Very good.

Welcome, welcome. My name's Kbo.

I'm your, uh, zoom host for today

and a volunteer with Beside With Love.

We're delighted to have all of you here.

Um, before we get started, I do want to go

through just a few things, uh,

about your experience with Zoom.

So let get that slide set up here and I'll share my screen.

Actually, let me do this.

Get myself all set here. Alright. Set up our,

It's good to meet everybody.

All right, everybody see the, uh,

screen that says Zoom setup?

Gimme a thumbs up. Great, thank you.

So welcome to our October Skill Up.

Um, this, uh, skill Up is, has named Faith Out Loud.

Uh, again, my name is Cal Ball.

I'm a, uh, white older man with

what's left of his hair left.

Uh, I'm wearing a print, um, top sort of, um,

a, uh, golf shirt, if you will, but it's a, it's a print,

and my background is my office

with my musical instruments in it.

Um, so a few tips on Zoom.

Everything you might wanna do to change your experience

with Zoom can be done through, um,

the Zoom control panel at the bottom of your Zoom window.

You can toggle windows by clicking on them.

For example, you can close the chat window by clicking chat.

If you wish to see chat window again, just simply select it.

If you wish to see live captions, you can do so

by clicking the triple dots on the control panel

and selecting show subtitle.

From there, you can show or hide the captioning.

We can also override the default view by moving your cursor,

uh, toward the top of the screen and clicking view.

There you can choose a single image view or gallery view.

So with that, um, I am going to

stop sharing this screen

and I'm gonna turn it over to Paige Bacon.

Paige, who is our welcomer today.

Yes, thank you, Carol. Good morning.

Welcome everyone to our side with Love Fall

and Winter Skill Up series.

My name is Paige Bacon Ortiz,

and I am a member of the side with Love Squads.

I am a late middle aged person

white with salt and pepper hair,

and I'm wearing a turtleneck in front of a fake beach

just because I can.

One part of our side with Love Mission is to enable, educate

and empower people to become engaged in the ongoing effort

to fight oppression and promote social justice.

And so every year, Sy with Love offers a series

of educational webinars called Skill Ups,

as the name implies,

each webinar addresses a particular skill

or approach with an intent to educate

and provide real world tools that are used

to increase the impact of our organizing efforts.

This year, the theme is summoning courage.

And as we enter in the 2024 election cycle,

we will be organizing to support our de democracy.

And that can mean a variety

of actions from writing postcards to knocking on doors

as we canvas to encourage folks to vote.

Today's topic is Faith Out Loud, presented

by UUA congregational justice organizer, Reverend Ron

Ami from the UUA Organizing Strategy team.

Today's agenda will begin with a bit of fun

and nourishment to help ground us

and help us be present for the training.

Then we'll move into our presentation

and interactive training.

And finally, we'll close with an invitation to engage more

with side with love, immediately finding,

following the close of the meeting.

We will stay on an additional 30 minutes

to give anybody an opportunity to check in,

to ask questions,

and find out anything more about participating

or being a part of the side with love squads.

With that, we're gonna turn it over to Kennedy

for our fun nourishment and grounding, go.

Hi, Paige. Hi everybody.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Um, we like to start our skill ups with a bit of, uh,

embodiment work to really bring us here

and, and keep us present.

I am Can I am part of the Fun and Nourishment squad.

I am a middle, middle aged, uh, white woman

with brown hair pulled back, wearing a side with glove,

t-shirt with a yellow heart on this side, fingers reversed,

uh, with, uh, in our family office with a, uh,

guitar or bass

and a luggage tag signifying where I'm coming from,

which is, uh, Atlanta Home of the Displaced Cherokee.

Uh, so when we do this work, what what we invite you

to do is come and join us as much as you can.

Um, if you are able to turn on your screen.

This work is how we connect to each other in this,

uh, virtual world.

It it allows us to, to bring ourselves not only here,

but bring ourselves to this space

with these people that are here.

So if you feel comfortable to turn on your screen,

um, we invite you.

Otherwise, we will carry these beautiful photos

and names with us as we do the work.

Uh, it is physical work, um,

and so do it as you are, um, able

and willing and, um, join us in whatever capacity,

uh, works for you.

And, um, that and that.

Uh, note, if you could, uh, if you are able to stand,

find a place to stand.

If not, sit comfortably in your chair, um, so

that you can, uh, if you are able

to put your feet on the ground

or connect yourself in some way to the earth, uh,

that is ideal.

Um, and once you have done that, if you, uh, I invite you

to close your eyes for a minute

and just take some deep breaths in through your nose

and out through your mouth.

Do three of 'em, two,

one more.

Today we exploring faith out loud.

So just take a moment to bring yourself inward

and connect to that place in you the faith of love,

hope, and find where that lives inside.

Maybe it's in one place,

or maybe it's multiple spaces, maybe it's your whole body.

When you find that place, I want you to take the energy

that lives there and I want you to allow it to spread out

through your arms and make a very large x

as much as you can.

Breathe that out

and bring it back into that space and open your eyes.

And one more time, let it out by nice stretch.

And from this stretch, just start to move your body.

Whatever part of your body right now says,

I would like to move.

It could be a toe, it could be your whole body.

It could just be your heart beating,

and that's the movement.

But just focus on that movement.

And once you have found a movement, ask yourself

what would would be more fun and change that movement.

So it's more fun. Maybe it is a totally new movement.

Maybe it's just adjusted slightly so

that it feels a little more joyful, right?

And once you find that, ask yourself

what would be even more fun?

And change the movement. So it's more fun.

Now, this is for you to decide what's more fun.

If we're all doing it, it doesn't matter how we look, right?

It's more how do we feel in this fun? Okay?

Then what would be even more fun?

Let those endorphins start moving.

And what would be the most fun welcome come everybody

that we could have moving right now.

Just really enjoy whatever that is.

Small, big, hugging, ah,

moving those hips, whatever it might be.

And then from there, ask yourself what would be like

and what would be easy from that

easy movement.

Let it get smaller

and smaller until you're standing still

from this place of stillness, reconnect to that place,

that love, that faith, that hope,

whatever you call it, that energy.

And from that, let a movement come from that space,

whatever it is, and repeat that movement.

You don't have to think too much about it, right?

Just what is that movement for you?

And do it again. Let it have

or repeat, repeat

it There.

It's, yeah. See some arms,

I see some rocking.

As you do this, start

to incorporate maybe somebody else's movement, right?

So I don't know how that would work,

but you see somebody else

and sort of maybe even you could take on what they're doing.

You could bring whatever it is that you are doing, right?

And as you see it, ah, I wanna try that person's movement

and I like what they're doing.

Or I'm drawn to it. Yeah.

And as we do this now, start to just mirror

and reflect what you see, right?

However that is.

And can we begin

to bring these movements together?

They don't have to be exact,

but can we discover a place,

a physical representation of what we are bringing today?

And if there is a sound that comes,

by all means we are muted.

I'm not. But the rest of you are.

And I welcome a sound if it pours out.

If that is easier or that is more

akin, it calls you.

That's okay.

From that, let it get smaller and smaller.

So we are again, standing still.

And take that energy, take that space,

rub those hands together, wherever that is, rub them, get

that heat, heat of community, of

hope, that fire commitment.

