Spirit of Life,
we gather with hearts broken open, souls aching—
by the weight of the world,
by the wounds of history,
by the cruel persistence of injustice.

How long, O Spirit, must our bodies be made into battlegrounds?
How long must the Earth be sacrificed at the altar of profit?

How long must we abide by an economy of disposability
where Black, Indigenous, people of color, transgender, and disabled lives are traded for another’s right to exist, another’s claim of safety?   

How long must this world run on stolen labor, stolen land, and stolen lives for the sake of greed and the lie of supremacy? 

We lament the silence that has stretched too long,
the complicity woven into our comforts,
The slowness of our response when urgency was demanded.
We grieve the gap between our values and our actions—
between the pragmatic and the prophetic. 

Forgive us for the times we have turned away.
Forgive us when we have mistaken quiet for peace,
and civility and decorum for justice.

But let this lament not be the end.
Let our sorrow carve space for resolve.
Let our tears water the seeds of uprising.
Let our faith rise from the ashes—not innocent,
but braver, wiser, more centered in love.

May we be a people who side with love.
May we be a people who disrupt, who dismantle, and who dream.
May we be a people who remember
that we are always on the horizon of transformation,
and there may we greet our collective liberation. 

May it be so. Blessed be. Amen.

We are on new terrain, but the work remains the same. Side With Love proclaims the power of love to end oppression and build a just and loving world where we all thrive. In this final week of 30 Days of Love, we honor Black History Month at a moment when this administration seeks to resegregate America and establish and enforce a global racial hierarchy. This week's theme is a bold proclamation of sacred and revolutionary truth: there are Black people in the future. What becomes possible when we inhabit this prophecy of Black resilience and liberation in our lives today?

These words from Interdisciplinary Artist and Cultural Producer Alisha B Wormsley are a declaration of resilience, commitment to solidarity, and insistence that victory is ours! It is a refusal to accept the erasure of Black existence, imagination, and liberation. It is a call to action for Unitarian Universalists and all people of faith and conscience to engage in the sacred work of co-creating a future where Black lives thrive. 

At its core, "there are Black people in the future" disrupts all narratives of disposability, which sanction discrimination, inequity, injustice, and genocide. It offers instead a vision of boundless possibility. As a faith committed to justice and love, this theme challenges us to ask: What are we doing today to ensure a just and liberated future for Black people? Are we confronting the systems that perpetuate harm? Are we uplifting Black leadership, creativity, and wisdom? Are we actively dismantling white supremacy within and beyond our communities? Who must we be? What must we do? What transformation unfolds today if Black life and thriving are the promises of our future? What will you put into practice today to fulfill this promise?

May we move forward with courage, faith, and unwavering love. The future is now, and Black liberation is the path to collective liberation. Let us build it together.

Explore this week’s offerings which include ways to take action, something to watch, three activities for families, a body practice, journaling practice, and a creative practice.

In faith and solidarity,

Nicole Pressley, UUA Organizing Strategy Director

Showing up to meet this moment!

Side With Love is working across partnerships, coalitions, and staff teams at the UUA to bring you current and accurate information on the many pressing issues related to this Administration's unjust and unconstitutional actions. This requires legal support, following the lead of the most impacted, and refining systems for consistent learning and action. We thank you for your patience as we navigate this chaotic political moment together. Below are three offerings that are coming soon to support your communities in showing up in our collective struggle for justice. 

Grounded, Resilient, & Responsible Toolkit

We will provide helpful guidance to navigate political action in our current climate. As we all discern our risk in answering the call to side with love, this tool will support you in aligning our intentions with our impact for more strategic and deliberate social justice organizing. The focus will be safety, effective partnership, solidarity, and messaging. Use this guide to discern how you engage on social media, better understand the strategy and safety of protests and direct action, and how to use tactics effectively—coming end of February.

Side With Love Action Center 

Help harness our power by joining in learning and action opportunities with Side With Love and coalition partners. The Action Center will provide weekly updates, issue analysis, and actions to take on issues related to immigration, LGBTQ justice, climate, and democracy. You will find these opportunities on the Side With Love homepage and via email. Subscribe here to get the Action Center alerts in your inbox. Coming end of February 

Side With Love Monthly Meeting

As 30 Days of Love comes to a close, we are launching a monthly national call for faithful, grounded, and powerful organizing. This moment demands our attention, our action, and collective care. Join us monthly to root in our values, get updates and analysis on the political and organizing terrain, and move into prophetic action. Together, we will harness the power of love to end oppression and build a loving and just world where we all thrive. Launching early March. 

