Hello St. John’s,
At last week’s potluck and talent show, Virginia and I found ourselves chatting with some St. Johners about one of our favorite sitcoms, “Little Mosque on the Prairie.” Have you ever seen it? It’s a Canadian show that focuses on a fictional Muslim community in the fictional small town of Mercy.
One of the things that struck me when I first watched Little Mosque about 10 years ago was how diverse the characters are:
- There is Amaar, the young imam who just moved to Mercy after previously working as a big city lawyer in Toronto.
- There is Baber, the conservative Muslim immigrant (who is pretty sure he would make a better imam than Amaar).
- There is Sarah, a former Christian who converted to Islam when she married her husband, Yasir, but who doesn’t follow most Muslim customs and sometimes misses her previous faith community.
- Sarah and Yasir’s adult daughter, Rayyan, on the other hand, is a devout Muslim and outspoken feminist.
All these characters – and several others – must find a way to work and worship together at the mosque. The town of Mercy just isn’t big enough for each group to have their own separate religious community of Muslims who think alike.
And, of course, that is the point of the show. The series was originally produced and broadcast in Canada from 2007-2012 to help counter anti-Muslim bias in a post-9/11 world. (It can now be found on several streaming networks.) I learned a lot about the diversity of Muslims from watching it. But I also learned a lot about Unitarian Universalists – despite there not being any UUs on the show.
Like Islam on the Canadian prairie, Unitarian Universalism is also a small, minority religious tradition in most communities. You probably won’t find a UU church on every street corner (unless you live in Boston where there are over 70 congregations). This presents both challenges and blessings. It means that, in order to survive and grow as a church, we as individuals have to be flexible. We’re going to be worshipping alongside people who come from very different backgrounds. We’re going to be singing next to people don’t like the same type of music we like. We’re going to be hearing from preachers who say things we sometimes disagree with.
And through it all, we’re going to stay committed to the work of building this beloved community.
Our Soul Matters focus for the month of February is “Inclusion.” It’s a value held deeply by most UUs. For many, it is what first attracted us to Unitarian Universalism. But as we’ve been discussing this month, it isn’t a practice that comes easily. How inclusive can we be while still maintaining our UU witness in this world? Can we, like the fictional characters at the Mercy Mosque, include the steadfast traditionalists and the visionaries? Can we include those who are deeply committed to our religious tradition and those who are mostly just here for family and friends? Can we include the lifelong UUs and the recent converts?
I encourage you to reflect with me on these questions this month. And if you have access to a streaming network with Little Mosque on the Prairie, I encourage you to check it out. We may not be a small-town Muslim community on the prairie of Saskatchewan. But you just might see our community reflected there.
~ Rev. Jenn
revjenn@stjohnsuu.org