Do you just fit in, or do you truly belong?

They tried to bury us; they didn’t know we were seeds.

—Dinos Christianopoulos

As some of you know, I’ve been working with a 28-person Unitarian Universalist fellowship that formed inside Newton Correctional Facility near Newton, Iowa. For the past four months, I’ve been permitted to enter once a month to minister with them. In that time, I have learned more about embodied resilience than I ever expected.

The incarcerated men who founded this fellowship fought for more than two years just to have their UU group recognized as a legitimate religious body within the prison. Even after that recognition, they had to continue persistently and courageously advocating for permission to have outside clergy come in to lead worship and offer education about Unitarian Universalism. I was finally approved to volunteer in October.

These faithful men continue to press for the right to practice their UU faith in meaningful community. They risk retaliation by insisting on religious freedom, work against long odds to obtain even the most basic sacred objects, and persist in seeking regular opportunities for worship, learning, and connection with clergy. No matter the barriers placed before them, they keep going.

The Newton UU Fellowship has had to fight for everything they have.  And their resilience is extraordinary. When two of the leaders who helped establish the group were transferred to other facilities, others stepped forward to carry the work on. Now, one of those original leaders is beginning the process of forming a new UU fellowship in another Iowa prison. If the intent of those transfers was to weaken the movement, it seems to have done just the opposite.

When it feels like the world is burying you, remember that you embody resilience. You are a seed. Darkness can be a place of rest, of re-centering, and of growth toward something stronger.

Peace and Laughter,
Bridget Laflin
Interim Director of Faith Formation