Mní Wičóni. Water is life. This sacred truth, which echoed around the world as the Standing Rock Sioux Nation led the movement to resist the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline across the Missouri River, reveres the interdependence that defines all of our existence. In both the original Lakota and translated English, Mní Wičóni (Water is life) reminds us that honoring our connections to the elements—the air, the land, the water—transforms our communities. When we fully embrace water not just as a resource for life but as the source of life, we shift from extracting its power to tending to it with reverence. Water—life—is no longer a commodity or an obstacle but instead accompanies us as a close relative.

Mní Wičóni, Water is life, is not just an anthem of resistance against the devastation and violence that colonization continues to inflict upon this world. Yes, to declare “water is life” is to demand an end to the pipelines and mines that destroy ancestral lands, as well as the deadly pollution of waterways and neighborhoods caused by chemical plants and industrial agriculture. But it is also a message of healing and hope, grounded in the wisdom of communities that have endured and persevered through the worst of humanity. It is sacred guidance—an invitation to all of us—to not only end the harm we have caused but to restore the gratitude and care inherent in the ecosystems to which we belong.

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Check out Week Three offerings for 30 Days of Love 2025! We have ways to take action, something to watch, three activities for families, a body practice, journaling practice, and a creative practice.

Trans people are divine. This profound truth, first gifted with the world by J. Mase III and Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi in their Black Trans Prayer Book, is not just a statement but a powerful declaration of sacredness and resilience. It reminds us that trans and nonbinary existence is ancient, predating the oppressive systems of colonization, white supremacy, imperialism, and patriarchy that seek to erase or control it. Last week, one of the first actions of the current administration was to enact executive orders that limit the ways trans and nonbinary people can legally identify in our country. It was the latest effort in an ongoing campaign to legislate these divine beings out of existence.

It will not work.

Trans and nonbinary people have always been here. Acknowledging this calls us to honor them as vital and irreplaceable members of the human family and essential threads in the divine tapestry of creation. We affirm this not just as a response to oppression, but as a truth that has always existed. Their presence is a testament to the enduring power of transformation and creation, defying the forces that seek to constrain them and teaching us all how to manifest a more liberated future.

Check out Week Two’s offerings for 30 Days of Love 2025! We have ways to take action, something to watch, three activities for families, a body practice, journaling practice, and a creative practice.

In January 2021, immigrant communities, organizers, and their allies met the change in the US Presidential Administration with determination and courage, focused on ending the cruel, xenophobic policies from the Trump administration.

Envisioning a pathway toward healing, over 20 immigrant-led coalitions came together to launch the “We Are Home” campaign, delivering a clear message rooted in their undeniable humanity and worth.  With three concrete demands and an intersectional organizing strategy shaped by youth, worker, and multi-racial coalitions, the “We Are Home” campaign not only called out the dehumanizing policies that have long criminalized immigrants and immigrant families, but centered the essentially transformative role that immigrant communities have in a free and fair society.  “We Are Home” was, and is, a message of invitation - to become a country that truly welcomes, cares for, and celebrates all. 

Today, the current Presidential Administration threatens to enact even crueler policies than previous administrations. As exclusion and brutality become further codified in our nation’s practices and policies, “We Are Home” invites us to reflect honestly. Can any of us feel at home in a society that continues to deny the basic rights of millions of our friends, family members, and neighbors?

Check out Week One’s offerings for 30 Days of Love 2025! We have ways to take action, something to watch, three activities for families, a body practice, journaling practice, and a creative practice.

Today, we honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose vision calls us to keep the dream alive through daily practice. Dr. King taught us that justice is not inevitable—it is built through continuous struggle, unwavering faith, and collective action. His dream lives on in every act of courage and compassion as we work to create a world rooted in equity, dignity, and love.

This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as we begin 30 Days of Love, we celebrate the progress made by communities committed to justice and recognize the work still ahead. Together, we can build the Beloved Community by grounding ourselves in our shared values and collective action.

As Dr. King reminds us: “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.”

Justice requires intentional action. Yet, hope grows when we unite in community, using our shared values to challenge injustice and build a more loving, equitable world.

Inhabiting Our Freedom Dreams: 30 Days of Love
As we honor Dr. King’s vision of a just and compassionate world, we are proud to launch this year’s 30 Days of Love with the theme "Inhabiting Our Freedom Dreams."

