Uplifting Sacred Possibility

Imagine a world where everybody - every body - was treated as truly sacred. Every body, whatever shape, size, expression, ability - was revered as one of the infinite expressions of the Divine.  A reflection of God.  An opportunity to celebrate the holy diversity that makes up our humanity.  

When we witness our shared humanity we are called to care, to defend, protect, and affirm OUR very existence and our inherent worth. In this world, every body is cared for.  Everybody has the ability to make the decisions they need to be safe and whole in their being.  Every body has access to the resources they need to thrive.  Everybody - every body - is held in a truly liberating love.

Unfortunately, we know that the world as it is today does not treat every body as sacred.  Dominant ideas of safety have created inflated police budgets that rob our children of books and our communities of healthcare.  Living outside prescriptive gender binaries can mean losing a job or your life.  Our society isolates disabled people from community and care by denying access to housing, healthcare, and public space.  But ideas alone aren't what is killing us. It is the allegiance to a values system that moves people to violent and deadly action – against their neighbors, their country, and sometimes their own children.  Our society’s dependence on these immoral forces has moved us so far away from our shared humanity - brutalizing sacred bodies in a vicious cycle of exploitation, violence, and death - so that we no longer regard one another as threads woven together in a Divine tapestry.

These attacks on our bodies are attacks on our existence.  They are neither isolated nor unrelated.  We know this because there is a unified strategy and single solution.  Devalue and criminalize our identities and institutionalize our people.  We know the tactics and the institutions - prisons, jails, conversion therapy, conservatorship, detention, surveillance.  These are the many tentacles of the carceral state that are strangling so many of our Beloveds. 

The nature of the attacks on our sacred bodies means that those of us who live at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities face this violence on all aspects of our being.  Within the carceral state - which already disproportionately targets black and brown communities - 40% of the state prison population are people with disabilities. The number is even higher for incarcerated youth.  In just this first month of 2024, at least 322 bills targeted the transgender people, many in states where we have already witnessed the criminalization of reproductive health care.  And among individuals specifically seeking abortions, 1 in 5 must travel out of state for care.  That barrier creates unsurmountable burdens for individuals without the financial, social, or physical means to travel.  As we dream of a world where everybody thrives, we find ourselves fighting to create a world where every body can at least survive.

And yet, it is within this fight where we can remind ourselves that another world is possible, but only if we commit to creating it together.  In the midst of what is, there are glimmers of what could be.  There are holy moments of possibility that we must lean into during these desperate times.  From the quiet moments of self-determination and action, to the power of thousands showing up for collective liberation, there is hope in all of those moments that connect us. 

Our connection isn’t just sacred, it is powerful.  Some of these moments look like gathering together to protest anti-trans laws at the capitol; holding vigils to honor the community members whom we have lost; teaching our youth what rights they have over their own bodies; and growing mutual aid networks that strengthen each others’ access to essential resources and care.  In those moments, where we show up together, our momentum is realized and the loneliness is lessened. 

Changing the world has always happened when the few become the many.  When we each find our common humanity in the strength of our values, we all find new ways to love the hell out of this world! 

Knowing that God lives in the margins, on the edge of all possibility, we are called to engage in the world as it is, grounded in our values and in an all-encompassing LOVE, to turn it into what it could be.  This week we hope you will take time to think about how to build the world of infinite possibility that we dream of, where our bodies, however they are, are expressions of all that is good and sacred in this world.  

Rev. Amanda Schuber, Disability Justice Associate
Rev. Jami Yandle, Trans Support Specialist
Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Congregational Organizer

See all the resources offered for Week Three of 30 Days of Love 2024

Side With Love is hosting our annual 30 Days of love, and this week's theme is Possibility : Bodily Autonomy (LGBTQIA+, reproductive, gender, and disability justice).

Imagine a world where everybody - every body - was treated as truly sacred. Every body, whatever shape, size, expression, ability - was revered as one of the infinite expressions of the Divine. A reflection of God. An opportunity to celebrate the holy diversity that makes up our humanity. 

When we witness our shared humanity we are called to care, to defend, protect, and affirm OUR very existence and our inherent worth. In this world, every body is cared for. Everybody has the ability to make the decisions they need to be safe and whole in their being. Every body has access to the resources they need to thrive. Everybody - every body - is held in a truly liberating love.

Unfortunately, we know that the world as it is today does not treat every body as sacred. Our country's dominant narrative of "safety," heavily influenced by ongoing colonization, criminalizes black and brown bodies. An oppressive and exclusive definition of gender, perpetuated by conservative Christian supremacy, dehumanizes queer and transgender bodies. The denial of access to even the most basic spaces and resources, exacerbated by a "profit over people" healthcare industry, invisibilizes disabled bodies. Injustices rooted in the capitalist and white supremacist systems that have shaped our communities for generations have created an apocalyptic world, brutalizing sacred bodies in a vicious cycle of exploitation, violence, and death. Our society’s dependence on these immoral forces has moved us so far away from our shared humanity that we no longer regard one another as threads woven together in a Divine tapestry. 

These attacks on our bodies are attacks on our existence. They are neither isolated nor unrelated. We know this because there is a unified strategy and single solution. Devalue and criminalize our identities and institutionalize our people. We know the tactics and the institutions - prisons, jails, conversion therapy, conservatorship, detention, surveillance. These are the many tentacles of the carceral state that are strangling so many of our Beloveds. 

And yet, it is within this fight where we can remind ourselves that another world is possible, but only if we commit to creating it together. In the midst of what is, there are glimmers of what could be. There are holy moments of possibility that we must lean into during these desperate times. From the quiet moments of self-determination and action, to the power of thousands showing up for collective liberation, there is hope in all of those moments that connect us. 

Click here to read the full reflection for 30 Days of Love from Side With Love Disability Justice Associate Rev. Amanda Schuber, Trans Support Specialist Rev. Jami Yandle, and Congregational Justice Organizer Rev. Ranwa Hammamy.

This week's offerings: a Time for All Ages from Rev. Hannah Villnave, a body practice by Rev. Catharine Clarenbach, a prayer from Rev. Mykal Slack, a grounding practice by Canedy, and a blessing from Kaden Colton.

Upcoming Events:

February 7: UPLIFT Trans/Nonbinary+ Pastoral Small Group
5pm PT / 8pm ET
This is a space to share the hard stuff and to hold the hard stuff that others are navigating in their lives. During our time together, our lead chaplain/facilitators will share opening and closing words, and in between, there is time for everyone to share what's on their hearts, and receive what others are sharing about their own lives. It's a supportive, judgment-free place to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ people. Register to join.

February 22: Faithful Grounding
4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET
Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need. Register to join.

February 27: UPLIFT Trans/Nonbinary+ Monthly Gathering
5pm PT / 8pm ET
Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. This is a drop-in space, where folks can come and go as works best for them, and where people can join us at any time. You can be a regular or someone new, someone who's been curious for a while but hasn't yet checked us out, somebody who is rejoining after time away, and all other ways of relating to this space! You are welcome here, and you are loved. Register to join.

Unitarian Universalists are called to grapple with the question of “what is safety?” Black liberation organizers say “We Keep Us Safe" as a way to proclaim that true safety comes from relationship, community and structures of care and mutuality outside of state structures of violence and control. How do we build our political and theological commitment to keeping each other safe in the face of state and interpersonal violence?

In this skill up, Nora Rasman and India Harris define safety and security grounded in abolitionist practice, discuss our spiritual mandate towards building sanctuary, and concretely outline what we can honestly offer to ourselves and each other. View the January 21, 2024 webinar below, or on Vimeo.

See the slide deck for this Skill Up

Links referenced during the webinar

Spiritual Grounding from Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen

Transform Harm, a resource hub for ending violence

Get In Formation - Community Safety Resource from Vision Change Win

Unitarian Universalist Association’s Common Read Curriculum for Defund Fear

The Million Experiments podcast and this episode on abolition

Join our online Slack community’s Community Safety and Security Channel

By Nora Rasman

In our final week of 30 Days of Love, we explore the theme of “democracy and electoral justice” and how it is situated within our broader organizing. 

As we begin our electoral work of 2024 together, I return to recent remarks by Working Families Party National Director Maurice Mitchell: the organizing principle that we build trust by telling the truth about the world we share. The core truth that I’m reckoning with this year is that democracy—the promise of our elected officials feeling a direct and accountable tie to us, their electorate—has always been aspirational.

I acknowledge the fear that many of us hold–that the threads of democracy we’ve had will fully unravel, and we will lose the pieces of representation we rely on. And I ground in the possibility that with the millions of people who have come into social movements in the past four years, we might push closer to a more just world. We will continue to fight and build the power of the working class multi-racial majority to exact wins from the people in power that will make all of our lives better. 

This year, we will tell the truth to each other and ourselves about the political landscape we inhabit, the conditions and threats we are facing and the power of the left. We will share, heavy hearted, the truth that we are facing massive devastation and suffering by war and genocide, climate catastrophe, legacies of colonization and imperialism, and rising fascist politicians and policies. We will share the bitter reality that our social movements fighting for justice have grown while also facing massive backlash and criminalization. We will also share in the conviction that our work in the year ahead is to continue to fight for the political conditions where winning is more possible.

Organizing is where we draw hope and build long term power. It is where we invest in each other and our communities through relationships and partnerships with grassroots organizations. Organizing is where we move towards the aspiration of representative democracy; a place where local but consequential change happens. Collective decisions like distribution of parking spaces at our congregation, the neighborhood association being trained on de-escalation techniques and the passage of a new lead abatement law at city council. 

When we look back on 2024 - what are the relationships we have built? How is our local organizing landscape stronger? How have we changed? 

Our work should ground and fortify us for whatever outcomes lie ahead. This means building and strengthening our local organizing landscapes. Growing and sharing our skills and resources generously. Engaging humbly. And always telling the truth. 

Unitarian Universalism calls us towards building democratic processes - in our congregations & communities. I hope we can do that together this year.

Nora Rasman is the new Democracy Strategist for the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Organizing Strategy Team, which drives Side With Love and UU the Vote.

See all the resources offered for Week Four of the 2024 30 Days of Love campaign

TIA
CLF member, incarcerated in KY

Love is the wish for all human beings to have happiness. Compassion is the wish for all human beings to be free of suffering and what causes suffering. Prejudice and being judgmental alienates us from each other. A quote from Mother Theresa captures this well: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

The monk and theologian Thomas Merton also spoke to this, saying, “the whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all living beings, which are all part of one another and all involved in one another.”

Spiritual practices like meditation and prayer can be used as tools to calm our mind, make us more peaceful, eliminate worry, develop concentration and understanding, as well as control our anger and jealousies, and rid us of negative actions and guilt. It is a tool of transformation; by taking the time to reflect on ourselves and our faults, we can change them.

How you treat someone is dependent on you, and you are only responsible for your actions, not everyone else’s. You can choose to change or transform anything you don’t like about yourself. You choose who you are and also who you associate with.

Many of us were reminded of the central role of community and chosen family in our lives by the articles by Aisha Hauser and Christina Rivera in the most recent issue of the Worthy Now Newsletter. I was forced to create my own chosen family starting in 1990, when I was disowned by my family of origin for coming our as LGBTQ. I’m male to female transgender, and I’m not a devout Catholic, which didn’t earn me any familial credits. Since then, I’ve seen no one, and not been invited to any family functions, or been notified of any births, weddings, or deaths. Looking back at this time, my one regret is not finding the Church of the Larger Fellowship or Unitarian Universalism earlier — though I know I may not have been ready to join the community at that time, given the long spiritual journey I’ve been on and the religions and philosophies I’ve studied in the time past 30 years.

Prayer now helps me to center myself in love and compassion. I’d like to offer a prayer that may also speak to you:

Prayer for World Peace

Peace be spread throughout the Earth!
May the orient express peace,
May peace come from the East and go West,
May peace come from the North and go South,
And circle the world around!
May the garments of the Earth,
Be in the place to magnify the Divine.
In this day and hour of this night,
May the world abide in an aura of Divine Peace.

Nambi Pambi
CLF member, based in TX

A girl with a curl and a ton of sass
Went
to class.

Killed in (and by) NYC,
She quit the act
To teach the facts
In Chi – Shy town.

Having no idea that even though the earth was round,
A person without a net
could still fall off.
Sissy pushed
And pushed
The stone up the hill of affiliation by achievement.

And then, She thrashed, and
She crashed, and
Her fragile health fell into a million pieces of relationships,
Broken by unavoidable need, ugly crying, and underutilized potential.
Oversharing, overcompensating, and
Overwhelming disability took care of the rest.

With characteristic persistence she fought to file down the jagged edges,
to pivot on the axes of former privilege
until they were smooth again,
And all her,
Again.

To no avail.
“If you have your health”… they say.
But what do they say next?
Now she says, some day, you’ll all understand.
Some day you will all need more than an occasional hand.

What a world we live in;
The definition of a support system,
or its politicization
or vilification
or our procrastination
because we are all so busy resisting.

Everyone has a battle to fight, a bullet to bite, a goal,
in sight.
But nonetheless,
She is going blind.
Who will be her eyes.

How do you relate to and honor interdependence?

---

DAVID
CLF member, incarcerated in AR

I find this concept to be new and exciting. Throughout my life I’ve been taught to depend on God and family only when I need help through hard times and to help those in need, but with the undertone of looking down on them, because they didn’t have family like I did to support them. In prison, my family is not here to help me, so I must make a place in my heart for my fellow prisoners, and accept their help as I also help them.

Through sharing this newsletter and talking about what I learn through the CLF, I have found people I can create a community with, and be interdependent with. We lean on each other by learning together through this church and community in written letters. We devour our mail from the CLF as soon as we get it, and can’t wait to get a pen pal (hopefully one from Boston, since the Red Sox and the Patriots are my two favorite teams!). 

---

Connectedness

JOSEPH
CLF Member, incarcerated in TX

“Every man and every woman is a star.” Those words, from Aleister Crowley’s Liber AL vel Legis, illustrates both the simplicity and complexity of the human condition. We are all special and unique, and are part of the larger cosmic dynamic set in place at creation. While special and unique, humanity must remember that they are not the center of everything, that the energy of others is necessary for vital existence.

