If you are looking to take action right now in support of racial justice, there are plenty of paths to follow. First, you can support MN state legislation promoting safety, justice, transparency, and accountability in policing. There are a number of bills in the Minnesota House and Senate designed to reduce police violence. Learn more about these bills and contact your legislators to let them know you support these efforts. Now is the time! Invite your circle of friends to join you in this effort. 

Second, our UU siblings and community partners in Phoenix, Arizona, are asking for help this Saturday in their Community Health and Safety Phone Banking efforts. Why phonebank in Phoenix? Because Border Patrol, ICE, and the Phoenix PD have all implemented violent, racist tactics that have only escalated as years have passed (and these tactics are then adopted and utilized by other police forces). This year, community organizations in Phoenix are pushing to decrease the police budget and move funds to support the community. We are part of an interdependent web of life, and changing the arc of policing in Phoenix can help change the country. Sign up here for Saturday's national UU phonebank to Phoenix, or join Unitarian Universalist Justice in Arizona for a different day of phonebanking by signing up here. 

Finally, if you want to learn more about what is meant by “abolish the police,” you’re invited to join one of the “Abolition 101: Imagining Freedom for All” Circles that are beginning soon. And I especially want to invite the white identified men in the congregation to join one of these circles. This may feel like a stretch for you, or feel slightly uncomfortable, but we need your presence and engagement now more than ever. 

Join Rev. Justin for a midweek worship experience for adults and older youth. This service is a brief time (20-30 minutes) of connection, centering, and reflection to help us find and keep our balance.

Enter the Wednesday Zoom webinar here. (webinar ID: 117-312-320). To join by phone (audio only), dial 1-312-626-6799 and enter the webinar ID.

Post-service Care Companions space (7:30 p.m.): Join the Zoom gathering here.

Our love and care is with Ron Houck who had hip surgery on Monday. His surgery went well and his recovery is proceeding well, too. We wish him and his wife Janet ease in healing.

And we hold the family of John Adleman in our tender embrace. John died from pancreatic cancer on Friday, April 9 surrounded by his family and loved ones. We hold his wife Jenni, and kids Graham, and Claire in our love and care during this heartbreaking time, and will share information on his memorial service when it is available.

If you are experiencing a crisis or transition, or celebrating a joy­, please let us know. To be included in our Cycle of Life each Sunday in worship, or if you would like support, contact Rev. Arif Mamdani at arif@firstuniv.org or 612-825-1701.

Much has happened in our community since Rev. Justin’s playful message on The Holy Fool this past Sunday morning. Amidst the backdrop of a pandemic and the trial of Derek Chauvin, a white police officer has killed Daunte Wright, a young Black man. Communities, friends, and families are remembering Daunte’s life and mourning his death. This may feel like a time when creativity and possibility are simply not accessible. So where does “The Holy Fool'' land in this moment, in this city, and in our congregation? The idea of the Holy Fool is not new: in wisdom stories that span cultures, religions, and generations, there exists a trickster or jokester whose role is not to be “ha-ha” funny, but instead clever, subversive, and surprising. This jokester does not exist to play a game, but rather to expose the illusion of boundaries and the inconvenient truths that threaten existing power structures. In this way, the Holy Fool advances individual and collective consciousness and is the quintessential agent of change. Right now, “holy foolishness” might mean a world beyond police and beyond the need for policing. While we react, sit with, and respond to the death of Daunte Wright, the spiritual practice of “holy play” invites us each into responsible, right-sized, and identity-affirming ways of challenging our current status quo.

The Holy Fool invites us to meet each other beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, and to consider more than what we think we know. Can we build a world that, rather than bright lines, is based on keeping our promises, as Rev. Theresa. I. Soto writes? In the role of the Holy Fool, we deliberately — even if only briefly! — move outside of ourselves, outside of the structures, belief systems, and assumed roles that keep us trapped, and into the possibility that the future is a space for growth.

Listen to the podcast from Sunday's worship on Podbean or Spotify or watch the service on YouTube. Sign up to participate in abolition circles at First Universalist here.You can find more material for reflection in the Reflection and Listening guide from our April 11 Order of Service.

It’s been suggested that the spiritual practice of accountability is being answerable to someone who helps you stay on target for your spiritual goals and your other life endeavors. In this frame, accountability is something that happens between two people (or a small group of people) who are open, honest, and transparent with each other about what is really happening in their lives, the struggles they are facing, and how they are responding. Together, they check in on each other, encourage each other, and remind each other of the promises and commitments they’ve made. Who are you accountable to in your life?

