Blue Boat of Youth and Young Adult MinistriesStanding 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…
Equalize Privilege and All Will Rise
What Noah Learned at UU Mid-West Leadership School by Noah Rowan I have privilege. White privilege. Male privilege. Cis-gender privilege. Economic privilege. Until recently, I felt guilty about my privilege. I shoved it down and denied its existence. I waited for someone to reassure me that privilege was a made up phenomenon. I watched others do the work but called myself an ally. I never spoke up about the numerous opportunities I received. I couldn’t explain or fix it, so why acknowledge that privilege was existent in my life? Recently, I attended UU Youth Midwest Leadership School in Beloit, WI. This intensive experience, which explored leadership development, social justice, our Unitarian Universalist (UU) faith, and…
SnapChat Younger Folks Into Your Congregation
Using SnapChat to Expand Your Reach To Younger Folks Recently I shared an image by Benjamin Schwartz that appears in the New Yorker Magazine: CLICK HERE TO VIEW IMAGE to Facebook adding “Imagine being the one trying to explain why churches and our office should be using it.” In the comments, a number of folks asked how to use it within church contexts lamenting they tried it when it first came out and it just didn’t work. Why SnapChat? According to SnapChat‘s own numbers, more than 60% of 13-34 year-old smartphone users in the US are Snapchatters. Furthermore, it is a great platform to share things that are happening live and locally. We continue to see…
Text, Talk, Act with Your Youth or Young Adult Group
More than 20% of teenagers and young adults suffer some type mental health stress, and as many as 30% of adolescents experience one major episode of depression before reaching adulthood.¹ And while this information is sobering, it is heartening to know that this is also the age at which people are the most receptive to positive influences that can help overcome mental health stress. Here is a way to be one of those positive influences: During the month of May youth at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta are taking part in Text, Talk, Act for mental health, AND YOU CAN TOO! “Text, Talk, Act is an innovative effort that uses smart phones as a way…
Where Were You on Good Friday?
Today is Good Friday, a day where those in the Christian tradition tell the story of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, his brutal death at the hands of an Empire that crucified routinely as one means of maintaining their power. This story about Jesus’ death is about one particular person, but as Christian scripture tells us, it is also about many other people. “…Truly I tell you, whatever you did unto the least of my siblings you did unto me.” (Matthew 25:40) And when we pass laws making it a crime to be trans in North Carolina, and when suicide rates for trans folks, already way too high, go up, we crucify Jesus again. And when trans…
Movie Night: Autism in Love
Broad Spectrum Welcoming I recently attended the Peek Award movie screening at the Utah Film Center. The Peek Award, named after Kim Peek, the inspiration for the 1988 movie Rain Man, honors artists and film subjects who positively impact society’s perception of people with disabilities. Bookmark the link for The Real Rain Man because Peek truly was an incredible man and this short documentary is a must see. The Peek Award winners that night were the producers of the film Autism in Love. Autism in Love is a documentary that follows 4 people (an unmarried couple, a young single man and an older married man) who are all on the autism spectrum as they discuss…
Small But Mighty: UU Campus Ministry
“Small but mighty” is a phrase I enjoy. Possibly because I am a petite woman of short stature, yet I like to think I’m relatively powerful. But more than that it’s because that’s how I see our faith. Unitarian Universalism (UU) is a tiny religion and a young one too, though our roots go back centuries and indeed millennia. Yet we are powerful, making big impacts in our communities with our yellow shirts and our comprehensive sexuality education, our inclusive communities and our radical love. Small but mighty also describes our Unitarian Universalist campus ministries. We are small. Like, super small. In the fall of 2015 we did our second campus ministry census and we…
Share the Love: Bridgers’ Care Packages
Valentine’s Day is over but that’s no reason to stop sharing the love! Our congregations are generally pretty good at sharing love. From child dedications for our infants to memorial services at life’s end, our congregations are there for the full journey. So how do we share the love when our beloved youth grow up, cross that mythical bridge and become official adults? One simple and effective way to stay in relationship with our bridged young adults is through sending care packages their way! A couple months ago, India Harris, the youth and young adult programs coordinator at the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, reached out to other religious educators on Facebook to find out…
Multicultural Support Team Moves Toward Justice
In honor of the Standing on the Side of Love 30 Days of Love 2016 campaign, Steven Ballesteros speaks up about the important work of supporting Youth of Color. As a Unitarian Universalist young adult of color I have at times lacked a sense of belonging and of being in right relationship in this faith. I know I am not alone in this feeling. Luckily, there are places in which I can feel safe and ways in which I can apply myself. I currently live near Seattle, Washington, which places me in the Pacific North West District of the Unitarian Universalist Association. There I have helped create and serve on the PNWD Multicultural Support Team for…
Recent Comments