Animism states that everything is alive and interconnected. This is true in the objective and subjective sense, in the microcosm as well as the macrocosm. We do not think twice about swatting a mosquito that bites or annoys us, but even those creatures play their part in the world. One may wonder how he/she/they are connected to the planet Jupiter, for example, as that planet is so far away from us on Earth. However, the universe is ordered. Jupiter is a sort of shield for Earth, taking hits from meteors that would end life on Earth. What benefit Jupiter receives from Earth is, as far as I know, unknown. However, because the universe is ordered, and reciprocity is one of the highest laws, one can rest assured that Jupiter also benefits.

The connectedness of humans comes through largely on the sociological scale. “People need people,” as the saying goes. However, the exchange goes far deeper than mere sociological “obligations.” People need people because nothing happens in a vacuum. We need each other to work out ideas, create the next generation, and bring about progress. These things all sound sociological, but in reality, they are the building blocks which enabled society in the first place. We not only need each other personally, we need each other professionally.

Remember, everything is alive and interconnected. As the form of creation with the highest ability to reason (as far as we know), humans are charged with recognizing our connectedness to the rest of creation, and being good stewards. Show me any religion, and I will show you the mandate for humanity’s stewardship. However, we must start with ourselves. If we cannot recognize and utilize our connectedness with each other as humans, the rest of creation will suffer.

Every human deserves the respect of every other human, and until the day this truth becomes manifest, our interdependence will remain a shadow of what it could be. Crowley’s formula, based in the Greek word Thelemn, stated: love is the law. Love under will. How strong is your will? Strong enough to hold the basic law of love? Reconcile your head and your heart, and you will find true connectedness with the rest of humanity, the world, and the universe.

Interdependence has been a central concept to our Unitarian Universalist faith since our current principles were adopted in 1985, and yet, too often Unitarian Universalists have focused on the implications this has for our relationship with the natural world around us, without understanding that we, too, are part of that web.

What does it mean to acknowledge our place in the web of all existence?

Our Universalist ancestors taught us that we all end up in the same place when we die. Centuries ago, they meant that all souls would be in heaven, but I like to expand this theology and filter it through my scientific brain.

I am regularly stopped in my tracks by the unfathomable beauty of this notion that we are inextricably bound to one another. All of our being ends up in the very same place when we die—the same place it came from in the first place, the same pool of atoms and energy that has created all life since the formation of our Earth, the same protons and neutrons that will create all life for the duration of our planet’s existence.

We are one with the stars. With the planets. With the oceans and mountains and ice caps. With the forests and the deserts and the fauna running through them. We are also one with one another. This unity of existence has profound implications for how we live. We need to learn together to make decisions that consider the other beings with whom we share our fragile planet.

The theological notion of interdependence exists in relationship with other parts of who we are, and the most important has yet to be inserted into our principles. The most important concept that interdependence relies upon is accountability.

When we are accountable to someone or something, we hold ourselves responsible to them. When we are accountable, we allow others to measure our success. In justice work, we talk about accountability to those who are most vulnerable, those who are oppressed, those who are the targets of discrimination and hatred.

When we practice accountability in justice work, we take instructions from those who are most effected by the work we are doing.  When we practice accountability, we learn to live the tenets of interdependence.

We understand that climate change is changing our oceans. Carbon dioxide is acidifying them, hotter temperatures are melting ice and causing sea level rise. We understand that we are interdependent with the beings of the ocean, and that our fate as humanity requires that we address their fate.

What does it mean to be accountable to them, though? What does it mean to be accountable to the people of Kiribati, whose island nation is disappearing under the sea? How do we live understanding that our actions might determine whether or not they have a home in a decade?

We understand that modern agricultural systems are wreaking havoc on our planet, on its soil, on its beings, on pollinators and birds and animals. We feel our interdependence with the earth when we eat. What does it mean to be accountable to this knowledge?  How do we change our behaviors to take into account the needs of those most vulnerable to this change?

At CLF, we also understand that the addiction of dominant U.S. culture to mass incarceration is a direct descendant of the systems of oppression that founded this country. The United States began with slavery and genocide and continued into an era of terrorism at the hands of private individuals, and now it is the government itself practicing that violence.

We ask ourselves often what it means to be accountable to our incarcerated siblings, who are the targets of this violence. We ask ourselves often what it means to be accountable to Black and brown communities torn apart by systems of injustice. And now we are asking how our larger faith movement might be accountable to the voices of our incarcerated UU members. It changes the way we do things to practice that accountability.

I have heard some recently say that accountability is something they fear—because accountability requires those of us with power in this world to exercise that power as power-with, and not as power-over. It requires us to take directions, to listen, to understand relationship.

Instead of being something to fear, however, I invite us to think about accountability as the way in which we live our commitment to interdependence.

February 2024

“All have their worth and each contributes to the worth of the others.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

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On January 25, Side With Love hosted a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy. You can review the slides here and recording here.

Reimagining with Energy Democracy was part of two larger events, Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love and our Clean Energy as a Human Right series. Throughout this series, we’ve invited folks to embrace a visionary approach to clean energy, not just as a technical solution, but as a moral imperative. Rather than falling into the scarcity mindset so common in climate spaces, we encourage you to embrace abundance and ensure that our clean energy work nourishes thriving communities for all. The Clean Energy as a Human Right series includes:

• Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding

• Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience with Federal Clean Energy Funding

• The UU Ministry for Earth’s Solstice Celebration, “Light for All” which featured the Energy Democracy Project

• Reimagining with Energy Democracy

While this was the last in our Clean Energy as a Human Right Webinar Series, it marks the beginning of a dedicated focus on Energy Democracy. Here are some ways you can get involved right now. Watch What Does Energy Democracy Mean To You and sign up for the Energy Democracy Project’s REFOCUS Campaign, check out their zine, messaging guide, and list of collaborators where you can connect with local energy democracy campaigns like Cleveland Owns Solar in Ohio, POWER Interfaith in Pennsylvania, and People Power Solar Cooperative in California.

This webinar was also part of our 30 Days of Love, Reimagining :: Climate Justice. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.

Our focus on Reimagining started last May with our Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice webinar. We’re happy to share the graphic illustration and printable coloring page from that event as a gift to our community.

If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence. Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. Consider what this radical reframing could look like. How would it feel? What does not exist in that future world? What is the shift that needs to happen in you to commit to this future? Bring this reimagining to your work in your relationships, congregations, and communities.

Big thanks to the sponsors of this event, including: the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, People Power Solar Cooperative, POWER Interfaith, The Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, Reamp Network, UUs for Social Justice, UU Service Committee, UU College of Social Justice, JUUstice Washington, UU Women’s Federation, UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina, and Peace Education Center of the Hudson Valley.

We do this work together, with love at the center of our climate actions, and I am so grateful for the support and collaboration and unique work of each of these amazing organizations.

The Side With Love Team is hosting our annual 30 Days of love, and the second week's theme was Reimagining :: Climate Justice. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.

If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence. Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. If we reimagine a world with justice, with love at the center, we cultivate communities of care where all beings thrive. Read my full 30 Days of Love, Reimagining :: Climate Justice reflection here.

We’ve got loads of opportunities for you to learn, act, and reflect on climate justice in the coming weeks, including:

• Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21

• Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on February 28

In between these amazing events, watch the recording of our Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration! We heard from almost 20 congregations actively engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030 process designed to transform our congregations through climate justice.

Get inspired, then get involved!  

Get inspired with the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!

During our January Community Meeting, we hosted the annual Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration. Almost twenty Active Green GS2030 congregations shared highlights of their current work. Green Sanctuary 2030 teams engage in intersectional actions that align with our Four Essentials of Climate Action: Justice, Congregational Transformation, Community Resilience, and Mitigation. Learn from your fellow UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice! 

If you’re ready to join the community, sign up for an orientation and join us for our monthly community meetings. The GS2030 orientations are the first Wednesday of each month, and the community meetings are the third Wednesday, both events are at 7ET.

Available Now: Reimagining with Energy Democracy

On January 25, we offered a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy. You can review the slides here and watch the recording here.

Reimagining with Energy Democracy was part of two larger events, Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love and our Clean Energy as a Human Right series. Throughout this series, we’ve invited folks to embrace a visionary approach to clean energy, not just as a technical solution, but as a moral imperative. Rather than falling into the scarcity mindset so common in climate spaces, we encourage you to embrace abundance and ensure that our clean energy work nourishes thriving communities for all. The Clean Energy as a Human Right series includes: 

• Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding

• Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience with Federal Clean Energy Funding

• The UU Ministry for Earth’s Solstice Celebration, “Light for All” which featured the Energy Democracy Project

• Reimagining with Energy Democracy

Our focus on Reimagining started last May with our Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice webinar. We’re happy to share the graphic illustration and printable coloring page from that event as a gift to our community (below).

Upcoming Green Sanctuary Orientations

If you’re interested in learning what is new with Green Sanctuary 2030 and our new, flexible process; or if you want other leaders in your congregation to understand how powerful this program is for wider community change, join one of our upcoming orientations!

Held the first Wednesday of each month at 4pm PT / 7pm ET, this orientation presents our new, flexible, accessible process and the opportunity to speak with me about what your congregation has been doing. Register now!

Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 - Green Sanctuary Community Meeting

Join our next Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21. The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. Learn from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. Register to join us!

Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate. Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on Wednesday, February 28 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!  

The IRA Peer Learning Circle is a place for congregational leaders to come together to brainstorm, get into the weeds, and figure out the best way to access these funds for our congregations and our communities. RSVP today!

For a deep dive on how one congregation is reducing emissions, check out Net Zero by 2030 with the People’s Church of Kalamazoo.

January 2024 Skill Up

Unitarian Universalists are called to grapple with the question of “what is safety?” Black liberation organizers say “We Keep Us Safe" as a way to proclaim that true safety comes from relationship, community and structures of care and mutuality outside of state structures of violence and control. How do we build our political and theological commitment to keeping each other safe in the face of state and interpersonal violence?

In this skill up, Nora Rasman and India Harris define safety and security grounded in abolitionist practice, discuss our spiritual mandate towards building sanctuary, and concretely outline what we can honestly offer to ourselves and each other. View the webinar below, or on Vimeo.

View the slides
Spiritual Grounding (video) from Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen

Resources Referenced

• Transform Harm

• Get In Formation - Community Safety Resource from Vision Change Win https://visionchangewin.org/services-and-programs/community-safety/

• Defund Fear: Justice Activist Common Read Curriculum

• One Million Experiments, including episode #5 (decriminalization) with Signe Victoria Harriday

• Side With Love slack community: Community Safety and Security Channel

Skill Ups are our monthly series of trainings on organizing skills to help build our UU the Vote and Side with Love Volunteer Squads and help YOU build stronger teams in your congregation and community. We'll start the session with some spiritual fun and then launch into our training. See our past trainings.

By Rev. Ashley Horan

Safety. Re-Imagining. Possibility. Resilience. These themes have been the backbone of this year’s 30 Days of Love, with each offering extending to us the opportunity to hone our ability to pause, listen, and receive even as the world around us continues its frenetic hum. We hope that these weekly gifts from our siblings in faith have invited you to breathe deeply, feeling – even if just for a moment – a sense of connection with kindred spirits who share a soul-deep yearning for justice and wholeness. 

At the most basic level, spiritual practice is spending regular, intentional time turning away from despair and fear, toward connection and commitment. At Side With Love, we believe this kind of spiritual practice is what makes sustained organizing for justice possible. Without making space in our lives to purposefully strengthen the musculature of imagination and hope, the soul of our movements atrophies and the dream of liberation becomes an empty fantasy.

As Black feminist, abolitionist, and scholar Angela Y. Davis famously says, “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” But none of us can sustain that on our own. At Side With Love, our work is to build a skilled, rigorous, interdependent network of individuals, congregations, and partners who are in it together, day after day, season after season – audaciously fostering transformation and tending to each other’s spirits in the struggle.

As we close out this year’s 30 Days of Love, we know there is daunting work ahead of us in 2024. Never has it been clearer how deeply interconnected all our issues are, or how very high the stakes are for all of our communities. As we gear up yet again to defend and deepen our democracy, to fight for a society that honors the sacredness of all bodies, to push back against the dehumanizing impact of criminalization, to re-imagine a thriving future for our precious planet – we are grateful to be fighting and dreaming alongside you. Even after these 30 days of practice and pause, let us commit to making space – as individuals, as communities, as movements – for re-grounding in our purpose and nurturing our spirits along the way. 

May we all be well, whole, and free. 
In faith and solidarity,
Ashley 

The Rev. Ashley Horan
UUA Vice President for Programs & Ministry

p.s. As some of you know, I have recently moved into a new role at the UUA, so closing out this 30 Days of Love feels especially bittersweet as it will be my last year overseeing this beautiful project and the year-round work of the Side With Love team. We will be sharing more with you soon about these role transitions, including the exciting news that our beloved Nicole Pressley is now serving Side With Love as Acting Organizing Strategy Director – stay tuned!

See all the offerings for 30 Days of Love 2024 bonus days

Over the next couple of weeks you may hear murmurs of a gathering for UUs to deepen our commitments to climate justice…in the coming months, we hope those murmurs will turn into a cacophony of excitement around the UU Climate Revival. Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era will connect our congregations through inspiring collective worship, creative learning, new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice, and the chance to weave together the threads that have always linked our deepest commitments.  Two words for you: “Stay Tuned!” Or maybe three words are better: “Don’t miss this!” 

As we’ve been envisioning this powerful event, I am now (and forever!) reflecting on the question: how can we center love in the climate movement? For me, it’s all about relationships. I do not want to build the world that is right for me, I want to collaboratively cultivate a world where all communities thrive. 

This means shifting from a singular mindset, a narrow focus, a myopic vision into an expansive reimagining, an abundance of possibility, and - yes, friends - collective liberation for all. There is no quick and easy fix to the problems of our world. For me, there are unbounded possibilities when I recognize that I alone do not have the answer. Of course, I can’t single handedly solve the complex, interconnected crisis that is climate change, but goodness sometimes it’s easy to fall into that mindset. There’s no time! There’s no time! I am here to remind us all that there is always time for love in our movements. 