Dallas Rising, a UU who hadn't attended church in 20 years, lives one block from George Floyd Square, and decided to check out First Universalist after attending a faith community vigil there this summer. Watch Dallas share a snippet of her story in this two-minute video.

There are touching stories from congregants hundreds of miles away from Minneapolis, from families, from people who joined us this year, virtually, and from many others. Take a few minutes to watch and listen to these stories and to know that you are part of a community making a real and tangible difference in people’s lives.

Image description: Still photo from the video of Dallas Rising.

Please fill out this short survey to support our planning process as we look towards our return to in-person worship, while also continuing to offer online worship and programming. Like you, we desperately want to return to being together in-person. And what remains true is that our top-level commitments are to safety for all and broad inclusion. As we plan for returning to the church building, we are following guidelines from the MN Department of Health and consulting with the public health experts in our congregation. We also believe that it's important to gather information from you, our First Universalist congregation, as we look forward to what Fall 2021 and beyond will hold for us. We appreciate your honest feedback in this survey as we gather data in advance of re-opening the church building. Take the survey here.

By Denise Konen, an active participant at First U since 2000, teacher of Religious Education classes, youth mentor, and facilitator of many First U circles over the years; energized by creative expression and building an anti-racist culture of care and commitment.  

Having Justin as my minister has strengthened my voice for justice. This grew from our shared belief that creating beloved community, where all are seen, heard, and loved, was the work of our lifetime. Our UU faith and personal values insisted we put our bodies on the freeway after the death of another Black man by police, be present at immigration hearings, march together for justice, and unflinchingly examine the way race, racism and whiteness worked within us and around us.

My voice grew in strength over many years of complicated and courageous conversations with Justin about racial justice. Because Justin is not afraid to let his mistakes and vulnerability show, it felt safe for me to speak up and be vulnerable, too.

Although we talk about it often at First U, “speaking the truth in love” is not easy, especially in white Minnesota culture, where honesty is equated with rudeness. Having someone listen to uncomfortable truths with love and acceptance is rare. Justin’s attentive and compassionate presence helped me trust that I had something to say. Justin, thank you for welcoming my whole and messy self within the covenant of our faith. I will always be grateful for this precious gift.

By Craig Bierbaum. Craig has been a member since 2005. Since joining First U, Craig has taught and chaperoned youth in Religious Education, and served on the Board of Trustees from 2010–2012.

I was privileged to serve on our church’s Board of Trustees from 2010–2012. I felt called to support Justin as he was seeking to establish new and sustainable ways of leading our faith community.

When you are sitting in the pews (physically or virtually), it can be difficult to see the work that’s being done below decks to steer the ship. One really important thing that Justin did during his early years with the board was establish a clearer structure for the staff, board, and church volunteers to conduct our spiritual pursuits. We created long term visionary goals and shorter-term goals designed to help fulfill those larger goals. This gave us a means to both declare the church’s destination and to tack accordingly along the way as the wind changed.

Within that new structure, Justin was willing to make tough choices, and to prioritize. That is a hard thing for most organizations (and can be particularly hard for us UUs). At times, this was a bit disruptive to us, and Justin was willing to take the lumps in the short term for larger objective of strengthening our institution (around that time Kate Tucker referred to this work as “spiritual Pilates” – she would know).

I believe these changes created the kind of strong, healthy ministerial environment which helped make our church a destination of choice for top talent like Ruth, Lauren, Jen, Elaine, Karen, and Arif. Once here, we saw them flourish within the new environment Justin helped create. That’s a legacy that we will continue to enjoy far after Justin’s ministry with us concludes.

As you may have witnessed in recent worship services, we have begun using the “closed captioning” function of Zoom during our worship gatherings. Offering closed captioning will provide increased access to our services for a variety of people in our congregation, including those who are learning English as an additional language, those who are D/deaf or Hard of Hearing, and those who experience challenges with audio processing.

Zoom regularly releases updates to its software/apps. In order to access the latest improvements including “closed captioning,” make sure Zoom is working properly for you, and to improve your overall experience, you need to keep your Zoom software/app up to date. Learn how to update Zoom on your device here. You can also find more information about Zoom’s closed captioning service here.

