Looking at Systematic Racism

This week, July 8, 2018 at Hopedale

July will be an extended book group, and we will read both “The Souls of Poor Folk”, the audit of the Poor People’s Campaign, which was just released in April of 2018, alongside The Third Reconstruction: How a moral movement is overcoming the politics of division and fear, by the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, published in 2016.  The audit is available at https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PPC-Audit-Full-410835a.pdf  You can order copies of  The Third Reconstruction:  How a moral movement is overcoming the politics of division and fear quite inexpensively from Amazon.

We will combine reading and reflection with planning for local action.  We will gather at 12:00 noon for refreshments.  Then, at 12:30, we will have a short service, including Joys and Sorrows and an offering, followed by an hour-long discussion of these two sources, and planning for Hopedale’s social justice agenda for the coming year.  Discussion will be facilitated by members of the Social Justice Committee.  Questions?  Contact Ann Fuehrer at fuehrea@miamioh.edu or 513-756-1963.

July 8 “The Souls of Poor Folk” Systemic Racism, pp. 24-39;     Barber Ch. 3,4

Hopedale UU Community is located at 3870 Millville-Oxford Rd, Oxford, OH.

The Souls of Poor Folk

This week, July 1, 2018 at Hopedale:

July will be an extended book group, and we will read both “The Souls of Poor Folk”, the audit of the Poor People’s Campaign, which was just released in April of 2018, alongside The Third Reconstruction: How a moral movement is overcoming the politics of division and fear, by the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, published in 2016.  The audit is available at https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PPC-Audit-Full-410835a.pdf  You can order copies of  The Third Reconstruction:  How a moral movement is overcoming the politics of division and fear quite inexpensively from Amazon.

We will combine reading and reflection with planning for local action.  We will gather at 12:00 noon for refreshments.  Then, at 12:30, we will have a short service, including Joys and Sorrows and an offering, followed by an hour-long discussion of these two sources, and planning for Hopedale’s social justice agenda for the coming year.  Discussion will be facilitated by members of the Social Justice Committee.  Questions?  Contact Ann Fuehrer at fuehrea@miamioh.edu or 513-756-1963.

July 1 “The Souls of Poor Folk” Overview, pp. 1-23; Barber Prologue, Ch. 1, 2

Hopedale UU Community is located at 3870 Millville-Oxford Rd, Oxford, OH.

The Matrix w/Carolyn Forrester and Nancy Stella, June 24, 2018

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Join us on Sunday, June 24, 2018 at Hopedale Unitarian Universalist Community,  for these experiences of inspiration:

  • At 10:00 am, Genevieve O’Malley Knight will host screening of the Sunday morning worship service broadcast from General Assembly, the UUA’s annual meeting.  That meeting is taking place in Kansas City, Missouri.
  • At noon, we will gather for refreshments. 
  •  At 12:30, a friend of Hopedale, Carolyn Forrester, and her colleague, Nancy Stella, will introduce us to The Matrix.  The Matrix is a one-of-a kind emotional healing tool that has been validated by modern psychological science.  Highly credentialed doctors of psychology and life coaches have based their healing practices on the Matrix’s methodology.  It is used by businesses to add clarity to human relations between staff and with clients.  It is used by teachers to manage and understand their students.  Novelists frame the emotions of characters in their books with the Matrix.  Adventurers and explorers use it to trustingly spur themselves forward, into the unknown.  The Matrix is a game-changer, for both the individual and society.  It heals the individual and transforms perception, enlightening the way out of the ego-filled paradigm of Hate and into the soul filled paradigm of Love.  It builds the emotional resilience it takes to truly thrive in life. 

The Laws of God or Man w/ Bonita Porter

This summer, we are framing a number of our services with the 40 days of Action of the Poor People’s Campaign, which began on May 13 and end on June 23. This focus is consistent with the 2014-2018 UUA Congregational Study Action issue, “Escalating Inequality.” The themes for our first three services represent the focuses of the national Poor People’s Campaign for those weeks.

June 17, 2018 at Hopedale Unitarian Universalist Community, “The Laws of God or Man”

This Sunday is part of Week 6 of the Poor People’s Campaign, themed around “The distorted moral narrative”. Bonita Porter’s message is about recent school shootings and how the non-violence movements of Jesus and Dr. King responded to similar violence. Bonita` was recorded into Ministry by the Religious Society of Friends in 1992.  Since then, she has worked as a hospital and AIDS hospice chaplain before marrying Bob LaGesse and settling in Oxford in 1996.  She currently works with under-represented science and engineering majors at Miami University.

We will share a community potluck at 12:00 noon, followed by an hour-long service at 12:30.  Please bring a potluck dish to share.

Everybody Has a Right to Live! 

This summer, we are framing a number of our services with the 40 days of Action of the Poor People’s Campaign, which began on May 13 and end on June 23. This focus is consistent with the 2014-2018 UUA Congregational Study Action issue, “Escalating Inequality.” The themes for our first three services represent the focuses of the national Poor People’s Campaign for those weeks.