And with that, let it first warm you

and then let it warm each other.

We'll share that heat, that connection

sides up and above,

then bring that back to you.

Welcome. It's nice to be here with all of you sharing space.

Paige, bring it back to you.

Thank you. If everybody wants to take

one deep breath for a moment, 'cause we're gonna transition.

And

I'm going to introduce today's facilitator trainer.

Reverend ran Ami, Reverend ran Ami,

they them serves

as a congregational justice organizer on the side

with love organizing strategy team at the UUA.

And that's a long sentence for me.

They have previously served as the executive director

of the UU Justice Ministry in California.

And as past president

of drum diverse revolutionary EU Multicultural Ministries,

Reverend ran UA currently lives in Oakland, California

with their spouse and a four month old baby.

Three cats and a Guinea pig. Let's hear it.

ua.

Hello all. It's wonderful to be with you.

Um, just for, uh, folks who need the visual description, um,

I am a, uh, light brown skin, uh,

fem presenting non-binary person with, uh, uh, chin length,

dark hair, red glasses.

Uh, I'm wearing a blue

and purple plaid shawl over a black shirt.

Um, and behind me are bookcases signs

and Mike Kafe on my altar this afternoon.

Um, and it is such a delight to be here with you all today

for Faith Out Loud naming

and claiming Faith Rooted organizing

as Unitarian Universalists and Cal.

If you wanna throw those slides up there, uh,

we can get going with our, uh, our time together,

uh, in this material.

So I just wanna ground us in the fact

that we're not gonna come up with any EU liberation

theologies this afternoon.

Um, but we are gonna try to do some Theo Theological play,

and we're going to start diving into what it is

that moves our justice work as people of faith

and claiming that in a public venue.

Um, because as we know, there are a lot of faith,

there's a lot of faith discourse happening, uh,

on several issues that we're passionate about,

whether it's democracy, whether it's about bodily autonomy,

whether it's about immigration

and many other things that are important to all of us.

And a lot of that is dominated

by a particular faith perspective.

And it's time for those of us

who have a progressive faith stance, who have

a more liberatory faith stance to claim our space

and claim our voice in, in this work.

And so, um, I'm excited to experiment with language

that can be part of our collective faith journey

with all of you today.

Um, so before we get into claiming faith rooted organizing,

as you use, let's get into an understanding

of faith rooted organizing.

Um, and I see the note about, uh, speaking clearly.

So I'll also try to make sure I speak,

uh, a little bit more slowly.

I have a lot of coffee in my system thanks

to a four month old.

Um, uh, but we can, uh, go to the next slide as well.

Uh, so what is the difference between

advocacy and organizing?

Uh, a lot of us are engaged in advocacy, for example, uh,

advocacy, when we are claiming, uh, some form of power to,

uh, speak, uh, speak to those in some form

of institutional power, in some form of, um,

political decision making power.

Sometimes we're advocating for a group of people.

You know, when we think about going to talk to our,

our state representatives to advocate for a piece

of legislation that may not directly impact us.

Sometimes we are advocating with communities

and we are in relationship with communities

that are advocating for their rights as well.

Um, and we follow their lead.

So with advocacy, we're individuals

or groups with different kinds of,

whether it's economic power or fin

or, uh, political power, social power, um,

they, uh, may, uh, you may not be directly impacted,

but you're using some of that to advocate for, uh,

the people who are most impacted by the issues

that you were talking about.

Um, we can go over to, uh, the next slide

that talks a little bit about organizing.

With organizing,

it's really focused on bringing community together

to create systemic change.

Some forms of advocacy are part, a component of organizing.

Um, advocacy doesn't necessarily rely on

community relationships.

While organizing is necessarily rooted in, uh,

community relationships,

this is its whole own skill up at some point.

So maybe we'll keep a note for that.

So, um,

but with organizing we're the community identifies

and builds up community-based forms of power,

whether it's financial again, or relational

or political or structural.

You know, talking about like,

what do our congregations have within their buildings,

that can be a form of power in our community.

Um, and like I said, advocacy, um, can be a component

of organizing when folks are speaking to those

of institutional power, demanding their own rights.

Um, so we're gonna be looking a little bit at, uh, both

of these because they do intersect.

Um, but thinking about how that relates to our work

as people of faith, uh, we can go to the next slide.

So we're talking about faith rooted organizing today.

So what exactly is faith rooted organizing,

what we call faith rooted organizing today has many

of its roots in historical social justice movements.

Like the ones led by, like the one led by, uh, the Reverend,

Dr. Martin Luther King,

and the Civil rights movement,

where we learned about creating beloved community, you know,

the beloved community as King wrote,

where all can live together,

where everyone respects the dignity of all people,

and the end goal is reconciliation and redemption.

And so that is, you know, one piece

of faith rooted organizing where we have some

of our roots in, in that movement.

Another place where we find some of our roots are,

is in the work, um, from Caesar Chavez, is work

with the United Farm workers

and his steadfast nonviolent resistance work rooted

in his Catholic faith.

And a belief that God's promise to the people meant

that workers and their families were worthy of dignity,

that they were being unjustly denied by employers.

And he also drew on what was called an abita theology

that he learned from the women in his life

and the women of the farm worker community.

And then we can also learn from liberation theologies,

liberation theologies that have spanned the globe,

that hold religious institutions accountable

to putting their faith values into action by advocating

for justice for the poor

and the marginalized that, for example,

inspired the sanctuary movement in the United States.

And to give one example of a, a liberation theology

in the Philippines, there's a liberation theology

of struggle, which was a movement that grew out

of a unique culture and context of struggle

for self determinations in the Philippines,

from the colonial oppression

that they were experiencing at the hands of Spain, the US

and Japan, and even some homegrown dictatorship

and neocolonialism.

And so within the Philippines is theology of struggle,

had an articulation and practice

and discourses of the church in its work.

And in there they explored what does it mean to be part

of a larger social movement as people of faith

and to sustain generations of resistance

and struggle in relationship to their experience

as members of the church.

And so these are just a few of the roots that I could,

again, this could be its whole skill up in terms of

what is faith rooted organizing.

Um, but these are just some examples of some

of the movements and leaders that have

inspired our faith rooted work today.

And so I just wanna invite folks with coming from a place

of gratitude to name some other people, some other, um,

leaders, some other movements

that have inspired you in your work today, uh, for justice

as Unitarian Universalists.

So if you wanna drop those in the chat, um,

we can celebrate the people that we, uh,

we call on when we do our own, our own work today.

So we can take a, a minute or two while we do that.

The Anne Braden, Ella Baker, Joanna Macy, Dorothy Day,

the Gans, Nadine Cruz,

the Laura, keep them coming.

I invite folks to take a look at the chat.

You know, we are part of a long,

you talk about the long arc, um,

the moral arc of the universe.

Um, we are part of a continuum

of people making change in our world, rooted in our beliefs,

that there is, uh, a more just world possible.

Uh, and we can move on to the next slide as we

explore what that means as people of faith with, as

faith rooted organizers, our work, it empowers us

to contribute the unique gifts that we bring into faith,

into organizing spaces, into social justice movements

with faith rooted organizing.

We're part of a broader multi-sectoral justice movement

that there are people doing this work that don't come

with a faith lens, but they work in relationship

with us as people of faith.

