News: July 31, 2026

Dear Members and Friends:

The past month has been a difficult one for the city of Houston. The murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by federal agents has made us even more aware of the horrors of this country’s immigration system. I have been proud of the way that many of you have shown up to demand justice and to proclaim that there is a better way. You have marched in the streets, hosted a vigil, checked in on our neighbors, and shown up to City Hall to speak at City Council meetings. Almost a dozen of you also joined me to serve as marshals for one of the marches.

I am sure that the level of engagement that our congregation has had around immigrant justice is because the horrors of the immigration system are impacting everyone. Several of you personally know people who have been detained by ICE agents. One of my longtime friends is currently facing six years imprisonment for helping to organize resistance to ICE in Minneapolis. 

It is because of everything that is going on that many of you have shown up each Wednesday to write postcards as part of our UUtheVote effort. The United States is in serious crisis, and it is good to see so many of you doing the work of strengthening democracy.

Congregational life is not only justice work. The past month has been filled with planning, pastoral care, and celebration. Let me share with you a little bit about each.

Planning

We are nearing the end of our planning for the 2026-2027 program year. The theme, in honor of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, is, “Revolution: Body and Soul.” Throughout the year we will be exploring the power and possibilities of political and spiritual revolutions. The program book will be available for Ingathering on August 16th. It will contain exciting and spiritually uplifting plans for everything from special musical services to workshops, social justice opportunities, and community building activities. A couple of highlights that I am excited about are two additional music services, one featuring the musical stylings of our own DJ Omniria and another celebrating the music of Stevie Wonder, a poetry workshop with the renowned poet Naomi Shihab Nye, and the October 3rd Solidarity Summit with Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministries and the national UU the Vote campaign.

On another note, we are continuing to work to fill out vacant staff positions. I intend to have substantive updates for you soon. In the meantime, I hope you will join me in welcoming Tamisha Freeman as our Voting Justice Coordinator. She will be us part-time through the 17th of November, helping us to build our voting justice ministry.

Pastoral Care

I am currently providing pastoral care by myself. Our Minister Emeritus, the Rev. Dr. Dan King, is occasionally filling in when I am unavailable like right now when I am on vacation through August 8th. Otherwise, we have put a couple of things in place to try and ensure that the pastoral care needs of the congregation are being met. First, I have marked out time in my calendar each week to respond to emergent pastoral care needs. Second, Ames is reaching out to everyone who Rev. Scott regularly checked in with to schedule time for me to visit them. Third, we have created an online booking system that, starting August 26th, will allow you to book time with me on Wednesday afternoons if you have a pastoral need that you want to talk with me about.

Our Unitarian Universalist tradition teaches that the ministry of the congregation ultimately belongs to its members. In this time of transition, if you would like to help with pastoral care please reach out and let me know. There’s always room on the Care Team.

Celebration

No matter what is going on in the world, there is always much to celebrate in congregational life. We recently celebrated the successful completion of Nina’s internship. This Sunday, we will be celebrating the beginning of Artie’s seminary journey. On August 9th, we will celebrate the start of the school year with the Blessing of the Backpacks. On August 16th, we hold our annual Ingathering and Water Communion. Please bring water that is important to you so that we can celebrate coming back together and mingle our waters. On August 23rd, we have a special service, requested by our auction winner, lifting up the poetry of Ross Gay. Dr. Battiste is working to arrange music for the occasion. Then on August 30th we have our annual Labor Songs service, in both Spanish (9:30 a.m.) and English (11:30 a.m.). We will once again be joined by friend of the congregation Ralph Garza.

I also have a personal celebration. The first review of The Political Theologies of Populism is out and it is overwhelmingly positive. Bulent Kenes, the Executive Director of the European Center for Populism Studies, argues that my work “fundamentally reframes the study of populism.” That’s pretty high praise from the person who runs what is arguably the most important research center on populism in the world. You can read the full review here: https://www.populismstudies.org/the-political-theologies-of-populism-the-garveyites-the-klan-and-the-wobblies-1905-1930/

Two other things before I close. First, several of you have recently had questions about the congregation’s finances. Next week’s newsletter column by our Treasurer, Yeiglin Elizabeth Escalante, will focus on answering some of the questions posed at this year’s annual meeting. Second, I am often asked for copies of my sermons. I make my texts available to you in two ways. They can be found on my website (www.colinbossen.com) and on my Substack (colinbossen.substack.com).

I am off this Sunday but will be back on August 9th for a Question Box service. If you’ve got a question you’d like me to answer please drop one in the box at the front of the administrative office or fill out this online form.

love,

Colin

Where is the Minister?

Rev. Colin will be out of town from August 1st through August 8th. Rev. Dr. Dan King will be handling pastoral care concerns in his stead.