Creative Lament - Resources from December Gathering

Thank you for taking the time for the ritual of lament together on Monday.  If you missed it, we hope you will make time for your own ritual with the recording. As one participant said, “I appreciated the depth of the reflective process that, with such simplicity, led me to some routes to connect and to hope.”  May we all keep finding routes to connection and hope. 

Rev. JeKaren led us through a form of lamentation where we made our own zines (who knew we could all make zines in an hour!).  Our pages included:

• Address

• Naming laments

• Grounding in Faith

• Statement of Confidence

• Gratitude

You can watch the recording.  We hope you will use the recording and soundtrack to share this ritual with a group in your congregation or community! 

Here are upcoming invitations to  action and reflection: (Slides with these events)

• Stop Avelo Action Hour Friday 12/12.  In April, Avelo Airlines entered into a $150 million contract with ICE to operate deportation flights.  This week, Side With Love is partnering with UU Justice North Carolina to turn their weekly NC action hour into a national action call to Stop Avelo.  UU Justice NC always has great music to help us feel the justice movement in our bones, and gathers Unitarian Universalists and with their beloved North Carolina justice partners to take action.  Join us! 

• 30 Days of Love: Love at the Center, Reimagining the World as it Could Be. Coming January 19th. Side With Love’s annual tradition.  At a time when fear, violence, and extraction dominate our politics and our planet, we practice another way. We believe love is not fragile—it is fierce. It grounds our organizing, fuels our imagination, and sustains our communities.  Over five weeks, from MLK day through Valentine’s Day,  we will move through a journey from imagination to action, rooting our freedom dreams in faith and bringing them to life in our world.

• The Gathering continues every 2nd Monday of the month

• Webpage for The Gathering to sign up and see our promotion kit, recordings, crisis resources, and links.  

• January 12th: Economic NonCooperation, with a focus on the AT&T and Avelo campaigns (Now What: Jan 14th)

• February 9th: Stories from faith leaders at detention centers (Now What: Feb 11th)

• Now What: The Gathering - for Congregational staff and board members on the Wednesday after the Gathering. Registration

• Action Center Weekly Update for specific actions you can take this week.  We publish the update every Tuesday on our Action Center.

As always, we hope you will share your experience and invite others to join you!  May the coming weeks be filled with more reflection and action.  May we all keep finding routes to connection and hope.