UPDATE: EXTENSION ON SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE

In solidarity with our beloveds navigating the impact of multiple crises in the wake of Hurricane Helene and an impending national election of potentially dire significance to many, we are holding this project in its open call status through November 30. While we continue to believe in the value and even urgent necessity of a project like “Rituals for the Streets,” we deeply understand that the energies of our faith leaders are necessarily turned now towards the hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits of the many in struggle and crisis right now.

For our Unitarian Universalist kin in a position to do so, we invite you to contribute to theUUA Disaster Relief fund orUU the Vote.

For our interfaith beloveds, we offer many blessings and prayers for your courage, continued resilience, and for bountiful community care and mutual aid to continue and thrive through these challenges.

—Samara Powers and Rev. Karen Hutt, editors of “Rituals for the Streets”

Samara Powers and Rev. Karen Hutt are gathering submissions of original rituals and essays for the upcoming collection “Rituals for the Streets” (working title) from Skinner House Books. They are looking for original works of ritual or other symbolic acts intended to mark sacred time beyond the walls of our houses of worship, and essays about the importance and value of ritual in public spaces. This will be an interfaith collection, open to leaders of any/all liberal, progressive, and/or radical love traditions doing ministry out in the world, where the people are often in most dire need: in the streets.

Have you crafted rituals for your non-traditional CPE site, your community ministry context, your street chaplaincy? Or for the unhoused, the disenfranchised, the lonely?

 “Rituals for the Streets” will be an interfaith compilation of rituals (including contextualizing narratives), brief biographies of some leaders and activists from a variety of faith backgrounds on the leading edge of pastoral care in community spaces, and several essays on the value and impact of ritual in public spaces and/or for everyday life. Submissions from those of us who experience marginalization due to our identities are particularly encouraged to submit proposals so that our voices are fully present and centered.

Proposals/Abstracts can be submitted now through OCTOBER 10 (see below for details), and editors’ responses will go out mid- to late NOVEMBER. Final full-length content for all accepted submissions will be due from contributors by MAY 1. 

All accepted contributors will receive a stipend of $200 PER ACCEPTED PIECE.

To submit your ritual or essay concept(s), please send a brief abstract with the following information to BOTH spowers@uuma.orgAND karen@chaplaintreehouse.com by OCTOBER 10. Please include the following information in the body of your email (no attachments, please):

For all proposals, please use the subject line “RFTS, [Your Name],” collecting all your proposals in one email. In the text of your email, please include:

• Your Name

• Your Faith Affiliation and/or Ministry Context

• Your Brief Bio (2-4 sentences on anything you want us to know about your relevant background/experience)

• What you are submitting: Ritual, Essay (or both)

If submitting ritual concept(s) — maximum 6 per person

• Name of Your Ritual

• Supplies List (if any; must be items readily available in mundane environments)

• Purpose/Context (1-2 sentences on suggested location and purpose of the ritual)

• Backstory (1-3 sentences on how/why you developed this ritual)

If submitting essay concept(s) — maximum 2 per person

• Name of your Essay

• Brief Summary (~200-300 words)