Newsletter for March, 2013
From Our Minister:
More than 10 years ago, President Bush memorably described an “Axis of Evil” in his State of the Union address. Since then, there have been more stories, more studies, and more books on evil.
But that doesn’t mean evil is easy to talk about — or should be easy to talk about.
In modern history, the term “evil” is most closely associated with the Holocaust. This is the event to which all other horrors are most reliably compared, for better or for worse. But evil cannot be so neatly defined and confined, writes philosopher Susan Neiman.
She believes thinkers of every age have called “evil” that which “shatters our trust in the world,” an experience that is not only global or historical, but also, devastatingly, individual, personal, and inter-personal. “Evil is not mysterious, not insignificant, and not rare,” writes Rebecca Parker, liberal theologian and president of Starr King School for the Ministry, our UU seminary in Berkeley, CA. “It is ordinary, life-destroying, and pervasive.”
It seems to me that talking about evil, much less undoing evil, is ground where I have feared to tread — along with a host of religious liberals and pluralists. Have we abandoned the language of evil and left it in “morally unscrupulous hands,” as Neiman believes? What does evil mean to you? How do you understand evil at work in the world or in the human heart — and with what tools will we resist, interrupt, and unmask it?
These are deep waters. I hope you will dive in with me and your fellow church members as we wrestle with evil this month.
Much heart,
Rev. Rebecca
From Our President:
The 2013 pledge drive is almost over, and planning for the 2014 pledge drive has already begun. The pledge drive is an absolutely essential process that sustains everything we do. As a community, we are entirely self-supporting. Every day, every week, and every month of the year, the money we give pays the salaries and benefits for our staff and supports the programs we enjoy.
Despite challenges that were not of their own making (an understaffed committee and a late start due to difficulty finding a chair) the pledge committee conducted a successful drive. As of this writing, $395,814 has been pledged, which is near our goal.
We will continue to run a deficit budget, and we will be looking for ways to increase our income as well as increase pledges in the future. The projected total expenses for the current year are $522,000. We raise about $100,000 through fundraising, rentals, Sunday morning donations, and special contributions.
If the money we must raise from pledges were divided equally among the pledging units in our congregation, the amount would come to about $1,600 per unit per year. Expenses will undoubtedly be higher for the 2013/2014 year; we are working on that budget now. This is how the pledge levels break down for this year’s drive (a unit can be a person, couple, or family):
Under $200 - 31 units
$200-$499 - 52
$500-$1199 - 79
$1200-$1800 - 39
$1801-$2999 - 24
$3000 and up - 33
One of the challenges of the pledge drive is to make it life-enhancing, not only for the church, but also for the people who work on the drive. One way to do that is to eliminate the need for nagging — send in your pledge when the pledge drive starts. Failing that, at least answer the pledge caller cheerfully. Do not treat your fellow church members like unwelcome telemarketers. Remember that they are working for you in support of the community you care about. And in fulfilling your commitment, we encourage you to have your bank automatically
transmit your pledged amount monthly. This lessens the work for staff, adds predictability to the budget, and generally calms the chaos that can accompany our many different styles of contributing.
We will also be working to help you figure out how to make your giving life-enhancing for you.
Give until it feels good. Help others to do this. To me it is exciting to even imagine that we can create a community all on our own. We give, and our giving nurtures us and also others. We give, and our giving nurtures our wider community. Thank you to Abby Arnold, Natalie Kahn, Amy Lacombe and Lucy Hahn. Thank you to our wonderful office staff, Nurit Gordon and Nancy Thompson. Thank you to everyone who made a call or helped at a reception.
Thank you to each of us for our sustaining commitment to our values and our relationships.
See you in church,
— Cynthia Cottam
News & Announcements:
Are you a graphic designer?
Are you a (semi-) expert in QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Publisher? Have you been looking
for a way to share your skills and talent with UUCCSM? Please help us continue to provide a clean,
clear, and inviting traditional monthly newsletter, the primary communication vehicle for our community.
You would be responsible for designing and producing just a few issues a year as part of a team of other
dedicated and experienced church members. You must have access to your own software. We can provide
fonts, a clear style guide and supportive fellowship. Much of the charm of our newsletter is the unique design
sensibility each artist brings to their issues of the newsletter. Make an impact at UUCCSM and join our
team! Contact us at newsletter@uusm.org for more information.
Volunteer Opportunity
Are you engaged in the work of UUCCSM?
