Faith In Action
Keep up on the latest from the UCC Justice and Peace Action Network:
Imagine Reparation Germination
Asylum is Not a Bargaining Chip
Join the UCC to Power the Polls
Join the Movement “Woke” Lent Series
Celebrating Black Stories
Fill the J.A.R. of God’s Economic Justice: A message from the new UCC economic justice minister, Rev. Seth Wispelwey
Racial Justice Sunday: Blessing Banned Books
The Dollie Burwell Prophetic Action Award
The UCC’s Vote for Climate Hope Art Contest
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Oak Flat will continue to be a sacred place of congregation if we continue to uphold the obligation of the U.S. Government to protect places of worship, Indigenous rights, and the water. Right now, there are two ways you can join the Apache Stronghold in this movement.
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Join the AFN community for a 3-part hour-long webinar series on American Christian Nationalism with Rev. Caleb Campbell from Disarming Leviathan. This series follows the successful in-person and film discussion events in 2023. In 2024, we’ll be engaging in a number of varied programs with National and Local Faith Leaders, Historians, Museums, and Movement workers to explore the impacts of American Christian Nationalism and its impacts on this great democracy.
This particular series is broken down into 3-one hour webinar trainings on how to engage with those who believe differently than we do. Following this series, those who attended all three parts will be invited to an invite only in-person event both in Tucson and Phoenix in April 2024.
Part I: Discover the political, spiritual and cultural elements of American Christian Nationalism.
Part II: Explore the ways that American Christian Nationalism functions as a tribal identity and power structure that promises to meet the core needs of those that adhere to it.
Part III: Learn methods and postures for engaging Christian Nationalists with curiosity, hospitality and humble subversion.
Read MoreThe January JPAN newsletter is full of don’t-miss articles. Read it here.
Overdose Prevention Centers Show Us How to End the Overdose Crisis
Pathways toward Love of Church for Children and Youth
Join the Movement “Woke” Lent Series
January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month
Climate Hope Summer Fellowship Grants
New Release: Psalms from Prison (3rd Edition)
2024 UCC Programs, Resources, and Events
Observe Health and Human Service Sunday
Changing the Conversation: The Theology of Reproductive Justice
Emergency Summit for Gaza: Ceasefire, Saving Lives, Building Peace
The Dollie Burwell Prophetic Action Award
and more
“…it’s important to reflect back on all we have accomplished this year as a community committed to creating our UCC vision of a Just World for All. Together we have mobilized and advocated on issues ranging from peace in the Middle East and Ukraine to protecting and expanding LGBTQ+ rights, from demanding common sense gun legislation to passing a just Farm Bill and federal budget, from defending voting rights to calling for reproductive justice for all, and much more! During the past year, UCC advocates have sent over 26,000 messages to legislators.
“As we look ahead to what will likely be a contentious election year, amidst continued tension and strife in the U.S. and around the world, our collective voice will be needed more than ever. We look forward to advocating alongside you in 2024, but for now, we wish you rest.”
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Recent headlines have highlighted a "waning enthusiasm" among voters who have helped propel environmental justice champions into office in previous elections. A decline in enthusiasm has been noted among Black, Hispanic, and young voters. Among voters concerned about the climate crisis, dissatisfaction and anger have arisen as fossil fuel projects in Alaska and Appalachia move forward.
In this webinar, we will focus on what can be done to create the momentum needed for champions of climate justice to be elected into office. We will look at how climate solutions can be prioritized in the primaries, so that policies in accord with environmental justice values can be advanced. Our featured webinar guests include speakers from the League of Conservation Voters, the Black Voters Matter Fund, and the Green New Deal Network.
Even if you cannot make the webinar at its scheduled time on January 10th at 1 pm ET, still sign-up, and we will send you a link to a recording of it. Register now!
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The members of Sun Lakes United Church of Christ celebrated Advent JOY with a Christmas toy drive for underprivileged children in the Chandler area. The members of the church received JOY by shopping for the children. They gave JOY to the volunteers at Matthews Crossing Food Bank, who stated that they had never received such a large contribution of toys at one time. The members also gave JOY to many children in the area who received the toys for Christmas. The members of the church donated over 120 toys with a weight of 138 pounds.
“I am proud to be a member of this church,” said Stewart Thompson, the Coordinator of the Mission and Outreach Ministry of the church. “Their generosity is overwhelming, and we are glad that we can help make a few more children have a brighter Christmas this year.”
Read MoreOpinion: What we saw on a recent trip to the border is no different than what we've seen over 30 years: A mess that security measures alone can't fix.
Read Rev. Randy Mayer's full OpEd published in The Arizona Republic.
Pastor Susan (Valiquette) from First Church UCC, Phoenix, accompanied Randy on this Friday afternoon trip. First Church also made a financial donation to the humanitarian work at the border to pay for supplies and the upkeep of their vehicles and gas. The Samaritans are able to reach migrants in remote areas that the Border Patrol cannot.
If your church would like to support this ministry, you may send your check to 'The Good Shepherd UCC' and designate it to the 'Samaritans, Sahuarita' 17750 South La Cañada Drive, Sahuarita, AZ 85629.
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January 11 – 13, 2024 at The Good Shepherd UCC
The United States-Mexico borderlands has always been a beautiful mix of culture, language, cuisine, economies, and people. It has also been a place of struggle, high and low temperatures, a fragile environment, and the push and pull of immigration.