When it feels like everything in the world is on fire and my heart breaks with the enormity of it all while my task list has more than I can possibly accomplish  in a year of Sundays, it can be tempting to push forward as fast as possible. Still, if I do that, and you do that, and everyone pushes forward independently, well, you can see where that gets us. For me, this means embracing curiosity, humility, and grace.  Spending time with colleagues to learn about who they are, what their vision is, how they think we should move forward, so that when we do move forward, we move forward together. Does it take more time to build relationships? Does it slow down the work? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

I find grounding and renewal in Viktor Frankl’s quote, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Today, I invite you all to pause. Slow down. Reflect on how you can center love in your actions. I promise your next thought, your next response, your next move will be all the better for it. 

And as we all move forward refreshed and grounded in love, I hope to see you at any one of the many nourishing and inspiring events in the coming months. From Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with Green Sanctuary 2030 to the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle or even just taking a break to watch the recording of Reimagining with Energy Democracy, we have several opportunities to build community, learn, get inspired, and move forward together with love at the center of our climate actions. 

Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 - Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting

Join our next Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21. The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. Learn from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. Register to join us!

Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate. Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on Wednesday, February 28 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!

The IRA Peer Learning Circle is a place for congregational leaders to come together to brainstorm, get into the weeds, and figure out the best way to access these funds for our congregations and our communities. RSVP today!

For a deep dive on how one congregation is reducing emissions, check out Net Zero by 2030 with the People’s Church of Kalamazoo.

Available Now: Reimagining with Energy Democracy

On January 25, we offered a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy. You can review the slides here and watch the recording here.

Reimagining with Energy Democracy was part of two larger events, Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love and our Clean Energy as a Human Right series. Throughout this series, we’ve invited folks to embrace a visionary approach to clean energy, not just as a technical solution, but as a moral imperative. Rather than falling into the scarcity mindset so common in climate spaces, we encourage you to embrace abundance and ensure that our clean energy work nourishes thriving communities for all.

The Clean Energy as a Human Right series includes: 

• Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding

• Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience with Federal Clean Energy Funding

• The UU Ministry for Earth’s Solstice Celebration, “Light for All” which featured the Energy Democracy Project

• Reimagining with Energy Democracy

Our focus on Reimagining started last May with our Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice webinar. We’re happy to share the graphic illustration and printable coloring page from that event as a gift to our community.

Save the Date - Spring for Change 2024

March 21 to May 2 (International Day of Biodiversity) is Spring for Change! Together with a variety of Unitarian Universalist partners working for climate justice, the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth is offering activities and educational events to provide congregations and individuals with spiritual grounding and resources to face our ecological crises with courage, compassion, and a commitment to justice. Click here to view the full schedule of offerings.

World Water Day: Water is Life - March 21, 2024

7:00 pm ET/ 6:00 pm CT/ 5:00 pm MT/ 4:00 pm PT

World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness that 2.2 billion people live without access to safe water. We are honored to welcome Rev. Dr. Clyde Grubbs and Rev. Karen Van Fossan into a conversation on this important and sacred day. They are defenders and protectors of water; two spiritual leaders in our UU movement who will help us build a heart-centered approach to a right relationship with Mother Earth and her waters.

Rev. Dr. Clyde Grubbs is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served congregations in Indiana, Quebec, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida and California. He honors his Native American heritage (Texas Cherokee) which informs his spiritual understanding and practice, and his anti-racist and anti-oppressive commitment He has worked for peace, justice and equality since he was in the Unitarian Universalist youth movement, Liberal Religious Youth.

Rev. Karen is also a Unitarian Universalist minister and author of A Fire at the Center: Solidarity, Whiteness, and Becoming a Water Protector. She is an abolitionist, licensed professional counselor, and former defendant in the Line 3 pipeline resistance. She is pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry specializing in abolition through Pacific School of Religion. Clyde is on her dissertation advisory committee. Karen lives in Fargo, North Dakota, on the traditional lands of Anishinaabe, Lakota/Dakota, and many Indigenous peoples.

Register today!

National Faith + Climate Forum

Join Us for 2024 The National Faith + Climate Forum! We are excited to invite you to join us for an inspiring and transformative event designed to strengthen local congregations through care for creation – The National Faith + Climate Forum on April 16th from 12:00 pm - 5:15 pm ET / 11:00 am - 4:15 pm CT / 10:00 am - 3:15 pm MT / 9:00 am - 2:15 pm PT! Join other faith leaders in our area to hear inspiring national speakers and participate in purposeful discussions, practical workshops, and energizing collaborative sessions. All clergy and lay leaders, younger and older congregants, are welcome to join, whether you have been caring for creation for some time, or just getting started. We all can be part of the solution in our congregations and our community. Learn more and register here.

When I think about our 7th principle of Unitarian Universalism, the “interdependent web of existence of which we are a part,” I envision the way a small touch on one strand of a spider web makes the whole web shake.  

Last month, with our partners at the American Friends Service Committee, we shook the web across the country with actions focused on corporate funders of Atlanta’s Cop City, like Bank of America and Home Depot. Thank you to those of you who wrote one of the over 7,000 letters to CEOs and showed up from Oakland to Atlanta! You can still sign the letter to CEOs urging them to stop funding increased militarization of police.

As we continue to organize against the Cop City being built in Atlanta, we know that other expensive and militarized police training facilities are proposed in 47 states from Maryland to California. This week, another proposed cop city was stalled after organizing led by Freedom Inc. succeeded in winning a city council vote in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Together, we keep shaking our part of the web that is, indeed, interconnected. 

Celebrate Good News! 

Unitarian Universalist Joan Gregory has been one of many in the Salt Lake City area organizing for Victor’s release for the past 11 months. Victor is an Indigenous land defender who has spent much of his adult life caring for the water, for the land, and for his elders. On March 5, 2023, Victor was arrested at the South River Music Festival near the site in Atlanta of a proposed Cop City which is under construction and where hundreds of acres of forest have already been destroyed. Victor was unloading camping equipment from his truck with his dog inside when heavily armed police charged at him from the woods, violently assaulted him, and hauled him to jail. After spending 3 months incarcerated at DeKalb County Jail without bail set or being indicted, he was transferred to a remote ICE facility, where he spent 8 months. In September, he learned he was one of 61 people indicted in the highly repressive RICO case that’s attempting to criminalize any and all efforts to Stop Cop City.  We join Victor’s home community in the Salt Lake City area in celebrating his release.  For more information and an opportunity to show your support go to: http://tinyurl.com/VictorIsFree.

As Nicole Pressley wrote recently, “Our work to Stop Cop City dismantles the false ideal of safety. This false ideal is destroying forests, intensifying violence against communities of color, and silencing the electorate. As people of faith, we cannot affirm the worth and dignity of all while privileging the well-being of a chosen few. We are not fully human when we separate ourselves from the humanity of others.”

---

When one side of the web is hurting, it rattles the whole web of existence.  

May we continue to honor these connections across the whole web of existence. 

May we each do our part to stop the pain and injustice. 

May we envision a world of community care and abundant love.

May we recommit ourselves to mutuality, abundance, and community.

In faith and persistence,

Rev. Cathy Rion Starr
Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist

Available Now - Skill Up: Community Safety & Security

Unitarian Universalists are called to grapple with the question, “what is safety?” Black liberation organizers say “We Keep Us Safe" as a way to proclaim that true safety comes from relationship, community, and structures of care and mutuality outside of state structures of violence and control. How do we build our political and theological commitment to keeping each other safe in the face of state and interpersonal violence? 

In this Skill Up led by Nora Rasman and India Harris, we defined safety and security grounded in abolitionist practice, discussed our spiritual mandate towards building sanctuary, and concretely outlined what we can honestly offer to ourselves and each other.

Watch the recording and view resources from the webinar.

UU Stop Cop City Monthly Action Huddle

March 21 at 11am PT / 2pm ET  (Please note the date change this month!)

Our huddle this month will focus on writing letters to those imprisoned for protesting Cop City in Atlanta. Writing letters to folks locked up is a ministry, a political act, and a great way to invite new folks into decriminalization work. As always, we’ll also review what’s happening and what you can do with Stop Cop City more broadly. Join us to get activated or to jump back in. This meeting usually happens on the second Thursday of the month at 11am PT / 12pm MT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET.

Register to join us!

30 Days of Love - Bonus Days

In case you missed it, view our final gifts from our Bonus Days of 30 Days of Love! During the last days of 30 Days of Love, we explored the theme of “liberatory intersections.”

Safety. Re-Imagining. Possibility. Resilience. These themes have been the backbone of this year’s 30 Days of Love, with each offering extending to us the opportunity to hone our ability to pause, listen, and receive even as the world around us continues its frenetic hum. We hope that these weekly gifts from our siblings in faith have invited you to breathe deeply, feeling – even if just for a moment – a sense of connection with kindred spirits who share a soul-deep yearning for justice and wholeness.

At the most basic level, spiritual practice is spending regular, intentional time turning away from despair and fear and toward connection and commitment. At Side With Love, we believe that this kind of spiritual practice is what makes sustained organizing for justice possible: without making space in our lives to purposefully strengthen the musculature of imagination and hope, the soul of our movements atrophies and the dream of liberation becomes an empty fantasy.

Click here to read the full reflection by UUA Vice President for Programs & Ministry Rev. Ashley Horan.
Our final offerings: a blessing by Rev. Verdis LeVar Robinson, a musical blessing by Rev. Erin Walter, a Time for All Ages by CB Beal, a body practice by Rev. Maria Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa, and a prayer by Rev. Kim Wildszewski.

Our grief is holy. Our rage is divine. Our love is enduring. Our lives are sacred.

This week we learned that Nex Benedict, a non-binary child in Oklahoma, died after a violent attack by fellow students at their school. While the details are still emerging, one thing is extraordinarily clear - hateful policy and hateful theology are deadly. The ongoing dehumanization of trans and non-binary people by elected officials and hate groups fuels inhumane actions. 

Our grief is holy. Our rage is divine. Our love is enduring. Our lives are sacred.

Nex should be alive today. As we look at Nex’s photos, learn about their dreams, read about their love of Minecraft and nature - we bear witness to a beautiful soul who had every right to flourish and thrive. We also bear witness to a collective loss of humanity as a new generation is enlisted to carry forth this legacy of violence. 

Our grief is holy. Our rage is divine. Our love is enduring. Our lives are sacred.

When we face the ultimate cruelty that systemic oppression visits upon our communities, any number of responses emerge. Whether you need to remain still or stirring in your grief, wild or weary in your rage, frozen or frenetic in your fear, resilient or resistant in your love - we encourage you to care for your sacred body and life in whatever way your spirit demands. 

Let your grief be holy. Let your rage be divine. Let our enduring love move us to build a world where trans and non-binary lives are honored as sacred. 

UPLIFT Ministries Pop-up Pastoral Space & Vigil

Friday, February 23, at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT

Join UPLIFT Ministries on Friday, February 23, at 8 ET/7 CT/6 MT/5 PT to be in community and hold ourselves and each other in the feelings and needs we’re experiencing right now. All are welcome–this is a space that is open to everyone–cis, trans, metagender, questioning, and more! During the vigil, we will spend time all together, as well as move into breakout groups for:

• Children and youth (focused on trans/nonbinary+ youth, but open to people of any identity)

• Trans/nonbinary+ adults (closed to this identity)

• Trans families, caregivers of trans/nonbinary+ children/youth, and other close loved ones of a trans person/people (this space may have people with cis, trans, or other identities)

• General breakout focused on cisgender experiences (though someone of any identity may join)

This space will be facilitated by Jess Hunt and Rev. Steven Leigh Williams, and will have chaplains available. Register here

Crisis Support and UU Trans/Nonbinary+ Resources

This is a collection of resources, both within and outside the UUA, geared towards trans/nonbinary+ people and our supporters. Resources for mental health crisis appear at the bottom.

Speak Up for Trans Lives: Spokesperson Training (Recording & Resources)

Hosted in March 2022, this training featured Sam Ames, Director of Advocacy & Government Affairs for The Trevor Project as well as Side With Love staff Rev. Ashley Horan, Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, and Adrian Ballou.

Combatting Anti-Trans Legislation 101 Training (Recording & Resources)

Held March 15, 2022, this training featured Sam Ames, Director of Advocacy & Government Affairs for The Trevor Project; Rev. Erin Walter from Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry; and Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson from UU Justice Ministry on North Carolina, in addition to Side With Love staff Rev. Ashley Horan, Rev. Michael Crumpler, Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, and Adrian Ballou.

The Body Politic: Faithful UUs Showing Up for Trans Justice (Recording & Resources)

UUs have long been part leaders in powerful multifaith movements fighting for trans and queer rights and liberation. Join UPLIFT Action and Side With Love staff for this webinar, lifting up the faithful work UUs are engaging in right now in the context of the wave of hateful legislation and violence against trans and queer people. We'll hear stories from congregations and State Action Networks on the ground, and point toward ways you and your community can take meaningful action.

The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. On February 21, we learned from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. See the recording and resources below.

Resources from the meeting:

• View the presentation slides from Side With Love

• View the presentation slides from Russell Outcalt from UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC

• Check out our Green Sanctuary page to subscribe to receive updates, join the process, RSVP for upcoming events, and more

• Sign up for all of our Green Sanctuary 2030 & Climate Justice events

• View GS2030 Active Congregations

• Engage your community around the Environmental Justice for All Act:

• Action: bit.ly/UUSJ_EJ4All2023

• Poster: bit.ly/EJ4All-23_Poster

• Sign up for UUSJ Action Alerts at UUSJ.org

Questions? Email Environment@UUA.org.

Mark your calendars for the March 20 Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting: Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominately White Congregation with Dorothy Swain of the UUs of Grants Pass, OR. Justice is one of our four Essentials for Climate Action, and it’s often the one our congregations struggle with the most . . . or, as I like to say, the one with the most opportunity! I hope to see you for some shared learning and mutual supports at this or any of our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings.

