Posts Tagged ‘Church of the Larger Fellowship’

Day 30: Celebrate with Us

No Comments | Share On Facebook| Day 30: Celebrate with Us Share/Save/Bookmark Feb 17, 2013

Today is Day 30 of the Thirty Days of Love. Today’s action is to join us tonight (or tomorrow) for our closing Thirty Days of Love online worship service. Click here for details, family actions, and more!

“Justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”
– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

What does it mean to harness love’s power to stop oppression, exclusion, and violence? How do we stand on the side of love, bending the moral arc of the universe towards justice? Those are questions people of faith have been asking for thousands of years. Each of us, in our own day, must try to find and live our own answers.

I was privileged to be the founding director of the Standing on the Side of Love campaign, working closely with Campaign Manager Adam Gerhardstein and Helio Fred Garcia, who took our dream and created a strategic plan. But, ultimately, it was thousands of people like you who brought love’s power into the public debates on issues where, too often, fear and a desire for punishment dominate. So many different kinds of people have said: “Love’s people: Yes, that’s who my people are!”

From the beginning, Standing on the Side of Love has empowered people to speak love’s name in times that were fearful, constricted, violent. I have been so inspired to see love open doors which no other word could open. Love whispers our name, and grows when we whisper it back. Grows more when we harness our power to speak it loudly. Grows still more when we demand policies that support it.

I continue to stand on the side of love in my current role as Senior Minister of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF). CLF brings together people from around the world who might not otherwise be able to access the support of a loving faith community. We hold worship services online, where hundreds join us each week to carry the flame of love and justice.

To culminate the Thirty Days of Love, CLF and SSL will collaborate on an online worship service held Sunday night, February 17, at 8 PM Eastern US time and Monday, February 18, at 9 AM and 1:30 PM Eastern US time. For me it feels like a party where you invite people you love who might not know each other yet, and wait excitedly for them to make connections.

Please join us for celebration and worship this evening or tomorrow. Click here to RSVP and invite your friends and family.

Hope to see you soon! And thanks, as always, for magnifying love in this world that needs it so much!

With love and hope,

Rev. Meg Riley
Senior Minister
Church of the Larger Fellowship

PS: Don’t forget to share your stories and photos from the Thirty Days of Love! The SSL Team is creating a round-up of everything that happened around the country and they want to make sure that YOU are included.

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Day 27: Happy National Standing on the Side of Love Day!

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| Day 27: Happy National Standing on the Side of Love Day! Share/Save/Bookmark Feb 14, 2013

Today is Day 27 of the Thirty Days of Love. Today’s action is to celebrate our Fourth Annual National Standing on the Side of Love Day! Click here send in photos and stories of how you shared the love today. Click here to sign up for the daily Thirty Days of Love emails.

“Love isn’t an emotion or even an intention, but a policy, a vow, a behavior. It must be embodied to become real. Love exists only in action.”
- Rev. Tom Owen-Towle

Four years ago today, Unitarians Universalists began to re-imagine Valentine’s Day as a social justice holiday. We committed to investing in a different kind of love than the love corporations have been selling to us. Instead we chose to stand on the side of love with those who experience discrimination because of their identities.

Over time, our National Standing on the Side of Love Day has grown from one day to thirty, and has extended beyond Unitarian Universalists to welcome anyone who shares our values of promoting compassion, peace and justice.

Watch my video message to learn more about the wonderful ways that people across the country have taken part in these Thirty Days of Love:

Let’s celebrate the successful conclusion of these Thirty Days of Love together online. We are partnering with the Church of the Larger Fellowship for worship services on:

• Sunday, February 17 at 8:00pm ET
• Monday, February 18 at 9:00am and 1:30pm ET

Plan now to join in for one of these services. Check out our Facebook event to RSVP and invite your friends and family to join us.

Also, on February 17, many of our congregations are celebrating Share the Love Sunday in their sanctuaries. We have resources online for you to create your own Share the Love Sunday service for Feb. 17 or anytime this year. With a special plate collection for your Unitarian Universalist Association, Standing on the Side of Love will grow stronger and we will continue to promote our progressive liberal values in the world.

Together, our congregations and our Association can do amazing things. Thank you for your generosity and passion.

In faith,

Rev. Peter Morales
President
Unitarian Universalist Association

PS: Please inspire others by sharing photos and stories of courageous love from these past thirty days on our website. Hundreds of actions across the country will generate hundreds more.

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Day 23: Start By Loving Yourself

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Today is Day 23 of the Thirty Days of Love. Today’s action is to start the journey of sharing the love by loving yourself first. If you have events planned for National Standing on the Side of Love Day (Thursday, Feb. 14th) or Share the Love Sunday (Sunday, Feb. 17th) be sure to add it to our map and use our media resources to get the word out in your community. Click here for additonal resources, family actions, and more! Click here to sign up for the daily Thirty Days of Love emails.

