Our Faith Superpowers in Action - Resources from May Gathering
At the Gathering, I talked about how we need to shift from being independent minded cats to an organized school of fish in order to have the power we need to block authoritarianism and build the world we want.
So many of you are doing this in your communities! Unitarian Universalists in Memphis (TN), Burlington (VT), and Minneapolis (MN) shared about how their congregations are using their particular location and resources strategically and creatively. Here are just a few takeaways:
"If we’re doing things right, we WILL be called upon to drop everything in service of love." —Allison Connelly-Vetter
"The roles that need to be filled aren’t all sexy. Many of them aren’t." —Emma Paskewitz
"When we risked talking to strangers, we have found we have connections." —Rev. Karen G. Johnston
If you missed us live, you can watch the recording and view the presentation slides.
Our guests shared their inspiring, careful, beautiful, and creative work to live our faith in their communities. They talked about long haul work of preparation to be nimble in moments of action. They shared about getting close to the need by building community relationships that enabled strategic and powerful action together.
They inspired us to be steadfast in our commitment to bending the arc of the universe toward justice. They reminded us that together is how we will dismantle the authoritarian power that is violently tearing apart immigrant families, waging immoral and expensive war on Iran, supporting genocide, and attacking the right to self determination of trans and pregnant and disabled people.
We know that all those billions spent on violence could instead provide actual relief, resilience, and safety in the face of rising costs, climate crises, and the threat of more pandemics. We know that another world is possible.
When we root deep into local relationships connected to a wider strategy to build the movements we need, we are incredibly powerful. That’s why we invited you to get more strategic and faithful in your work by:
Using our Congregational Asset Mapping Tool to answer the question "How can we share what we have to help build the world we want?"
Planning for UU the Vote Solidarity Summits to equip interfaith leaders with the relationships, tools and practices needed to grow power in strategic sites for justice, democracy, and collective liberation. Join our summits in Pennsylvania (August 28-30), Tennessee (September 18-20), or Texas (October 2-4), or organize your own where you are!
If those feel too big, then join our Undermining Pillars of Support: 4th Amendment Wedge Strategy Training, online next Monday May 18th, 6:30-8:30 ET.
I invite you to let us know which of these actions (or others!) you are taking this month, and be sure to read our Action Center Weekly Update for specific actions you can take this week. We publish the update every Tuesday on our Action Center.
More Resources & Links
More from our musician, Soren Austenfeld: www.sorenaustenfeld.com and Instagram: @sorensings
Take action to stop the deportation proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, friend of the Burlington UUs
Sign up for our June 8th Gathering: Declarations of Democracy
For more study on the Pillars & Non Cooperation, Freedomtrainers.net has lots of resources
Bookmark the webpage for The Gathering to see all the dates, a promotion kit, recordings, crisis resources, and links
Thanks to the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont crew: Rev. Karen G. Johnston (she/her), Senior Minister, and Kim Watkin and Sarah Rosedahl from the FUUSB Democracy Project. Connect with Rev. Karen at revkaren@uusociety.org
Thanks to the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota crew: Allison (she/her), Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministries; Claire Tralle (she/her), OWL Program Coordinator; and Emma Paskewitz (she/they), current member and former Youth Programs Coordinator. Connect with Allison at allison@firstuniv.org
As Soren sang to close us out from his new song "Watershed," "I am one, but we are many, so, together we will be; from a droplet to a river, mighty, flowing to the sea."
May we become a mighty flowing river.
Rev. Cathy & Side With Love Staff Team
P.S. Don’t miss our June 8th Gathering: Declarations of Democracy!