You know the saying “It takes a village …” Well it takes many villagers to maintain a healthy, vibrant UU Congregation.
If you have been looking for a way to get involved we have an opportunity for you. We are looking for someone to help develop a Disaster Preparedness Plan for UUCCSM. This is a short-term commitment. It is not a request to develop a committee, chair a committee, or be a member of a committee. The UUA has prepared a template for UU congregations to use in tailoring a plan specific to individual congregations.
A disaster preparedness plan provides for the safety of our members, staff, children, and the public who visit or rent our spaces. It will also help us put in place plans to preserve our beautiful church campus.
If you can take this on, or would like more information, please talk with our President, Cynthia Cottam, or Church Administrator, Nurit Gordon.
— Pat Gomez
for the Board of Directors
Save the date...
...for our all-church all-ages camp at de Benneville Pines Friday, September 13 to Sunday, September 15. The best of nature and nurture at 6,700 feet among towering pines with 100 fellow UUCCSMers, just 100 miles east
of Santa Monica. Contact Jacki Weber for more information.
Building News:
Roof Update
I am pleased to announce that our roofing project is finished! The completed scope includes new clay tile on the upper roof, asphalt tile on the lower roof, and four new skylights to bring more natural light into the darker areas of the offices. Stucco repair where the roof flashing was installed, and a new gutter/downspout system for the lower roofs will be completed within the next few weeks.
Now that we are watertight, we can focus our efforts on the interior sanctuary projects. This includes replacement of the upper sanctuary windows and office windows and the office renovation.
The office renovation will include floor refinishing, painting, new lighting, and restoring the ceiling to match the sanctuary. We’ll also renovate with new finishes the sanctuary restroom and the restroom by the minister’s study. The aesthetic approach for the selection of finishes and materials will be to reflect the 1920 Spanish Revival Architecture.
— Bryan Oakes
Faith in Action News:
Faith in Action Town Hall Meeting: Putting Our Faith Into Action
Feb. 17 — After Diana Spears read a message from Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur and lit the chalice, Pastor Bridie Roberts of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) started our annual Faith in Action Town Hall meeting by describing the heroic struggles of carwash workers. As a result of the CLEAN Carwash Campaign, most carwashes in L.A. County have changed from tips-only to paying wages, and four have signed union contracts. Through CLUE, UUCCSM members have been active in supporting the workers. Much still needs to be done: violations of wage and hour and safety laws remain prevalent in the industry.
Christina Fialho, co-founder of Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), spoke about the need to visit the hundreds of thousands of immigrants confined indefinitely in detention centers, to make them visible, to help them get their rights, and to advocate for changing the laws that create such conditions. Our members and other UUs participate in these visitations.
There is also a growing National Pen Pal program. Cathie Gentile, co-chair of our Peace and Social Justice
Committee (PSJ), presented the UU Legislative Ministry’s plans for “Compassionate Immigration Reform.” PSJ cochair Roberta Frye reported on demonstrations against the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (thousands of U.S. mercenaries are still there) on the first and third Fridays of the month at 6 p.m. at National Blvd and Barrington. Roberta also announced an ACLU program here March 12 on the U.S. use of drones as surveillance as well as weapons.
Cathie Gentile read Geoff Lee’s report on the programs of Interweave, our LGBTQ committee. Interweave
will again be leading our congregation in the L.A. Gay Pride Parade, in the Coming Out Sunday Service, and in
the Interweave summer picnic.
Kris Langabeer read Rhonda Peacock’s report on the Hunger Task Force’s programs to alleviate hunger and
to help our homeless brothers and sisters, through partnering with Turning Point and the Daybreak Center of
the Ocean Park Community Center, Step Up on Second, and the Westside Food Bank.
Beth Brownlie reminded us that the Green Living Committee continues its work to educate and encourage
our community to live green. She reported a successful Vegan Second Sunday Supper last year that may morph
into two suppers this year. A plan for involvement in Earth Day is in the works, and the minister’s office is the
recipient of new lighting that conserves energy and improves the work environment.
Peggy Rhoads reported that the book discussion of the UUA common read, “The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness,” will continue with a third group of meetings, March 24 and 31, and April 7.
For more information, please contact FIA chair Rick Rhoads at fia@uusm.org.