We organize as if whatever we might call God the divine,

the beloved community, whatever we sort

of hold ourselves accountable to, we organize

as if it is very real to us.

And it is something that we are in constant relationship

with as we do our work together.

And then we also recognize the spiritual power

of those most impacted.

We recognize that there are people that have that sense,

that understanding of resilience, that understanding

of commitment, of perseverance

and persistence, that they, they carry the experience

of hope, the experiences of grief, the experiences of, uh,

of both oppression and liberation.

And we recognize that spiritual power

of the folks most affected by

what is going on in our world today.

And so what ties together a lot

of our faith rooted organizing is that there is this, this

broader experience,

whether we call it a mystical experience,

whether we call it a tangible, tangible experience,

but there is this broader connection to something that makes

our living together in relationship

and our living together with the divine, the holy community,

uh, that much more, uh, essential to our work.

And it moves us to seek justice for all people.

It creates that passion for us

to seek justice for all people.

And so we can go to the next slide.

Uh, when we think about our own faith tradition

and thinking about what within our own understanding

of Unitarian Universalism compels us into action, gives us

that, um, uh, that passion to work with people

and to organize with people.

Um, I'm loving seeing some of the notes in the,

in the chat about who we're learning from and,

and the different communities and, and resources.

I that's fantastic. Um,

and thinking about how that compels us into action, who,

what are the core tenets of your tradition or faith?

You know, I, I think about myself as a, a Muslim

and as a unitarian universalist,

and the, the different aspects of my faith,

like coming from a place of gratitude for all

that I receive from something beyond me

and how that moves me into action to work with other people.

Um, thinking about the prophetic lived experiences of people

who, again, are at the, at the front lines of some

of the issues that we are encountering, um,

experiences within our own community,

being in relationship with one another.

Uh, the stories of our elders

and ancestors, many of whom we named in the chat today.

Uh, some of it could be the responsibilities of your role.

I'm an ordained minister.

Some of you might be the chair of your social justice team.

Some of you might be not even related to the,

your congregation or your faith community.

Some of you might be in a professional role

that does actually still compel you into

some form of action.

Um, as a person of faith, maybe you are working as a, uh,

as a somebody in the medical field.

And part of your work is to ensure that everybody has access

to bodily autonomy, and that's a part of your faith

work in that role.

Um, and then for some of us, there's scriptures

and sacred texts, and that can mean a whole slew of things.

I personally find children's books

to be a form of a sacred text.

Um, in addition to things like the, the Quran

or the, the Bible, there are a range of different things

that we can consider sacred texts.

Um, and so thinking about what are those pieces

that compel us into action?

Um, and so if there are things that you want to share,

again, you're welcome to share those in the chat.

You know, what are those core tenets, you know,

our principles, um, or our, our values,

or, I know for some of us,

we're exploring article two a little bit more.

What in that compels us into action?

Um, who are the elders and ancestors?

Um, what are the texts you turn to?

Um, I saw that there was a book from Dan

McCann thrown into the chat.

So those kind of pieces that, uh,

can help move you into action.

Um, and we can, uh, go onto the next slide.

Uh, so I talked a lot about faith,

talking a little bit about what's,

what are the components of our faith?

Um, and there's a word that we like to throw around in a lot

of EU spaces, uh, theology, um,

what the heck is theology?

Uh, the reverend Dr.

Uh, Elia Ortega offers us a, an understanding of

what a Unitarian Universalist theology can look like.

Uh, he wrote this a couple of years ago, almost to the day,

um, while he was at the American Academy of Religions.

Uh, and he writes that I understand a thriving

and robustly pluralistic unitarian universalist theology

practices, uh, to be practices of being, thinking,

and acting in the world that are committed

to drawing the best from spiritual, religious,

philosophical thought, theist

and non theist traditions, sacred

and humanistic worldview with the singular purpose

of affirming, preserving,

and sustaining life in ways that hold us accountable

to the justice we owe one another.

We need to come to terms that it is necessary,

but not sufficient to say what we are not.

We also need to claim for ourselves what we are about.

And so when we think about a unitarian universalist

theology, what are the, the aspects of who we are that,

uh, we draw on?

And not just, you know, as he says, define ourselves

by the negative space, the things that we claim we are not,

what is it that, uh, we are seeking to create, seeking

to affirm as Unitarian Universalists?

And for each of us, we have, you know, we each come in

with our own lens of that lived experience, our own lens

of the sources that we draw on.

Um, and that creates this really robust, as he says,

pluralistic unitarian versus theology.

There is no single piece,

or there is no single theology that we hold,

but there is something really beautiful, sort

of like a mosaic, if you will, of what creates our sense

of unitarian universalism, both as a faith tradition

and then beyond in the world.

Uh, and to give some folks some other understandings of

what theology can mean for some folks.

We talk about theology like, uh, eco womanist theology.

So that's a theology that comes from a place of, uh,

black women that also organize around climate justice.

And so, coming through that lens of those lived experiences

and defining what that world looks like, what,

what the sense of the relationship to the divine looks like,

uh, incorporating those aspects of being, uh, a woman

of color, and also having a lens on a sense

of our connection to the earth.

There's also queer liberation theology.

So theologies an understanding of the divine

and our relationship to one another that come from

LGBTQ plus individuals shaping

and reshaping what it means to, uh, be a sacred person,

to be in relationship in sacred relationships

with a higher presence, whatever that name might be,

or to a greater set presence, whatever that name might be.

Um, I, I love that, Andrew, um, in the chat,

we are a woven people.

Uh, and I, I think, uh, that's,

that's a really beautiful way to put it.

That we are weaving ourselves together

and we're not necessarily disappearing our diversity

or our, our differences,

but we are, are creating a beautiful tapestry together

as Unitarian Universalists.

Um, so as we, I talk about what it means

to dive into theology, this is actually the work

that our broader association is also engaging in.

And we can go to the next slide.

Um, the Commission on Institutional Change talks about

theology as it relates to our justice ministries.

Um, when we talk about our justice ministries,

the Commission on Institutional Change wrote in their

report a few years ago.

Now, justice making is not a substitute

for a coherent theology

and faithful justice making requires a liberatory theology.

And they also wrote that justice work has been a proxy for

what we believe in some congregations,

while in other congregations engagement with the intellect,

debate and social ties have been the substitute.

Our justice work without theological resources

and spiritual practices leads us down

to the path of burnout.

What does that mean? How many of you, in watching

what is happening in the world, whatever the issues are

that you're encountering, have just felt despair at times,

can do like a visual raising of your hand,

like in the chat, be like, me too.

You know, we just feel that despair.

We feel that, um, that, uh, sense

of what is the point?

Can we even have any, any sort of impact on the world

without a strong theological backing,

without a strong connection to our faith traditions?

Our justice work is, um, and our reality

and our, our sense of who we are

as Unitarian Universalists is unsustainable.

We need to be able to have our justice work, uh, connected

to both the reality of the world, as well

as the possibilities of

what our faith tells us we can create.

So when we are solely dependent on reality alone,

when we're just working from that sort

of engagement in the intellect and the debate

and the social ties, when we're just working on those

pieces, we, and when we don't win, we burn out

because we forget what we're working towards.

But we also can't just hold onto that possibility only.

