Jordan Bridges is the Organizing Director for the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ). Founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which doubly impacted workers and communities of color, today NOWCRJ that brings together Black, Brown, and immigrant workers to build grassroots campaigns and hold institutions accountable. Bridges will discuss how he has come to understand organizing not simply as a job, but as a way of being and a spiritual calling grounded in community care, humility, and a deep love for people—the work of beloved community. Bridges would be delighted to have a talk-back session after the service for those interestsed in continuing the conversation.

Traditional Christian thinking viewed Spiritual Novelty cautiously. Not only could it challenge sacred doctrines and established authority, but it might also prove spiritually dangerous if one’s attraction to novelty became an end in itself—displacing humility, discernment, and commitment to revealed truths. The early Church frequently contrasted traditio (what has been handed down) with novitas (new teaching), and over time a rich discussion evolved: Novelty without tradition breeds chaos, just as tradition without novelty breeds stagnation. In the Unitarian Universalist tradition we’re reminded that revelation is never sealed, but continuously unfolding, inviting us to look at an ever-changing world, our neighbors, and ourselves with fresh eyes. Maybe true Spiritual Novelty relies on a foundation of shared values, granting us the safety and courage to welcome, in awe, the Sacred Unknown. Maybe the novelty that results in spiritual awakening is not discovering something that has never existed; it is seeing differently what has always been present.