— Peggy Rhoads
Hunger Task Force to Start New program: “Lunches for Bunches”
The Hunger Task Force is happy to announce a new opportunity to put your faith into action. Once a month, beginning in April, we will be assembling bagged lunches and delivering them to P.A.T.H. Los Angeles (People Assisting the Homeless). P.A.T.H. calls the program “Lunches for Bunches.” P.A.T.H. provides the support that
homeless individuals and families need in order to successfully transition from living on the street to thriving in homes of their own. The programs at P.A.T.H. are designed to meet people “where they are” and work with them to achieve long-term stability. P.A.T.H. provides temporary housing for homeless adults and families (195 beds located in downtown, Hollywood, and on the Westside) and administers more than a dozen services in their
P.A.T.H. Mall. From a health center to legal assistance and job placement services to substance abuse treatment — it’s a “one stop shop” for getting help and getting off the streets. P.A.T.H. is nationally recognized as an innovative and effective model for serving the homeless population in our country.
homeless individuals and families need in order to successfully transition from living on the street to thriving in homes of their own. The programs at P.A.T.H. are designed to meet people “where they are” and work with them to achieve long-term stability. P.A.T.H. provides temporary housing for homeless adults and families (195 beds located in downtown, Hollywood, and on the Westside) and administers more than a dozen services in their
P.A.T.H. Mall. From a health center to legal assistance and job placement services to substance abuse treatment — it’s a “one stop shop” for getting help and getting off the streets. P.A.T.H. is nationally recognized as an innovative and effective model for serving the homeless population in our country.
We’re really excited to be participating in the Lunches for Bunches program. Our UUCCSM sandwich assembly line will take place each month on the fourth Sunday, after the second service, 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Forbes Hall Kitchen. We’ll be creating 80 bagged lunches for the homeless people who visit the P.A.T.H. Mall. To participate, you can sign up at the Faith In Action table in Forbes Hall on Sunday, or contact hunger@uusm.org. All ages are welcome to help. We’ll be doing this each month, on the fourth Sunday, after the second service in Forbes —
so mark your calendar and plan to join us sometime.
so mark your calendar and plan to join us sometime.
And if you’re free on the fourth Saturday of the month, consider volunteering with the Hunger Task Force at Step Up on 2nd. Contact hunger@uusm.org to volunteer or to get on the mailing list. Not able to volunteer right now? The Hunger Fund is here to accept your monetary donation. Mark “hunger” on your check or offering envelope; you can also donate online.
— Rhonda Peacock
First Sunday Now “Turning Point Sunday”
Due to some schedule changes with OPCC’s Daybreak, the Hunger Task Force will be giving your donations of frozen casseroles and bags of fresh fruit to OPCC’s Turning Point instead of Daybreak.
Same date, first Sunday of each month. You can leave your donation in the kitchen’s freezer — marked for Turning Point. Questions? Contact Denise Helton for more infomation. And thanks for putting your faith into action!
PSJ to Co-host “Drones: Killers and Spies – Is Anyone Safe Anywhere?”
The Peace and Social Justice Committee is cohosting a program “Drones: Killers and Spies — Is Anyone Safe Anywhere?” with the Westside group of the ACLU-Southern California Chapter. KNX Reporter Charles Feldman and Peter Bibring will speak on the use of surveillance drones in the U.S. — violating our right to privacy and attempting to suppress our right to dissent — and Ahilan Arulanantham will speak on “targeted killings” of so-called suspected militants in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Reporter Ken Dilanian reported in the Los Angeles Times (February 9), “Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (R-VA), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a separate letter requesting Department of Justice opinions governing all targeted killings, including “signature strikes” on groups of militaryage men whose names are not known but whose activities indicate they are affiliated with Al Qaeda or its allies. Those strikes have caused the most casualties, including civilian deaths. They have raised a backlash of public anger in Pakistan, where the
CIA drone strikes have been most intense.”
CIA drone strikes have been most intense.”
Please join us on Tuesday, March 12, 7 to 9 p.m. in the Sanctuary for this timely program. For more information, email Cathie Gentile or Roberta Frye, Co-chairs, Peace and Social Justice Committee (FIA).
— Roberta Frye
NEW: Interweave Second Sunday Meetings Beginning March 10
Beginning in March, Interweave will meet every second Sunday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Forbes 2. This will be our opportunity to connect once a month and share a brown bag lunch, socialize, and plan upcoming events. Please join us. We can already start making plans for the Pride Parade, June 9. Also, consider attending Rainbow Family Camp at Camp de Benneville Pines March 22 to 24 for LGBT families and their allies: http://tinyurl.com/deB-rainbowcamp We welcome new members and look forward to meeting you. See you March 10.
