A Word from Rev Gordon (06/01)

1 June 2025

Dear Beloved SepulvedaUU Family,

As this congregational year draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on what a remarkable journey it’s been. Together, we’ve engaged deeply with the spiritual and moral questions of our time—local and global. We’ve thought, we’ve wept, and oh yes, we’ve laughed! We’ve gained a few wonderful new folks and said goodbye to some beloved ones. Through it all, I believe we’ve grown stronger, more compassionate, and more connected. As I often say, we’ve come out of it all smelling like roses.

Our choir has returned in joyful harmony, and JUUstice LA is now proudly housed within our sacred space. We are not just participating in Unitarian Universalist life—we’re helping lead it. SepulvedaUU: the little congregation that could… and did.

This June, we center Love as Celebration, lifting up Caribbean American Heritage Month, Pride Month, and Father’s Day. As a Jamerican—a Jamaican American—I am deeply proud to celebrate the heritage, culture, and spirituality of the Caribbean and Latin America. This is personal for me, and it’s also part of our collective UU story.

We lift up the memory of Egbert Ethelred Brown, the first Black Unitarian minister—my ancestor—born in Jamaica. He founded a congregation in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance and insisted that Black lives and Black thought had a place in liberal religion. His ministry was a bridge between the Caribbean, the Black diaspora, and Unitarian faith.

This month, we also celebrate the many BIPOC UUs of Caribbean descent who have served and are serving today: ministers, musicians, lay leaders, religious educators, and more. We give thanks for our Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, and Mexican siblings—those from the Caribbean and its coasts—whose cultural, spiritual, and political legacies help shape our faith. From the revolutionary resistance of Gaspar Yanga in Mexico to the rhythms of Afro-Caribbean worship and liberation, we honor those who dared to dance, fight, and pray for freedom.

In this spirit, we remember:

• Rev Jon (Juan) Bruciaga, the first Latino minister ordained in the Unitarian Universalist Association, whose presence opened long-closed doors.
• Rev José Ballester, believed to be the first Puerto Rican UU minister, whose work helped center Latinx voices in our movement.
• And our current UUA President, Rev Dr Sofía Betancourt—Afro-Latina, queer, feminist theologian, and justice-seeker—whose leadership is helping birth a new, boldly inclusive Unitarian Universalism.

We also celebrate LUNA (the Latinx Unitarian Universalist Networking Association), which continues to lift up the voices and gifts of Latinx UUs across this country.
So as we enter this season of celebration, may we remember who we are and whose we are. Let us dance with gratitude, sing with purpose, and love with abandon. Let us honor the ancestors, celebrate the present, and dream a freer, fuller future into being.

With pride and joy,

Rev Gordon Clay Bailey
Minister, SepulvedaUU

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