Read “A World of Health” and Connect People, Place and Planet
By Terry Wiggins, Earth Justice Ministry Co-Chair
Earth Justice Ministry is now taking sign-ups at the social justice table for the Northwest Earth Institute’s (NWEI) 6-week discussion course based on its book of readings called A World of Health: Connecting People, Place, and Planet. The course will begin in February, after a meeting a time is selected by those who sign up and books are ordered and arrive from NWEI.
Several NWEI discussion courses have taken place at First Church in recent years, including one last year that resulted in our service on elephant wisdom. This particular book includes short readings by Sandra Steingraber, Bill McKibben, and Scott Russell Sanders, among more than two dozen others.
See the NWEI blog description for more information on the course. As quoted there:
“The most fundamental message is for people to remember that the environment is not just something that they visit on weekends or during their summer vacation – that the environment is all around us, that it is in us and we are in it, and that it profoundly influences our health.”
Sign up at the social justice table on Sundays, or contact Terry Wiggins.
Social Justice Resources Now Available on Timely Issues
By Bruce Wiggins, Denominational Affairs Coordinator
Useful resources are available to congregations and individuals who are working on two social problems we face. The first one is growing inequality in our society and the second is threats to our democracy. These are available through our UUA Social Witness Process and our current Study-Action Issues. A Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI) is an invitation for congregations and districts to take a question on a topic of concern and engage it, reflect on it, learn about it, respond to it, comment on it, and take action—each in their own way.
A draft Statement of Conscience (SOC) on the problem of escalating inequality can be found here. Our Escalating Inequality Action Group will be reviewing this statement in January and sending the UUA comments or suggestions for revisions. Comments are due Feb. 1. See Nancy Pajewski, Escalating Inequality Action Group Chair, if you want to participate. This draft will be revised based on comments received by the UUA Commission on Social Witness. Then it will be debated and adopted (probably with revisions) as the final Statement of Conscience at General Assembly in New Orleans in June.
Delegates at the 2016 General Assembly in Columbus, OH, selected “The Corruption of Our Democracy” to be the 2016-2020 CSAI. [My comment: This topic is certainly timely!!] The Resource Guide that can help congregations wishing to work on it has just been published. Read the statement and get the Resource Guide here. We do not have a group here at First Church addressing this problem. If you are interested in getting involved in some way, see me. My contact info is in the church directory.