Resolution on Racial Justice As individuals, we commit to a new level of engagement, to continually seek ways to use our voices, our privilege, our standing in the community to effect change. As a congregation, we commit to turning a new page. We declare the obvious—that Black lives matter to our beloved community. We affirm the need for powerful words and collective action, both to call out injustice and to call in love.
RRUUC Land and Labor Acknowledgment We acknowledge that the land on which we worship is the traditional land of the Nacotchtank and Piscataway people and the land through which other Indigenous Peoples traveled. We acknowledge that enslaved African people and their descendants likely labored and lived on this land. We recognize these and other people displaced, enslaved, or harmed by past injustices.
We pledge that we will follow our faith in love and work to make our congregation and our larger community more accessible, inclusive, and equitable. We pledge that we will be good stewards of the land by encouraging healthy ecosystems. We pledge to remember the past while building a more just and welcoming future for all.
This is the first in a new blog
series called “Grounding”. I hope to
share the sights and stories of spring unfolding on River Road grounds with the
goal of sparking a sense of wonder and connection to our spiritual home.
I hope you enjoy.
Joe
The mossy area under the Beech tree by the office door is lush in the spring and is graced with a spring bulb called “Glory of the Snow”.
Daffodils by the sculpture outside our sanctuary.
Several locations on our property host Virginia Blue Bells (Mertensia virginica). I believe this group was planted by founding members, Brad and Shirley Patterson.
Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is a common understory shrub on our grounds. The subtle yellow flowers are one of the first to bloom. This plant is the host plant for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly and it produces high-energy red fruits for birds in the fall.
In a week or so, the memorial garden will be rich with the scent of our Korean spice viburnum, one of the many species of viburnum on our grounds.