Wow, was our February meeting inspirational or what?! Huge thanks to Russ Outcalt and the UU Fellowship of Raleigh for sharing the ways they’re Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030. I love hearing how our congregations are engaging with the Green Sanctuary 2030 process, and the UUs in Raleigh are doing stellar work! Check out the recording below, and while you’re at it get your congregation involved with UUSJ’s Environmental Justice for All Actions, also linked below!

Big thanks to our UU congregational leaders who shared their knowledge at our Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle this month! Peg MacMorris with Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, CO, shared the way her congregation is approaching installing solar with IRA funds and Sabina Shelby with the Unitarian Church of West Hartford, CT, talked us through the Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship document the IRA PLC group created to help congregations access IRA funds.

Following the presentation, Michael Cohen with Solar United Neighbors and First Unitarian Church of Orlando, FL, and Russ Outcalt from UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, chimed in with Peg and Sabina to answer questions from the audience. If you missed the presentations or want to review alllllll of the information shared (it was a lot!), look for the link to the recording below.

Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship is a wealth of information and resources for congregations looking to access federal funding for clean energy. In addition to details about federal funds, there’s a section on UU specific funding opportunities you can use to leverage IRA funds. Towards the end of the document, there are links to all of the webinars we’ve held related to the historical investments in clean energy available in the IRA.

Check —> It —-> Out! —> Here!

We hope to see you at the Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting: Orientation on Wednesday, March 6 at 7ET.

New Resources Available

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle for Congregations

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! Thanks to everyone who came together to learn and share information at the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Watch the recording, and get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations.

Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030!

On February 21, we learned from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. View the recording and resources.

Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominately White Congregation

Integrating justice in our climate work is essential, but many UU congregations struggle with this component of the Green Sanctuary 2030 process. Join Dorothy Swain from UUs of Grants Pass, OR, and her colleague Gabi Johnsen from the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, to learn about the ways their congregations are advancing climate justice in a predominantly white, rural community. Register to join us!

Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8ET - 7CT - 6MT - 5PT. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs.

Remind Congress We Still Need The Environmental Justice for All Act

We still want Congress to act on "the moral principle that all people have the right to pure air, clean water, and an environment that enriches life." We still agree "Federal policy can and should seek to achieve environmental justice, health equity, and climate justice for all underserved communities," let's urge them to do so. Last year's passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was a significant step toward greater investment in clean energy.

Unfortunately, some provisions of the IRA are expected to stimulate fossil fuel production and worsen pollution in areas already saturated by heavy industry. Now, in the new Congressional Session, the House is proposing legislation intended to loosen procedural protections around energy projects. This includes efforts to undermine cornerstone environmental protections like the National Environmental Policy Act, and measures that will increase the risk to public health.

Tell Congress: Support the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act!

Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era

Register your congregation for the UU Climate Revival today!

As climate change rocks our world, there is a spirit at work in the congregations and movements committed to justice.

As we make the connections between climate and justice, we are called to re-imagine what it means to do this urgent work in community. As we make the connections between climate and justice, we are called to re-imagine what it means to do this urgent work in community. How can our climate work be:

• Less isolated, more connected;

• Less anxious, more nourishing; and

• Less limited; more visionary? 

Through worship, laughter, learning, reflection, lamentation, and joy, we can feed our spirits and move forward nourished and connected with love at the center of our climate actions. Together, we can move from a deadly era of extraction to a flourishing era of connection. 

Join us on September 28 and 29 for a national UU Climate Revival offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice, and the chance to weave together the threads that have always linked our deepest commitments. The UU Climate Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.

Register your congregation today! The form also includes the opportunity to become a sponsor! 

Upcoming Orientations

If you’re interested in learning what is new with Green Sanctuary 2030 and our new, flexible process; or if you want other leaders in your congregation to understand how powerful this program is for wider community change, join one of our upcoming orientations! Held the first Wednesday of each month at 4pm PT / 7pm ET, this orientation presents our new, flexible, accessible process and the opportunity to speak with me about what your congregation has been doing. Register now!

After closing out this year's 30 Days of Love, Side With Love is looking forward to exciting opportunities for faith-filled action this spring. Starting March 6, we have a range of offerings that we hope will ground you and help sustain your commitment to liberation, democracy, and justice. Please join us and share with your congregation!

If you haven't already heard, we're getting ready to activate every corner of our faith for UU the Vote 2024. This year, we will mobilize our friends, our neighbors, and our fellow UUs to generate a groundswell of democratic action and leadership towards a thriving future beyond November 5. If you aren’t already subscribed to our UU the Vote newsletters, you can sign up for updates here.

Join our UU the Vote 2024 Launch!

Get ready for UU the Vote 2024! On Thursday, March 14 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET, join UU leaders and partners to learn how you can show up for our values and communities in the critical 2024 elections. Invite your congregation and social justice teams to join us for an exciting launch of UU the Vote 2024.

When we organize, we build power in our communities for justice, accountability, and healing. In the last four years, UU the Vote has built new networks of spiritual and political communities to #VoteLove and #DefeatHate. With UU the Vote 2024, we’ll be showing up to combat criminalization; protect and expand healthcare, including abortion; and deepening local democratic practices, from participatory budgeting to ranked choice voting.

We are fighting for so much in 2024. Together, our communities can address the current threats to our democracy and human dignity. Join us in this fight on Thursday, March 14 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET for the launch of UU the Vote 2024!

March Programming from Side With Love

March 6: Green Sanctuary 2030 Orientation

Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Join the monthly orientation session to get a better understanding of the program and learn how your congregation can engage in ongoing climate action. Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice can transform your congregation through climate justice!

March 8: UPLIFT Transgender/Nonbinary+ Pastoral Small Group

This is a space to share the hard stuff and to hold the hard stuff that others are navigating in their lives. During our time together, our lead chaplain/facilitators will share opening and closing words, and in between, there is time for everyone to share what's on their hearts, and receive what others are sharing about their own lives. It's a supportive, judgment-free place to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ people.

March 18: Side With Love Monthly Mixer

Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff.

March 20: Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominantly White Congregation

Integrating justice in our climate work is essential, but many UU congregations struggle with this component of the Green Sanctuary 2030 process. Join Dorothy Swain from UUs of Grants Pass, OR, and her colleague Gabi Johnsen from the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, to learn about the ways their congregations are advancing climate justice in a predominantly white, rural community. 

March 26: UPLIFT Trans/Nonbinary+ Monthly Gathering

This is a cozy, drop-in community space for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism where we connect with each other with games and breakout groups, share ideas and stories on all kinds of topics, listen to music and poetry (often by trans/nonbinary+ creators), and much more! This space is intentionally multi-generational. It is open to and welcoming of trans/nonbinary elders as well as children, youth, and young adults. Standard UUA online safety measures apply to ensure all people under 18 are able to attend.

March 28: Faithful Grounding

Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need.

We began this year with a 30 Days of Love reflection from our Democracy Strategist, Nora Rasman, who wrote, “This year, we will tell the truth to each other and ourselves about the political landscape we inhabit, the conditions and threats we are facing and the power of the left.” The truth is the stakes are high. It is also true that every action that chooses democracy as the method to express political desires or dissent is an invitation to building a new world, together.

Last night millions of voters went to the polls to express their desires about the leadership of their states and country. Hundreds of thousands voted “uncommitted” in protest of the ongoing assault in Gaza. Several voter suppression laws have created an unjust field that cannot produce accountable and representative elected leadership. Some candidates speak openly about ending free and fair elections, disparage trans people and immigrants, and celebrate limiting our individual freedoms. Last night, we faced hard realities together. Now, we must decide what we will do in the days ahead. 

Let us remember that every movement forward generates new possibilities. Every new person we invite into our work grows our power. Each time we respond to the grief, rage, and demands of a people yearning to be free with compassion and a faithful recognition of our shared humanity, we Side With Love. 

We invite you to use today to deepen your commitments to justice. This moment and our movement, needs you. With UU the Vote 2024, we are leaning even more deeply into the shared values that move voters to the polls. We are equipping leaders to engage in compassionate conversations that hold our grief as well as our commitment to building a multi-racial democracy. We are resisting state violence in our work to Stop Cop City in Georgia. We’re showing up to protect abortion in the Yes on 4 campaign in Florida. We are launching Green Sanctuary 2030 to ground our congregational climate justice work in local and accountable relationships.  

Throughout history, we have shown up to kindle the flames of justice in uncertain times. Today, we build on that legacy and commit to justice and prophetic action to build a future where we all thrive. This is our work. We forge the paths that lead us towards the just and loving world we seek to create.

Join a community of people who greet each day a new opportunity to Side With Love in all that we do.

Upcoming Events from Side With Love

March 14: UU the Vote 2024 Launch

UU the Vote 2024 is an ambitious strategy to grow a powerful pro-democracy majority. This year we will build our commitment to democratic practices and recommit to showing up for social movements building infrastructure and relationships to sustain us the beyond the electoral year. Join us to learn about our work with State Action Networks and their partners in key states, key ballot initiatives, political education and spiritual grounding opportunities and our mass voter contact program.

March 20: Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominantly White Congregation
Integrating justice in our climate work is essential, but many UU congregations struggle with this component of the Green Sanctuary 2030 process. Join Dorothy Swain from UUs of Grants Pass, OR, and her colleague Gabi Johnsen from the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, to learn about the ways their congregations are advancing climate justice in a predominantly white, rural community.

March 18: Side With Love Monthly Mixer
Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff.

March 21: UU Stop Cop City Monthly Action Huddle
Our huddle this month will focus on writing letters to those imprisoned for protesting Cop City in Atlanta. Writing letters to folks locked up is a ministry, a political act, and a great way to invite new folks into decriminalization work. As always, we’ll also review what’s happening and what you can do with Stop Cop City more broadly. Join us to get activated or to jump back in.

 

Recently, several people have taken the time to write to us about the ways in which we talk about Israel and Gaza, especially on our weekly talk show, Voices of Unitarian Universalism (aka The VUU). I thought that our wider community would be interested in my response.

It is correct to say that the CLF Lead Ministry Team has taken a clear stance on the current state of the conflict. We believe strongly that the preservation of life is the value that should be most paramount. I have been taught by Jewish teachers that this value is in line with the highest teachings of Judaism. We believe that all lives are worthy of preservation, even if all lives are not equally threatened by violence at present.

We also believe strongly that those with the most power to preserve life have the most obligation to do so. On a recent show of The VUU, my co-minister Christina Rivera eloquently spoke about the power imbalance present right now in Gaza, and why our stance is that Israel needs to be responsible for a cease-fire. Some have noted that Chris made them think; for this we are grateful.

We have not taken a stance on Zionism, nor will we; it is simply not our place as non-Jewish people. We understand why criticizing the actions of the State of Israel might make it seem as if we have done so, but we are clear that the actions of Israel are not on behalf of Jewish people everywhere. We have strongly opposed anti-Semitism in all of its forms, as we oppose all forms of hatred, oppression, and violence.

We have invited Jewish UUs onto the show who share our viewpoint on the abhorrent ways in which current Israeli leadership is dehumanizing Palestinians, abrogating treaty obligations, and murdering innocents. To be frank, we don’t want to feature voices who might support that. I don’t think that academically debating the term “genocide” is worthwhile as hospitals and refugee camps are being bombed. It’s a strong word on purpose.

We are committed to continuing this dialogue in the future. We are working on having Jewish UUs speak on The VUU about the ways in which anti-Semitism is rearing its ugly head around the world. When we do so, we will invite people who have been chosen by Jewish UU communities as leaders.

We hope that the CLF community appreciates the values with which we have come to these positions. We hope that you will continue to let us know how we can live out those values, when we agree and when we disagree with each other.

 

Chaos and Concord battle in the collective mind.
Chaos whispers to every tribe, religion, and race

“Fear ‘the other’
They covet your power
They envy your advantage.”
She sings to each group,
“You’re the stronger, the higher, the better,
You’re the blessed. Privilege is your right.”

Concord’s small voice speaks of equity, justice and peace.

“Like us, ‘the other’ has tradition, history, community, art.
Like us, they are right to exist.”

“No,” cries Chaos.

“Only the strong, the worthy, the majority can rule.
The vote is your modern weapon for keeping them at bay.
If you cannot defeat them,
feign tolerance to hide your enmity while you bide your time.”

“Tolerance is not enough,” Concord interjects.

“We must be happy for them and their community.
Erasing a culture is not up for ballot.
We can’t hide our violence and bias behind popular votes.
It kills freedom, feeds Chaos, it is cruel.”

“Conquest and conformity,” Chaos asserts,

“is the only way to happiness.”

“Belief that, someday, all will accept the same beliefs,

the same god, the same history,
only perpetuates sadness and despair.”
Concord challenges,

“pursuit of happiness is not by forced acceptance.

Happiness grows

by being happy for each other,
by supporting each other’s spiritual growth,
by helping each other build meaning,
by trying to understand and encourage all those around us.”

May Concord’s voice be heard.

What does it mean to be pluralistic in our beliefs?

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Jack
CLF member, incarcerated in MA

Is God an old man in flowing robes with a long beard who looks down from on high? A Lord and Lady offering blessings to those in worshiping circles? A pantheon of Gods, each representing another face of a Supreme Being? Or Gaia, Mother Earth, in which we and all were created?

Is Jesus a prophet? The long awaited Messiah? A forerunner of Mohammed? An issuer of great wisdoms like the Buddha? On the son of a supreme being — but then aren’t we all sons and daughters of the Supreme Being?

Is Heaven a place of pearly gates, streets of gold, food aplenty, where we all learn to play harps and praise our God; a place where all earthly pleasures are ours? Is Hell a place of fire and brimstone, a land of ice and perpetual cold, where our earthly bodies are eternally tormented?

Is Heaven and Hell the legacy we leave behind, the kindnesses we showed, the ones we befriended, fought, touched, challenged to be better, to show love for all? Or is it the pain we left behind to be suffered generation after generation?

Does it really matter? Does it really matter how we envision a thing beyond human comprehension? Does it really matter what happens to our earthly bodies after death? Does it matter what name we use for those forces of creation?

