A Different Kind of "Townhall"

Rev. Theresa Novak, Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden, Utah

My heart is full to overflowing. Forty-seven people attended our joint event on immigration that we held earlier this week in our fellowship hall. We co-sponsored it with the ACLU. There was a film and a panel discussion. The other panel members talked about legal issues with the passage of recent anti-immigrant legislation here in Utah. I spoke about Standing on the Side of Love. It was powerful to have such a diverse group gathered in our church working together on such an important human dignity issue. Most attendees were from outside of our church community and about half were Hispanic. People shared about being stopped, asked for their papers, and being subjected to sobriety tests even while leaving a church parking lot. It didn’t matter whether or not they were documented or if they had done anything wrong at all.

One couple was from a local evangelical church and they were anxious to have our churches work together on this and perhaps other issues. A woman from the Catholic Church down the street also expressed a similar desire. One young Anglo man came up to me afterwards and thank us for doing this. He said some of his family members always complained about immigrants and that it moved him greatly to hear the other side of the story. That one brought tears to my eyes. A young woman who also had tears in her eyes told me she thought she had finally found a church, and asked about our Sunday services.

It felt absolutely wonderful to participate in this life saving work on behalf of immigrants – with the added excitement of testifying for our Unitarian Universalist values before people who had never really heard of them before. I referenced the golden rule and said that it was common to virtually every religion. The nodding of heads as I spoke actually sent chills throughout my body. I read the Standing on the Side of Love pledge, and had a handout with the pledge and the website. Almost everyone pinned a button on afterwards as well.

We can change hearts and minds if we stand, speak, roll, walk, etc, on the side of love. Maybe we can even change the world. If such a love filled event can happen here in the heart of conservative Utah, it can happen anywhere.