social justice

Grace and Gratitude

With thanks to the Rev. Sonya Sukalski for this post! -ed.

We accept life’s gifts with grace and gratitude and use them to bless the world.

This piece of the chalice lighting often heard at Starr King School for the Ministry is an easy sentiment to connect to at Thanksgiving. Through the jostling at the dinner table about who says “Grace” and prodding about every person present voicing their gratitude, we try to reconnect to the abundance of harvest time.  “Grace” as a word for what we do before a meal (sometimes, perhaps not often enough) has not always retained its meaning as something we enjoy but did not earn.

The apple tree in my back yard reminds me of this and opens doors to the joy of our interdependence. I have to pause to thank the woman who planted and nurtured the tree.  I have to thank the workers who laid pipe and keep water flowing so that in times of drought, it was able to have life-sustaining liquid.  I ponder the first people to try apples (Eve and Adam?), and know apples were good food. I do very little to this tree- I trim off the branches that break due to the weight of the apples, try to pare back the blossoms or tiny apples so that the branches don’t break, and then sit back and enjoy the shade.  Hopefully taking time to notice the beauty of the fruit growing, and praying that I notice when the apples are ready to harvest.  In the harvest, I am always limited by the time, help and imagination for products or recipes.  There are always more apples than I know what to do with.  Seeing this abundance connects me to grace, and helps me appreciate a world of plenty. (more…)

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Reflection, Your Recipes

Training the Next Generation of UU Social Justice Leaders

The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of California (UULMCA) is paying attention to training the next generation of UU Social Justice leaders.  This fall, they launched a 10-month internship program for passionate, idealistic, and entrepreneurial young adult leaders. Under the direction of Rev. Sonya Sukalski, the program aims to build leaders who are healthy in spirit, mind, and body. They will engage with current campaigns and leaders while also discovering how to sustain a lifelong commitment to social justice via theological reflection, community building and personal spiritual practice. The SALT program flyer invites you to follow adventures of this year’s 16 SALT Fellows on the website of the UULMCA, and to look for them at Justice GA in Phoenix!

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Education, Reflection, Witness and Action, Your Recipes

The Deep Well of Appreciation

To rise, to rise each morning

with the faint glow of starlight on our backs

as we head into the joys, the surprises, the challenges of each day

sometimes with awe and wonder, perhaps expectation,

perhaps dread…

 

To rise, to rise each day peering over waterlines,

sandbags, walls, garbage, bunkers…

in wind swept deserts and streets

lined with sweet smelling olive trees alike

What a gift we are given when we can rise

in freedom, of some sort, to some degree. (more…)

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Reflection, Worship

Modeling Multigenerational Learning and Service

The UUA Mid-South District’s Annual Healthy Congregations Conference focused on Immigration as a Moral Issue.

This  multigenerational conference, presented on October 8, 2011 had a number of tracks, including political, congregational, and social media responses.  The multigenerational faith development track included reflection, an immersion experience field trip and an introduction to a long-term social justice project. For a project, the District has planned a mobile library of bilingual children’s books to be located near an indoor playground. Pat Kahn reports on the multigenerational track written for the Mid-South Faith Development Council. 

Plaza Fiesta!

As part of the Mid-South District Healthy Congregations Conference hosted by Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta on Saturday October 8th, 14 people (5 children ages 6-9, 1 infant, and 8 adults) participated in a multigenerational workshop and field trip.  In the morning session, all ages heard the keynote address by Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of GALEO, followed by a workshop during which UUCA member Laura Murvartian (helped by her children Claudia and Nicolas Murvartian-Rhim) shared her own immigration story. (more…)

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Education, Reflection, Your Recipes

Music and Hospitality

At the 2001 General Assembly in Cleveland, OH, delegates marched to the baseball stadium to protest the use of the name “Indians” as the team mascot. This effort was particularly cathartic for me. I was a relatively new UU and a long time fan of another baseball team with an equally racially-charged mascot, the Atlanta Braves. I honestly had never been bothered by such team names, and the march and rally challenged me to rethink the insensitivity and privilege of the dominant culture, of which I am a part.

As the delegates filed out of the hall and into a pouring rain, someone started singing “One More Step”, a hymn written by Canadian UU composer, Joyce Poley. No one had copies of Singing the Living Tradition in hand, and it appeared to be an impromptu decision to sing together as we marched in peaceful protest. I was moved to tears as I began a journey of bringing music to the cause of social witness. Although we were guests in that city, our music brought a calming, yet galvanizing, presence to the protest. (more…)

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Reflection, Witness and Action

One Hundred Percent

Editor’s Note: This post comes from Pastor Prayers, the blog of the Rev. Parisa Parsa, who describes herself as a mother and a minister serving a wonderful congregation in Milton, MA. Parisa writes:

This is the text I wrote as the basis for my homily at the UU Vespers service at Occupy Boston on October 16, 2011.  I spoke without notes, so the homily delivered was ‘adapted.’

Isn’t it great to be here?

It is a thing of beauty to see people coming together across political persuasions and ages and ethnicity and just about everything else in order to say: we are all in the same boat.

In order to say: we are all in the same boat and we are not about to let it sink!  It is ours to repair and restore together. (more…)

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Witness and Action, Worship, Your Recipes

Enacting Justice: Questioning the Paradigm

Whatever the issue area, be it Occupy Wall Street, immigrant integration, or how we are together in religious community, whether we’re conscious of it or not, a paradigm is operative.  A paradigm is a mindset or set of assumptions, often unexamined, about how things happen. It’s the way we shape and understand information; it reflects our perceptions and approach to problem-solving.

(more…)

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“We should do a service on this!”

It is not uncommon when Unitarian Universalist congregations want to take on something important – to address a big issue or begin some new action – to turn to the worship service.  “We should do a service on this!”  someone will say.  Sunday is, after all, the time when the greatest number of people is gathered together in one place.  If you want to get a message out, or want people to feel the importance of something, the sanctuary on Sunday seems to be the place to do it.

Yet in recent years people from congregations of all kinds have offered the critique that worship that focuses on social justice is “too political;” that it’s not “spiritual enough.”  By this, people mostly seem to mean that a lot of so-called “social justice” Sundays feel more like a fascinating presentation on the topic, or a rallying call to action, rather than a soul- and life-transforming experience of worship.

(more…)

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Worship

The Road to Respect: Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, CO

This multigenerational program was developed by ministerial intern Kelly Dignan, a seminarian at Iliff School of Theology. Fifty-three people of all ages attended a Saturday program that launched a church-wide social change project focused on immigration by inviting people to develop spiritual disciplines that increase levels of compassion. Here is the link to the plan:  Road to Respect Detailed Plan. Below are pictures of the large group (center), a meditation group (left) and a map activity (right).



Have you done something similar or would you like to? How might such an event work in your congregation?  What adaptations would suit your circumstances? What do you have to share? Come, let’s cook together!

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Your Recipes