Names come and go. Visions change as our lives change and evolve from a primitive society living on the land to a people of computers, space travel, and seeking to understand the stars.

What does matter is how we lived our lives, how we respected each other, and how we had reverence for all creation of the heavens and the earth. What does matter is not what we will gain or suffer after death but the legacy we leave for future generations. Will they show the love we shared or the pain we caused?

The future of and those who live beyond us is not written in stone—yet—but you are the sculptor with the hammer and chisel who will write it. What will you write? 

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Jacob
CLF Member, incarcerated in AR

Pluralistic is, by definition, holding to the doctrine of pluralism, which is accepting and embrace diversity in all of its forms. The act of accepting and encouraging diversity leads to a better acceptance and love for others. It helps us to remember the fact that the Divine is Love; accepting others and their differences is a step to acting in Love and embodying the true essence of Love.

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A Utopian Crucible

Lauren Silverwolf
CLF member, incarcerated in TX

Oxford defines pluralism as, “the acceptance within a society of a number of groups with different beliefs or ethnic backgrounds.” This does not sound like the world we live in today, but it does sound like somewhere I would bleed to see become a reality.

I joined the U.S. Army at the age of 18, straight out of high school. I was an Airborne Infantryman, and I swore to defend the Constitution. What I wanted was to defend the principles of being truly free, of being accepting of all who came to us, and of being what we proclaimed ourselves to be in word, although never truly in deed. I would love nothing more, and I would serve again to defend a truly pluralistic society.

I would like to introduce two more terms to define what this would look like: utopia and crucible. Again, we go to Oxford: utopia is defined as, “an imagined world or society where everything is perfect,” and crucible is defined as, “a container in which metals or other substances may be melted or heated.”

This may seem completely out of context, but think of a society like the crucible. If we melt together, we become one out of many, and if we could coexist in this manner, most of our reasons for war or violence would diminish, creating a utopia. Pluralism seems far off, to my eye at  least, but I believe it is achievable. The day we see it, we live truly in a Utopian Crucible.

When my daughter was nine years old, she asked me which religion was the “right one.” The reason this was even on her mind is that my children are part of an interfaith family. Their father was raised Jewish and I was raised Muslim. When we married, we had a secular wedding and for a time chose not to raise our children in either of the traditions exclusively. We thought we could get away with raising them with no religious identity. However, this turned out not to be the case.

At the time we were living in New Jersey and my children’s best friends (also siblings) attended a conservative Christian congregation. I would let my kids attend programs with them mistakenly thinking it would be benign. This changed after my daughter returned home at age 5 declaring to her Jewish father, “Jesus is the light of the world.” To which he responded, “No he’s not, we’re Jewish.”

I realized at that moment that we weren’t being intentional in how we raised our children and they were clearly wanting to engage in some kind of religious community, even at their young age. It was age appropriate, wanting to belong.

I had already known about Unitarian Universalism and promptly looked up the closest UU congregation. Thankfully, there was one just two towns away, in Ridgewood. We attended together and the rest is history.

One year later, I was the religious education coordinator for a small congregation in Orange, NJ and from there I dove deeper into the world of faith leadership, eventually becoming credentialed in religious education leadership, a long and thorough process demonstrating competencies in leadership, faith development and the UU faith, among other things.

The reason we chose a Unitarian Universalist community is that it is pluralist. UUs do not claim to be superior to any other faiths and we affirm that there are many paths to what we understand to be spirituality, whether or not that includes belief in a deity.

This is a profound and sacred notion for the modern era. Especially because it seems that the world around us is doubling down on religious extremism. Religious dominance causes intolerance of those who are of a different faith, or choose no faith at all.

Truly embracing pluralism and the freedom to coexist in the same society while maintaining your own religious identity is a transformative idea. We are witnessing in real time the impact of religious extremism, whether it is anti-trans laws that purport to “protect children” or taking away the right to bodily autonomy, this kind of thinking is oppressive at its core.

The path to a liberated society includes embracing pluralism and not holding up any one religion over another.

As for my children, they continue to be on their own path. I will not share where they are, as this is their story to tell. I will share that their values and who they are is shaped by growing up as part of a Unitarian Universalist community.

March 2024

“Pluralism accepts the moral reality of different kinds of truth, but rejects the idea that they can all be placed on a single scale, measured by a single value.” —Timothy Snyder

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We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! We joined other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities.

In this 2024 webinar, Peg MacMorris with Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, CO, shared the way her congregation is approaching installing solar with IRA funds and Sabina Shelby with the Unitarian Church of West Hartford, CT, talked us through the Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship document the IRA PLC group created to help congregations access IRA funds.

Watch the recording below or on Vimeo.

Following the presentation, Michael Cohen with Solar United Neighbors and First Unitarian Church of Orlando, FL, and Russell Outcalt from UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, chimed in with Peg and Sabina to answer questions from the audience.

Resources from the meeting:

• Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship

• Building and Community Transformation Resources

On March 20, we joined Dorothy Swain of UUs of Grants Pass and Gabi Johnson with the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, both from Grants Pass, Oregon, for our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting on Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in Predominantly White Congregations. Check out the recording and resources shared below.

Dorothy and Gabi's community organizing on Grants Pass Remembrance: from Sundown to Sunrise exemplified interfaith partnership and climate justice actions deeply rooted in the context of oppression in their community. They shared tons of great resources all linked below.

We hope to see you for April's Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting on Nourishing Impactful Teams with Rev. Cathy Rion Starr on April 17. RSVP today!

Resources from the meeting:

• UUs of Grants Pass

• Pursuit Church of the Nazarene

• Grants Pass Remembrance (Linktree and YouTube)

• UUGP Picturing Climate Justice Service

• Taylor Stewart's TED talk, How Do You Reconcile a Lynching?

• Oregon Remembrance Project

• Northwest Seasonal Workers Association

• Sustainable Rogue Valley

• Grants Pass Sustainability Plan 

• Southern Oregon Climate Action Now

• Siskiyou Field Institute

• Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center

• Rogue Climate

• Pollinator Project Rogue Valley

• Williams Community Forest Project

• Water League

By Jeff Milchen
March 28, 2024

When Nex Benedict — a Two Spirit (nonbinary) Choctaw youth -- died one day after being beaten by other students in the girls room at Owasso, Oklahoma High School, the event generated rare public awareness. Benedict’s death in February appeared around the nation in news coverage of what was later labeled a drug-induced suicide by local officials.

But despite the lack of attention, suicides among LGBTQIA+ youth are tragically common. According to The Trevor Project, about half of transgender youth seriously considered suicide in the past year, and it was the second-leading cause of death among ten to fourteen year-old members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Further, young LGBTQIA+ people of color reported much higher rates of attempting suicide than their white peers.

Rev. Jami Yandle, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s  Transgender Support Specialist, believes transphobia and harassment led directly to Benedict’s death. “Imagine sticking up for yourself, getting in a fight, and then having to go to school following that incident -- and probably hundreds of others -- with no protections and feeling so much of the world against you at such a young age,” said Yandle.

The environment Yandle describes was created largely by deliberate scapegoating. In 2022, Oklahoma’s overwhelmingly Republican state legislature banned transgender females from playing on female sports teams. The following year, the state made it a felony crime for health care workers to provide gender-affirming medical care to young transgender people, despite the medical community overwhelmingly supporting such care. Another 2023 law required students to use bathrooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificates.

Fueling the hostile setting in Oklahoma, right wing agitators are trying to ban many books depicting gay and transgender people from school libraries.

Of course, a gender-neutral bathroom could have been a life-saver for Benedict. “Nex deserved to grow up; to live long enough to have gray hair. So, when we talk about anti-trans legislation, this is literally a life and death issue,” said Rev. Yandle.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma is far from exceptional. As of March 2024, more than 470 state bills were active that attack the equality, dignity, and free expression of LGBTQIA+people, with many directly targeting transgender youth. Some bills would criminalize the very existence of Transgender and Gender Expansive people (the Unitarian Universalist Association and many UU State Action Networks have spoken out against and are working to thwart those bills). 

Trangender Day of Visibility may seem modest in the face of such legislative onslaughts until you learn fewer than half of U.S. residents say they personally know someone who is transgender, meaning their opinions are formed entirely from what they absorb from media, politicians, and other people, not from personal experience. Transgender people are among the last who can successfully be portrayed as dangerous “others,” because gender identity is not well-understood by many Americans. 

Earlier movements to advance civil rights for LGBTQIA+ people accelerated dramatically when millions of Americans “came out” to family and friends, dismantling the ability of oppressors to portray people as threatening or dangerous based on their sexual preferences. The same will surely hold true for advancing gender equality.

In supporting the importance of gender expansive people “coming out,” Rev. Yandle says “because I'm white,  I feel an obligation to be out and loud, and use what little privilege I have -- to be a little more bold to pave way for folks who may feel like it's unsafe. So they have a visual marker of somebody who is aging and will hopefully grow old enough to get gray hair.”

“That visibility is why I also sometimes wear my collar when I'm at a rally or public event…so that everybody can see,  there's a trans person who's also an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister,” said Yandle. 

UUs have a long history of working to advance LGBTQIA+ rights and, in a recent nationwide survey by Public Religion Research Institute, led all included denominations in supporting nondiscrimination protections (93 percent) and inclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals within congregations (29 percent).  

But Rev. Yandle stresses the need for UUs to push themselves and their congregations to keep working. “I don't want to minimize the life saving capability of using somebody's correct pronouns, but that's the least you can do. It all comes down to organizing, and bodies in state capitols, and going to legislator’s offices, to be in their faces.”

Special Event
Join UPLIFT and TRUUsT Director Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto for an online gathering to celebrate all Trans & Nonbinary people following Trans Day of Visibility. Tuesday, April 2 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. Register today!

Related Resources 

Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity 101

10 Ways to be More Welcoming and Inclusive of Transgender People

The Body Politic: Faithful UUs Showing Up for Trans Justice. Webinar Recording & Resources

Combating Anti-Trans Legislation 101. Webinar from Side With Love.

Talking points and tools to help UUs thwart anti-transgender bills and attacks.

UPLIFT Action A Side With Love campaign organizing for LGBTQIA+, Gender, and Reproductive Justice.

Pink Haven Coalition unites various UU entities working to protect trans people.

Transgender Inclusion in Congregations,  a training program by the Transforming Hearts Collective

The Trevor Project provides immediate counseling support for LGBTQIA+ people in distress.

The urgency of the climate crisis can sometimes lead folks to believe that integrating justice into our climate actions is a distraction.  “Don’t we need a singular focus on reducing emissions to save the planet?” or “Once we solve climate change, then we can focus on racial justice,” and even “We’ve been fighting racism forever; we only have a few years to fix climate change,” are murmurs in climate spaces.

For many of our congregations engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice process, integrating justice into our climate actions can be the most challenging part of the work.  When I hear anxieties about folding justice into our on-going work, I always remind our teams that while it may feel like the most challenging, it is also the part of our work with the most opportunity and the most potential for impact!   

As people of faith,  ours is the work of collective liberation.  If we honor the interconnectedness of all life, justice for all must be our guiding principle.  

For as many problems climate change poses to our world, there are even more solutions that cultivate a flourishing world for all.  When we put our faith into action not just to reduce emissions but also to create thriving communities for all, we’re nurturing collective liberation. 

If we reject the scarcity mindsets that pit our climate action teams in competition with our racial justice teams, we embrace abundance in our shared ministries.  If we cultivate trusting relationships within our congregations and our communities, we amplify our impacts.  If we faithfully advance intersectional climate actions with love at the center of our work, we co-create a future where all communities thrive.  Just imagine the beauty, the joy, the togetherness, the solutions, the stronger communities, the flourishing world that will come from these shared ministries.    

Friends, this is why I am so excited to invite you all to join the UU Climate Justice Revival, “Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era” this September.  Bring your congregation, your justice teams, your problem solvers, and your dreamers together for a powerful weekend of togetherness through shared dialogs, inspirational worship, and collective actions designed to intentionally and faithfully break down silos, cultivate connections, and envision the world we want to create, and chart a course for actions that cultivate that world.  Together, we can shift our work to be less isolated, more connected; less anxious, more nourishing; less limited, more visionary.  Let’s reimagine together a world where love guides our actions and all communities thrive.  We can’t do it without you, so sign your congregation up today for the UU Climate Justice Revival on September 28-29.  You can read more on our website: UUClimateJustice.org, or check out our Frequently Asked Questions and the Overview which explains all the beautiful work happening to bring the revival to your congregation.   As always, you can email me at Environment@UUA.org with any questions.  

In community,

Rachel

Rachel Myslivy (she/they)

Climate Justice Organizer

Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team

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Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era

Register Your Congregation Now to participate September 28-29, 2024!

Join with hundreds of sibling congregations across the continent for our national UU Climate Revival, offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice.

The UU Climate Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.

Open to every UU congregation of every size and budget, we will provide facilitation toolkits, training, music, projects, coordinated justice action and more! Find out more at www.uuclimatejustice.org.

The urgency of the climate crisis can sometimes lead folks to believe that integrating justice into our climate actions is a distraction.  “Don’t we need a singular focus on reducing emissions to save the planet?” or “Once we solve climate change, then we can focus on racial justice,” and even “We’ve been fighting racism forever; we only have a few years to fix climate change,” are murmurs in climate spaces.

For many of our congregations engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice process, integrating justice into our climate actions can be the most challenging part of the work.  When I hear anxieties about folding justice into our on-going work, I always remind our teams that while it may feel like the most challenging, it is also the part of our work with the most opportunity and the most potential for impact!   

As people of faith,  ours is the work of collective liberation.  If we honor the interconnectedness of all life, justice for all must be our guiding principle.  

For as many problems climate change poses to our world, there are even more solutions that cultivate a flourishing world for all.  When we put our faith into action not just to reduce emissions but also to create thriving communities for all, we’re nurturing collective liberation. 

If we reject the scarcity mindsets that pit our climate action teams in competition with our racial justice teams, we embrace abundance in our shared ministries.  If we cultivate trusting relationships within our congregations and our communities, we amplify our impacts.  If we faithfully advance intersectional climate actions with love at the center of our work, we co-create a future where all communities thrive.  Just imagine the beauty, the joy, the togetherness, the solutions, the stronger communities, the flourishing world that will come from these shared ministries.    

