This past week I took my two daughters to see the movie Moana. Moana is a beautiful and moving story about a Polynesian teenage girl who sails out on a daring adventure to save her people. It is also a movie about the search for identity, as she discovers herself and reveals the inherent worth of others she encounters along the way. As I watched the story unfold, I thought of this month’s theme- Identity. I thought about how so often we are defined by others, for better or for worse, and how the search to know ourselves as we truly are is life-long. We need community to remind us who we are.
I believe that this is a central reason we come together as Unitarian Universalists in community: to remember who we are. Our first principle states that we covenant to affirm and promote “the inherent worth and dignity of all human beings.” At a time when so many human identities- Black, Muslim, Latinx, LGBTQ, women, and more- are under attack, it is more essential than ever to return to our core values. We may claim diverse identities, but our shared humanity unites us. Our faith teaches us that all people have human dignity. We do not earn our worth, but discover and claim our inherent wholeness.
As we explore what it means to be “A Community of Identity”, may we discover and remember who we truly are. And may we seek to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of one another.

In faith,
Terri Pahucki