Date: Passed: Saturday, October 20, 2018, 8:00 pm EDT

First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Bedford MA held its UN Sunday Service on October 21, 2018 featuring Allison Hess, International Engagement Associate at the UNO, as our guest speaker. The title of the service and Allison’s remarks was “When Crisis Calls – Advancing Just Migration for All”

Our “Thought to Ponder” at the beginning was these words from the United Nations Charter: “To reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person...and for these ends to practice tolerance and to live together in peace as good neighbors.”

As First Parish’s UU-UNO Envoy Team Leader I was delighted to organize this service and to introduce Allison to our congregation. Prior to her remarks, we heard from Amelia Leida, one of our First Parish youth who attended the UU-UNO Intergenerational Spring Seminar last year, who talked about her experience there. The highlights for her included the opportunity to meet other youth from around the US and Canada, and to hear the personal experiences of some of the people who have been refugees as a result of persecution in their home lands. In her sermon, Allison spoke about migration and the world-wide refugee crisis, focusing on the original UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights and more recent efforts to put in place a Global Compact on Migration. Allison also related the current crisis around displaced people to the broader UN Sustainable Development Goals all.”

After service Allison met informally with members of our congregation, had lunch with our Peace and Justice Committee, and later met with our Senior Youth Group. She talked about the Youth Envoy program and next year’s Spring Intergenerational Seminar. We are pleased to have two of our youth currently involved as UNO Envoys and there seemed to be considerable interest among youth in attending Spring Seminar.

First Parish Bedford is highly supportive of the UN and our UU office there as a powerful tool to further our UU 6th Principle: the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.

Jerry Ross
First Parish Bedford UNO Envoy

Address

75 The Great Rd
Bedford, MA 01730-2704
United States