Our church is deepening and exploring its commitment to social justice. The hiring of our new Social Justice Coordinator, Teresa Veramendi, is an important piece of this. James, Teresa, and the Social Action Committee are inviting everyone to participate in one of two discussions, which we are calling “Building our Commitment to Social Justice.”
One iteration will be on Tuesday, April 16, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Another will be on Saturday, April 27, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. For this Saturday meeting only, child care will be provided. The Nursery will be staffed from ages 0-4; we will have social justice programing for older children. Coffee and delicious snacks will be served at both. We hope that by offering two times and including childcare on Saturday that most people in our congregation will be able to join us.
This will be an opportunity to get to know Teresa and to let her (and ourselves) know what aspects of social justice we wish to become more involved in.
These two congregational meetings will build on a sermon to be given by Dr. Richard Gilbert on Sunday, April 7. A distinguished Unitarian Universalist minister, Dr. Gilbert is the author of (among other works) The Prophetic Imperative: Social Gospel in Theory and Practice. We will use his categories for justice work as an Idea Map to prepare for the discussions mentioned above. We invite you to offer observations and comments on work we have done and can do; the Idea Map will be posted on the wall of the Social Room on April 7. Dr. Gilbert’s categories: Social Service, Social Education, Social Witness, Social Action.