— Janet Goodwin
“The House I Live In”
The award-winning documentary, “The House I Live In,” pbs.org/independentlens/house-i-live-in/, directed by Eugene Jarecki, will air April 8 on PBS. Jarecki, who also made “Why We Fight” in 2006, won the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for this new documentary.
This film chronicles the history of the War on Drugs back to a time when cocaine, marijuana and opium were legal substances used by immigrant Chinese railroad workers and, surprisingly, society women.
Among the inmates, journalists, prison guards, law enforcement officers, and a judge who appear in the film is lawyer Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” selected as the current Common Read by the UUA.
Both the documentary and the book call for a grassroots movement to demand change in drug possession sentencing where judges’ hands are tied by mandatory minimums and the three-strikes law.
— Cathie Gentile
Peace & Social Justice Committee
Join Our EMail Group
All members and friends of UUCCSM are invited to join the Peace and Social Justice Committee email discussion list at: groups.yahoo.com/group/uusm-peace/
Splinters from the Board:
Through Generous Congregation Contributions UUCCSM has donated $686 to the UU Service Committee. Every year at this time the church checks with members of record who have not paid a pledge to see if they would like to renew their pledge. It is customary for the church to lose about a dozen or so members at this time. The church now has 361 members.
The Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur reported that the Small Group Ministry program has been launched. The program has 97 participants including 10 facilitators and four members of the Board of Directors. In addition, in order to create a Worship Associates group who would take a more active role in supporting meaningful, excellent worship at our church, Rev. Rebecca led a retreat, “Awe and Wonder,” in conjunction with her colleagues from the UU Ministers’ L.A. Metro Cluster. She invited church members Vilma Ortiz, Jessica Clay, and Amelia Monteiro to participate.
Catherine Farmer Loya reported that the UCLA Campus Ministry has been launched and as of this writing has six members. Elementary RE worked with Faith in Action to put together 55 lunches and delivered them to the Turning Point housing shelter.
Director of Music DeReau Farrar reported that the MLK Choir Festival of Greater Los Angeles Area UU church choirs was a great success. He also announced two Dining for Dollars events: “America Singing: Patriotism
vs. Pride,” a choral concert, and “The Old Maid and the Thief,” a performance of Menotti’s chamber opera classic in 1950s radio opera style.
The board unanimously accepted Robert Kory’s generous offer to represent the church in the handling of Judy Federick’s property bequest. Church member Judy, who died last year, had arranged for some of her assets to be given to the church.
The board spent considerable time reviewing a revision of the Employee Manual.
The board will meet next on March 26.
— Bronwen Jones
Other UU News & Events:
First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles to Install Rev. Rick Hoyt as Settled Minister
The congregation of First Church invites Unitarian Universalists in the Los Angeles area to join them in celebrating the Installation of the Rev. Rick Hoyt. The service will be held on Sunday, March 24, at 4 p.m. in First Church’s Fritchman Auditorium. A combined choir from L.A. area UU churches will sing. Other events during the weekend include a bicycle tour of the history of First Church in the downtown area (Saturday at 10 a.m.), and a public witness in support of marriage equality (Sunday at 3 p.m.). A reception follows the service.
For more information about the weekend’s events check out First Church’s Facebook page at: facebook.com/firstunitarianchurch.
For more information about the marriage equality event go to: lighttojustice.org
Parking is limited. Please consider riding the subway to the Wilshire/Vermont station.
Rev. Hoyt is well known to congregations in the Los Angeles area. He was once a member of UUCCSM, did an internship with the Studio City church, served the Verdugo Hills and Santa Clarita congregations, and has been a popular guest preacher throughout the area. He currently serves on the Board of the UU Legislative Ministry. He began his service with First Church in February 2009.
RE News:
From Our DRE:
As spring approaches, thoughts turn naturally toward renewal, new warmth, new life
— even here in Southern California, where flowers bloom year-round. As I write, little taps and thumps keep me mindful of the new life that will be joining my family in just a few short months, so it’s perhaps no surprise that these reflections on the imminence of springtime — and all that it brings — strike me as especially poignant this year. I am
so grateful to all in our UUCCSM community for the care and support and excitement you’ve shown me already as I begin this journey toward parenthood.