We can't just live in that, that dream pollyannish

of this is what is possible without also

being grounded on what is real.

And we need both of those pieces to be in conversation

with each other as we are doing this

work as people of faith.

And what happens there is we create this spacious,

woven together tapestry of all our, all of our experiences

of, of the world as it is,

and the world that it,

as it could be into our Unitarian Universe list theology.

So where do we start with this?

Let's start going a little bit back into our faith tradition

as people of faith.

So we can go over to the next slide.

Dr. Carter Hayward is an Episcopal, uh,

a white Episcopal female priest who did a lot of work

around, um, queer theology coming from the perspective

of being a queer woman, um, in the Episcopal Church.

Um, and she defines faith, um, through her lens.

And we're gonna, we're gonna play with that a little bit.

Um, but she defines faith as our commitment

to participate with and by the power of God

and the ongoing creation, liberation,

and blessing of the world.

So, however we might look at that power that we're connected

to, that, that entity that we're related to,

whether we call it God, the divine, beloved community, love,

whatever it is that we feel gives us that power

and that relationship to work with one another

and create a, a stronger and more liberated world.

Dr. Hayward invites us to reflect on our commitment

to participate with

and by the power of that, that source, that entity, that,

that being whatever it is that we,

we might find ourselves in relationship with

as we engage in our justice ministries.

So, uh, the, the aspects of this that she invites us

to consider is as faithful people, we are committed people.

We are committed to creating something.

We remain persistent. We remain perseverant in our work.

Um, I have the words sub tattooed on my wrist,

which means patient perseverance.

We are constantly engaging in this work, recognizing

that it takes time, and that we are part of that long arc

of the universe, spending it towards justice.

Faithful people are participants. We're active.

We're creating something together.

And with that source, whatever we might call it,

faithful people are empowered by God, going with God.

Goding again, whatever word might feel more comfortable

for your sense of what you connect

to, um, putting it in there.

Are you empowered by love, going with love loving?

What is it that flows around you, within you, through you

to create this world together

and in relationship with other people?

Um, faithful people are co-creators.

We are working, again, in relationship with each other,

in relationship with whatever it is that's beyond us.

Um, and co-creating a world that within which all

of us not only survive, but thrive.

Faithful people are liberators of creation.

We recognize that the world is this beautiful place

of creation, constantly creating

and co-creating alongside with us.

But what is happening right now with so many systems

and structures is that that creation is being squashed.

And so in our work together, we are liberating

that creation, and we are helping

that creation come into its fuller,

being into its more beautiful being as people of faith.

And then by that power, that power

that we might call love God the divine community,

we bless the world with that power that flows, flows

through us, around us, between us, we are blessing the world

with our actions, with our presence, um, with, with our

engagement as people of faith.

And so we're gonna think about these questions

that are on the screen as we're thinking about who we are

as people of faith and moving into a public

sphere as people of faith.

Um, reflecting on what is it that we're dedicated to?

What is it that you are connected to?

What are you empowered by? What are you co-creating?

What are you healing?

What blessings do you give and receive?

And Kyle, we can go to the next slide

and we're gonna group those into three different pieces and,

and answer those questions together.

So we're gonna define our shared faith

as the 25 people here in this room right now.

Um, we're gonna explore what are our relationships?

What are you connected to?

What are you dedicated to

as we're defining our shared faith?

We're gonna use this mentimeter that is

linked on your screen with a QR code,

and also linked in the chat if you wanna start, uh,

answering these questions.

Um, but yeah, what are your relationships

as you define our shared faith together in this space today?

And then thinking about what is our power?

What are you empowered by?

What is it that flows through you, around you, between you

that gives you that sense of, of power to shape

and reshape the world?

What blessings do you give?

And what blessings do you receive as you are moving

through this world as a unitarian universalist?

And then our action. What is it you are healing?

What is it that you are co-creating in this world?

What is it that you are taking those blessings, that power,

and moving towards and being a part of?

So, we'll take a couple of minutes on that Mentimeter,

and if, as, uh, Reverend Kathy has said, feel free to drop,

um, if Mentimeter isn't accessible, drop that into the chat

and we'll add them to the Mentimeter for you.

Um, so we'll take just a couple minutes.

I'm gonna stop talking so you can have some quiet,

reflective time to answer those questions,

and then we'll see what people have to offer.

Just a couple more minutes,

don't forget to switch over

to the next pieces of the demeanor.

We've got a lot of relationships,

but we're getting some more power,

getting a few more action,

How we can lower the music.

And if you don't mind, I will start sharing my screen

so we can see the results of what symptoms have shared.

And hopefully I do this right

and don't show you the chaos that's on my other desktop.

All right. Do folks see the manometer results? Yes. Awesome.

Fantastic. Alright, so what have we responded?

So what is it that we are connected to or dedicated to?

Uh, I'm just gonna draw random selections here.

Um, and I will also share these with y'all.

And as we mail out, um, the recording

and content from today's skill up as well.

Um, I'm connected to the literary philosophical references

that lead me to Unitarian Universalism.

I'm dedicated to radical thinking.

I am connected or dedicated to other people,

beloved community, uh, people,

planets, people, family, community dedicated to creating,

building a beloved community, nature, family,

including ancestors, church members, friends

dedicated to change, caring for others, the forces of life

and all beings dedicated to children

and faith development, the spirit of life

and holding all, trying to create as much love as po

as much love and understanding

as possible in my church community, local community,

and to the many communities beyond, which I am a part

connected to the past

and future, as well as the present, connected

to the local community and the land we steward.

Dedicated to making sure people have access to basic needs,

food, clean water, shelter, community,

divine love, beloved community,

recognizing the dignity of all beings,

leaving the world better than I found it, people in need,

helping people in need, sharing resources,

what we are connected

and dedicated to our interwoven inside ourselves.

I am dedicated to my connections with friends,

neighbors in my community, but not as much as I would like

to be anti-racism and criminal justice.

What is our power?

What do, what blessings do we give and receive?

I'm empowered by realizing other people can notice

what is wrong in the world.

I give the blessing of listening

and receive the blessing of being encouraged

and often supported the creative potential of connection.

We are not alone hope, covenant,

kindness, and compassion.

I am empowered by those who have come before me.

I share the blessings of enthusiasm

and hope empowered by being specifically included,

a belief in goodness.

Gratitude, receive connection, support,

relationship appreciation, being open to receiving

and sharing what I can, working with others

to create more justice.

The blessings of participation.

I bless folks with the welcoming spirit

that was given to me.

I'm empowered by feedback, empowered by the faith

that there are other people who are dedicated to finding,

giving, and spreading love.

Empowered by gratitude, blessings given food,

available 24 7, no questions asked.

Blessing received connections

and donations and our actions.

I'm healing from counterfactual thinking, fear and despair.

Despair. I'm co-creating hope,

co-creating power at the grassroots.

I'm healing the carceral system. Maybe I am dismantling it.

Healing pessimism

and co-creating hope, healing my inner child.

This work is really personal healing, a broken world,

a society where we re respect each other, healing those

who have not been welcomed elsewhere.

Co-creating beloved community co-creating a safe space,

healing myself, creating a world I want to live in

and leave behind becoming a good ancestor.

Creating co-creating a space

for each person's voice is part.

