I'd like to take a moment to invite everyone to reflect on Abolition in the present. Now that the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) -sponsored Congregational Study Action Issue was approved at General Assembly, this will be an ongoing area of inquiry and discussion for Unitarian Universalists and congregations. The CLF page on Abolition, Transformation, and Faith Formation states briefly:

Many of us have questions about abolition – what does it mean in 2025? Racism, criminalization, the rise of the prison industrialist complex, and the ways that slavery still exists in this country threaten all of us. Studying abolition from a faith based perspective is powerful and important.

Our faith calls us to recognize the inherent worthiness and dignity of all. I invite you to consider how those who have faced systemic injustice in their entanglement with the justice system and also those who may have "earned" their incarceration fit into our interdependent web of existence. One powerful way to engage with this work is through the CLF's Worthy Now Prison Ministry, particularly through the Letter Writing Ministry.

This is a challenging undertaking but it has a profound effect on incarcerated members of the CLF and has been a valuable part of exercising and deepening my Unitarian Universalist faith.