And lest you feel any anxiety about what is to come, let me do some reassuring of my own: I will indeed be taking a period of leave to welcome this new member of my family, but our LRE programs will be well-shepherded in my absence. I am working with the Lifespan RE Committee, the Personnel Committee, the Board, and church staff to craft a plan for my time away, which will begin in late May and last until mid-August. If this little one proves amenable to arriving more or less as scheduled, my final Sunday at UUCCSM will be May 19, Coming of Age Sunday, and the day of our Annual Meeting.
Springtime is also when the LRE Committee and I always begin planning for the summer and the next year’s programs, but we’re getting an extraearly start this time around so we can be sure to be fully prepared in plenty of time for my leave. And we’ll be calling on all of you — the members and friends of UUCCSM — to join us in our eagerness to prepare.
First up is summer: this year we’ll be reprising a beloved program in our preschool-Kindergarten class, The Senses. We’ll kick off on June 16 with an introduction to the five senses, and then will spend two weeks exploring each one. For the “elementary and up” class, we’re trying out a brand new program that I think will be great fun for participants and leaders alike — we’re importing summer camp right here to our church, with a special Sunday Chalice Camp program. Each week we’ll have a tactile camp-style craft or activity that helps our kids develop their UU identity. Tie-dye chalice shirts, prayer flags, and outdoor games, oh my! In both of our classes, we invite UUCCSM members to volunteer to lead or assist for one Sunday. In the Senses program, leaders are encouraged to come up with their own plans for engaging young children in exploring their senses — perhaps a mini-cooking lesson for taste, a music-making extravaganza for hearing, experiments with mixing paints for sight — what would you most enjoy sharing with our younglings? In the Sunday Chalice Camp program, all projects are scheduled ahead of time and all supplies will be provided, so all our volunteer leaders
will have to do is choose their Sunday and show up ready to have fun. We’ll be starting sign-ups soon, so take a look at your calendars and consider spending a morning celebrating “being you and being UU” with the younger members of our faith community.
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Evil
Bettye Barclay, with assistance of Kathy Cook, has provided this list of daily thoughts about our ministerial theme for March.
March 1. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke
March 2. The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the
people who don’t do anything about it. Albert Einstein
March 3. I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is
permanent. Mahatma Gandhi
March 4. If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing
good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own
heart? Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
March 5. If you try to cure evil with evil you will add more pain to your fate. Sophocles
March 6. Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating. Simone Weil
March 7. Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it. Baltasar Gracián
March 8. Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always. Mahatma Gandhi
March 9. When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Lao-Tzu
March 10. Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil. Thomas Mann
March 11. The reason for evil in the world is that people are not able to tell their stories. C.G. Jung
March 12. There is an old illusion. It is called good and evil. Friedrich Nietzsche
March 13. When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it. Lewis B. Smedes
March 14. When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state. Euripides
March 15. War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other’s children. Jimmy Carter
March 16. Ultimately evil is done not so much by evil people, but by good people who do not know themselves
and who do not probe deeply. Reinhold Niebuhr
March 17. I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation
with good. Martin Luther King, Jr.
March 18. An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind. Buddha
March 19. We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies. Martin Luther King, Jr.
March 20. False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. Socrates
March 21. There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. Henry David Thoreau
March 22. Boredom is the root of all evil — the despairing refusal to be oneself. Søren Kierkegaard
March 23. Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil. Friedrich Nietzsche
March 24. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. Martin Luther King, Jr.
March 25. It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways. Buddha
March 26. Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand. Anonymous
March 27. The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding. Albert Camus,“The Plague”
March 28. Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction. Blaise Pascal
March 29. It is much easier at all times to prevent an evil than to rectify mistakes. George Washington
March 30. I happen to think that the singular evil of our time is prejudice. It is from this evil that all other evils
grow and multiply. In almost everything I’ve written there is a thread of this: a man’s seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself. Rod Serling
March 31. Evil lurks in the heart of man, and anonymity tends to bring it out. Internet flamers would never say the jagged things they do if they had to sign their names. Garrison Keillor
Lifespan Religious Education
Children:
This month in the children’s RE program, preschoolers will continue to explore the wonderful world we share, focusing on rainbows and some of the special aspects of winter and then springtime.
Early elementary participants will engage this month’s theme of EVIL through stories and special class activities that help us think about how we can choose to respond when bad things happen or people around us make bad choices, and we will also learn about the history of our own UU flaming chalice symbol.
