By  Rev. Justin Schroeder,

Senior Minister

William Faulkner once wrote, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." 

This was certainly my experience in early March, as a group of First Universalists and I spent time in Birmingham and Selma as part of a Unitarian Universalist conference, commemorating the events of 50 years ago, culminating in a re-enactment of the march across the Edmund Pettis Bridge. Past, present, and future blended together, as we looked back over 50 years, and honestly assessed the work still in front of us. With the Department of Justice report about policing in Ferguson, the racial disparities in Minneapolis and this country, and the gutting of the Voting Right Acts by the Supreme Court in 2013, it is no hyperbole to say that #SelmaIsNow. 

Each of the participants from First Universalist (Eric Cooperstein, Katie Oberle, Ruth MacKenzie, Dan Paskewitz, Emma Paskewitz, Coral Gordon, Nora Sylvestre, and Lena Gardner) had a different experience. 

For me, this trip was deeply personal; fifty years ago, our Minister Emeritus, Rev. John Cummins, went to Selma. This trip connected to that history and brought it into the present. My identity as a Unitarian Universalist changed during this trip, and I understood in a different way what it meant to live a faithful life; one afternoon at the conference we held a memorial service as we remembered Jimmie Lee Jackson, Viola Liuzzo, and the Rev. James Reeb, martyrs of the1965 Civil Rights movement (Liuzzo and Reeb were Unitarian Universalists). As we honored these who lost their lives serving the cause of freedom, I looked around the room, and my teary eyes connected with other teary eyes. There's no way to succinctly summarize this experience.

Instead, there are dozens of reminders and lessons:

• Singing is critical to any movement. 
• Faith is what helps us overcome the fear that too often paralyzes us.
• Non-violent, peaceful protest can change the world. 
• In justice work, there's no magic bullet, no easy way forward, no simple trick. But, as Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian kept saying in his presentation, "You have to love people, really love people. Let them know you love them. Help people be human. Show them you care. If you can't love everyone, then you're just playing."
• Racial justice is connected to gender justice is connected to environmental justice is connected to economic justice. Together, we are strong.

I'm grateful to my fellow pilgrims and what we experienced together. We'll be sharing this experience with you all in the coming weeks and months. 

In faith,

Justin

We continue to make good progress in this final week of the Pledge Drive. Thanks for your support in making this year's Pledge Drive successful and short. We are very close to reaching our $1.2 million dollar goal!

 

As of today, Thursday, March 19th:

• 453 pledges (of 620 projected)
• $979,581 pledged (of $1.2M goal)  

If you have not made your pledge yet, please do it before the end of this week:

• pledge online
• call the church office at 612-825-1701
• download a pledge card and bring it to church

Many thanks,

The Pledge Team

Rich Jaeger, Marcia Wattson, and Zack Steven

By Rick Schuster

The Youth Cultural Exchange CD, DVD, Video Game & Book Sale fundraiser will take place April 19 and 26 in the church social hall.

Please drop off your gently-used CDs, DVDs, Video Games and Books in the social hall March 15, March 22, March 29, and April 12 after both services.

This summer twelve First Universalist 8th and 9th grade youth will travel to Sutiaba, Nicaragua, where they will live with local families to gain cultural understanding and forge lasting cross-cultural friendships. Your donations and purchases will help us bring the twelve Nicaraguan host siblings to Minnesota for two weeks in 2016.

Questions? Contact Amy Scott at 612-730-0434 or [email protected]

Thank you for your support!

First Universalist Youth Cultural Exchange

Climate Conversations

Thursday, March 29, 12:30-2:30, Cummins Room

By Cecelia Newton

You are invited to Climate Conversations in the Cummins Room on March 29th, from 12:30-2:30. This conversation is organized by First Universalist Environmental Justice Education Group. The conversation will by facilitated by MN Interfaith Power and Light. Share your climate beliefs and concerns with your fellow churchgoers. Learn to conduct conversations that connect and engage others. Begin discussing ideas for meaningful actions on climate change. Adults and youth welcome. A light lunch will be available.

FREE Jazz Band Concert

April 17th, 7:30 PM, Social Hall

Something to look forward to after taxes!

Come join us at a FREE jazz band gig in the Social Hall on Friday, April 17th from 7:30 to 9:30 pm. John Jensen and the Jazz Band will be playing 30s and 40s ballads and swing music perfect for dancing and/or listening.

Several years ago a few First U members jointly scored an auction win for a performance by John Jensen and the Jazz Band and we've decided to share it with fellow First U folks.

Bring a finger food snack to share if you wish. We'll provide paper plates and napkins and will be taking up a collection to cover custodial charges. We will NOT have utensils, bar service or child care available that night. BYOB is also NOT an option but we WILL have terrific music in abundance!

No RSVP needed to come enjoy fabulous music! Dance or just enjoy the jazz! Have a blast with your community! Please join us!

Hands Up Don't Shoot Our Youth Movement

Come see 'Hands Up Don't Shoot Our Youth Movement' here at church.
It's a documentary filmed in Ferguson on the day of Michael Brown's funeral, by Ralph Crowder III. We'll be screening it on Tuesday, March 24th at 6:30 in the Social Hall, and you will have a chance to meet the filmmaker.

Contrasting with the mainstream media coverage and speculation of the events leading up to his death, you will see, hear and feel the perspective of African Americans there about how he died.

Have you struggled with talking to friends, family or co-workers about how we at First Universalist are beginning to understand how racism really works? Invite them to join you for the film. Because the film deals with a widely covered event, it will help deepen your conversations with them about the white privilege that most of us have been so blind to.