This year, 30 Days of Love will share practices we can take together to bring dreams of justice and liberation into being. New resources will be released every Tuesday, offering a variety of ways to engage with the weekly themes, including:

• A Side With Love message provides political education and context for each weekly theme with lessons and inspiration to move through these times. 

• A journal practice to reflect and dream to chart a course with clarity and care.

• A creative/art practice to ground in the beauty and abundance of imagination.   

• A body practice to ground us in resilience and renewal.

• A family-friendly, multigenerational activity that builds community as we take action for justice.

Together, we can pace ourselves, grow our relationships, and build the spiritual discipline to sustain this work for the long haul. However you choose to engage with these offerings, we are honored to share the love and wisdom of some of our most inspiring UU voices.

A Blessing for MLK Day

We offer these words from Rev. Dr. Hope Johnson, a Unitarian Universalist minister, as a blessing for this day:

“The dream of justice and equality—the Beloved Community—is a dream worth living, worth giving our all. Let us continue to move forward, hand in hand, heart to heart, ever faithful, ever committed, ever courageous.”

May we honor Dr. King not only in our words but in our deeds. Together, we carry his vision forward, bending the arc toward justice and creating a world filled with compassion and hope.

In faith and solidarity,

The Side With Love Team 

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Resource Round-Up

Take Action

• Take Action on LA Wildfire

• Tell Your Reps to Vote “No” on the Laken Riley Act (UUSJ)

• Our Work in the Days Ahead: A Conversation for Antiracist White People with Angela Davis

• Take the UUA Asset Map Survey to Build Our Collective Resilience (email love at uua.org to get the link to the survey)

Trainings

• SACReD (Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity) Facilitator Training

Educational Resources

• UUA Community Resilience HUB

• Anti-Authoritarian Podcast

• Digital Security

• Community Safety for All: Congregational Action Toolkit 

On November 21, Side With Love, BLUU, and DRUUMM hosted Tools for Tending: Post-Election Spiritual Care Space. This 2-hour special event was designed to help tend our spirits through somatic practices, spiritual grounding, and small group connection. Combining structured elements, reflection time, music, facilitated caucus spaces, and visioning exercises, we hope participants felt grounded, strengthened, and held. Watch the recording here.

Resources from the meeting:

• Rev. Rhetta Morgan: https://www.reverendrhetta.com

• Rev. Dr. Megan Visser: http://www.copingincommunity.com

• Marchaé Grair: https://marchaé.com

• Carry This All by Alexander Blakely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBhCFsatU0Y

• Black Lives of UU Worship: https://blacklivesuu.org/resource/spiritual-gatherings/

• DRUUMM Programming: https://druumm.org/events/

• UUA Community Resilience Hub: 
  https://www.uua.org/safe/community-resilience

• UU Mental Health Network: https://www.uumentalhealth.org/

• Pray Up Stay Up by SAULT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE3k_qqgkLA

After this year’s election, we must come together to nourish our spirits and move in our collective power. This is about more than one election; it is about grounding ourselves in the values and communities that drive our fight for justice. No matter your issue — climate justice, democracy, gender justice, or decriminalization — we are in this work together. 

This final session included an invitation for congregations to do the preparatory groundwork for meeting this moment as well as analysis from UUs in organizing who shared what they see as immediate needs for UU response.

• Missed the first session? Recording & resources for Session One: After Election Day

Resources

Where we've been & where we might go

Rev. Angela Tyler-Williams, Co-Director for Movement Building for SACReD (Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity

• Pastoral Care from Black Lives of UU for Black UUs

• Vespers and other spiritual tending spaces from DRUUMM for BIPOC UUs

• UURISE

• UUSC CAPAS Program

• United We Dream

• Detention Watch Network

• List of local bail and bond funds

• List of resources and calls to action around immigration

• How to map your congregation’s assets to put in service of community

• SACReD

• Woven Together webinar series

• Curriculum Facilitator Training Registration

• Community Resilience Hub

Save the Date

• Tuesday January 14 8-9pm ET: UU the Vote Celebration

• Tuesday January 28 8-9pm ET: Good Trouble Congregations Celebration

Music Played

• Human Nature by Beautiful Chorus

After this year’s election, it is critical that we come together to nourish our spirits and move in our collective power. This is about more than one election; it is about grounding ourselves in the values and communities that drive our fight for justice. No matter your issue; climate justice, democracy, gender justice, or criminalization, we are in this work together. That’s why we are excited to invite you to join us for Forward Together: Anchoring in Community Post Election, a virtual series designed to offer space for reflection, spiritual grounding, and practical organizing in response to the evolving political landscape.