So here we have generated a EU theology,

a sense of our understanding of

who we are as people of faith.

And understanding that because our tradition is a living

tradition, because it is shaped by each

and every one of us in this space.

And beyond that, this theology continues to evolve

with whomever is in the room,

whoever is perspective is included and,

and lifted up in, in these times.

And so I thank you all for sharing your faith in this space

and creating it together as we talk about

and engage with what it means to claim it in a public space.

Um, I'm gonna stop my share

and Cal, if you wanna, uh, put the slides right back up

and we can keep going with our time together

And much gratitude to Cal, who is, um, I, our, our tech

through and all of you who are volunteers today.

I really appreciate the work that you have been doing

in this space hall.

I don't think we're seeing the slides quite yet.

We have a beautiful backdrop though,

talking about what we're connected to.

Great. How about that? Perfect. Thanks so much.

So as we talk about, we've created our faith, we have,

we have shared it together with one another.

So what does it mean for us to take that faith

and put it out into the world?

What does it mean to put that faith

and make it faith out loud?

Um, one of the pieces of

that is the annunciation and denunciation in our faith.

Uh, one of the, um, core sacred texts that I return

to is a collection called soul work, Anti-Racist theologies

and dialogue that's now 20 years old,

but still holds so much wisdom, um, in, in our faith.

And within that text, uh, we're invited to consider that

a theology of liberation requires that we all oppressors

and oppressed alike learn and understand what is oppressive.

We use that word a lot in our work,

and it's an important word for us to engage with as people

of faith, as people that, uh, work

to create a collective liberation for, for everybody

that is in relationship with one another.

And so when we think about annunciation

and denunciation denunciation, we have

to be able to name the oppression.

We have to be able to name the evils as some people

of faith, might call it the sins of the world.

And I know that that's a loaded word,

because that can, sometimes we thrown at us, some of us

with certain identities.

But how do we reclaim that too, as people of faith?

So the denunciation, we have to name what is harmful,

what is hurting, what is oppressive,

and then the annunciation our dreams.

What is the kind of world we would like to live in?

That world that we just shared some of, as we described

what our shared faith is as Unitarian Universalism

annunciation as the Reverend Patricia Jimenez shares in soul

work is an opportunity to tap into that creative magic

that happens when each person is encouraged

and expected to be a creative agent.

When the response creates a new community of love

and justice, we become co-creators with the divine.

Our survival and our salvation

depends on liberation for all.

What's important for us

as Unitarian Universalists in this annunciation is

to recognize that as people of faith,

we hold a particular power.

We hold the power to be worldview creators.

We can create this worldview of shared and

and collective liberation using the sources in our faith,

using what it is that co that we, uh,

that roots us in our unitarian universe list,

uh, identity and theologies.

Uh, we can go to the next slide as an example of

what a worldview creation

and annunciation might look like

as Unitarian universalism potentially ultimate,

highest goal and vision.

And just to give you an example, these were words that, um,

several Unitarian universalists in California put together

as they imagined a world centered on love.

Um, and we, we dreamt about what is that ultimate,

ultimate highest goal and vision.

And the imagination that, uh, came out of that reflected

what a lot of folks in, uh, abolition work and,

and, um, decarceration work have imagined.

A world where everyone is cherished and treated as sacred.

A world that promotes the restoration of humanity, believing

that we are all worthy and capable of redemption,

rehabilitation, and radical inclusion where the economy

and the government promotes equity, the improvement

and of quality of life and the common good.

A world that acknowledges the intrinsic ways

that we're interconnected

and accountable to one another across bars and borders

and co-responsible for our elective future.

I don't know about you, but that sounds like a world

I would love to live in.

That sounds like a world

that's just beautifully rooted in relationship,

beautifully rooted in possibility, um,

beautifully rooted in all of those words you might see on

that graphic equity, peace, no pain,

compassion, safety, generosity.

It just sounds like, it sounds like that heaven on earth

that so many of us will talk about as people of faith.

And so when we're talking about that ultimate highest goal

and vision, we're not just talking about

that measurable on the way to it.

Goals, like, we're gonna go

and we're gonna cut down the budget of policing,

or we're gonna go and we're gonna make

sure that this law passes.

But we're actually creating this, as I said, this,

heaven on earth, this, if you wanna call it a utopia.

A utopia. We're creating in our minds

and our imaginations that impossible possibility

as we are dreaming about our highest goal

and vision as people of faith.

And so when we think about that, you know, it's important

to keep ourselves rooted in that work.

It's important for us to remember that without

that at our core, we again, can burn out.

We forget that we are working towards something

and not just working against something.

So it's important to keep at our roots, this sense

of an enunciation.

And we're gonna go a little bit more into enunciation

and denunciation, um, in just a bit.

But we're gonna also look at how, um, well,

we'll switch into denunciation, actually, and right now,

and then we'll go a little bit further into it.

I'm forgetting what I planned out for this skill up.

It's fine. It's great. The coffee's wearing off.

Um, but let's go over to the next slide.

Oh, I love that, Carol. Thank you.

The cool thing about utopias

and heavens on earth, some of ancestors tried to do that,

and we have lessons to learn.

It's a timeless yearning, I'd say. I think that's beautiful.

There's so many, um, possibilities in, uh, in our world

that have already existed,

and opportunities that we can learn from the past.

Um, history can be a teacher.

Uh, so one of the things, as a people of faith, we need

to also, we can start to, um, claim are some

of these profane lies and sacred truths in our world.

Kyle, do you mind clicking once more?

I think there's something I didn't realize

was animated on this slide.

Um, there we go.

Uh, I refuse to let the lies take control.

Um, so as we talk about our, you know, the enunciation

and the denunciation, when we're talking about denunciation,

we're trying to denounce those lies, those profane lies

that shape our cultural mindset, um,

and that make us complicit in tolerant to,

we're actively supportive of injustice in our midst.

Um, we need to, as worldview creators hold the perspective

that there are violent lies

that are obscuring the possibilities

and the truths in the world that we hold in our faith.

And so these lies, they work

to create a mainstream narrative that forms

that cultural mindset.

And scapegoating, you know, it could be those lies that, um,

like are on the screen.

Some people are worth more than others.

Some people are inherently dangerous

and must be locked away for the rest of our lives,

for the rest of their lives.

Um, these kind of lies, they exist in, in a range

of different, um, fields.

You know, I come through the lens of an abolitionist

and the carceral, uh, state.

And so a lot of those, uh, things could be, uh,

those cultural mindsets could be rooted in racism

and can be rooted in scapegoating laws

that justify the criminalization of people of color

or of immigrants, for example.

Um, on the o on the flip side of that, in order

to address those profane lies, we need

to have those sacred truths, those sacred truths

that reveal the faith values, that confront those lies,

that help us to make the cultural shift not simply

with new policy and laws, um,

but move us towards a true collective liberation

and a true sense of community.

So rather than some people are worth more than others,

we are all god's children, or all children of love,

and are all loved equally regardless of race.

Some people are inherently dangerous

and must be locked away for the rest of their lives.

We are all worthy of

and capable of redemption, rehabilitation,

and radical inclusion.

And these truths can be challenging at first

to really embrace internally as for ourselves,

but also then to put out into the world.

And that's part of why we call them prophetic truths,

because they are challenging truths.