Friends, this is why I am so excited to invite you all to join the UU Climate Justice Revival, “Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era” this September!

Bring your congregation, your justice teams, your problem solvers, and your dreamers together for a powerful weekend of togetherness through shared dialogs, inspirational worship, and collective actions designed to intentionally and faithfully break down silos, cultivate connections, and envision the world we want to create, and chart a course for actions that cultivate that world. 

Together, we can shift our work to be less isolated, more connected; less anxious, more nourishing; less limited, more visionary.  Let’s reimagine together a world where love guides our actions and all communities thrive.  We can’t do it without you, so sign your congregation up today for the UU Climate Justice Revival on September 28-29. 

You can read more on our website: UUClimateJustice.org, or check out our Frequently Asked Questions and the Overview which explains all the beautiful work happening to bring the revival to your congregation.   As always, you can email me at Environment@UUA.org with any questions.  

In community,

Rachel

Rachel Myslivy (she/they)

Climate Justice Organizer

Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team

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UU Climate Justice Revival, September 28 - 29, 2024

Register Your Congregation Now to participate September 28-29, 2024!

Join with hundreds of sibling congregations across the continent for our national UU Climate Revival, offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice.

The UU Climate Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.

Open to every UU congregation of every size and budget, we will provide facilitation toolkits, training, music, projects, coordinated justice action and more! Find out more at www.uuclimatejustice.org.

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Join the Line 5 Petition 

(Line 5 is a 645-mile pipeline from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario. The 30-inch diameter pipe transports up to 540,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily.)

The Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN) is sharing a petition drive and a new video just released highlighting Indigenous women leaders fighting to stop Line 5 and protect water, climate, and Indigenous rights. The petition drive joins growing national and regional efforts to stop Line 5 permanently.

• Watch the new WECAN video here.

• Join the petition here.

Petition signatures will be delivered ahead of the premiere of the Bad River documentary film, taking place in Washington, D.C., with invited government leaders and officials. Indigenous women leaders, WECAN, Sierra Club-Wisconsin, and others will deliver the petition signatures on March 13 to the Army Corps offices in Washington, D.C.

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Keep Calling And Writing: How the Climate Justice Movement Affects Federal Legislation

UUs for Social Justice presents a Zoom policy talk by Katie Thomas Carol, Esq., Director of Energy and Environment Programs for the CPC Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that identifies and develops solutions to build a more just, equitable, and resilient nation.

RSVP for April 4th, 8:00 p.m. EST / 5:00 p.m. PST

With almost a decade on Capitol Hill working energy and environmental policy and legislation, Katie will speak in her personal capacity about how UUs can drive the progressive agenda.

Katie will highlight examples of her work as Staff Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment for Rep. Ro Khanna and Senior Policy Advisor for Energy and Environment to Senator Bernie Sanders before that.

Happily, Katie is also a UU. RSVP and attend to create a lovely, robust, informative Earth Month event.

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Available Now - Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in Predominantly White Congregations

On March 20, we joined Dorothy Swain of UUs of Grants Pass and Gabi Johnson with the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, both from Grants Pass, Oregon, for our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting on Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in Predominantly White Congregations. Check out the recording and resources!

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Nourishing Impactful Teams

As we work to transform our congregations and communities through climate justice, a strong and dynamic team is critical. Join Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist, for tips on how to bring together and nourish a cohesive and impactful team! Register to join us!

Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET. Each meeting includes a brief introduction to the Green Sanctuary 2030 process and a presentation on a climate justice topic usually led by a Green Sanctuary 2030 Team followed by an open discussion.

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Remind Congress We Still Need The Environmental Justice for All Act

We still want Congress to act on "the moral principle that all people have the right to pure air, clean water, and an environment that enriches life." We still agree "Federal policy can and should seek to achieve environmental justice, health equity, and climate justice for all underserved communities," let's urge them to do so. Last year's passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was a significant step toward greater investment in clean energy.

Unfortunately, some provisions of the IRA are expected to stimulate fossil fuel production and worsen pollution in areas already saturated by heavy industry. Now, in the new Congressional Session, the House is proposing legislation intended to loosen procedural protections around energy projects. This includes efforts to undermine cornerstone environmental protections like the National Environmental Policy Act, and measures that will increase the risk to public health.

Tell Congress: Support the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act!

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Register for the 2024 National Faith + Climate Forum

We are excited to invite you to join us for an inspiring and transformative event designed to strengthen local congregations through care for creation – The National Faith + Climate Forum on April 16th from 12:00 pm - 5:15 pm ET / 11:00 am - 4:15 pm CT / 10:00 am - 3:15 pm MT / 9:00 am - 2:15 pm PT!

Join other faith leaders in our area to hear inspiring national speakers and participate in purposeful discussions, practical workshops, and energizing collaborative sessions. All clergy and lay leaders, younger and older congregants, are welcome to join, whether you have been caring for creation for some time, or just getting started. We all can be part of the solution in our congregations and our community. Learn more and register here. 

I am thrilled to take this opportunity to introduce myself and share some exciting news.

As of March 1, I have been promoted to the position of Organizing Strategy Director on our Side With Love team. It's an incredibly meaningful step for me personally, and I am eager to continue serving our community in this capacity.

You may already be aware that Rev. Ashley Horan has transitioned into the role of Vice President of Programs and Ministry, providing strategic support to President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt and the UUA in advancing our shared mission. Rev. Horan's tenure as Organizing Strategy Director has been marked by tremendous growth, culminating in the consolidation of our issue programs (UU the Vote, Create Climate Justice, UPLIFT Action, and Love Resists) under the Side With Love umbrella. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Rev. Horan and eagerly anticipate the impact she will make in her new role.

My journey at the UUA began in 2020 when I joined as the National Organizer for UU the Vote. In the face of significant political challenges, we embraced innovation, fostered new relationships, and adapted our strategies to meet the moment.

In subsequent years, as Side With Love’s Field and Programs Director, I have worked to strengthen our infrastructure, nurture partnerships, and coordinate collective action across our core issues.

While our communities continue to grapple with the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic and the erosion of democratic norms, I remain steadfast in my belief that we are stronger and more resilient than ever before. Through my fifteen years of organizing, I have come to understand that our commitment to justice transcends socio-political fluctuations and conditions. 

During the emergence of Covid-19, UU the Vote became the largest activation of Unitarian Universalists in the history of our faith. Our advocacy for bodily autonomy draws from our legacies in abolition and the women’s suffrage movement, extending to Uplift Action work proclaiming that every body is sacred. As we confront the climate crisis, we are revitalizing Green Sanctuary and reimagining how we do this urgent work together in a national Climate Justice Revival in September to catalyze a widespread denominational commitment to transforming our congregations and communities through climate justice.   While the criminal legal system continues to claim lives and devastate families, we have mobilized efforts to close detention centers and counter rising fascist tactics in the campaign to Stop Cop City. 

It is this steadfast dedication that sustains our justice movements through adversity and uncertainty.  And the relationships and communities we build are the manifestation of what we are fighting for: whole, just, and thriving communities centered in liberating love. 

At the heart of our work lies the profound power of love. Love serves as both a catalyst for action and a source of solace for our communities in times of need. In these times where we are told the lie that our individual thriving requires someone else's suffering, love is the promise of Beloved Community, where all of us are whole and worthy.

Side With Love embodies this transformative vision. It is more than a slogan; it is a call to moral clarity and collective action. It is a bold invitation to be who we say we are.  Today, as the world around us continues to grapple with crises fueled by hatred and indifference, we have a moral mandate to embody the principles of justice and compassion in all that we do. Together, we can be the architects of a more just and equitable future. Now is the time for us to embody the promise of our faith, and I believe that we are ready. 

I want to express my gratitude for your continued support and partnership. I am so proud to do this work with you and with the amazing staff team who has stewarded this work with brilliance and care. 

I am excited to continue this journey together and look forward to the incredible work that lies ahead.

With deep appreciation and solidarity,

Nicole Pressley
Organizing Strategy Director

Help Side With Love meet the moment by making a contribution today! 

Connect with Side With Love

Join me at the next Side With Love Monthly Mixer on Monday, April 15 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. Our monthly mixer is a time to connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff. We know these times ask a lot of us and that we need one another to stay in the work with hope, joy, impact, and accountability. Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. 

Join UU the Vote 2024

UU the Vote is our campaign for democracy and electoral justice, grounded in Unitarian Universalist values. With UU the Vote we’re organizing on the state and local levels to fight for fair elections, advance voting rights, protect abortion access, and resist the targeting and criminalization of Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities.

Excited to join UU the Vote but need some support with your work? Confused about what electoral work is “allowed” for non-profits? Want help finding a local partner to work with? Join us at Getting Started with UU the Vote: Community Gathering on Thursday, April 18 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET as we talk through some of the first steps to making a plan.

Join our UU Climate Revival, Sept 28 - 29, 2024!

Register Your Congregation Now to participate September 28-29, 2024!

Join with hundreds of sibling congregations across the continent for our national UU Climate Revival, offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice.

The UU Climate Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.

Open to every UU congregation of every size and budget, we will provide facilitation toolkits, training, music, projects, coordinated justice action and more! Find out more at www.uuclimatejustice.org.

This Sunday, April 21, is Nonbinary Parents Day. As Unitarian Universalists (UUs), we not only open our doors to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, we value diversity of sexuality and gender and see it as a spiritual gift. We share with you a blessing to affirm and celebrate all nonbinary parents and caregivers. (See our Facebook post for beautiful graphics of this prayer!)

Blessing for Nonbinary Parents Day

 To all the in-betweens, outside-ofs, not-quites, both/ands, and neithers:

We honor all of who you are and all of how you nurture and care. 

Through your embodied authentic self, you impart a transformative love. 

A love that is abundant, bold, whole, holy, you.

On this Nonbinary Parents’ Day, may we amplify this transformative love into a world that allows you to be secure and safe, to rest, breathe, and relax. 

On this joyous day, may we celebrate the sacredness of your relationship and role.

Written and offered by:

• Mylo Way, UUA Youth & Emerging Adult Ministry Staff and "Bo"

• Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Side With Love Congregational Justice Organizer and "Nommy"

• Noor Hammamy-Way, Honorary Staff and "Cube"

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Announcing Nicole Pressley as Organizing Strategy Director!

We are pleased to welcome Nicole Pressley as the Organizing Strategy Director for Side With Love!

Nicole first joined Side With Love in 2020 as the National Organizer for UU the Vote and has since worked to strengthen our infrastructure, nurture partnerships, and coordinate collective action across our core issues as the Field and Programs Director.

Click here to read the full blog post announcement.

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Join the SACReD Gathering, May 7-9

Our movement partner SACReD, is hosting a multi-faith conference centering Reproductive Justice: the SACReD Gathering, May 7-9.

Connecting healing, skill building, deeper analysis, and organizing, the SACReD Gathering will strengthen our cross-movement connections and capacities to build a world where Reproductive Justice is a lived reality.

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May Events

May 10: UPLIFT Transgender/Nonbinary+ Pastoral Small Group

5pm PT / 8pm ET

This is a space to share the hard stuff and to hold the hard stuff that others are navigating in their lives. During our time together, our lead chaplain/facilitators will share opening and closing words, and in between, there is time for everyone to share what's on their hearts, and receive what others are sharing about their own lives.  Register to join.

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May 23: Faithful Grounding

4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET

Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need. Register to join.

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May 28: UPLIFT Trans/Nonbinary+ Monthly Gathering

5pm PT / 8pm ET

Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. This is a drop-in space, where folks can come and go as works best for them, and where people can join us at any time. Register to join.

Kay Anderst
CLF Member, incarcerated in KS

When I read that April’s theme was Transformation, I decided that it was time to share my story with the world for the first time. 2024 is a big year for me, as I have begun the Male to Female (MtF) transition process. It took a lot of prayer and soul searching to get to where I am now.

My journey begins in rural South Dakota. My parents are immigrants, I am a first generation American. We are of Eastern European and Jewish descent, so old Testament laws and morals were imprinted into me as I grew up. There was right and there was wrong with no shades of gray or alternate choices. The result of this strict upbringing was inner turmoil as I got older. I saw that my orientation and gender identity were not compatible with what I had been taught.

How can God love me, I thought, when every thought and action I took were tainted by sin? Why did He make me so broken, so against everything He wanted mankind to be? These questions haunted me every time I tried to pray.

In my 20s I turned away from God completely, going years without a single prayer. I embraced a bisexual identity and found a measure of happiness. After a time, I figured out that I was transgender, and it was only then did the pieces start to fall into place.

I was then angry with God. How could he do this to me? Was he asleep at the switch the day I was born?

My turning point came when a woman I was dating told me something. She said that God didn’t make mistakes, and that He put me here on earth because she liked girls like me. I was like this to be there to love her. Something else she pointed out was that there were millions like me, all through history. Would God have allowed so many of us to be made if not by his will?

This happened right before I came to prison. While it helped me make the final decision to make the MtF conversion, I have spent the last 4 years in hiding, biding my time until I felt it was safe enough to come out into the light. While difficult, God has helped me through this dark time. My personal relationship with Him is the strongest it’s been in my entire life.

So now is my time for change and transformation. It’s not an overnight process; in fact it will take a couple years. I will face many challenges ahead, but I know that what I do is by design. This is what He wanted of me. This place, this prison, is no longer my place of confinement.

It is now God’s tool of transformation and change. I am right where I need to be. I will emerge from this cocoon in 2 years and like a butterfly, I will be free to live the life and be the woman he always wanted me to be.

If anyone reading this is contemplating similar choices, or has been down this road before, your welcome to share your story with me.

You may contact me at: Kay Anderst 18611-273, PO Box 1000 USP 2, Leavenworth, KS 66048.

Frances Koziar
CLF member

Our transformations
are our own, paths we choose
but are never forced to take.

What doesn’t kill you does not
make you stronger, but—
you can choose for it to,
learn lessons from your suffering
that help you create what you believe in.