Our Thirty Days of Love campaign is equal parts spiritual journey and action for social justice.

Today marks the beginning of the last week of our Thirty Days of Love Campaign, and this week’s theme is “Share the Love.” What better place to start than with yourself? How can we stand on the side of love with others, if we aren’t first kind and loving to ourselves?

Every day, I feel humbled by my opportunity to lead a campaign grounded in love and faith. It offers me the opportunity to check in with myself, to see how I can live a life that is more just, more loving. And yet, sometimes I struggle. I find myself frustrated when I don’t live up to my own artificially imposed standards, when I fail or make mistakes. And so I return to a quiet place in my soul, and create the space for forgiveness, acceptance, and love. For me, yoga and fellowship with others help me find that space. What helps you be more kind to yourself?

Perhaps you too will benefit from a reminder that we need to love ourselves first. I invite you to be especially kind to your own soul today, to be better able to share the love with others throughout this week.

And what a week it will be! On Thursday, we will once again re-imagine Valentine’s Day as a social justice holiday, our 4th Annual National Standing on the Side of Love Day and, next Sunday we will celebrate Share the Love Sunday! If your congregation is planning an event, make sure you add it to our map and use our media resources to get the word out in your community. You can also worship online with us through the Church of the Larger Fellowship–click here to find out how.

If you are not part of a congregation or belong to a congregation that’s not participating, there are other ways that you or your family can participate in National Standing on the Side of Love Day. Click here to learn more.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

Standing on the side of love with you,

Jennifer Toth
Campaign Manager
Standing on the Side of Love

PS: It’s not too late to take a Share the Love Sunday collection to support our work. If this Sunday doesn’t work for you, Share the Love Sunday can happen any time throughout the year. Click here for more info!

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Honor the Transgender Day of Remembrance

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| Honor the Transgender Day of Remembrance Share/Save/Bookmark Nov 09, 2012

Every year at the end of November, communities across the globe come together to commemorate the International Transgender Day of Remembrance—a day dedicated to honoring trans* people who have lost their lives to acts of violence over the past year. This year, Standing on the Side of Love and the Church of the Larger Fellowship will host an online vigil that can be attended by anyone with a computer and internet access. Together, we will mourn those are no longer with us, while also offering hope, beauty, and a celebration of the living.

Please join me for the online Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil on Monday, November 19 at 8:00pm ET. Click here to RSVP and spread the word.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day of mixed feelings for me: deep grief at the loss of so many beautiful trans* people and the sadness of knowing that the vast majority of those injured and killed for being themselves are poor trans* women of color. It is such a stark reminder of the ways that race, class, transphobia, and other oppressions multiply the danger exponentially. I am glad we have the Day of Remembrance to honor these beautiful lives that ended too soon.

At the same time, each Day of Remembrance I feel sad that the day set aside as a “transgender holiday” is a day of counting and naming our dead. I long for a day of Transgender Pride—a celebration of the lives of trans* people and their lives. At this year’s vigil, we will try to do both: to solemnly honor our dead while also recognizing the gifts that trans* people bring to our communities and the world. We hope you will join us.

No matter who you are or where you live, you can honor the Transgender Day of Remembrance by joining our online vigil. Click here to RSVP and spread the word.

In faith,

Rev. Sean Parker Dennison
Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry, IL

PS: Already planning a Day of Remembrance vigil in your community? You can find our TDOR resource page here.

* – “Trans*” is an all-inclusive, umbrella term that refers to all of the non-normative identities within the gender identity spectrum. Check out this article to learn more.

The message above went out on Friday, November 9, 2012 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.

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The Thinking & Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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mlk_courseWant to learn more about theology and justice? Consider taking an online/phone course entitled “The Thinking and Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr.” It is offered through the Church of the Larger Fellowship. This course provides both readings and phone conversations for participants to learn about the theology that shaped King’s work for justice and to consider how his life and teachings might shape our own justice work.

The course will cover the following:

Beginning with King’s upbringing in the Black Church, we’ll explore how his thinking evolved through college, seminary, and during his PhD. Influenced by Protestant liberal theology and the African American religious experience, he searched for a faith that was both emotionally satisfying and intellectually appealing. This led King to some surprising conclusions. He rejected the literal divinity of Jesus, didn’t believe in a literal heaven or hell, and thought the Bible was a myth that contained many metaphorical truths. Drawing from the work of King scholars such as James Cone, Lewis Baldwin, Clayborne Carson, and Taylor Branch, we’ll examine some of the key themes, experiences, and ideas that shaped King’s vision of the social gospel. His theology will also be placed in the context of his more radical views on capitalism, war, and poverty. We will also explore King’s relationship to Unitarianism as he and Coretta attended Unitarian services in Boston and he had expressed interest in the tradition.

To find out more  and register for “The Thinking and Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” click here.

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