Upper elementary children in the UUniverse Story program, after time spent last month learning about our solar system, will come closer to home as we explore early Earth, including a virtual visit from a geology professor as well as lots of hands-on activities to help participants learn about our home planet. Middle-schoolers in the Compass Points classes will take a look at our Unitarian and Universalist history, with visits with some of our tradition’s early martyrs as well as an exploration of the religious democracy created by our Unitarian ancestors and the commitment to social justice and love for all people that comes to us from the Universalist tradition. We also take part in this month’s Faith in Action project on March 24 with a visit to the beach for a special clean-up day with Heal the Bay.
Youth:
This month in Coming of Age, youth will wrap up their exploration of some of the “big questions” of faith, and will move into crafting their credo statements and the May 19 Coming of Age service.
This month for 10th to 12th graders is the launch of the Our Whole Lives class with parent orientation on March 3, and the first day of class for the youth on March 10. Be on the lookout, too, for lots of information coming this month about the YRUU service trip to New Orleans being planned for June 29 to July 6.
Adults:
Book Study and Discussion: “Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals” UUs sometimes have a tenuous, even difficult, relationship with our Judeo-Christian heritage and its source material, but the Bible remains both the most important text in Western Civilization and a powerful icon in modern American culture. The Rev. John Buehrens, former UUA president, argues in his “Understanding the Bible” that religious liberals should not cede interpretation of The Good Book to literalists and fundamentalists and their political ends. Rather, we should seek to better understand it as a human text, with all its contradictions, complexity, and richness. From the publisher’s description: “This warm, straightforward guide invites readers to rediscover our culture’s central religious text and makes accessible some of the best contemporary historical, political, and feminist readings of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.” We will read and discuss the book, with an emphasis on our own backgrounds and spiritual/ personal growth.
Start reading now — the book is available at the book table in Forbes Hall. Our discussion will begin in April led by James Witker.
Neighboring Faiths for Adults
For years the adults in our church have expressed a desire to visit area worship services of different faiths, much as our children do when we are presenting the Neighboring Faiths curriculum. A date is currently being arranged for adult members of our congregation to visit a local Sikh Temple on a Sunday for a short lecture introducing Sikhism, a worship service, and a lunch following the service. There will be a limited number of
spaces for this field trip so be sure to check in regularly at the Lifespan table in Forbes Hall for additional
information and sign up opportunities.
Patio Chat
Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussion with Leon Henderson-MacLennan
10:10 a.m. on the Patio
Sunday, March 24
Theme: Evil
New Jim Crow Discussion Group Motivates Action
Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness” drew a group
of over 20 church members and friends to the church in January and February to discuss the social and political implications of the U.S. growing prison population.
On one of those occasions we watched ”The House I Live In” by Eugene Jarecki, and spent our spaghetti dinner talking about the implications of the War on Drugs on our society.
Ms. Alexander’s book is the current Common Read of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ. The interest in her book has led to increased awareness in opposing harsh sentencing and re-entry laws nationwide.
Her thesis is that mass incarceration in the United States — over 2 million inmates in the penal system — disproportionally affects young Black men and guarantees their post-imprisonment second-class status, leading to a new racial caste system comparable to the Jim Crow era before the 1960s. The effects of mass incarceration on African-Americans, and additionally on Latinos and poor whites are chilling. Although the struggle against mass incarceration has grown steadily over the last 10 years, Ms. Alexander’s book has galvanized many social and religious communities, including the UUA.
The group that met at our church has made plans to increase our understanding of the issues, including the lengthy sentences for minor drug offenses, prison conditions, the lack of rehabilitation, the growth of for-profit prisons, and the devastating restrictions on prisoners who have served their sentences and are trying to rebuild their lives. We are seeking liaisons with other social and religious groups to build a larger movement to change the laws and practices, such as the War on Drugs, that are creating this societal catastrophe.
Life Span Religious Education will sponsor another discussion of this book March 24 and 31, and April 7. Watch for an announcement in the Order of Service and check out the RE table in Forbes Hall for specific dates and to sign up.
— Peggy Rhoads
Continuing:
• Small Group Ministry — days and times vary
• Wednesday Night Writers Group — Fourth Wednesday of each month in Forbes Hall at 7 p.m.
• Empty Nesters — Third Sunday of each month upstairs in Forbes Hall at 12:30 p.m.