Session One: After Election Day

Resources

• Feelings Wheel

• UU the Vote Congregational Action, Activity, and Story Reporting Form

• UUA Community Resilience Hub

• UUA & Side With Love Skills Survey

Upcoming Events

• Forward Together 11/19, 8-9pm ET. Register now.

• Tools for Tending with BLUU and DRUUMM, 11/21, 7-9pm ET. Register now.

by Rev. Brandan Robertson, Senior Communications Manager, Side With Love

On this Election Day,

One of us will joyfully cast our vote

in hopes that we are moving closer

to a just world—

This act renews our inner strength,

Challenges a closed mind,

And causes our spirit to leap with hope.

On this Election Day,

One of us will serve as a poll worker

and watcher—

Guardians of democracy who show up with patience and courage,

Ensuring every vote is counted

and every voice is heard.

A sacred act of love

for every person in our country.

On this Election Day,

One of us will cast a vote

with our focus set

on a community in need,

Disrupting cycles of oppression,

Loving our neighbors

as we love ourselves,

And seeking to bring peace

to a world marked by division.

On this Election Day,

One of us will vote with holy

and righteous anger aflame within,

As we encounter barriers to the right to have our voices heard,

Barriers to sharing our sacred stories,

Or feel the sting of ignorance working against our dignity.

On this Election Day,

One of us will show up as our fullest self, without fear, demanding to be recognition and affirmation—

Trusting in the power of “we the people,”

Believing again in the

promise of democracy,

And finding courage birthed within us once again.

As we set out in this

most sacred of work today,

Let us release that which has

made us afraid,

Hold close to that which stirs our spirit,

Renew our faith in the strength of the Beloved Community,

For when we bless the world

with our voice and our vote,

we, too, are blessed in return.

 

 

by Rev. Amanda Schuber, Disability Justice Associate, UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team

Image 1: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: A Blessing for Disability Pride Month by Rev. Amanda Schuber, Disability Justice Associate, UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team.

Image 2: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: Spirit of Life and Spirit of Love, July is Disability Pride Month, a time to celebrate our community's diversity, tenacity, and adaptability.

Image 3: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: It’s a time to acknowledge the work being done towards a more accessible and welcoming world.

Image 4: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: This month, we lift up those who have fought tirelessly each day to ensure that everybody (every body) is honored as sacred and holy.

Image 5: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: We send love and care to those who have not been served well, who have been abused or forgotten.

Image 6: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: May we remember the fierce souls of our movement who have died this past yea as we carry their legacy forward.

Image 7: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: The Disability Community is one grounded in resilience and connection.

Image 8: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: May we hold fast to the promise of a future that is inclusive, welcoming, and accessible for all.

Download the zip file of images

Spirit of Life and Spirit of Love, July is Disability Pride Month, a time to celebrate our community's diversity, tenacity, and adaptability.

It’s a time to acknowledge the work being done towards a more accessible and welcoming world.

This month, we lift up those who have fought tirelessly each day to ensure that everybody (every body) is honored as sacred and holy.

We send love and care to those who have not been served well or who have been abused or forgotten.

May we remember the fierce souls of our movement who have died this past year as we carry their legacy forward.

The Disability Community is one grounded in resilience and connection.

May we hold fast to the promise of a future that is inclusive, welcoming, and accessible for all.

In these times, where the threats to democracy and liberty devastate our communities, we are fortified by the truth that throughout history, people rise to meet the moment. 

 In 2024, we are rising to the challenges we face in the world. 

 Transforming our Climate Justice Work  

 We are launching a first-ever faith-wide Climate Revival that will break down silos and springboard hundreds of congregations to a move beyond extraction into a wider climate justice movement—the Revival supports congregations with tools and training to equip us to take courageous and impactful action.  

 Growing our Organizing Power 

 We’re building response networks across the country for trans people, students, and the many folks targeted by state violence and legislative attacks. 

 Taking mass action for democracy 

 We are answering the call to show up boldly and be part of the moral majority that knows another world is possible. We are taking action right now towards that future with UU the Vote 2024. 

Side With Love is a public expression of our values, bringing our values to life through mobilizing leaders in congregations and our communities.