And those transformations are yours
to be proud of, no one
gets to take credit for the good inside of you
or the skills you have worked on, especially
not those who have abused you.

Because you choose your self
if not your path, and that has always
been your strength.

How do we remain open to change and transformation?

---

JACK
CLF Member, incarcerated in MA

Transforming is the action of changing every day, and each and every one of us is witness to transforming experiences whether we know it or not.

For those of us in prison: we meet new inmates, new staff. We are exposed to expressions of concern, love, happiness, sadness, sorrow, and even fear. Every one of our senses meets something new or different, something we had not noticed before, something we had not heard before or smelled before, and we can be open to being transformed by them.

So often we think over the years that nothing is new, and prison life never changes; one day in prison can seem like any other. You know what day it is only by what food is served. But each day is new, each day is different. Each day has the opportunity for us to think differently, discover something new, something we didn’t know before. You may discover someone you had only passed in the hall, someone different from those you talk with every day.

Journaling is one of the best ways of always looking for that one thing, that one day that was new. It may be the one thing that transformed your day into something different, or that offered you the opportunity to be transformed in ways we had never thought possible. Use your senses. Look around. Let your mind out of the cell around you. Let your thoughts roam. Dare to be transformed, to welcome change.

---

JACOB
CLF Member, incarcerated in AR

Being open to change and transformation is an important part of growing spiritually, maturing and succeeding in life. Transformation is to change or alter in some way shape or form. To remain open to this means to put yourself in situations, to experience new things, to learn — especially to learn of other cultures and religions and practice the knowledge you’ve gained.

By keeping your mind open, you stay open to growth, change, and transformation, but you have to want to.

---

JASON
CLF member, incarcerated in IL

Transformation is an interesting word, especially for someone who has been in institutions for as long as I have.

As I write the word transformation, it makes me think of who and what I used to be. When I was younger, I was full of hate and fear. I acted impulsively and reacted to what people said or did towards me, which got me into a lot of trouble, as well as a number of fights.

Now, I’m no longer filled with hate, and though I still have some fears, they are nowhere near as bad as the ones I used to have. Now, instead of reacting to what people say or do, I take a mental step back, think things through, and then respond to them.

Now, because of the changes I have made and continue to make as I work to transform myself into the person I want to be, my life is a lot less stressful than it could be.

When I think about transformation, I often think of when people say they had a “transformational experience,” or when, as religious professionals, we look for the ways in which ministry can be transformational for our congregants.

And it gets me thinking: What is all this transformation about? In my experience, a lot of people really don’t like change. Even people who say they want to be “transformed” also can really not like change! Why would we seek that which we can’t actually embrace? I tend to think it is because our entire human experience is leading to an ultimate transformation which we cannot know the result: death. So sometimes we are, at best, ambivalent, and other times outright hostile to change.

Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower is one of my favorite books about Change. Because in the book she explores the idea that God is not some distant almighty spirit, but rather the very up close and real experience of Change (capital C.) What an exciting idea to explore! Her most often quoted refrain from the book, and that which the central characters revolve, is “All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change.”

When I first read that phrase as a young adult, it blew my mind! I loved it. I loved the capitalizations which conveyed the idea that what we’re reading in the capitalized word carried with it the reverence of the word God. Here was a religion I could get behind. The idea that I could continually be both transformational and transformed?! Wow!

This idea helped me look at the changes in my young adult life in a new way. It helped me realize that while there was change that I couldn’t control, I could still make that change part of my life. And it helped me realize that I had a deep responsibility for the Change that I created in the world. That Butler chose to capitalize the Y in “All that you touch You Change” was something I thought about frequently. That I continue to think about when faced with difficult situations and decisions.

In Parable of the Sower, the people who couldn’t change, couldn’t adapt, those who desperately clung to racism, sexism, and fascism, did not survive the new climate changed landscape. They met the ultimate Transformation while resisting the very changes which could have helped their survival. And when I think about the difficulties we face as Unitarian Universalists, I think about what it is we are resisting and could those things be the very things that can prepare us for survival?

In creating the community structures of Parable of the Sower, Butler relies heavily on the community building foundations seen in the “We” culture communities in which she was raised. “We” culture communities in the U.S. are most often found in Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous peoples as well as other BIPOC communities. Among many “We” cultural values, most strikingly, the requirement of putting group needs ahead of the individual needs is foundational in Parable of the Sower.

So I wonder: What would it look like to put the needs of our entire faith community ahead of our individual needs? What are the needs of Unitarian Universalism at large? How do we meet those needs even when it feels like we are not getting what we want as individuals? This feels a lot like the conversations which are going on right now around the proposed changes to the UU Principles and Sources, often referred to as Article II.

As we’ve written about in recent issues of Quest, our denomination is in the process of adopting new language to articulate and ground our faith community. This new language is framed as seven UU values: Justice, Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Interdependence, Generosity and Love.

I wonder if haven’t we actually already made these changes in spirit. Haven’t we already touched, and thus Changed how we practice Unitarian Universalism? What if the proposed changes — the new UU values — are simply the language catching up to the spirit of Unitarian Universalism?

Perhaps we have already touched and been Changed. Because in the end, Change cannot be successfully resisted but it certainly can be influenced. And we can do so together. ′

April 2024

“When you become the image of your own imagination, it’s the most powerful thing you could ever do.” —RuPaul

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Video recording of April 17 meeting

Overview
Rev. Cathy Rion Starr led us through the Universe of Possibility presentation, after which we all spent some time drawing our unique Universe of Possibility for work we're doing in our congregations and communities. We reflected on questions like: 

• How many people are in each circle? Who’s in your core?

• Is your committee reflective of the congregation as a whole in terms of demographics and interests?

• What do you invite folks to at each level?

• How is the flow of leaders in and out of the circles?

• What are your hopes & dreams for your universe? What changes would you like to make?

It was so helpful to frame our work through this tool, but don't take my word for it, here's what some of your peers said:

• "Love this tool and this group… looking forward to working with y’all!" - Sharon G.

• "Thank you, Rev. Cathy, for reminding us about the importance of different levels of involvement!" - Diane D.

• "This is a great topic — impactful teams! Our UU congregation has many teams and they all operate differently. Love this model and I think we can apply it broadly. I hope to learn more about building community and spiritual connection simultaneously. Thank you!" - Carolyn T.

• "I loved this! Lots to think about and weave into all my future efforts!" - Dorothy S.

This will definitely be a workshop we reference time and again in the coming months!

Resources from the meeting:

• Introductory slides

• Rev. Cathy's slides

• All resources to engage with the Universe of Possibility

Links shared:

• Check out our Green Sanctuary page to subscribe to receive updates, join the process, RSVP for upcoming events, and more

• Sign up for all of our Green Sanctuary 2030 & Climate Justice events

• Join the Green Sanctuary 2030 Community!

•  The link to the Action Report Form is here: bit.ly/GS-ACTIONS

• Check out the Building and Community Transformation Resources

• Sign up to host Reimagine Together: from an Extractive Age to a New Era this September 28-29 at UUClimateJustice.org

Side With Love, in collaboration with the Youth and Emerging Adult team of the Lifespan Faith Engagement office and the UU College of Social Justice, joins in solidarity with Unitarian Universalist young adults and students across the globe who are protesting the ongoing assault in Gaza. These protests are a response to the moral urgency of this moment. The assault on Gaza, sponsored by the United States, has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians. We cannot turn away.We join the chorus of faith and progressive organizations calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the protection of student activists.

In the face of dehumanization, devastation, and death, human beings have always gathered to create life-affirming communities of resistance. Rooted in a strong lineage of student movements, this generation - like those protesting the Vietnam War, calling for the racial integration of their campuses, and for the end of apartheid in South Africa - are, again, asking this nation to embody its highest ideals of liberty and justice for all.

Our values call on every generation to listen with care and compassion to the prophetic witness of these courageous students and offer faithful solidarity. We, too, must rise to meet the highest aspirations of our faith, which rejects the disposability of any human being and proclaims all are worthy of love and belonging.

This generation of students has endured the trauma of COVID-19, school shootings, a climate crisis, and the brutality of U.S. police forces on their campuses and in their communities. It is time to turn around the question, “Where are the young people in our faith movement?” and instead ask, “Where are all of us, as people of faith, when our young people are showing up?” We must not turn away.

Side With Love proclaims the transformative power of love to build vibrant and liberated communities. This dangerous assault on civil liberties on college campuses and human rights – at home and globally –are connected. Too many of our justice movements (labor movement, Civil Rights, Gay liberation), have been met with sanctioned police brutality, imprisonment, and worse. We must not fail our students with our silence. We will not betray our faith with our complicity.

We call on university administrations and public officials to remove police from campuses, end the militarized response to student activism, and come to the table in good-faith negotiations with student demands. We call on our community to show up in solidarity. We welcome all, in this pivotal movement, to Side With Love.

Add your signature to this letter.

Signatories

Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association

Rev. Scott Aaseng
Abigail Abysalh-Metzger
Ms. Kathleen Adams
Rev. Dr. Julia Aegerter
Ms. Nancy Ahmadifar
Dr. Robert Alexander
Dr. Amanda Alexander
Ms. Melody Allan
Ms Gaylee Amend
Dr. Susan Anderson
Adele Andrews
Rev. Dr. Leonisa Ardizzone
Ms. Larissa Armstrong
Ms. Dana Ashrawi
Ms. Ellen Asprooth
Barbara Atkinson
Dan Bailey
Ms. J Bannester
Rev. Erica Baron
Rev. Dr. Tracie Barrett
Ms. Kathy Bartolomeo
Dr. Lynette Bassman
Janet Bednarz
Ms. Sharon Bell Stevens
Mrs. Sharon Bell-Stevens
Patricis Bennett
Ms. Rebecca Bent
Gene Bergman
Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt
Ms. Joyce Bianchini
Rev. Ashley Birt
Mx. Sara Blackthorne
Mx. Emily Blair
Ronnie Boyd
Cole Breedlove
Henry Bright
Mr. Farrell Brody
Ms. Beth Brunton
Ms. Dana Buhl
Mr. Benjamin Burch
Sue Burke
George Burman
Ms. Shirin Caldwell
Rev. Dr. Isabel Call
Mrs Cici Carilli
Cheryl Carmi
Dr. Devin Carroll
Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer
Alesha Chaffin
Mr. Donald Chery
Ms. Jane Collins
Mr. R.Sidney Collins
Rev. Otto Concannon
Rev. Susan Conrad
Rev. Julie Conrady
Mr. Larry Cooper
Rev. Darcy Corbitt
Ms. Nan Corliss
Betty Cornelisen
Rev. Lyn Cox
Carol Crabill
Mrs. Sue Craig
Chris Crass
Ms. Gretchen Crawford
Mrs. Jamaine Cripe
Mrs. Lee Curran
Patrice Curtis
Mrs. Jeanne Davis
Ms. Karen Deaton
Rev. Emily DeTar Birt
Ms. Mary Devitt
Rev. Tina DeYoe
Rev. Jaimie Dingus
Sarah Ditzler
Ms. Rebecca Donley
Angie Donnay
Laura Dooley
Ms. Lynn D Douglas
Mr. Bruce Douglas
Ms. Joyce Dowling
Ms. Helen Duffy
Martha Durkee-Neuman
Angelique Duvet-Tovar
Rev. Dayna Edwards
Natalie Eldridge
Susie Epstein
Ms. Claire Eustace
Dana Fisher Ashrawi
Beverly Fitzpatrick
Rev. Tobi Fleck
Ms. Clare Fortune-Lad
Kim Fox-Kristensen
Ms. Janna Radovsky Frelich
Ms. Roberta Frye
Lori Garcia
Dr. Shernaz Garcia
Dr. Anne Garcia
Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson
Ms. Vicki Gavel
Rev. Pamela Gehrke
Elaine Gehrmann
Ms. Sally Jane Gellert
Janine Gelsinger
Elisabeth Geschiere
Mrs. Stephanie Giamberardino
Mark Giese
Ms. Ann Gilmore
Rev. Annie Gonzalez
Rev. Sara Goodman
Ms. glenda gordon
Ana Gorny
Danielle Grand
Mrs. Virginia Green
Ms. Joan Gregory
Rev. Ranwa Hammamy
Emily Hand
Ms. Katia Hansen
Dr. bill Harris
Ms. Zoe Hart
Victoria Hartman
Ms. Aisha Hauser
Ms Gwyn Helie
Peter Helwig
Paul Heniques
Rev. Meagan Henry
Rev. Patt Herdklotz
Samantha Herndon
Bill Hessell
Ms. Sandy Hildebrandt
Mr. Joel Hildebrandt
Rev. Jamie Hinson-Rieger
Rev. Dr. Lucy Hitchcock
Heather Hoecker
Dr. Donna Hoffmeister
Ray A Hommeyer
rimki honnold
Rev. Ashley Horan
Edythe Hough
Rev. Molly Housh Gordon
Ms. Kathleen Yezierska Hulley
Kirsten Hunter
Rev.erend DL Hwlfer
Ms. Laila Ibrahim
Elizabeth Ingram
Diana Ingram
Ms. Catherine Jackson
Mr. Mark Jagner
Dr. Melissa James
Rev. Abhi Janamanchi
Ruth Jenkins
Ms Cheyenne Jenvey
Mr. Bruce Jewell
Valerie Johnson
Ms. Barbara Johnston
Miss Zoe Johnston
Constance Jones
Rev. Dr. Dr. Roger Jones
Rev. Jeff Jones
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones
Mona Jones-Romansic
Dr. Donna Joss
Dr Razan Kaileh
ANN KALINOSKI
Mr. James Kane
Ms. Rosemary Kean
Carl Kennedy
Asma Khan
Ms. Izzy Khapoya
Lynn Kimbark
Dr. D King
Rev. Dan King
Gregory King
Rev. Cecilia Kingman
Mary Kingsley
Ms. LINDA KNIGHT
Ms. Katie Kosseff
Anne Kosseff-Jones
Rev. Tim Kutzmark
Ms. Pat Lamanna
Mr. Steven Sellers Lapham
Ms. Areej Latif
Dr. Kate Lenhardt
Rev. Bran Lennox
Ms. Renate Ley
Dr. Judy Lightstone
Tanya Liscano
Dr. Deborah Little
Ms. Karin Livingstone
Andrew Livingstone
Patricia Looney-Burman
Ms. Sue Ann Lorig
Mr. Terry Lowman
Marie Lowry
Marsha Luce
Monica Luevano Mares
Kathleen Lund
Leigh Ann Luscan
Dr. Aurolyn Luykx
Rev. Jason Lydon
Mx Bernise Lynch
Mx. Sherri Lysy
Mr. Melvin Mackey
Dr. Heather MacLeod
Ken Mah
Tina Malone
Alisha Mancinas
Rev. Kevin Mann
Jennifer Marck
Mr. Bob Mason
Ms. Sally McCollum
Clara McCollum
Dr. Renee McCormick
Ms. Pamela McInnes
Kathy McKay
Ms Ann McKay Bryson
Jung Han Messinger
Ms. Joanne Michelson
elizabeth miller
Rev. Alisha Mills
Rev. Sarah Millspaugh
Mr. Michael Monroe
Rev. John Morehouse
David Morgen
Dr. John Moses
Abbas Moussaoui
Rev. Johannah Murphy
Ms. Christine Myers
Ms. Diane Nassif
Mrs. Dawn Newcomer
Dr. Gail Newel
Mrs. Jackie Newman
Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen
Jil Novenski
Ms. Susan Nye
Debbie Ockey
Mx. Kyle Osborne
Peggy Owen Sands
Lori Palmer
Ms. Kathryn Partridge
Miss QuianaDenae Perkins
Rev. Ali Peters
Lydia Philip
William Philips
Rev. Millie Phillips
Betty Prange
Dr. Marcelle Pratt
Mrs Virginia Preuss
Ms. Lois Reborne
Dr. jon rice
Ms. Mary Richards
Emily Richards
Alice Richards
Sandra Rigsbee
Rev. Cathy Rion Starr
Christina Rivera
David Roberts
Ms Nancy Roberts
Dr. robert roberts
Ms. Amanda Rogers
Jonathan G Rogers
Rev. Jonathan Rogers
Ms. Genevieve Rohan
Rev. Katie Romano Griffin
Mary Rooker
Dr. Lee Rossi
Rachel Rott
Ms Ann Rovere
Mr James Ruelas
Mr. Stephen Sacks
Ms. Judith Sadegh
Rev. Misha Sanders
Rev. Elizabeth Saunter
Ms. Wendy Schoener
Rev. Amanda Schuber
Mx. Andrea Schulz
Rev. Catie Scudera
Antoinette Scully
Jeffrey Severson
Evelyn Sheridan
Ms. Isabel Sheridan
Rev. Alia Shinbrough
Ms. Terri Shofner
Dr. Joshua Shurley
Mr. Brett Smith
Rev. Julián Soto
Sandra Steubing
Catherine Strickland
Wesley Stroupe
Ben Strube
Rev. Sonya Sukalski
Judith Swick
Rev.erend Jan Taddeo
Rev. Leslie Takahashi
Dr. Katrina Thompson
Mr. Scott Thomson
Bis Thornton
Ms. Rita Townsend
MS. Ellen Trumpler
Dr. Brenda Ungerland
Elizabeth Valencia
Danielle Van Dusen
Nico Van Ostrand
Ms. Michelle Venegas-Matula
Sandra Villareal
Hannah Villnave
Dr. Maria Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa
Dr. Caitlin Waddick
Dr. Kaitlin Walker
Virginia Waring
Mylo Way
Rev. Vail Weller
Penelope Wells
Krista Westervelt
Elizabeth Westie
Rev. Dr. Pippin Whitaker
Mrs. Jan Wiley-Egdall
G Williams
Gordon Woodworth
Ms. Carol Workman
Ms. Connie Young
Lenore Yousef
Rev. Crystal Zerfoss

