Every Friday morning UUs from across the state gather on Zoom for Friday Action Hour. One of my favorite parts of our weekly gathering is that our final action is always the same. It is to make a phone call, send a text message, a letter, or find another way to express gratitude to someone who is creating a more just, loving world. This weekly ritual helps us to remember the power of gratitude to lift us all. It's a power that is infinite and always at our finger tips.
In this season of reflection and celebration, may we be deeply nourished by all the blessings in our lives and make sure we express our gratitude to the people who fill our lives with joy, belonging, and love. This month, and every month, let us realize the power of gratitude.
Sending you all love, light and deep appreciation for your part in our abundant movement for justice.
Rev. Lisa
Photo Credit: Paul Barfoot
Thank You for Attending
UU Justice NC's Annual Gathering!
Thank you for attending UU Justice NC's 2021 Annual Gathering and helping us celebrate all that we've done this year. It was an incredible afternoon of storytelling, reflection, and spiritual grounding.
We are especially grateful to our Keynote Speaker, Susan Leslie for her reflections on the evolution and growth of our denomination's justice work over the past three decades! If you missed it, or want to share it with fellow UUs, you can find her complete 23-minute keynote via this link.
We also want to thank all those who made generous donations to UU Justice NC at the event. If you would like to become a monthly sustaining donor, or make an end-of-year gift, you can donate here!
UUSJ's Social Justice Awards
This Sunday November 7th at 4:00pm
Join UUSJ this Sunday for their 10th biennial Social Justice Awards Benefit Celebration on Zoom. This awards ceremony will highlight inspiring projects, initiatives, and individuals who are advancing UU values in these challenging times.
This year's nominees include two North Carolina UUs! Donna Scheidt from the UU Church of Greensboro and UU Justice NC's Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson! At the event, you'll hear about this year's nominees and watch the winners be named!
The keynote speaker will be Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, UUSC President, and CEO. Reverend Morn began her tenure as the President and Chief Executive Officer for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee in 2018. She brings to her leadership a profound commitment to the work of justice and focus on building teams and resourcing a transformative mission through partnerships.
Tickets are $60 (but no one will be turned away) and all proceeds support UUSJ's mission and work to build a UU movement for federal engagement. You can get your ticket here!
Compass: Navigating the Paths of Liberation Together
Join the UUA's Article II Commission for Compass: Navigating the Paths of Liberation Together - will be seeking our input on our ever-evolving U.U. Purposes and Principles. This is our living tradition at its theological best: striving to change and be better in a changing world, bending its arc toward a greater inclusivity and a more profound justice for all.
Registration fees are on a sliding scale, from $25 to $60.
Building ties of peace and friendship was the goal of the delegation from various Durham congregations that went to Nicaragua in June 1993, looking for a sister community*. The US-funded Contra War was over, and the long process of rebuilding the economy had begun. The delegation visited the town of San Ramón, which is the center of a rural municipality of the same name in the mountainous highlands of north-central Nicaragua, in the department of Matagalpa. The municipality of San Ramón is home to about 45,000 people, most of whom depend on subsistence farming and income from day labor on coffee plantations to survive. The combined impacts of extreme poverty and limited road infrastructure result in very limited access to basic services.
That first visiting delegation was impressed by these people who had survived foreign occupation, military dictatorships, and ten years of civil war and yet were still inspiringly resilient, open, and full of life. It was this spirit that motivated our founders to return home and begin Durham-San Ramón Sister Communities. Later, as more people from Raleigh, Chapel Hill-Carrboro, and Morehead City-Beaufort got involved, the name was simplified to Sister Communities of San Ramón, Nicaragua (SCSRN). Click here to read more...
Upcoming Events
A Conversation on Policing and Racial Equity in our Criminal Justice System - November 9th from 7:00-8:30 p.m on Zoom. Hosted by the Unitarian Coastal Fellowship in Morehead City. The event will include a viewing of the short documentary, Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem, followed by a Q&A with Lisa A. “L.A.” Jones, a retired Warden of the Federal Prison System. The documentary covers the racial inequality inherent in our criminal justice system, stretching back to post-reconstruction. Click here to register.
Fundraiser for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League featuring UU Peace Fellowship's Elizabeth Norval. American Roots Music & Community Festival! Saturday, November 13th from 1:00 - 5:30 at 2705 Quakenbush Road, Snow Camp NC. Tickets start at $15. For more information visit SnowCampCAN.org
Friday Action Hour! Join UU Justice NC every Friday at 11:00 for our Weekly Friday Action Hour. For 77 straight weeks and counting, UU's across the state have gathered to recap the past week and take action on the issues impacting our state and country. And of course, there is always good music to help us feel the justice movement in our bones! Join us via this Zoom link.And if you can't make it on Fridays, you can still take action at any time - just check out our Weekly action list. This week we'll be partnering again with the People's Budget Coalition to write Letters to the Editor and make calls to our State Legislators about expanding Medicaid and fully funding the Leandro Plan in the State Budget!
UU Justice NC
The UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina
www.uuforwardtogether.org
For more information about these opportunities contact Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson at lisa@uuforwardtogether.org
