immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.orgCooking Together

') Your browser is ancient! Upgrade to a different browser or install Google Chrome Frame to experience this site. Recipes for Immigration Justice Work Site Menu Search for: Search -- This Blog is Now an Archive : Recipes for Immigration Justice Work, allowed Unitarian Universalist individuals, congregations, and groups to access and share resources for examining a faithful response to immigration justice issues as we moved toward Justice General Assembly in June 2012 in Phoenix. It also helped UUA staff identify what resources did not exist already in congregations and groups, and work to prepare such resources. After careful reflection this past summer, it has been decided that the purpose of this blog has been met, and that it is time to for this particular project to end. Those at General Assembly, and those following from home, left with a clear charge to continue immigration justice learning, partnership-building, and advocacy work in their own contexts. There were and are resources that are part of that can be helpful. In light of that, the blog is archived and remains accessible. Please feel free to browse using the links at the right. We have also transferred certain blog posts and resources to uua.org- the immigration pages, the new Doctrine of Discovery pages, and the Worship Web . Thanks to all for your open-hearted participation in this project- and blessings on your work in the year ahead! – Ed. Share this: Email Facebook Twitter Tumblr Posted by: Gail Forsyth-Vail September 10th, 2012 Your Recipes Share -- Taking Justice General Assembly Home On Sunday afternoon at Justice General Assembly, UUA vice-presidents Kay Montgomery and Rev. Harlan Limpert reported on resources you might use to help you bring your experiences and learnings from Justice GA back to your congregations. Included was information about witness and action initiatives, curricula for all ages, Beacon press books, discussion guides, and other resources to support your congregation or group as you faithfully consider your response to the related calls for immigration justice, racial justice, justice for indigenous people, and economic justice. Watch video of the report, view the slide presentation, and read the transcript . Let us know about the conversations you are having in your congregation or group, actions you are taking, and resources that have been helpful. We are looking forward to sharing wisdom and experiences one with another as we move forward from Justice GA as Unitarian Universalist people of faith. -Ed. Share this: Email Facebook Twitter Tumblr Posted by: Gail Forsyth-Vail July 5th, 2012 Education , Reflection , Witness and Action Share -- Call to Arms Our experiences at Justice General Assembly and in our own communities have taught us that the work of justice making is long haul work, work for our arms, our feet, our voices, and our hearts. Rev. Marta I. Valentín offered us this prayer as we awaited the Supreme Court decision, and it is just as pertinent now as it was before General Assembly -Ed. Spirit of Truth and Justice Hear us as we ask that you hold the collective anxiety that permeates this fear-filled situation. This is a call to arms. Arms that will hold broken hearts, and elated hearts arms that wrap themselves around a body, beaten and disfigured in truth and metaphorically… Arms that provide a strength neither giver nor receiver knew they possessed… Arms that hold up the sky of misplaced authority and righteousness from crashing down upon heads struggling to be held high as each shred of dignity is yanked from their tired, over-used, under-appreciated bodies. This is a call for committed arms to continue leading heads and hearts to know the facts but feel the truth, a call to remember that the freedom we’ve been given to swing our arms as wide and open to the sun as we like has come on the backs of humans others wish were invisible. This is a call to arm ourselves with the facts but feel the truth borne out of the power of our Unitarian Universalist love and the balance of justice. Marta I. Valentín March 29, 2012 Rev. Marta I. Valentín is the minister at First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Massachusetts Share this: Email Facebook Twitter Tumblr Posted by: Gail Forsyth-Vail July 3rd, 2012 Education , Reflection , Witness and Action , Worship , Your Recipes Share -- Music to Inspire Immigration Justice Work Over the summer, will provide a space for UU congregations and groups to share their recipes for bringing the Justice General Assembly home. This week’s post shares a recipe from First Unitarian Church of Providence, Rhode Island, written by Cathy Seggel, Director of Religious Education. She shares reflections from a worship service with Emma’s Revolution that invited congregants to engage in immigration justice work- Ed. In the fall of 2011, I received a grant from the UUA Young Adult & Campus Ministry office to bring the musicians of Emma’s Revolution , to Providence to engage and inspire college-aged young adults. The grant helped pay for a workshop at Brown University, a concert and a worship service at First Unitarian Church of Providence, RI. Students from all RI and nearby colleges were invited to the concert at no cost, and many did. The proceeds from the concert weekend benefited the congregation’s Standing On The Side of Love group, who co-sponsored and helped with ticket sales to the broader community. The Sunday worship service reflections in music and word that Rev. James Ford and I created with Pat Humphries and Sandy O., the Emma’s Revolution musicians, was an emotionally moving invitation to engage in immigration justice work. That weekend was a highlight of my career. As our recipe on the immigration justice menu, I share excerpts from the reflections that were interspersed with the music that morning. MUSIC : REFUGEE Hear my voice! Isn’t that what we all yearn for? To be understood. To belong. To be welcomed. I wonder if any of you has ever moved? To a new town, a different home, a new school or job? When that happened, how did you feel? … I remember moving to RI, many years ago. Everyone seemed to know each other, but me. I didn’t know the culture, you know what I mean. I used different words for things, like milk shakes not cabinets, submarine sandwiches, not grinders. It wasn’t all about food, though. I was lonely and confused. I was lost. My family was far away. There were a few people who helped, who listened, who shared the new secrets of the area. I will always remember their kindness. But, my move was easy, only from Washington, DC. I spoke the same language as Rhode Islanders, almost. I came to an apartment with enough money for food and found a job, as a nurse, easily. What if my move was from a distant land, on a quest for safety, for food, for freedom? Who would have listened? Helped me provide opportunities for my children? Been a friend and ally? And, more importantly, who am I listening to now? Am I aware of the women and men and children who have come to Providence and other places who need me to partner with them to gain access to the American dream? This is not a new idea. However, it is happening, right now, right here. Will I hear and answer the call? MUSIC: BOUND FOR FREEDOM When I think of the immigrant experience, I admire how immigrants, with or without documents, share a certain courage, sometimes born of desperation, perhaps with chaos at the edges, but driven mainly by a genuine willingness to step out into the unknown, to walk away from the status quo, and to try for something better. At its best, this creative urge lies at the heart of our country. From our nation’s inception we have been populated by people willing to take a chance for a hope, for a dream. And taken together, woven together, something pretty amazing has birthed. No doubt. These days it’s all in danger. These are harsh times. We’ve been misdirected from examining the causes of that which which has poisoned us, and poiso...