Saturday, March 21: What's the Plan? 

A Teach-In on Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

Join us in the Sanctuary bright and early for "What's the Plan? A Teach-In on Fossil Fuel Infrastructure in MN," co-sponsored by MN350 and the International Forum on Globalization. 

Speakers include Winona LaDuke, Rep. Frank Hornstein, Victor Menotti, and regional leaders in movements to stop frac-sand mining, bomb trains, and oil pipelines. Minnesota is being besieged with new fossil fuel infrastructure that violates the treaty rights of indigenous people and endangers the health of our communities, and we are not prepared. 

We are becoming a superhighway for oil that we neither produce or consume, yet we assume all the risk. Meanwhile, our water and sewer mains are crumbling. Let's come together and find common spiritual ground from which to address this public policy crisis and protect ourselves and the earth. FREE and open to the public. Teach-In begins at 9:00am, lunch by the Sioux Chef (for a small fee) at 12:30pm.

By Tracy Jones, 

Co-chair of our Families Moving Forward partnership

Years ago I was invited to help members of First Universalist Church serve dinner at a shelter for people experiencing homelessness. I didn't realize that on that very cold, winter night a new door of compassion was going to be opened to me. For the following weeks I talked about my experience serving that meal to anyone who would listen. I talked to my church community. I talked to my work community. I talked to my friends. I talked until I woke up and realized that talking wasn't enough for me. That if I was going to talk the talk, I had to walk that talk, so I became an overnight volunteer at that shelter.

In those beginning days, I would enter the shelter happy for the opportunity to help, but I would leave the next morning angry. Not because I wan't able to give what I could, but because I was seeing the unfairness of economic injustice at its worst. I became a self-righteous, angry volunteer until a very wise UU minister explained to me that if I was angry, I wasn't helping with a pure heart. And if I didn't help with a pure heart, I wasn't helping with my whole self.

I still volunteer at the shelter where I served that meal many years ago. Now, when I walk through that door at the start of my shift, I walk through with no anger, but just a sliver of hope that I'll be able to give joy to someone whose life is so very hard. I walk through the door hoping that "Oscar" will be coming in for dinner because, even though he has housing now, he has become my dinner companion. He's from Mexico. I walk through the door hoping that "Clifford" will be there, because he always has great stories about how he spent his day. He's a veteran. I hope that "Abdullah-Noir" will be there because he tries to teach me words in his language. He's from Ethiopia. And I know, walking through that door that I will be given the gift of a new and wonderful person who I have yet to meet. And I know that my heart will be kissed by their hope.

With the help of Beacon Housing's "Families Moving Forward" program, under the church direction of the Rev. Jen Crow, and co-chairs Tracy Jones and Peg Mitchell, you now have the opportunity to walk your talk. Starting in September, we will be hosting families experiencing homelessness here in our church for a week at a time, and we'll need many volunteers to help make this new partnership a success.

Up to 4 families, with up to a total of 16 people, will come stay with us. We'll convert the upstairs classrooms to bedrooms, and the social hall and other spaces will become places to eat meals, relax, make art, and sit and talk. We'll need volunteers of all ages to cook meals, make beds, play games, and stay overnight.

Through this program - we are being given the gift of meeting people whose circumstances may be different than ours. We are being invited to walk through a new life-door giving our whole selves to families experiencing homelessness. So come. Let us walk the talk together. Let us serve and be changed together. Let us love together .

By Kathy Coskran

 

Can you help with simple chores? Do you need help with simple chores? Congregational Care is creating a group to help congregants with simple household tasks, most of them seasonal, such as removing an air conditioner in the fall, putting it back in in the spring; draining garden hoses in the fall, changing furnace filters; changing lightbulbs, changing faucet washers. These are chores that most of us do easily until we can't. With a little help from our friends, though, we can stay in our own home longer.

Simple chores are just that-simple and, for the most part, quick. Simple chores do not include painting, plumbing, electrical work or other household repairs, snow shoveling, raking leaves-although we may be able to offer referrals to professionals for those services.

Contact Bob Friedman at [email protected] or 612-722-4705if you would like to be part of the team or if you need help with a simple chore. 

 

By Greg Hoelzer

Nominating Committee Member

The Nominating Committee is actively recruiting candidates for leadership positions on the Board of Trustees, the Foundation Board, and the Nominating Committee itself for the next church year. We believe the congregation is full of untapped talent and encourage people to step forward and share their skills.  Now is an exciting and important time to serve as we continue to build on the positive energy and growth of our congregation. Serving on one of these bodies provides unique opportunities to deepen and enrich your personal connection to the church while broadening your circle of relationships within our spiritual community. Committee members have unique opportunities to collaborate with our passionate ministers and lay leaders to advance the mission of the church.

Board of Trustees: Trustees partner with the congregation and professional staff in shaping the vision and long-term goals of the church. They articulate these aspirations through policy and collaborate with the Senior Minister to see they are fulfilled.

Foundation Board: Board members serve as the stewards of our Foundation endowment. Members screen and select grant requests to non-profit organizations.

Nominating Committee: Committee members screen and recommend candidates to the congregation for vacant positions on the Board of Trustees, Foundation Board, and Nominating Committee.

Requirements: To qualify for any of these positions, you must be a member in good standing of the church. Elections occur at the Annual Meeting in June. Click on any of the links posted above to view more detailed position descriptions.  Click here to download an application!

Contact any Nominating Committee member to find out more: Ginny McAninch (chair), Deborah Talen, Doug Smalley, Bob Albrecht, David Lauth, Greg Hoelzer, and Lark Weller, Board of Trustees representative. Email [email protected]