UCC curriculum encourages sacred conversations on race
by Connie Larkman
The United Church of Christ, anticipating a late summer release of "White Privilege - Let's Talk," an adult education curriculum designed to invite members to engage in safe, meaningful, substantive and bold conversations on race, is launching a series of free webinars on the subject in June, in partnership with the Center for Progressive Renewal.
"As an extension of our ongoing commitment to Sacred Conversations on race, it is time that this still largely white denomination wrestle with its investment in whiteness, and learn all it can about the manifestations and impact of White Privilege," said the Rev. John Dorhauer, UCC general minister and president.
"This Curriculum, written by five gifted authors with decades of experience teaching about race and privilege, is presented to enable such dialogue to take place at every level of the Church."
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Jim Antal Arrested at Pipeline Protest
by Tiffany Vail
Massachusetts Conference Minister and President, the Rev. Jim Antal, was one of 16 clergy arrested on Wednesday, May 26, after entering the construction site of a natural gas pipeline in West Roxbury, halting the work there.
The interfaith group included UCC, Episcopal, Unitarian, Presbyterian and American Bapti
st ministers, Rabbis and Cantors, Hindu and Buddhist clergy. Other UCC participants were the Rev. Rob Mark, pastor of the Church of the Covenant in Boston, and the Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Missioner of Creation Care for both the Massachusetts Conference and the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts.
No one at the protest could recall a time when a group of faith leaders had been arrested in an act of civil disobedience in the Boston area.
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PAST
OR JUDY HANLON TO RECEIVE OPEN DOOR AWARD FOR LGBT ASYLUM WORK
The Rev. Judy Hanlon, pastor of Hadwen Park Congregational Church UCC in Worcester and co-founder of the LGBT Asylum Task Force, will be honored with an Open Door Award for LGBTQ advocacy.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren will also receive the award.
The presentation will take place
June 11 at Old South Church in Boston,
during
Boston Pride Morning Worship.
Pastor Judy co-founded the LGBT Asylum Task Force - along with Linford Cunningham, a Jamaican asylum seeker who is now a U.S. citizen - in June 2008, and the team has assisted over 100 people so far. The task force supports the basic human needs of LGBT people seeking asylum, including housing, food, clothing, cell phones, health care and transportation, and Pastor Judy makes sure each asylum seeker has a faith community to support them as well. The task force also seeks to educate the public
in an effort to change policy around the globe, so that one day no LGBT person will need to seek asylum because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and the need to find a safe place. Learn more about this ministry
here.
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Voices Rising - in Concert
Voices Rising, Greater Boston's well-known women's chorus, will return to Needham for a Pride Month concert on Saturday, June 4. The chorus will present "Be Our Guest - A Smorgasbord of Song."
Their website says it's "a choral tribute to food and drink, hunger and thirst...snap along to some vocal jazz, kick up your heels in a raucous polka, sway with a familiar folk ballad and sing along to Disney and Broadway classics. Bon appétit!"
Read more.
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BOYCOTT WENDY'S: STAND WITH FARM WORKERS!
For many years, UCC members and congregations have supported justice for farm workers who are some of the most exploited and abused workers in the U.S.
On May 12, 2016, the United Church of Christ board of directors approved the boycott of Wendy's - the giant fast-food chain - in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group of farm workers based in Immokalee, FL.
For many years these farm workers, who primarily pick tomatoes, have struggled to improve their wages and working conditions. They ask tomato buyers - firms like Wendy's - to participate in the
Fair Food Program.
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'Faith Beyond Bars' seeks to educate, advocate for justice in U.S. criminal detention system
by Connie Larkman
The United Church of Christ is calling on the faith community to focus in June on criminal justice, using social media to call attention to the injustice in the country's system of mass incarceration.
The Our Stillspeaking Voice June initiative,
"Faith Beyond Bars," is built around education and advocacy, an effort to raise awareness about the need for sentencing reform, and the impact that mandatory minimum sentencing laws are having on the families and communities of those incarcerated. Through video witness and social media sharing, denominational leaders hope to involve the larger church community in advocacy around mass incarceration.
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UCC JOINS INTERFA
ITH EFFORT TO CLOSE GUN LOOPHOLES FOR DOMESTIC ABUSERS
by Anthony Moujaes
Nearly 30 pastors, chaplains and theologians of the United Church of Christ are part of an interfaith effort of 500 leaders who are asking lawmakers to close loopholes in federal laws that allow domestic abusers to purchase or own a firearm. For the Rev. Michelle Torigian, one of the signatories, the letter is one way to give voice to some of society's voiceless and reduce abuse against women.
"Just as the UCC's 'Be the Church' sign says to 'Fight for the Powerless,' we are called to make a stand for those who are the most vulnerable in our society," said Torigian, pastor of St. Paul UCC in Cincinnati.
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Save the Date: Sept. 29, 2016
Faith Communities as Anchors: Lessons from Disaster and Trauma
Join us for day of learning from those who have "been there":
Held at Edwards House at the MACUCC Conference Center, 1 Badger Road, Framingham.
Registration coming soon.
Learn more here
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Interfaith Action and Ecumenism
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Breaking the Fast of Ramadan...When Spirits Bond
June 20 ~ 7:30-9:30 p.m. ~ Edwards Church UCC, 39 Edwards St., Framingham
Open Spirit is hosting its second annual fast-breaking meal on the longest day of Ramadan, which is the summer solstice. During this month of Ramadan (this year from June 5 to July 4), Muslims fast each day from dawn to dusk. When the sun sets, they break their fast, often together, sharing the joy of community. The evening breaking of the fast is often called an iftar. As an expression of interfaith friendship, and as part of ongoing efforts to build understanding about each other's sacred traditions, Open Spirit is hosting an iftar for people of all faiths.
If you are fasting for Ramadan, please come as a guest of Open Spirit. If you are not, please bring a vegetarian dish to share. The group will gather at 7:30 p.m., with an opening outdoor circle at 7:45. From 8 p.m. until sunset, the group will hear from several Muslim sisters and brothers about their experience of fasting as a spiritual practice.
At sundown (8:26 p.m.) they will break the fast, followed by evening prayers and a communal meal. Email
Debbie Clark for more information.
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