Please join us for an opportunity to stop by the church in person as we celebrate our collective generosity and the wrap-up of this year’s annual giving campaign! Normally, we enjoy dinner and social time together to celebrate the generosity that sustains the work of our church, as you the congregation make your gifts/financial commitments for the year ahead. This year due to the pandemic, we cannot safely gather as we normally do; but we wanted to provide a modified opportunity to gather at this important time to show our appreciation and offer the gift of our presence to each other.

Please make your annual gift and then join us on April 18 if you’re in the Twin Cities. We cannot wait to see you!

The First Universalist Board of Trustees met this evening at 6:30 p.m. The Board meets the third Thursday of most months and is currently meeting on Zoom. You can find the Board packet for the April Board meeting here on our website.

Join one of these Zoom calls to wish Rev. Justin a Good Goodbye! These are drop in opportunities for chatting with Justin. You are welcome to join the one that best fits your schedule. For Audio-Only, dial in: 312-626-6799

Join the Zoom gathering here.

Meeting ID: 892 7317 6946; Passcode: 825136

Join the Zoom gathering here.

Meeting ID: 814 6743 2711; Passcode: 772008

On Sunday, June 6, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Rev. Justin and his family will be on the steps of the church for congregations to say a socially distanced goodbye. You may drive by, walk by, or roll by, as long as you’re six feet away!

This circle will provide an opportunity to meet in a small group and be open, honest and transparent with each other about what is really happening with money in our individual and collective lives. With our current worship theme of "accountability," now seems like a good time to take a look at money and how it works to support white supremacy, undermine equality and separate us from each other. The group has space for eight to ten members. Each week, group members will receive a reading or video to review as well as some questions for reflection. The group format will include a grounding, time to respond to reading and reflections, body settling, one or two stories, open interaction and closing. This circle will meet for six weeks beginning May 11 and will touch on both personal and collective experiences. On a personal level, group members will have the opportunity to tell stories of their own experiences with money. On a collective level, group members will read short articles or watch videos that examine the creation of racialized consciousness and extractive economies which promote accumulation of wealth for a few through the exploitation of many and of our Earth.

Spots in this group are already filling up. If you are interested in joining this group, please reach out to facilitators Karen Heegaard (she/her, 612-810-7349) or Susan Hoffman (she/her, 612-626-7298) for more information. You can learn more about this circle here.

Did you see the most recent Environmental Justice Team newsletter spotlighting First U Earth Day 2021? The EJ team has scheduled a showing and discussion of "Kiss the Ground" to commemorate Earth Day this year.

Read the latest issue of the EJ Team newsletter here and sign up to receive future issues here.

Julie Neraas, spiritual director and author of several books, is leading a series of four workshops on hope: what it is, how to cultivate it, and how to sustain it. As she writes, “Hope is a stupendous human quality, and in this challenging time in our complicated world, it may be our greatest need, its viability our greatest question."

This series is co-sponsored by the Association of Universalist Women (AUW) and the Young Adult group. To help defray costs, we’re inviting participants to contribute as you’re able: no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. Recordings of the sessions will be made available to those who register for those who are unable to attend all four sessions. Hope might be one of the most important spiritual disciplines we can cultivate right now, so please do sign-up for this series here.

Newcomer Circles are four-session gatherings of 6-8 participants who are new-ish to First Universalist. If you’ve been joining us for worship or participating in small groups or other gatherings for a few months, we invite you to consider signing up for a Newcomer Circle. This is a great way to deepen your connection to the church and to meet others who are also early in their journey with the congregation. The next Newcomers Circle will take place on Thursdays, May 6, 13, 20, and 27 from 5–6:30 p.m. Register here. If you’re brand new to us or simply testing the waters, we invite you to start by attending First Step, a brief orientation offered every first and third Sunday of the month, or by dropping into our post-worship fellowship hours.

Tangled Blessings is a weekly grief group where participants are invited to bring their whole selves and whatever grief they may be carrying. Through sharing, silence, ritual, and reflection, we will offer each other support and companionship. You are welcome to attend one or all of the sessions. Registration is requested. You can register here.

You can find ways to get involved with our Faithful Action Partners in our April Faithful Action Newsletter. The newsletter contains opportunities to connect through volunteering, donating, advocating, and learning. Our Faithful Action Partners are community organizations that share our vision of love and justice. We work through Faithful Action Partnerships in order to leverage our energy, commitment and expertise. You can find more information about our Faithful Action Partnerships on our website.

