Blue Boat of Youth and Young Adult MinistriesLGBTQ+ Youth Survival Guide: Trump Edition
by Rev. Evin Carvill-Ziemer LGBTQ+ Youth Survival Guide: Trump Edition Dear beautiful, fabulous gender creative and sexually non-conforming youth and teens–all those who are queer, trans, non-binary, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and a hundred other wonderful self-proclaimed identities, My heart breaks for you. This is not the future I wanted for you. This is not the future I have been fighting for. But I also know you are strong and I want you to have the information you need to survive. Because I need you to survive! I haven’t seen a “this shit is real” missive to you yet, so here’s what I’ve got. I don’t think it’s helpful to sugar coat this. Yes, you and…
How Your Youth Group Can Support Standing Rock
by Jaidyn Bryant and the 2017 General Assembly Youth Caucus Staff So, Trump was elected president. Black, Latinx, Muslim, Native, LGBTQ communities are under continued attacks. What does that mean for Standing Rock? It means that the threat to Native sovereignty will continue. That degradation of our environment will escalate. Trump and many people in his cabinet will personally profit (because of their investments) if the Dakota Access Pipeline is successful. The Dakota Access Pipeline puts the already polluted Missouri River at a major risk for for even more pollution. In an effort to transport oil 1,200 miles east from North Dakota to central Illinois, the DAPL will disturb sacred lands and burial grounds,…
Standing Rock – Issue Primer
Learn more about protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) The Rev. Peter Morales, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, answered the call of protest leaders for clergy of all denominations to join peaceful interfaith witness with the indigenous peoples who are protecting the water and land at Standing Rock. Learn more about this here. ________________________________________ The call for peaceful public witness follows acts of violence and intimidation committed against protestors, and the infringement of First Amendment rights of assembly and free speech of both protestors and the Press. Protestors have been subjected to the use of private security firms with attack dogs unleashed against them, the arrest and unusually harsh treatment of protestors by…
Adulting is Hard – by Kayla Parker
Adulting Is Hard by Kayla Parker When I was twenty-five, I started graduate school and my Dad had a stroke. Doctors told us he should have died. He is still alive, though forever changed. When I was twenty-six, my ex came out as trans and I felt awful because I thought if I had been more supportive he might have come out earlier. That same year, the Black Lives Matter movement called on me to face my white privilege with an urgency I had never felt before, and continues to do so today. When I was twenty-seven, one of my best friends successfully fought off an attempted assault by a stranger who broke into her…
Post-Hope
This homily was delivered by intern minister and UU young adult Joseph Boyd after the murder of Terence Crutcher at All Souls Unitarian Church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. – Ed. by Joseph Boyd In the aftermath of Terence Crutcher’s death, this has been a busy week at All Souls. For many of us, these last couple weeks have felt very heavy, even exhausting. You may be thinking: I’d love to be more involved, but I’m already overwhelmed with my own ordinary problems. I work a stressful job, I’ve got kids, my relationship with my partner feels shaky. I’m overwhelmed. I can’t even imagine doing anything about racism in Tulsa, let alone America. I’ll leave that to…
Forge a Just Future with UU Women all Over the World
Discounted Registration Rate for Young Adult Women The International Women’s Convocation affirms each person’s right to identify for themselves who they are and to express themselves in a way that is authentic to them. Members of the International Women’s Convocation include individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or questioning. You are invited to attend the Third International Convocation of Unitarian*Universalist Women and People of Progressive Faith February 16-19, 2017, at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA, USA! The theme of this Convocation is Weaving Global Partnerships…Forging a Just Future Together. The Convocation offers community and connection, information and inspiration, as well as motivation and momentum that lead to…
Stretching Resources for Campus Ministry
Smart Strategy + Limited Resources = Vibrant Campus Ministry by Carlene Gardner Three years ago, the Unitarian Church of Montreal (UCM) hired me as the Campus Ministry Coordinator on a contract of just 3 hours a week, from September to May. The purpose was to set up a group for Montreal students to connect with each other, the UCM and the Unitarian movement at large. Targeting ‘students’ was an ambitious goal, given that Montreal has four major universities and 14 junior colleges, totaling nearly a quarter million post-secondary students. This puts Montreal on the map as having one of the largest student populations in the world, and the highest proportion of any city in North…
For Dealing With the Again and Again and Again
again. it happened again on Monday, news spreading on social media today. this time he was a therapist trying to help his autistic patient. this time the “gun” was a toy truck. this time he survived the shooting. again. beloveds it is all too much and has been too much. it was too much when George Zimmerman was acquitted of Trayvon Martin’s murder and the #blacklivesmatter hashtag came into being. it’s been hundreds of years of again and again and too much. so if you need something today, something to deal with the again, here are a few offerings, gathered with love. for those who need to just stay with the pain for now, here is “a…
Send a Mamas Day Card!
Dear Reader of this message, People have been creating and sending cards for generations because it’s a simple and powerful way to maintain connection and sustain our families. But too often, the Mamas Day cards we see in stores don’t reflect the mamas in our lives, or the struggles they face. It’s a distraction from the true kind of love we should be expressing on Mamas Day: The love that happens when our world is just, and when all our mamas are supported, cared for, and nurtured. It’s the kind of love I see when I look at Strong Families’ newest Mamas Day ecards. This Mamas Day, honor the mamas in your life – the…
Giving Up Trash for Lent
Living the Wasteless Life by Carter Smith My story actually begins almost a year ago, when one of my Facebook friends posted an article about Lauren Singer, blogger at Trash is For Tossers. She has become well-known in recent years for fitting two years of her trash into a single mason jar. I was astounded because I had never heard of anything like it, even in my growing environmental consciousness within the first year of my college career. Hearing that something known as a “zero waste lifestyle” was possible for people living in industrialized Western societies seemed both outlandish and amazing. From there I spent weeks reading pretty much any literature out there about waste…
Recent Comments