Support Side With Love

Today, it is urgent that we center love in all that we do, if we are to transform ourselves and our world toward liberation. That is the power of a liberating love. 

“Everything you touch, you change; everything that changes, changes you.” 

Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower

What happens when love is a force for change? Who must we become to embody that love?

 Help Side With Love build community and campaigns centered around liberating love. Let's harness our power in the urgent times. Thanks to generous donors, all contributions made by July 5 will be matched up to $75,000. 

Donate Now

The Mass Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Assembly & Moral March on Washington DC on Sat, June 29

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is calling on people of moral conscience in the DMV area to join thousands on June 29th in Washington, DC to uplift and center the needs of the over 135 million poor and low-wage people and workers across the country. The UUA is one of the organizational partners for this event.

• Interested in joining in person?

• Watch the livestream on Saturday on our Facebook page.

Blessing for Queer Youth of Faith Day

Queer Youth of Faith Day is celebrated on June 30th.

According to Beloved Arise, "1 in 5 LGBTQ youth say their faith is important to them."

As a religious denomination committed to LGBTQIA+ liberation, Side With Love is pleased to share this blessing for queer youth of faith, penned by Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist Rev. Cathy Rion Starr (they/them/theirs).

General Assembly 2024

Side With Love Cohorts

During General Assembly 2024, Side With Love offered a cohort for attendees. Twice a day, GA attendees could drop into one of Side With Love's cohort sessions which offered theological grounding, a story of congregational action connected, opportunities for discussion, and moments of movement and levity.

 Recommended Resource: Collaboration is a relationship that starts with knowing what you have to offer and what you hold. See what your congregation can offer and what your congregation is currently holding:

• Skill Up Workshop: Asset Mapping: Leveraging Congregational Resources for the Movement

• Green Sanctuary Team Meeting: Engaging Marginalized Communities

• Skill Up Workshop: What Do Impacted Communities Need? How Would I Know!?

Join Slack - our virtual field office! Slack is our primary online community for Side with Love - let’s connect!

Social Witness Statements for 2024

These statements were affirmed at General Assembly and are undergoing review by UUA legal counsel. Final text will be posted at UUA Statements by July 15th. 

• AIW: Centering Love Amidst the Ongoing Impact of COVID-19

• AIW: Solidarity with Palestinians

• AIW: World on Fire: Humanitarian Work and Climate Change

Additionally, during General Assembly, the UUA Business Resolution: Embracing Transgender, Nonbinary and Intersex People is a Fundamental Expression of UU Religious Values was adopted as well as Responsive Resolution: UUA General Assembly Support for October 7 Hostages. 

Queer Youth of Faith Day is celebrated on June 30th. According to Beloved Arise, "1 in 5 LGBTQ youth say their faith is important to them." As a religious denomination committed to LGBTQIA+ liberation, Side With Love is pleased to share this blessing for queer youth of faith, penned by Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist Rev. Cathy Rion Starr (they/them/theirs).

A Blessing for Queer Youth of Faith

Bless you, for who you are, right now, right here.

Bless you in your queerness, your genderfabulousness, your questioning, wondering, exploring, declaring. Bless you in the words you create and evolve and claim for yourself. May you relish your divinity as you dismantle binaries and create beautiful worlds of infinite possibilities. May those of us who are not queer respect you, learn from you, and show up for you as you need.

Bless you in your youth, your brilliance, your ideas, your curiosity, your incredible leadership right now (let alone what is to come). May you be fortified in the face of adultism and may you inhabit the fullness of your being. May those of us who are not youth respect you, learn from you, and show up for you as you need.

Bless you in your faith, your precious connection with the sacred, tradition, community, belief and action that guides your life and holds you through the storms and celebrations of life. May your faith sustain you when your faith tradition honors you and when it harms you. May those who hold faiths that judge you come to know how very sacred and perfect you are. May those of us from all sorts of faith traditions respect you, learn from you, and show up for you as you need.

May all of us – queer and straight, trans and cis, young – younger -old and elder, faithful and faith-allergic -- bless you as your full, beautiful, queer, young, sacred self.

Bless you as YOU. Know that you are enough right now, right here; and you are ever evolving, growing, deepening as your imperfectly perfect self.

May we bless all queer youth of faith, all queer youth, all queer and trans and questioning people, all youth on our collective journey towards liberation.

May you be blessed with the glitter of joy, dances of liberation, bricks of safety, and the nourishment of radical love.

