JENELL TAYLOR
Staff Writer
Minister, gospel choir director, civic educator and griot, the Rev. Verdis LeVar Robinson will speak to Chautauquans at 4 p.m. today at the African American Heritage House, discussing religion’s role in America’s redemption.
Robinson is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister currently in preliminary fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association, a non-dogmatic faith that encourages an individualistic spiritual journey rooted in seven values: interdependence, pluralism, justice, transformation, generosity, equity and love.
Since 2022, Robinson has served as the minister for growth at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, and the executive and artistic director of the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir.
Prior to his ministry, Robinson taught history and African American studies at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York, where he is based. After earning tenure, he became a leader in advancing civic and democratic engagement at community colleges and faith-based institutions, such as the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute.
Uplifted by the foundation of his African American heritage, Robinson’s religious beliefs reflect and honor the social and cultural experiences of his ancestral history. According to his website, his theology is inspired by his “ancestral African American roots and by liberation, postcolonial and queer theologians.”
Having grown up in an African American Holiness-Pentecoastal church, Robinson rejects the focus on a fear of God and hell and instead embraces Unitarian Universalist ideas that “[affirm] [his] inherent worth and dignity whereas [his] previous theology repudiated it,” he said on his website.
Through navigating the cross section between his spirituality and sexuality, Robinson created Queerality, a public, small group ministry focused on supporting others on their own religious paths. Robinson describes the ministry as exploring “the intersectionality of sexuality and spirituality for congregants and community members who identify as queer.”
Queerality is meant to uplift and support those who might be experiencing spiritual conflictions in an environment that will not silence or shame them. The group meets twice a month to “share and care for each other exploring our innermost selves and spirituality in a safe and brave space,” Robinson said on his website.
