What does it mean to make Love a force for transformation in a world shaped by punishment, isolation, and injustice? Drawing on the work of the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois, this service explores how acts of compassion become acts of resistance. Together, we will reflect on our UU values, the practice of solidarity with incarcerated people, and the ways that courageous love can transform both individual lives and the systems we inhabit.
Keith Talley (him/him) is a system-impacted Muslim leader working at the crossroads of reentry, faith, and narrative justice. He serves as Prison Solidarity Specialist with the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of IL, Reentry Program Coordinator at Phalanx Family Services, and Founder & CEO of Revolutionary Reentry Hub. Introduced to UUPMI through the Pen Pal Program while caged, Keith found not a call to conversion, but a deep alignment of values. Today, he works to build bridges between spiritual traditions and to transform how we see, and stand with those returning from prison.
Rev. Allison Farnum (she/her/ella) is the Director and Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of IL, and a lifelong Unitarian Universalist. She is dedicated to the vision of collective liberation, one mindful act of care at a time.