Thomas
CLF Member, incarcerated in IN

 

Seamus Vonn-Jernigan
CLF member, incarcerated in OR

 

Oh Great Creator,

We are humbled to have been created by you and to witness your creativity flow through us daily. We understand that we are your instruments of peace, play and innovation, and intend to funnel your imagination through our very existence.

We are your hands, that sculpt the clay and paint the canvas.

We are your eyes, that capture a photograph and perfect a design.

We are your ears, listening to the harmonies among the song of birds, crash of waves, cries of babies and the wisp of the wind.

We are your feet, that dance across the stage, and your arms, that conduct a symphony.

We are your words, that form haiku and fill pages to create great novels.

We are your voice, that sings in the choir and whispers our prayers
at night.

We are your laugh, that fosters joy and heals our souls.

We are your mind, that seeks the truth and guides us to think
objectively.

We are your heart, that allows us to love our neighbors and forgive our enemies.

We are your spirit, that shepherds us to share peace and compassion with each person we meet and to extend grace to all, especially those who appear to deserve it the least, as they need it the most.

We are your creation, and your creativity lives on through us.

What we dream in our minds, help us to believe in our hearts. What we believe in our hearts, help us to cultivate in our lives.

In the name of the Great Creator,

Amen.

What does it mean to value equity? How does it look?

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Darrell
CLF Member, incarcerated in CA

To be honest, at first I thought this theme might be about real estate. Then my mind switched gears and I began to grasp the foundational meaning of the word equity — value! Upon taking the backseat of my life’s vehicle (I tend to let the Universe do the driving nowadays), I’ve become more conscious of our society in regards to our behavior towards ourselves and others.

When I was in my late teens, an older guy once told me, “people that live in lower class environments are blind to their true worth and potential.” Hopefully this same individual has come to the realization that this imaginary blindfold can be worn by individuals from all walks of life, expanding all over the planet. Do we exhibit self-value when we fill our bodies up with harmful narcotics? Are we expressing our self-value by overindulging and drinking alcoholic beverages? Is self-value being shown by the clothes we wear, cars we drive, people we socialize with, and the amount of money we possess? What is self-value anyway?  Does self-value (or acknowledging that you have self-value) determine how you treat or value others?

Someone asked me a few years ago if I would rather be loved or valued. What a profound question! Not knowing the meaning of self-value back then, I decided to choose love, because I was ten times more familiar with its existence. If you were to ask me that same question right now, I would say both — but overall, I would rather be valued.

Why? Consider the society that we all are experiencing together. This country runs off capitalism. I hear people say, “money isn’t everything,” and I would concur. But let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment: everything you need to survive in this society only becomes available through the exchange of currency (food/clothing/shelter). This economy has a strong influence over its inhabitants that leads them to place value on people, places, and things when, in all actuality, the majority of those objects (or subjects) have no value at all.

Let’s face it, everybody might not love their boss, but we all value our paycheck because it helps pay our bills, provides clothes for our children, keeps gas in our cars, and so on and so on. This emotion that we call love can be fleeting at times. We all know what it feels like but half of us have a hard time expressing it, because of fear of getting hurt or it not being reciprocated. Some of us don’t even know what love looks like when other people display it to us through their actions. I see way more conditional love then I see unconditional love (which is true love).

This is my suggestion on what I believe this country needs to place value in: God/higher power/nature/knowledge/wisdom/and understanding of various aspects of the Universe and how we correlate to them. We need to place value in our physical well-being, mental well-being, emotional and spiritual well-being and the well-being of our Mother Earth. We need to place value in positive, powerful, and uplifting beliefs about ourselves and others, and build a positive attitude towards life, self, and others. We need to value unconditional love, family ties, real friends, discovering one’s purpose in life — and so much more.

As I continue to build equity in my life experience, I am forced to go with the flow of the collective consciousness that sees value in some of the most ridiculous things. I will never confirm their beliefs, nor will I condemn them. I will only adapt and use my awareness of this knowledge in a way that will empower me and along the path towards true prosperity. We are all more than worthy!  

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Kathleen
CLF member, incarcerated in VA

First, let us look at what equity means.. Webster’s dictionary defines equity as: the quality, state, or ideal of being just, fair and impartial. The first thing that stands out to me in that definition is the word ideal. I’ve been feeling a lot lately that as Americans, we are not living up to our ideals, equity being one of them. I feel that this is because we are often alienated from one another due to our so-called differences. I think that equity means putting aside our differences and looking through them, to the throbbing, pulsing, living divinity that exists in each one of us.

Equity means that I want for you what I want for myself. Equity is not selfish. As a trans woman of color, I think the more we fight for equity, the more it becomes exacerbated in the media, and people become fatigued by slogans. Many people are tired of hearing us rally for justice in an unjust world. So what do we do, where do we turn?

I think the key is trying to relate to each person, even when they do not want to relate to us – whoever they are. Because in the big picture, it really isn’t us vs. them. It’s just us. I think it’s time for the world to see that.  

Perhaps you have seen the widespread cartoon image that illustrates the difference between “equality” and “equity” [above]. First drawn in 2012 by Dr. Craig Froehle, it shows two panels. In each, three people of varying heights are trying to watch a baseball game over a fence, and they have three crates to stand on. In the scenario labeled “equality,” everyone gets one crate, which allows the tallest person to tower over the fence, but the smallest person still can’t see the game. In the scenario labeled “equity,” the crates are distributed so that everyone can see over the fence.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this cartoon as Unitarian Universalists discuss naming equity as one of the core values of our faith. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about why there is a wooden fence in the first place, and about all of the people in the stands whose access to the game doesn’t depend on the distribution of crates.

If someone were to attend the game in a wheelchair, they’d need more than crates to see over the fence. They’d need an expensive ticket, and a ballpark policy that carves out appropriate and desirable places for wheelchairs to be. (It is purely coincidental but illustrative that this week, a friend who uses a wheelchair and loves baseball took to Facebook to decry the ways in which several major league teams make it harder for him to attend games by putting additional steps in place if one wants to buy a wheelchair-accessible seat.)

It seems to me that true equity is that everyone has access to the game in a way that fits their bodies and brains and not their wallets or the willingness of someone to give them a temporary boost.

It wasn’t until I decided to write about this cartoon, though, that I learned that its original creator researches inequities in healthcare. This makes the difference between getting into the ballpark and trying to see over the fence even more stark. For too many people, inequity leads to death.

I have hope that our Unitarian Universalist embrace of equity will be deeper and more meaningful than a cartoon. Part of the proposed language for what would be our core values reads that “we covenant to use our time, wisdom, attention, and money to build and sustain fully accessible and inclusive communities.”

If we are really serious about equity, then, we will work to make our communities—inside and outside of our congregations—fully accessible and inclusive.

This means accessible and inclusive to all bodies. This means accessible and inclusive to different ways that brains work. This means accessible and inclusive to people with different financial means. That means accessible and inclusive to people with histories of trauma and also those who are imprisoned.

It also means that Unitarian Universalists are called to understand ourselves as part of accessible and inclusive communities, so that when we build structures that allow everyone to be part of things, they don’t come across as unfair or unequal.

Have you ever complained that someone else got a crate to see over the fence, even if you didn’t need one?  Sadly, over my years as a minister I’ve fielded way too many similar complaints.

Instead, let us tear down that fence and let everyone into the game. Let’s create space where we can all have the place we need to participate, and where we don’t resent the full participation of others.

May 2024

“Treating different things the same can generate as much inequality as treating the same things
differently.” —Kimberlé Crenshaw

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May 16th is the 13th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). UUA Accessibility Resources Coordinator Gretchen Maune shares this reflection on digital accessibility.

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In 2007, I was staying at a blind rehabilitation center in Kansas City. Six months prior, I had gone from having 20/15 vision to being almost completely blind over eight rough weeks. I was 24 years old and needed to complete just 15 more credits to finish my Bachelor’s in English so I could move on to grad school, but first, I had to figure out how.

While I enjoyed learning Braille, and techniques for cooking without sight, most of my motivation was reserved for learning to use a computer again. Starting with my family’s Apple II GS, I had been using computers for the vast majority of my life. Being unable to use one for the last several months had made everything from writing capstone papers, to playing Morrowind, to messaging friends impossible, and I was miserable. Cut off from so much, I didn’t know how I was supposed to live my life anymore. When my rehab counselor told me there was software that made it possible for blind people to use a computer, I felt hope and clung to it.

Through the help of a text-to-speech screen reading program called JAWS, I quickly adapted to navigating Windows with my ears instead of my eyes. My instructor, Jim, was the first blind person I can ever remember meeting, and I will be forever grateful to him for all he taught me. One day, as I was practicing surfing the web (come on, it was the 00’s) I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with a particular website. The techniques I’d been taught weren’t working, and though I creatively strove to find a solution, I eventually found myself giving up. Confused, I asked Jim what I was doing wrong, but the answer he gave me was “nothing at all.” That was the day I learned about digital accessibility.

Assistive technologies like screen readers make participating in society possible for me and countless other disabled people. However, these tools can’t make content accessible all by themselves. Application developers, page designers, instructional material creators, and anyone posting something to the internet (so, that would be just about everyone) have to do their part as well, building, editing, or sharing with accessibility in mind.

Thankfully, my UUA colleague, Kasey Kruser, knows just how important digital accessibility is, and is always keeping it in mind with her work. When asked why she thinks accessibility is important as a web developer, she says, “Making our sites as accessible as possible is a great way to help people feel welcomed and included right from the start. Whatever else might be going on in their lives, whatever brought them to our site, I want to know I've done my best to remove frustrations and roadblocks; I hope my efforts make life that much easier for everyone in or looking for our community.”

As someone who relies on accessibility for my professional, entertainment, and spiritual needs, I am reminded daily that we’re all in this together. On this 13th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day, let us design our websites, create our documents, and share our social media with love.

A few of the resources I recommend:

• The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG, are standards for making digital content accessible to disabled users. These standards are required by many countries and other entities across the globe. Learn more with this WCAG primer.

• Whether you’re using mostly text, tables, or graphics, increase your inclusive practices with this guide to creating accessible Microsoft Office documents.

• Engage with official GAAD Events and Resources and learn to make your content more accessible!

Gretchen Maune, MPA, CPACC :: she/they

Accessibility Resources Coordinator

UUA Ministries and Faith Development