The Borderlands is the perfect place to explore the arts, touch the culture, and have deeper conversations about the complicated issues that collide here.
On Friday afternoon, we will enjoy the wisdom and gifts of our artist-in-residence, Sister Lika Macias, and on Saturday afternoon, you will be able to choose from a variety of local cultural and tourist sites or you may have a time of rest and renewal.
On Saturday morning, we will have two border information lectures with stimulating national and international scholars and activists sharing their perspectives on our current border and immigration crisis.
In addition, there will be field trips to the border, into the desert, and other nearby locations on Thursday. And, of course, there will be a dynamic concert on Friday night with our musician-in-residence, Namoli Brennet and a movie premiere on Saturday night. We will enjoy two community meals together on Friday and Saturday nights.
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This month, the Rev. Noel Andersen, national field director for Church World Service and minister for immigration justice for the United Church of Christ, helps us understand the current debate in Congress around including changes to asylum laws in any deal reached on foreign aid.
U.S. Asylum Laws Rooted in Sacred Tradition Must Not be Traded Away for Military Aid
Other items this month:
Education Resources for Advocacy on the Farm Bill
Abolition Advent Calendar from Join the Movement
The Work of Justice Needs Leaders
Ensure All Are Fed
A UCC appeal: Help give humanitarian aid to people amid war in Gaza, Palestine and Israel
Primary Season: Prioritizing Climate Solutions
Sign up for 2024 Our Faith Our Vote Communications
Climate Action Commissioning Service
Praying Through Advent
Justice Resources
The UCC Council for Climate Justice is convening a Climate Action Commissioning Service as our members across the country launch into advancing climate justice in 2024. The preacher for this event will be Nellis Kennedy-Howard who once worked alongside Winona LaDuke as the Co-Executive Director of Honor the Earth in addition to later working as the Sierra Club’s Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Justice.
Sign up to join us for this online event on Wednesday, January 3rd at 1 pm ET (11 am MT)
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This live webinar is a special online event from the Then Let Us Sing! Working Group in partnership with the 40 Days of Engagement on Anti-Racism program.
Together with members of the Then Let Us Sing! Working Group, you will explore how we continue to sing justly. The ways in which we learn, teach, share, and reproduce (copyright) songs help us express our commitment to justice. This gathering time will discuss Then Let Us Sing’s principles when it comes to justice in song, including its copyright policy and anti-racist/anti-oppression framework. We will ask questions about respecting and honouring other traditions and practise ways to learn and teach these songs. This webinar will have English‒French interpretation.
And, of course, we will sing together!
Register on CHURCHx for this gathering time.
In this Giving Tuesday event, two prophetic leaders will join in an online conversation about the never-ending river of justice that extends from one generation to the next. The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. coined the phrase "environmental racism" and helped lead the struggle for environmental justice, while Rep. Justin Pearson went from leading a grassroots environmental justice organization to serving as a state representative who made headlines around the world for his courageous stand in calling for commonsense gun legislation.
Join us on November 28th at 12 pm ET (that’s 10 am AZ/NM/EP) to hear from these two leaders. Register today!
Read MoreAs people of faith, let us lift our voices to Congress urging them to:
Protect and strengthen nutrition programs like SNAP by rejecting spending cuts and additional work requirements.
Strengthen policies and programs that address climate change and protect our natural resources from environmental degradation.
Provide a fair and effective farm safety net that allows farmers, farmworkers, and producers in the U.S. and around the world to earn economically sustainable livelihoods.
Ensure equitable program implementation to remedy patterns of discrimination for historically underserved communities.
We are called by God to be advocates of justice for the hungry, for the hands that cultivate the land, and for the land itself. Let us answer that call by contacting our members of Congress today.
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The Cool Congregations Challenge, is an annual national contest to recognize “Cool Congregations” that are becoming energy efficient and sustainable role models within their communities. The contest is brought to you by Interfaith Power & Light, a nonprofit organization inspiring and mobilizing people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate. There are no fees to enter. Application period opens November 1 each year. Deadline for entries, December 15. Get ready to enter the Challenge!
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Keep up on all the good works and resources from the UCC Justice and Peace Action Network in their November newsletter.
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The President of the upcoming UN Climate Conference is the CEO of the one of the world's largest oil producers and is working to aggressively expand his company’s production. The next Creation Justice Webinar will look at the greenwashing and corporate capture of the conference while also casting a vision for a path forward.
Read MoreWe have work to do to ensure that our democracy is protected and strengthened so that all have equal access to the ballot box and so that each voice may be heard. Please urge your Members of Congress to fulfill their obligations to protect the freedom to vote by supporting and passing the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
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The president of the upcoming UN Climate Conference is the CEO of the one of the world's largest oil producers and is currently working to aggressively expand his company’s production.
In this webinar, panelists will not only provide a critical assessment of the greenwashing and corporate capture of this conference, but they will also cast an alternative vision and pathway forward. The world deserves and desperately needs a UN process dedicated to the advancement of all peoples, a core principle of the UN Charter.
Even if you cannot make the webinar at its scheduled time on November 8th at 1 pm ET (that’s 11 am SWC time), still sign up, and we will send you a link to a recording of it.
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As you advocate for a cease fire, access for humanitarian assistance, and for the core issues to be addressed, we invite your financial support to undergird the work of our partners with whom we have had a long-standing relationship. Your gifts will make an impact and a difference on those who are suffering so greatly during these days of lamentation and suffering. The two actions go hand-in-hand. Thank you for your generosity.
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