attend school. The best part of that experience was having two brothers, ages 11 and 12, in my class who had never attended school yet could draw anything in sight. At the end of that year they also learned to read, write, and do math.
The first time I attended a Unitarian church was in Urbana, IL, where I was attending graduate school. I met and married Alex [Poinsett] at the University of Illinois, and we attended church sporadically. After moving to Chicago, we found the First Unitarian Church through a bridge-playing couple who invited us to give it a try. We have been members for 40 years. [Norma has had many responsibilities in the church over the years.]
Over the years I have been an unpaid professional volunteer for the Unitarian Universalist Association. Working to build a more just world is hard work and time consuming, but working with an association that is committed to building an anti-racist institution makes the work gratifying. I dream a world where all of the UUA groups will look at their work through an anti-racist lens. So often we hear the statement, "Education is a necessity in bringing racial and social justice to all people." We Unitarian Universalists, who make up one of the most educated and intellectual groups in the world, should meet the challenge to live the principles we mouth from the pews and pulpits.
As an original member of the UUA's Black Concerns Working Group, started in 1985 and now renamed the Jubilee World Working Group, I helped develop the "Jubilee World Anti-Racism Workshop," a weekend workshop that is still in great demand by congregations and and for conferences throughout the continent. Within the past three months I co-led Jubilee workshops in Monte Clair and San Mateo, California. This workshop is a rich resource for congregations or groups that are beginning anti-racist work.
Maya Angelou said, "The small gains that we make have helped me to be present--in the world and in this moment." I respect all of the religions of the world. I believe that they ultimately help people make a better world--by helping oneself, one's family, one's community, and the world become more humane. When asked "Why are you a Unitarian Universalist?" I explain. And if the questioner continues to question, I tell them that Unitarian Universalism is the only religion I can stand. That really seems to confuse them.
Since it is the only religion I can stand:
To be present is to serve,
To serve is to be an advocate,
In being an advocate of Unitarian Universalism I find an anchor,
A life line that gets me from Sunday to Sunday
And from January to January.