They are are things that will,

you'll get some pushback sometimes,

but they are also important sacred words for people

to start engaging in that discourse and in that conversation

and eventually shift our culture.

Um, there, uh, one example of, uh, somebody who,

uh, sort of took one of those profane lies

and turned into a sacred truth, um,

was an organizer in the dreamer movement who, uh,

was a student at the time, demonstrating

with others across the country, um, revealing a truth that,

you know, we have a lot of those profane lies about illegal

immigration and about people, uh, you know,

taking advantage of our systems.

Um, and she came through with this truth

that no human being is illegal

and boldly saying that she was undocumented and unafraid,

and made that dramatic cultural shift of how our

our country, our aspects of our country, certain pockets

of it at least, have started to view immigrants from burdens

into assets and to people of worth and, and,

and people that are in relationship with the rest

of us in our community.

And so we obviously need to continue to do some of

that work, shifting the narrative.

We know that the work to humanize immigrants documented,

undocumented, however, um, you want to define, is

still very much alive and necessary,

but we are continuing to name those truths, um,

to replace those dehumanizing lies.

So let's think about some of those lies and those truths.

Um, if we could go to the next slide, Cal, let's

think about some of those profane lies that are creating

or upholding oppression in our society.

What, what are those that you are hearing today, um,

or are, are around you today?

I don't wanna use just the hearing language.

What are, what are, what are the profane lies

that circulate in our culture?

You can drop those in the chat, um,

can take a minute to think about what does a profay and lie,

and it could be something as simple as, you know, uh, like

what I put in the chat, that some people are,

are less worthy than others.

Um, women are inherently confined to certain realms. Mm-Hmm.

You know, we've talked about too.

Uh, people in poverty are responsible for their situations.

The unhoused don't belong in our neighborhood

for too long.

Our society wants to have disabled folks warehoused

or slowly killed rather than empowered to flourish.

We need to be tough on crime.

Yeah, there are a lot of these, and I don't know about you,

but, um, these lies to me feel very violent against people.

They're, there are lies that are meant to cause harm.

That there are only two genders.

There are lies that are meant to erase people.

There are lies that deny the worth, dignity, value, um,

and, and sacredness of other people.

Children need to be seen but not heard.

Um, maybe we'll get to hear any children

that might be on this call today.

Um, so we, we know that there are plenty of those lies.

Um, uh, those people in

that political party are destroying our country, our nation,

our state, et cetera.

So we know that there are so many of these lies circulating.

We could, um, a better world is not possible,

is absolutely a profane lie.

Um, let's challenge them.

What are the sacred truths that challenge those lies?

Um, and move us towards collective liberation.

So if you, I'm, I'm not gonna put anybody on the spot,

but if you've put one of those lies in the chat,

what's the sacred truth that challenges that lie, um,

and moves us towards collective liberation?

Rooting yourself again in maybe that those relationships,

those pa, that power that you named earlier on, um,

as we were describing our faith.

What are the sacred truths? Gender is fluid. Mm-Hmm.

Not everyone even has bootstraps.

To pull themselves up by ridding the world

of racism is not a zero sum game.

Us plus them equals, we hurt people, hurt people.

We are all equal regardless of gender.

When I think about the, the pieces of our faith,

we are all connected.

You know, when we say we all have inherent worth

and dignity, you know, that's a, that's a big one for those

of us in Unitarian universalism.

And then what does that mean? Those people are people

and we must work together.

Disabled folks can be an asset and of worth in our society.

Mm-Hmm. Yeah.

There, then there's many more that we could name.

You know, when we talk about, like, I think somebody put,

like, it's not possible to have a green economy.

We could talk about how there is sustainability woven into

the fabric of creation as, as a sacred truth

that challenges that.

Um, we are all harmed when people are in poverty.

And even, you know, taking that a step further

where we all thrive when every single one

of us has what they need.

Um, there is no such thing as too much love. Yes.

So we have these sacred truths in our, in our being

and in our, in our heads, in our minds, uh, in our hearts.

Um, and it's important for us to actually

remember those and be able to,

to call upon them when we are challenging the profane lies

that are so prevalent in our society on different things

that we are organizing around.

And we can go over to the next slide as we move further into

that denunciation space.

Um, so we talked a little bit about enunciation,

and now we're gonna get a little bit more

comfortable with denunciation.

Um, denunciation, again, coming out of the, the,

uh, soul work text.

Um, just to give a couple of examples that came out, uh, of

that text of what denunciation might look like.

Uh, racism is particularly alive and well in America.

It's America's original sin

and it is institutionalized at all levels of society.

It's most persistent

and intractable evil, though racism, inflicts,

mass suffering, few American theologians have even bothered

to address white supremacy as a moral evil

and as a radical contradiction of our humanity

and religious identities.

And that comes from the Dr. James Cone, uh, in soul work.

And then, um, from Susan, uh, CCHO Brown, we must uncover,

reveal and name the sin of complicity

and the implicit violence we engage in as we struggle

with the issues of racism and oppression.

And so denunciation has an edge.

Denunciation can be very pointed,

and it can, it uses strong language sometimes

because sometimes we need to make that point in ways

that haven't been said before.

And so, just to give some more examples

that come from different faith perspectives,

let's take a look at the next slide where we have, um,

some sort of, uh, sampling across different traditions.

Um, for example, we'll go with, uh, thi not Han, um,

in his text Love and action, if we harm another human being,

we harm ourselves to accumulate wealth

and own excessive portions

of the world's natural resources is

to deprive our fellow humans of the change to live.

The chance to live, to participate in oppressive

and unjust social systems is to widen the gap between rich

and poor and thereby aggravate the situation

of social injustice.

And that's one, uh, uh, example of a denunciation

that comes from, you know, a more Buddhist perspective.

From a more Jewish perspective.

We have, uh, ra rabbi, uh, Mordecai Liebing that writes,

racism is worse than idolatry.

Racism is unmitigated evil.

Few of us seem to realize how insidious, how radical,

how universal and evil racism is.

Few of us realize that racism is man's gravest threat

to man the maximum hatred for a minimum of reason,

the maximum of cruelty for a minimum of thinking.

Um, and just to give another example, uh,

the minister Candace Simpson,

who comes from a Christian tradition following the New York

Grand jury's refusal to indict Officer Daniel, uh, pantaleo

for the murder of Eric Gardner several years back.

Uh, my faith celebrates a person

who represented a threat to empire.

He or she's speaking specifically about, um, Jesus.

I don't think it's a coincidence that so many

of our lost brothers

and sisters represent a threat

to the empire just by their very lives.

So each three of these individuals coming from different

perspectives are drawing on those, those values,

those those core tenets of their faith to denounce,

to denounce, do that denunciation of the harms

that they see in the world.

And they're using language that comes from their faith.

They're using language that shapes their understanding

of the world as whatever faith tradition they,

they come from to, to name, uh, the harms

that are happening in the world.

And, uh, we can go into one

that's a Unitarian Universalist example.

We'll go to the next slide.

Um, that came out from the side with love, uh, uh, team.

Uh, to give an example, one of our most radical assertions

of Unitarian Universalism is

that every single human is endowed

with inherent worth and dignity.

We are all born from an unimaginable unshakable love

that brought us into being

and from which we cannot ever be separated.

