How an Austin church agreed to offer an immigrant sanctuary | UU World

CZ

“The call for sanctuary for Sulma Franco came to First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, where I’m senior minister, because we have the reputation of being welcoming to LGBT folks, and because the Rev. Marisol Caballero, minister of religious education and congregational engagement, had been doing antiracism work within the congregation and beyond. Word had gotten out in the immigrant community.

Could we help?”

http://www.uuworld.org/articles/deciding-offer-sanctuary?utm_source=f

Courage leads to change in this world.

This congregation lived out the first and second principles.

~Namaste
Cricket

Building Your Own Theology Class

LdeG

Schedule, Readings, and Worksheets

“And to use the classic UU Building Your Own Theology curriculum as an example, the starting point is not studying traditional theologies from the past (that comes at the midpoint). The starting point is autobiography: owning more fully how your life story and your firsthand experience affects, shapes, and informs how you construct theology. And perhaps I should also clarify that Building Your Own Theology — at least as far as Unitarian Universalism is concerned — does not require theism, a belief in God. In contrast, there is much potential benefit for both theists and atheists, Buddhists and Pagans, Christians and Jews in doing the hard work of articulating what you do (and don’t) believe about God (or reality), human nature, religious community, ethics, and the future of our species and the universe — and doing all of that in conversation with your religious community.”

From a post by The Rev. Dr. J. Carl Gregg (D.Min., D.A.S.D., M.Div., B.A.), minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, Maryland.

Starting November 1 we will have a Building Your Own Theology class at 10 am, before coffee and the worship service.  The class will probably run through March, depending on how long we take for discussions each week.

The class won’t teach you what to believe, but to think about what you already believe in a systematic way, how your beliefs have changed, learn what others believe and why, and build our community.

There is homework! Brief (two or three pages) readings every week or two and some exercises to do on your own to prepare for discussion.  By the end of the class, you will have written your own creed.

The discussion is a lot of the learning, so being there for most of the classes is good, but the readings and worksheets will be available online so you can keep up when you can’t be there.

Lisa deGruyter is facilitating; she took the class, and then taught it twice, at First UU Austin years ago. She’s looking forward to seeing how her beliefs have evolved since then (and hopes they have!)

Schedule and materials

Democracy as a Religious Practice

LdeG

You have to learn how to pray. You might spend years trying to master meditation–or coming to understand that meditation isn’t something that you master. The same is true with democracy. In order to practice it, you have to learn it. To meditate you need to learn how to breath, how to sit, how to unfocus your mind. To practice democracy you need to learn rules of order, how to run a meeting, how to bring silenced voices into the conversation, when to speak and when to keep still.

Colin Bossen: Writer, Preacher, Organizer | Blog | Democracy as a Religious Practice

http://colinbossen.com/the-latest-form-of-infidelity/14182745/democracyasreligiouspractice

Sunday November 1st 2015

CZ

It Starts!

We will begin weekly services and religious education (known as RE) in November.

Our first service will be All Saints/ Dia de los Muertos.  You are invited to bring objects for the altar to remember your dead.

image

RE for adults will be Building Your Own Theology.

RE for children will be What do You Stand For?

Please join us at 10 am for RE, coffee at 10:45 am, and service at 11 am.

image

~Namaste
Cricket

Sunday October 18, 2015

CZ

In the midst of rebirth of discussion on race and equality, the question is often asked “Where does my church stand?” This can be determined through our principles, our actions, and the heroes of our past. This week we will honor Rev. James Reeb as we discuss his journey to Selma and our journey to equality.

 

Hope to see you there.

 

Namaste

Cricket

 

 

New Adventures … Coming Soon!

CZ

After much deliberation, we have come to the decision to hold services every Sunday. This will start on November 1, 2015. We believe that we have enough people coming regularly to make this leap. We will continue to have guests as often as we can. Thinking ahead, here is our service calendar for the next couple of months with service leaders and some topics. The details of the services will be posted on the blog the Sunday evening before the service.

  • October 18 – Rev. James Reeb, UUs and Equality – John
  • November 1 – Day of the Dead – Lisa
  • November 8 – Reconciliation and Forgiveness– Cricket
  • November 15 – Visiting Guest Rev. Donald Rollins – look for Music and Fun
  • November 22 – UU History – Robert
  • November 29 – Finding Your Tribe – Cricket
  • December 6 – Living UU Principles –  Lisa
  • December 13 – Children/ Youth – John and Kids
  • December 20 – Seasonal – Robert and Lisa
  • December 27th We will not be having a service on this Sunday. We do invite you all to join us as we travel to Marietta OH on Christmas Eve.

Also we will be starting a religious education program. The adults will be working on Building Your Theology and the children will be working on What do You Stand For?  We will be doing Religious Education from 10 to 10:45 on Sunday Mornings Starting November 1st. We will have time for coffee and sharing at 10:45 am and then the worship service will begin at 11am.  We will still be in the PWA Uptown event center at 305 Washington Ave. in Clarksburg, WV.

Hope to see you there.

~Namaste

Cricket

What To Do After You Notice All Religions Are False

Robert

Unitarian Universalism has two principal currents and two methodologies that exist sometimes smoothly, sometimes not so smoothly which are derived ultimately from the two traditions that formed the Association. The first is Unitarianism, which has historically been concerned with reason and ethics. The slogan for this current has been “salvation by character.” The second is Universalism, which has been concerned with healing, and for which the slogan has been “God is love.” Or, “Love over creed.”

What To Do After You Notice All Religions Are False: My Story of Sorting Wheat from Chaff & Finding a Life Worth Living

James Ishmael Ford

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2015/10/what-to-do-after-you-notice-all-religions-are-false.html