Changing circumstances require nimble solutions. In a recent Ancient Song Doula Services training that Nora attended, the trainers remarked that for those anticipating the arrival of a baby making goals for birth is recommended over making plans for birth. Because birth, like many major life events, can be messy, chaotic, unpredictable and change at any time. Organizing for long-term change and transformation isn’t any different. We have to keep our eye on the prize while being gentle, flexible and rigorous in our approach. Today we are returning to you with our bi-weekly messages honoring an ancestor to lean on, sharing a prayer for our messy lives and a song to strengthen and soothe. We hope you find them of use to you and yours.

ANCESTOR

Egbert Ethelred Brown was a pastor who found his political assessment inextricably linked with his faith expression. Originally an Episcopalian, then Methodist lay preacher, Rev. Brown would go on to become a Unitarian minister. Though enrolled at Meadville Theological school in 1907, Rev. Brown was targeted and deported to his home country of Jamaica. Years later, Rev. Brown returned to the United States to complete his studies and go on to become the first Black man to be ordained a Unitarian minister. Rev. Brown was involved in the Jamaican trade union movement, racial justice in the United States and organizing for independence and due to a lack of ongoing financial support, his family relocate to the U.S. in 1920. He would go on to found the Harlem Community Church despite inconsistent support from both the British and Foreign Unitarian Association and the American Unitarian Association that throughout his jobs would require him to take on additional jobs.

Like Ethelred may we be persistent in our vision and creative in our implementation.

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How we show up, who we are, what we are bringing and who we are willing to become in our justice work matters. We are excited to invite you to the next webinar from Love Resists on Building Partnerships at the Grassroots next Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT. 

REGISTER NOW HERE

The conversation will cover questions including "How can an individual congregation—and the interfaith community, more broadly—approach new relationships with grassroots community organizations? How do we build trust, accountability, and a long-term commitment? What role is ours to play within a movement much larger than ourselves?"

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Sending you love for a day that fills you up with whatever you may need. We are so excited to bring you the next set of interviews of Fortification: Spiritual Sustenance for Movement Leadership. In December, we had an opportunity to have conversations with a number of members Auburn's Resilient Leaders Across a Fractured Country, amplifying the lessons of spiritually-resilient leaders in the South, Midwest, and Southwest.

In today's conversation Caitlin speaks with Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, an original pioneer of transgender activism and a champion for Transgender Women of Color who leads the cause for transgender rights in the prison industrial complex. She took part in the Stonewall riots. Miss Major is also the Executive Director Emeritus for the Transgender GenderVariant Intersex Justice Project (TGI Justice Project) and founder of the Haus of GiGi. Read more about and support her work here. In the conversation they talk about the mothering the movement, replenishment, accompaniment and creating home and what it means to root our organizing in a deep and unwavering love for community.

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Welcome to Week 5 of Thirty Days of Love 2018. For our final message, we’ll close with an ancestor to ground us, art to inspire, and a podcast recommendation to keep us learning. We hope you find these resources and reflections of use to the work you do from your congregation to your community and beyond.

This week our theme is Lessons for the Next Season: Praxis. What are we learning from what we are practicing? How do we ask for the feedback we need? How do we share it? How can we practice our values now, among so much that is unideal?

We honor our ancestor Donald Thompson and share You Deserve to Heal and Grow by Katie Blanchard and recommend you check out the Tonic Podcast - Healing Advice for What Ails You. Check out the final few days of the Thirty Days of Love 2018 All-Ages Activities by Rev. Marisol Caballero. The week after next we’ll be back with our bi-weekly spiritual sustenance messages!

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Welcome to Week 4 of Thirty Days of Love 2018. Next week you’ll get our final message alongside spiritual resources: an ancestor to ground us, art to inspire, and a podcast recommendation to keep us learning. We hope you find these resources and reflections of use to the work you do from your congregation to your community and beyond.

This week our theme is Composting & Watering: Spiritual Sustenance. Where am I empty and what do I need to fill my communities collective cup? How do I make sure we have what we most need?

We honor our ancestor Fannie Barrier Williams, share oh gentleness by Katie Blanchard and recommend you check out the podcast Reflection on Belonging with Prentis Hemphill, healer, somatics practitioner, organizer and former Healing Justice Director of Black Lives Matter. We encourage you to read more about the legacy and offering of Healing Justice from them here. And if you haven’t yet, check out the Thirty Days of Love 2018 All-Ages Activities by Rev. Marisol Caballero. Next week we’ll be back with our final message on Lessons for the Next Season: Praxis. Stay tuned!

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We are so excited to bring you the next set of interviews of Fortification: Spiritual Sustenance for Movement Leadership. We see Fortification as a continued opportunity to hear from people within and across faith and spiritual traditions talking about some of the questions facing organizers, communities and institutions in these times.

In December, we had an opportunity to have conversations with a number of members Auburn's Resilient Leaders Across a Fractured Country, amplifying the lessons of spiritually-resilient leaders in the South, Midwest, and Southwest.

In today's conversation Caitlin speaks with Pancho Argüelles, organizer, popular educator and Executive Director of Living Hope Wheelchair Association. In the conversation they talk about campaigns as a tool to build movement, the urgency of critical interaction, both the honey AND the shit, the grace that comes with vulnerability and more.

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