Our faith insists that any system that works

to erode our full humanity is unjust and harmful

and must be dismantled.

Unitarian Universalism urges us to dedicate our hearts

and our life forces towards dismantling white supremacy

and creating a world in which every single person has the

ability to live free and thrive.

So I just to get somebody else's, uh, voice

or chat into the, uh, into the room, uh,

who here can identify

where the denunciation is happening in this?

We're gonna go old school classroom.

Um, who, who can point that out?

I'm gonna see if I can find a hand somewhere.

Do I see a hand or in the chat?

If you don't wanna speak out loud. All right. I heard a mic.

Any system that works to erode our full humanity is unjust

and harmful and must be dismantled.

Perfect. Yes.

I don't know who said that, but thank you. Yes.

And that bold part, the white supremacy. Yes.

That is the denunciation.

Where's there an example of annunciation?

Where is there an example of a, uh, a sacred truth

challenging that, that lie of, um, the erosion

of our full humanity?

The last sentence,

Unitarian Universalism urges us to dedicate our hearts

and our life forces towards dismantling white supremacy,

creating a world in which every single person has the

ability to live free and thrive.

Or the first one, our most radical assertion descendants in

the graphic, our faith unequivocally joins with all those

who declare Black lives matter

and who recommit our hearts, our hands

to building a world in which that is true.

Yes. So, you know, it's arbitrary it to some degree,

but I appreciate that folks are willing to,

to play classroom in this space and,

and identify, you know, take apart the sy this uh, statement

and see where is the denunciation,

where is the enunciation in, in this?

Um, uh, so you can see that, you know, this is specifically

around Black Lives Matter and, and racial justice.

But when we think about the different, uh, justice movements

that we're all a part of, whether it's

around disability justice, economic justice, uh,

environmental and climate justice, um,

there are different ways, uh, that, uh, we can

identify what are the profane lies that we are denouncing,

and then what are the sacred truths that we're enunciating

or, or are part of our annunciation.

Um, we can go to the next slide, Cal.

Um, so let's talk about, let's explore what we've got

to say, you know, as, as people of faith, what are some

of the gifts that we, as faith communities, as individuals,

and as Unitarian Universal specifically,

can bring into our broader justice movements?

You know, what are some of the ways in which, um,

our presence in these spaces where our theologies

of liberation or our, you know, our sense of community

can be shared to challenge profane lies and sacred truths?

You know, we think about some of the skills that some

of us might come in with, you know, as, uh, the skills

of counseling, of chaplaincy, of that understanding of, uh,

of systems, of oppressions

and intersection, uh, of ritual leadership,

um, leadership training.

So we can have a seat at the table of power. Yes.

Um, what are some other, uh, if we wanna drop in the chat,

what are some other gifts that as unitarian universalists,

we can bring into us, our spaces, um,

and into our, our broader justice movements?

And I think we might have, you know, a small enough group

that if somebody wants to maybe unmute

and share, um, hope Paige as well.

Thank you, Paige.

Um, what other gifts?

Reverend Barber does this constantly calling out injustice.

Yes. Reverend Barbara

and the Poor People's Campaign do explicitly ground

themselves in, in faith, being willing to speak

with word soup so that someone else might join in

and provide clarification.

There's courage. I call

that a little bit of courage there too.

Yes. Um, sharing our beliefs in non-EU spaces.

You, you the vote? Yes. Mm-Hmm. Yeah.

Being able to clarify what someone else is trying to say.

Mm-Hmm. In our relationships with one another.

You know, it's helpful to have somebody say,

I hear you saying this.

Is this what I, my understanding correctly?

And it can be something that helps to,

you know, reach more people.

And there's other things that we can offer as people

of faith thinking even about like the tangible resources.

We have ritual artifacts, we have physical spaces,

we have songs, we have chance, we have different, like,

pieces of our practices and,

and essences of who we are

as Unitarian Universalism in our communities.

That can be part of the spaces that we move into

as in our justice movements.

Um, and, you know, for some of us as religious professionals

and as leaders, even just our visibility, you know,

going out in a collar, going out with our side

with Love t-shirts, and showing that we are people of faith

lending that, um, that power and,

and that physical presence into, into an effort,

into a movement can carry wonders.

Um, I bring the neurodivergent ga sometimes I

see what others don't.

Yes. Are the, the range of experiences

and perspectives that's needed,

making services fully accessible for whoever comes in.

Um, there's a lot of ways in which how we practice together

as Unitarian Universalists, uh,

can be brought into these broader spaces as well, uh,

in our, in our faith as faith leaders and as faith movers

and shakers into our justice efforts.

Um, so we've done, I've done a lot of talking

and you've done a lot of chatting,

and we're gonna do a little bit of an exercise now,

like this bumper stickers, pins, banners.

Yes. The literally tangible pieces.

Um, we're gonna practice a little bit about what it means

to live our faith out loud.

You know, we, we have, I've talked at you for a little bit.

We've explored what defines our faith to an extent.

Um, and we'll go into the next slide,

and we're gonna do a little bit of writing

and, uh, hopefully some sharing.

Um, so there are two writing prompts

that we're gonna take some time with today.

Um, what we're gonna do is we're gonna try to write,

you know, a few sentences in response to one

or the other, depending on which one,

uh, speaks to you more.

Um, and, uh, you can decide which one you want to try

to put your faith out loud, um, in response to them.

So the first one, I'll, I'll speak it out loud.

Your city is considering building a cop city

training facility for its police.

The plans would involve displacing the city's largest

and most established encampment, as well as the destruction

of several miles of local forest.

You are working with organizers

who are collecting signatures in your city

to put a referendum on the ballot that would allow voters

to decide if this facility should be built.

Someone you are asking to sign this petition,

notices your side with Love t-shirt,

and asks you why you are out here,

asks you why you are out here with your church,

what do you tell them?

So that's the first prompt to think about

what would you tell somebody in

that situation if that was you.

Uh, and we'll show, I'll have both of these prompts up

for you in a second, the second prompt,

we can switch to the next side.

Um, I appreciate Carol, uh, your, your conundrum there.

Uh, your state legislature is considering passing a

legislation that would increase access

to gender affirming care for transgender people of all ages

by requiring insurance providers

to cover mental health support prescriptions

and surgical procedures.

You are at a meeting with your state representative as part

of an interfaith coalition coalition in support

of this bill, and are asked

to share a few sentences about why you, as a person

of faith support this legislation.

What do you say? So what we're gonna do for the next five

or so minutes, I know it's not a lot of time,

but what we're gonna do is we are going to pick one

of these two prompts.

So Cal, if you wanna go to the next slide, um, you'll see,

oh, there's a slide missing went away.

Oh, go to the, oh, sorry. No, you're right. I'm sorry.

Go back. Go. Yes.

So, uh, in the chat you'll notice a, um, a link

to a theological word bank.

Um, and that is, I think I see some of you in there. Yes.

A whole range of words. And

you don't have to use any of them.

You can come up with your own,

but different words that have their roots in some sort

of theological or or faith perspective.

Um, some of these are a little bit more loaded terms.

Um, and there might be other ones, like I said,

that you might use in your own

understanding of your UU faith.

But as you're answering one of these prompts, I invite you

to consider looking at what would it be,

what would it be like to include some

of these words in your response?