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

While I wish I had something pretty or pithy to observe about spring in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m mostly thinking about the amount of live programming blossoming right in front of us. Through partnership with congregations, individual UUs, and our UU State Action Networks, we’re all able to “take shifts for the revolution,” as Rev. Ashley Horan says. I see the evidence of that daily in the stories and updates from around the country of UUs and other people of faith and conscience who are fighting for our trans beloved and who are fiercely resisting legislative attacks on climate, decriminalization, and trans children and families. (If you haven’t yet, read the beautiful op-ed by Rev. Sara LaWall from Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, ID about why her faith demands she protect and affirm her trans child.)

This month, we have opportunities for faithful and faith-filled actions for justice and rejuvenation. Please share in your congregation and community. 

In faith and solidarity,

Audra Friend

Digital Communications, Data, and Technology Specialist

Side With Love 

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Wednesday, March 15, 2023 7 -  8:30 PM ET / 6 CT / 5 MT / 4 PT

Connecting with State Action Networks on Climate Advocacy

Online

UU State Action Networks do powerful justice work across the country. How can your congregation engage with your State Action Network on climate justice advocacy and actions? Join Deb Cruz and Rev. Lisa Sampson Garcia to learn more! --- Join the Green Sanctuary Team meetings for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs. Register here.

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Sunday, March 19, 2023 4 - 5:30pm ET / 3 CT / 2 MT / 1 PT 

Skill Up: Evaluation is an Act of Love

Online

In this skill-up, you will practice ways to bring debrief culture and loving feedback to your own context. We need to be able to speak directly and frankly to each other about what we want and need from each other, what we think could be done differently, as well as celebrating our successes. Every time we love one another enough to offer debrief and appreciation, we deepen our relationships and the power of our collective. We can create groups and communities grounded in relationship and trust. Thus, we can meet the justice work of the moment powerfully and nimbly. Register here.

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Wednesday, March 22, 2023 8 -  9:30 PM ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT

The Body Politic: Faithful UUs Showing up for Trans Justice

Online

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. Register here.

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Thursday, March 23, 2023 7:30 -  8:30 PM ET / 6:30 CT / 5:30 MT / 4:30 PT

Faithful Grounding

Online

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 here.

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Friday, March 31st at 8pm ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT

UUA Trans Day of Visibility Virtual Party for Trans/Nonbinary Families

Online

As legislators pass harmful laws in states all across the country and as people of faith and no-faith fight back, we want to remind transgender/nonbinary families that they are not alone. Register here.

As Unitarian Universalists we believe that every body is sacred. This will be a time of reflection, celebration, and renewal as we prepare for what is and whatever is coming our way.

*NOTE: 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. We're glad to have you here! 

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Saturday, April through Monday, April 3

Intergenerational Spring Seminar: Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire

Online and in-person, Minneapolis, MN

This year's UU@UN Intergenerational Spring Seminar has the theme of “Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire,” and takes place both in-person in Minneapolis and online April 1-3.

As an intergenerational event, Youth are especially encouraged to attend!

Militarized policing is a dire problem both in the U.S. and globally, and this year's Seminar aims to help us increase our understanding of abolition and equip ourselves with skills to take action. Our keynote will be given by Andrea Ritchie, co-author of No More Police, and other programming will offer a mix of workshops, worship, and debrief. 

Registration is tiered with a free, no-cost option for those who need it! Learn more and register here.

Dr. Cornell West famously said, "Justice is what Love looks like in public."

At Side with Love, Justice is our primary focus. And we know that in order to keep showing up with our Love in public, we need to ground ourselves in love -- of ourselves and others. Will you join me in our Faithful Grounding to practice love next Thursday?

Beloved, do you find yourself in need of grounding in the love that allows you to act for justice?

I invite you to join me at this month's Side with Love Faithful Grounding Hour: an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love hosted by our Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad.

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Faithful Grounding Hour

A MONTHLY GATHERING FOR SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT

Thursday, February 23

4:30 PT / 5:30 MT / 6:30 CT / 7:30 ET

Sign Me Up

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Faithful Grounding begins with brief worship led by Rev. Kristina church and ends 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. This is a live, dynamic (and unrecorded) monthly gathering on the 4th Thursday of each month. Join us!

If you can't make it, or want more, our 30 Days of Love recordings are available to help nourish your spirit and give gratitude and affirmation.

May we, together, help Love flourish in private and in public.

With love and care,

Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad