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| Lois Happe |
by Rev. Lois Happe
Hunger is my native place in the land of passions. Hunger for fellowship, hunger for righteousness – for a fellowship founded on righteousness and a righteousness attained in fellowship.
Dag Hammarskjold, Markings
We cannot do justice alone – it is always done by, with and for community. And so, more than anything else, we who wish to do justice must find companions. We need folks who will walk and sing with us, pray and persist with us.
Doing justice requires fellowship of two kinds – the companionship of fellow travelers and the solidarity we feel with fellow human beings who have been left out of the circle. The work of the justice ministry of the Connecticut Conference is seeking and maintaining connections with our companions.
Our Conference has a rich history of making common cause with those who voices are muffled, whose future is constricted, whose efforts are thwarted. Through the years, as moral and ethical issues have emerged, groups of passionate folk among us have come together to challenge us to leave our zone of comfort, to look at circumstances from another point of view, to recognize how passivity contributes to unjust systems and practices. When their hunger for righteousness has been fierce enough, those groups have worked miracles.
As the Regional Minister whose particular focus is Urban and Justice Ministries, I want to promote a bit of hunger among us – enough hunger for righteousness that we cannot turn aside when we encounter occasions of racism, poverty, or abuse of power. And I want to promote fellowship – connections among those with a particular hunger so that they may inspire, support and sustain one another in the quest for a better world.
I have discovered, in recent months, many people with a passion for justice. Some of them have found each other and are engaged in changing conditions they find unacceptable. There are folks who want to wage peace, others who are concerned about public education, still others who work diligently on behalf of our ONA ministry. A newly gathered group for the protection of the environment is considering how and where they may apply their resources. I am sure there are others. There is no dearth of issues that beg for attention. I hope to foster the connections that are already in place and to stimulate others to join in their efforts.
We are in a rebuilding phase in the conference with regard to connecting these groups to our formal structure. We wish to strike a balance between freedom and accountability, recognizing that passion for justice is often inspired in the moment of need and that it is not always amenable to regulation. At the same time, in order for the resources of the conference to be brought to bear on particular issues, we need to have a process in place that ensures consistency with our past and present commitments.
Over the coming months, we will be formalizing ministry teams, groups of people throughout the conference who are organized around a particular issue. In order to be recognized by the Board of Directors, we will need to identify who is part of the team, a brief statement of purpose, and a plan that takes into account the conference priority for becoming multiracial and multicultural in all our settings.
My hope and my goal is for our conference to receive the blessing promised to those with a hunger for righteousness.
Rev. Lois Happe is Regional Minister for the Eastern Region of the Connecticut Conference, serving the New London, Tolland and Windham Associations.
