Building a Beloved Community: Carol’s Welcome Table Story
-submitted by Carol Romagosa

Back in November 2015, I was introduced to the idea of The Beloved Community by Mark Matheson, my Shakespeare professor. As director of the MUSE Project at the University of Utah, he wrote an introduction for U.S. Rep. John Lewis who would be speaking at the U. Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties and building what he calls “the Beloved Community” in America and the goal of realizing the Beloved Community has guided every aspect of his activism and public service.

Through his writings, nonviolent direct actions and service as an elected official, Lewis has demonstrated the transformative power of this ideal for the individual and its efficacy in creating social justice. Lewis learned of this ideal in the 1950s from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lewis has written that the story of his life can be understood in terms of his dedication to this single ideal which he defines as a truly interracial democracy based on nonviolence and simple justice that values “the dignity and worth of every human being. Is this not our Unitarian value?

The idea of the Beloved Community emerged in the late 19th century in the work of the American philosopher Josiah Royce. An important aspect of the Beloved Community is that it is based on the loyalty of the individual to the community but in the process the person does not sacrifice his or her individuality. Many churches, including UU’s, have adapted the idea and practice for their groups and activities. I became instantly drawn to this ideal and knew that I wanted to practice it in my life and introduce into my life and my community at First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City.

My personal background in coming to First Unitarian explains how I came to adopt the practice. Having been shy my whole life, in 2005 when I began attending First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, I meditated at stop lights when driving to church on Sunday to tell myself that I could walk into Eliot Hall alone. Even so, I signed the book in 2005 because I had read Jack Mendelsohn’s book Being Liberal in an Illiberal Age and discovered that this was where I needed to be.

However, many Sundays in Eliot Hall, very few, if any, individuals approached me to talk with me or welcome me. I gradually became more comfortable as I participated in more church activities and groups. But the fact remains that we need to be more welcoming to visitors, strangers, newcomers and perhaps even “oldcomers” in Eliot Hall before and after services. We most definitely need to approach people who appear to be standing around alone.

Rev. Matthew, our Consulting Minister for Congregational Life, arrived in August 2015. When he announced he was forming a Hospitality Committee, I personally was experiencing a lot of personal anxiety. So the opportunity to be involved in making our church more welcoming was intuitively a very welcoming idea for me. When I met with Matthew and learned of “the Work,” the very important and necessary Work, this committee would be doing, I chose to work on the Welcome Table. The committee decided to separate the Welcome Table from a Congregational Life Table that offered information on all the church’s activities. The Welcome Table would “welcome” people by helping them feel comfortable and inform them where to find information on church activities, if they were interested.

The Hospitality Committee decided to move the Welcome Table to outside the Chapel door and to maintain the Welcome Table during the summer Forums. With the approval of the committee, I chose to “dress up” the table to make it more attractive. This summer, I spent every Sunday in Eliot Hall to welcome those who showed up on time or late, some of the most satisfying work I have ever done. I also discovered there is a great need for at least one person to be “on duty” in Eliot Hall throughout the service.

I believe in the need for someone in our Beloved Community to be present to welcome those who do visit the table. If we do not create a welcoming and caring presence for everyone who comes to us, we are not honoring our Seven Principles and we are not creating our Beloved Community.