So, you know, how can reparations, as part

of our racial justice work be a form of repentance?

What does universal salvation look like on earth

as Unitarian universalists?

And what are the false idols we have in our society

that create injustice?

So thinking about, you know, how some of these words apply

to the tangible, um, you know, the realities of our world

and how you can use them to either

denounce those profane lies

or, um, lift up the, the, uh, sacred truths that we

as Unitarian universal fold.

So, um, the link is in the chat with some of those words.

Um, and then now call to the next slide.

'cause I forgot what my slide orders were.

Um, you'll see the two prompts.

Um, uh, I love, I love

that people are already answering some of these questions.

Um, but, so we have these two prompts.

If you wanna take, we'll take about five minutes, pick one

of those, maybe write out a few sentences of

how you would respond in, uh,

either one of these situations.

Um, and, uh, we'll come back in a few minutes

after your writing and then, uh, we'll,

we'll share in the large group.

I think there's, you know, there's about 20 or so of us.

And so I think that'll be, we'll be able

to share some examples out of that.

So let's take five minutes. I'm gonna stop talking.

Maybe we'll get some music going so that you can reflect

and write again, doesn't have to be perfect.

Um, but write from your faith. Right from your heart.

My cat might be joining.

Take another couple of minutes for writing.

Another 30 seconds. You're feeling bold.

Start the other one you're already

Done.

All right. How we bring the music down?

Um, and we can take the prompts down too.

Um, stop the slide share

and just get everybody on the screen

that wants to be on the screen.

Um, is there somebody that, and, uh, we can also unpin me.

Thank you. Um, is there anybody that wants to maybe share?

Okay. We've got something in the chat.

Um, uh, my faith calls me to have compassion

for people and the earth

to displace those experiencing housing challenges

and destroy, to destroy a green space are

equally destructive.

Beautiful. I tell them about

how institutionalized depression is not a phenomenon tied

to our era or circumstances.

I try to trace a timeline of oppression

and resistance so they can see the bigger picture

and relate to the issue and our stance.

Gender affirming care.

Every person is a divine blessing and of inestimable worth.

We all that's a great word.

We all deserve utmost respect

and self-determination, full access to all healthcare.

Beautiful. All three of these are great.

Anybody else wanna share something?

And maybe out loud, um, if you are, so-called,

so it's not just my voice on this recording.

Hmm.

All right, Andrew. I see a hand raised. Go for it.

I think one of the, I guess, concerns I have, I was part

of the dependent living movement, been part of other active

advocacy groups and things over the decades,

but sometimes what happens is the

effort is almost a historical, uh,

that sometimes we have to learn from the mistakes

or successes of previous generations

and not sort of be on a treadmill, uh, banging our heads

with the exact same obstacles that were in place 40,

80, a hundred years ago.

So, just wanted to share that as an important part

of our work.

Mm-Hmm. Yeah. You know, I think that there is a lot

that we can learn from, from, you know, the mistakes of,

of past, uh, like organizers and efforts

and recognize too that people had a different reality

and a different understanding in those times.

And how do we build upon what they did create, recognizing

that it can evolve with our new understandings.

Thank you for, for, for naming that. Yeah.

Um, anybody else have a, a statement in response

to those prompts that you wanna share?

Uh,

no.

All right. Well, I, maybe I'll just find all your emails

and ask you about them later then.

All right. We've got one in the chat.

Life is a variation of variable substances.

It is fluid electrical,

and our intelligence of it is still incomplete.

Just as our dictionaries receive yearly updates, we need

to be truly pro-life beyond just pre-birth or preconception.

We need to work with the ever-growing field of intelligence

of ourselves, and support life in its full spectrum

of desires, of respectable expressions.

We have no right to deny someone else

who they are or desire to be.

So we need to care for each other's genders

as we support their mental wellbeing.

That's beautiful. Thank you so much, Steven. Yeah.

And so rooted in some

and some really core beliefs and values.

Um, wonderful. And yes, thank you, Kristen.

There's always, when you know better,

you do better when it comes to history.

Um, and as we think about how, you know,

we are a living tradition, uh, that is a part of who we are

as Unitarian Universalism.

We always, we're always learning, we're always doing better,

learning more, and, and evolving as a people and as a faith.

Um, and that includes both within our congregations

and in our prophetic justice work

that you are all a part of.

I am sure. And that's why you're here today.

So I appreciate you all being a part of this skill up.

Um, taking some, you know, doing some theological play and,

and, you know, thinking through what it means

to put our faith out loud, um, in,

in these different justice movements that we're a part of.

Um, and I will pass it over to, uh, whomever it is

that is closing us out after this.

So thank you.

I believe that is me. And thank you so much.

That was a very powerful presentation

and I took notes.

Now let's just see if somebody can hold me accountable.

Um, welcome. I am back.

We are constantly looking for

feedback to help us create a more, um,

impactful training.

So we're going to, as we close this meeting,

before we actually close it, we're going to ask you

to fill out a zoom hole.

If you could quickly do that in the chat.

The, uh, you can find it, it's simple.

And I'm sorry, take a few minutes to do that.

And for people who do not have access to the chat,

the questions are just, this skill up was awesome.

So, so not what I wanted something else.

And the second question is, I will use this in my work share

with others, come to another skill up, gather a group.

Maybe I can copy and put these in the chat.

No, that doesn't help you at all.

So the first question is, was this helpful or not?

If you could use your own terms, um,

to share with us and how you would use this training.

So Paige, if you wanna go ahead

and share what's coming up next while folks are filling out

that, um, sure.

That poll on the screen and yes, poll options are limited.

We know, we know you could do multiple things,

But if you are interested in letting us know,

please feel free to contact any one of us with feedback.

I am, I lost my place, so I'm scrolling back down

as we, one of the other things that we want to do,

oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I'm interrupting.

But there is a small being that is, uh, saying hello to us

and I was like, oh, small beings are

always so joyful.

They bring us so much path.

All right, back to my business here.

We wanna encourage people to become more involved

and as well as your feedback to actually become involved.

So I'm gonna suggest that you

check outside with love.org.

There is a section for resources.

There is also a section for Skill up trainings that includes

all of the recordings and PowerPoints.

So that really well organized PowerPoint

that Ron wa Reverend Runwell shared will be in the side

with love.org site.

The other thing I want to suggest is, uh,

that you check out squads.

The squads that we have right now listed in our side

with love.org are funded spiritual, that's

what Kennedy did today.

Media, getting publicity out events

and phone banks, welcome and membership and data squads.

There's something with, for people who love collecting data,

there's people who love marketing.

There's something for people who love working with people,

there's something for everybody.

So please think about joining us

and being part of this team that presents these events,

including skill ups.

You could also join our Slack, which is our online office.

And as we complete today's programming, we're going

to hang out and

or avail, make ourselves available for questions, uh,

about the material,

and also questions about participating and volunteering.

And if I have failed to include everything,

please let me know.

Uh, Reverend Kathy or Barbara.

Oh, and a special thanks to Cal, who was our Zoom host,

and to Barb who did all

of our chat manipulation to Reverend Kathy.

Ryan Starr, who holds us together is our glue,

and we do hope.

And of course, to Reverend Ron for her

fabulous presentation.