Social Justice Saturday: Advent and Racial Justice

Advent is a season of preparation: shopping for gifts, decorating our homes and sanctuaries. Advent is also a time to prepare our hearts and communities for the coming of Christ, the Almighty God who came among us poor and homeless, a stranger and a child. There may be no better time to reflect on how we as the Episcopal Church embrace the Holy One who continues to draw near in the neighbor, the stranger, the refugee, or the one who seems most “other” to you. It is the ideal season to commit to becoming Beloved Community and growing loving, liberating, life-giving relationships across the human family of God.

The Diocese of Massachusetts has created a series of Advent reflections to support us on this life-giving journey. More about the process and easy to follow prayers and reflection activities are found at the Episcopal Diocese site.
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/racial-reconciliation/preparing-become-beloved-community/

Social Justice Saturday: A Prayer for Social Justice

Prayer for Justice

God, you have given all peoples on common origin.
It is your will that they be gathered together
as one family in yourself.
Fill the hearts of humankind with the fire of your love
and with the desire to ensure justice for all.
By sharing the good things you give us,
may we secure an equality for all
our brothers and sisters throughout the world.
May there be an end to division, strife, and war.
May there be a dawning of a truly human society
built on love and peace.
We ask this in your name.

- Author Unknown

Social Justice Saturday: Dorchester Community Food Co-op Update

“We challenge the traditional food system by building a community and worker-owned asset that 
nourishes, employs, and reinvests in the local community.” (Mission statement of the Dorchester Community Food Co-op.)

The website further explains: The Co-op envisions a diverse inclusive community with opportunities for employment, ownership, and access to healthy food.  As a food co-op, we will serve and reflect the wide variety of cultural, racial, and socio-economic groups that make up the neighborhoods of Boston.

 The Co-op is building its membership, as they expect to open at the corner of Bowdoin and Topliff Streets in Dorchester in 2022. The 1100 current members have set a goal of 1150 by the end of November. Become a member of the new Dorchester Community Food Co-op and support their mission.

Membership is $100, payable as one full payment, or smaller payments during the year. To learn more and join/donate, visit:

https://www.dorchesterfoodcoop.com

Social Justice Saturday: A Reminder About AntiRacism

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Ibram X. Kendi reminds us: "It's a pretty massive step from awareness to antiracist action.  We haven't, as a society, taken that step."  Kendi goes on to say, "It's not enough for people to say or believe that they're not racist, they must be loud and radical about it, and actively involved in building a more equitable society.  To allow anything to persist is to be complicit in its persistence."

 Speaking of Abolitionism as the model for imagining an antiracist future, he adds, "Abolitionists were loud, radical, and persistent. ...Abolitionists believed it was up to them to dismantle slavery, because if they didn't, no one else would.  That's a mindset that needs to take hold today."

 Reflection question:  What steps will you take this week, with your finances, your actions, or your voice, to challenge racist actions and policies?

 

—Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research and cofounder of The Emancipator, a partnership between The Boston Globe and the Center, made these comments at the Boston Globe Summit, Sept. 24, 2021.

Social Justice Saturday: Urban Heat Islands explained for kids

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“An urban heat island occurs when a city experiences much warmer temperatures than nearby rural areas. The difference in temperature between urban and less-developed rural areas has to do with how well the surfaces in each environment absorb and hold heat.”

Read the rest of the article from NASA Climate Kids here then talk to the child. Is this fair for the folks in the urban environments?

For adults, here is some basic info on Urban Heat Islands from the EPA.

Social Justice Saturday: John Wesley on Creation Care

“By acquainting ourselves with subjects in natural philosophy, we enter into a kind of association with nature’s works, and unite in the general concert of her extensive choir. By thus acquainting and familiarizing ourselves with the works of nature, we become as it were a member of her family, a participant in her felicities; but while we remain ignorant, we are like strangers and sojourners in a foreign land, unknowing and unknown.”
— John Wesley, A Survey of the Wisdom of God in the Creation, 1:viii.

Social Justice Saturday: A Prayer for Creation

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Gracious God,

It is the task of our generation to leave this Sacred Earth, in all its wisdom and beauty, to the generations to come.

Help us to recognize the interdependence of all life, and to stand side by side in an acknowledgement of our responsibility to sustain our world.

Help us commit ourselves to simple acts of love, compassion, and gratitude for the vast web of life.

Inspired by the Religious Leaders at Illulissat, Greenland September 7, 2007

Social Justice Saturday: Sustainable Food for All

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Low-income and marginalized communities often have inequitable access to fresh, wholesome food. The climate crisis affect on food production and access will continue to worsen these inequities. Two programs that are responding to this situation to learn about and support are:

MISSION FARM and SOUL FIRE FARM

https://www.missionfarmvt.org

Mission Farm is a project of the Episcopal Church. The foundation of the Farm is love. . Our work is to care for and nurture Creation.​ The ecological crisis of our time calls us to understand the interconnection of all things and the value of biodiversity. This guides our vision of our future at Mission Farm.

We are responding to our local food crisis by creating a sustainable, regenerative plan for growing food at Mission Farm. Like all good things, this will take time. In the meantime, we are working on our churchyard garden with help from the community.
Join us at Mission Farm and Church of Our Saviour as we live into the intersection of faith, justice and ecology.


https://www.soulfirefarm.org

Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. We raise and distribute life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid. With deep reverence for the land and wisdom of our ancestors, we work to reclaim our collective right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system. We bring diverse communities together on this healing land to share skills on sustainable agriculture, natural building, spiritual activism, health, and environmental justice. We are training the next generation of activist-farmers and strengthening the movements for food sovereignty and community self-determination.

Social Justice Saturday: Sing for the Planet

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"Season of Creation" Begins September 1

From Sept. 1 to Oct. 4, Christians around the world in celebrating a special season of prayer and action to protect God’s creation.


“Season of Creation” begins on September 1, a date chosen in 1989 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church -- and now embraced by the wider ecumenical family -- as the World Day of Prayer for Creation. Creation Season ends on October 4 with the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, the man who is often called the patron saint of ecology.


We observe this special season in the hope that caring for Creation will increasingly be woven into every aspect of congregational life. Through preaching and prayer, and in sacrificial acts of generosity and bold public witness, we hope to strengthen our Christian response to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.

An invitation from The Rev. Dr.) Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Missioner for Creation Care

What will your congregation do this Creation Season?

What will you do? Here’s one thing that is happening as part of this Season:


SING FOR THE PLANET!!

The Climate Emergency means we need to make our voices heard. We’ve marched, we’ve voted, we’ve petitioned, and now we are going to sing, and sing in one large choir, the #HouseOnFireChoir with A Passion for the Planet: Join us in singing for the UN Climate Summit. You will be part of the finale of the COP26 on-line performance of Geoffrey Hudson’s A Passion for the Planet.

Record yourself, your friends, your family or your choir, send in your performance, and we’ll (literally) bring your voices to Glasgow, Scotland this November! The deadline for sending in your performance is October 11th.

Explore this website for more details on how to participate.