The interior of the present Community Choice Pantry

Sunday, June 10, Noon- This Sunday, we will gather at noon at Merry Day Park in Oxford for a potluck picnic and a facilitated conversation, “The TOPSS One Stop Shop: A Vision of Unity for Social Services”  Facilitators:  Lara Osborne and Chris Shoker. “For several years, a committed group of Oxford citizens worked hard to get a One Stop Shop for social services established in Oxford. The primary barriers were land and money. Those efforts were largely abandoned in 2013. In the meantime, the City of Oxford acquired a parcel of land within the mobile home park, Merry Day Park. The current home of the pantry is owned by St. Mary’s church, and is need of demolition. We agreed to leave by June 30, 2020.  As we did extensive research both on our customers’ needs and on possible locations, it became clear we would need to build a new building. Our then president, Edna Southard, a city council member, approached the city about building in the underutilized park. Oxford City Council passed an ordinance allowing the pantry to build on the Merry Day Park site. This presented a marvelous opportunity to begin exploring the One Stop Shop idea again. Our dream is a building that can help create social integration and reduce stigma along the 27 North corridor. We hope to unify fragmented services and reduce or eliminate the transportation barriers that hold low income people back. So the Oxford Community Choice Pantry will soon formally become TOPSS: The Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services. The TOPSS One Stop Shop is in the process of exploring collaborations and funding, and working with builders to create a proposed vision of unity to take back to city council.”

Lara Osborne is a social worker who has worked in and taught social services for over 20 years, and has been locally active on food justice issues through OEFFA, the Oxford Uptown Farmers Market, and Moon.
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Chris Shoker builds large commercial greenhouses that have 10x the yield over field grown produce without the use of pesticides, while capturing and using C02 emissions and reclaiming 99% of the water used. These innovations reduce the footprint of agriculture and protect the environment. If you’ve bought a tomato from Kroger lately, it was likely grown in an Ohio greenhouse.
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The Park has a picnic shelter and tables. Please bring your own paper goods and a potluck dish to share; drinks will be provided.  Merry Day Park is located by turning left onto Reagh Way as you are traveling north on College Corner Pike, Route 27, out of Oxford.  The Park is at the end of Reagh Way.
Next Sunday, July 17, 12pm: We’ll be back at the Hopedale UU Community for Community Potluck. Then at 12:30pm, we will examine the distorted moral narrative afterwards, hearing from Bonita Porter about gun control.

Look Who’s Building Houses!

Faith Build Habitat for Humanity Projects Update

 

 

 

 

The house we started working on in November 2017 is soooo very close to completion. The driveway didn’t get poured last week so they put off the dedication until Saturday, June 9, 1pm.

The five, Oxford area churches have accomplished much during the past several months, in spite of interference from delays due to challenging weather. Thanks, everyone, for your dedication and strength.

The UU part of the work crew is next scheduled to be at Carter Court on June 30 and July 28. If you’d like to give us a hand with the build or help with lunch prep, please give me a call at 513-280-1044.

45th Cincinnati Pride Festival, June 23

Pride Parade, Saturday, June 23, 2018, 11:00 AM, Downtown Cincinnati

You can show support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community by marching in the Cincinnati Pride Parade. This is a family-friendly event; we had UU kids of all ages marching in the past. If you have a yellow “Standing on the Side of Love” tee shirt, this is a great opportunity to wear it. UUs will meet at the designated staging area.  Look for the UU float and come early to help decorate.  The “float” will be the van with the big chalice on it.  For those who cannot walk the parade route there are several spots in the van available. Look for information being updated regularly at the Cincinnati UU Meetup. https://www.meetup.com/Cincinnati-UU-Meetup Join the Meetup and updates will be emailed to you.

Parade step off is at 11:00 vehicles need to be in line by about 10 people by 10:30.  Please wear your yellow “Standing on the Side of Love” shirts and bring signs.  We will have UU signs and SSL signs. Homemade signs, especially those about transgender rights or other LGBT issues, are most welcome.  If you need shirts you can order from uuabookstore.org.  The parade ends at Sawyer Point.   For more information on marching with other UUs, contact MJ Pierson at mjpier0410@aol.com.

Info on the Parade Route: The Parade will start at the intersection of 7th Street and Central Avenue, follow 7th Street to the intersection at Vine Street, then follow Vine Street past Fountain Square and around The Banks on 2nd/Main, before continuing onto Freedom Way and down to the festival grounds at Sawyer Point/Yeatman’s Cove. Parade walkers will come enter park after end of parade route to public landing. Vehicles/Floats will empty onto the Access road of Yeatman’s Cove down the access road to Butler Street and exit down Butler Street.

Cincinnati Pride Festival UU Booth, Saturday, June 23, 2018, at Sawyer Point/Yeatman’s Cove, Cincinnati

You can show support for the LGBTQ community and help people learn about Unitarian Universalism. It’s a lot of fun working a shift at the booth, talking with people, handing out information, and watching the crowd. The Pride Festival takes place at Sawyer Point and once again is free for everyone! There’s food, drinks, vendors, and entertainment to fill your Saturday afternoon with fun.  Area UU congregations work together in the information booth. Booth activity starts at the end of the parade and goes until about 9 PM. We do not have our location assigned yet but it too will be put on the UU Meetup updates. Join meetup at https://www.meetup.com/Cincinnati-UU-Meetup and we will send email updates automatically. Sign up online to help at the booth at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0a4ba4a822a20-pride