The most common definition of "forest" is an area of land covered with trees, and the term "woods" echoes that idea. But there are many things that are essential parts of a forest that have no wood: flowers, animals, birds, bacteria, insects, water, soil, and so on. Without these things the forest would die; they are the source of life and joy and wonder, but we simplify and only see the trees. Likewise we abridge human beings.

I spent the last week in Salt Lake City at our national Assembly and Ministry Days. It was exiting and hopeful to be part of electing Peter Morales as the next president of the UUA. For me the highlight of the week was Dr. Paul Rasor’s Berry Street Lecture, on our "Ironic Provincialism," and Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt’s very personal response. After speaking of our great UU love of reason, Dr. Rasor said that you cannot, ultimately, reason your way through multicultural relationships; "you must simply wade in up to your neck, and without any way to predict the currents."

General Assembly continued this theme in the opening worship which began with a celebration of the growing Unitarian and UU presence in Africa and included everyone trying to sing "Spirit of Life" in four different languages, Spanish, Hungarian, Khasi, and English. The centerpiece of this service was an exchange between President Bill Sinkford and two members of the Ute Nation. They revealed the role that Unitarians played in the re-education and internment of Ute Indians during the late 1800s. The point of all this was not simply to say that we did something bad and now we should be sorry, but to evoke the complexity of our relations today and to seek renewal within them.

In popular culture we tell many oversimplified stories, such as the one we now are telling about "the bad religious dictator who oppresses the good democracy-loving people." In fact there are many dimensions to the struggle in modern Iran. To help us gain insight our own Mohammad Behforouz will give a special report on the religious basis of the current conflicts in Iran, in our morning discussion group on July 12. I hope you will make a special effort to attend.

The challenge of cultural diversity is perhaps the greatest facing Unitarian Universalists today. We who are rightly proud of the diversity of our beliefs must now struggle with deeper sources of difference within the forest of humanity.

Peace,
Thomas