An Event in the Rain

So there we were, maybe a hundred soggy people standing in the rain, and yes, quite a few of our number had driven their cars to get there, and we were doing this media event about trying to get the attention of those who might do something about the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere.

There was a reporter there, getting soggy with us. He asked me why we were doing it. Not being one of the organizers, I wondered if I should say anything. But, well, I was the Unitarian Universalist minister on the scene, so maybe... I mumbled something about getting together with other groups all over the world and something about how if we let the Earth become a place where humans really couldn't live, it would be something even a Unitarian Universalist could call a sin.

I wasn't at all sure. This was a kind of feel-good event (even though we were getting miserably wet, the group was really having a good time together) with content that was easy to love, no opponents anywhere in sight, an event that was asking us to do nothing but show up and stand around looking numerous --we actually spelled out the numbers 350, and a photographer climbed the fire department's ladder truck to take our picture and send it to the worldwide event headquarters.

I actually was proud of the Belfast congregation of Unitarian Universalists. The main organizer of the event was one of them. The singing group, the "Raging Grannies" had members from the congregation, the group that walked over from the other side of town with a great big drum under a beach umbrella included congregation members, the crowd was thick with us. Without the UU congregation, the event would have been much smaller. Maybe it would not have happened.

And on reflection, I'm sure it really did matter. It's hard to get beyond the generally pretty anemic things we do as individuals in the midst of a culture of waste, and it's hard to get people to be serious about the bigger things. We feel stronger now. We're part of a larger movement that is maybe going to get the attention of people with power around the world, to help them believe that people really care to save the planet. We may not know how, but we need their help to get everyone to be serious about this. Because it really would be a sin. Even for a Unitarian Universalist. Maybe especially for a Unitarian Universalist.