From our Faithful Action Community Partner, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light (MNIPL), submitted by our First Universalist MNIPL Faithful Action Community Partner team:

"Even though we’ll be gathering virtually again on this Earth Day 2021, we share a Sacred Ground beneath us all. Join us for a special event that will feed your soul and connect you to the sacredness of the earth. In our work to care for each other and care for our planet, we need moments like this to tap into our spiritual depths, to be inspired, to remember that the restoration of ecosystems includes the restoration of ourselves.

We are especially excited to have Joy Persall as our keynote speaker! Joy is a woman of Ojibwe Metis’ descent, a mother, grandmother, gardener, and seed keeper. Joy is committed to a life supported by community and family, working for equity and justice, and caring for our Mother Earth.

We will also be celebrating stories from MNIPL’s work last year and from our climate justice congregations as well as inviting you to deepen your relationship with MNIPL and our shared work of climate justice and racial justice.

We can’t wait to spend this time together! Register here. And do invite members of your faith, spiritual, or other communities!"

From our Faithful Action Community Partner, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light (MNIPL), submitted by our First Universalist MNIPL Faithful Action Community Partner team:

"Join MNIPL for a conversation with Rep. Ilhan Omar and representatives from local faith communities about the importance of climate action. Faith leaders will speak to why they value being stewards of our planet. We will also hear from Rep. Omar on upcoming federal legislation that is focused on protecting our planet and addressing the climate crisis. This event will be live-streamed on social media including on the MNIPL Facebook page. RSVP here."

From our Faithful Action Community Partner, The Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement (CLNE), submitted by the First Universalist CLNE Faithful Action Community Partner team:

The Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement (CLNE), our newest Community Partner, is sponsoring an initiative called Healing our City: A Virtual Prayer Tent for Minneapolis.  Last summer it was a real prayer tent outside intended to create a place for healing following the murder of George Floyd. Since the trial started, it is a virtual experience on Zoom. It is a 20 minute reflection and prayer experience which begins at 8 a.m. each morning with a timely reflection by a different religious or spiritual leader each day follows by an 8 minute and 46 second silence for meditation and prayer. The session ends with music and an invitation to offer your own thoughts and prayers in writing in the chat like we do in our services.

Join the Zoom gathering here. In addition, all of the reflection leader videos are now available for viewing on the new Healing Our City YouTube Channel.

The care team at First Universalist is here to help in a whole lot of ways—from phone calls to say we’re thinking about you to a listening ear when you need someone to accompany you through whatever’s happening in your life. COVID-19 has changed some of the ways we provide care, but there is a lot we’re still doing. Here is one of the ways we’re here to provide support:

We Care Companions

Care companions are members of the congregation who have been oriented toward the art and practice listening with a caring and confidential ear, and a loving and kind heart. We call and check-in on folks in the congregation and are here to accompany you longer term if you’re living with a chronic illness or could use some ongoing support. To connect with a Care Companion (or to become one), contact revkarenhutt@gmail.com.

If you would like to access any of our other caring resources, contact Rev. Arif Mamdani at arif@firstuniv.org 

Spiritual Care - Your ministers and program staff are here for one-on-one confidential conversations of support. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of us to connect. 

Love Kits - Are you or someone you love ill? Is your family struggling? Do you live alone or feel isolated? Do you know someone else from church who might be? If so, please let Rev. Karen (revkarenhutt@gmail.com) know so that a package full of love and support can be delivered to your home.

Meal Trains - If you or someone you know at church would welcome a meal to help them through a difficult time, loss, illness or injury — and having someone else do the cooking for a bit would help —please let us know. Contact Rev. Arif Mamdani at arif@firstuniv.org.

Minister’s Emergency Fund - For many of us, these are difficult financial times. If you need help with a car repair bill, making rent, a doctor’s bill, groceries, gas, a mortgage payment, affording your medication, a bus card, or any other financial situation - please be in touch. We have financial resources available. Please contact a minister/staff member. 

Mental Health Connect - www.mhconnect.org - Need help finding a therapist? Want to learn more about particular mental health conditions and resources? Check out Mental Health Connect, a local organization supported by congregations like ours, that provides community-based resources, support and education to improve access to mental health services and connect individuals and families with the services they need. 

Counseling - The Walk In Counseling Center offers free counseling by phone or computer. Find out how to “walk in” on their website.