We aim to make 40 Days of #BlackLivesMatter an opportunity for people in our congregation to take responsibility for organizing parts of their own transformation, and to be invitational that others might join them. We hope that groups within the church will imagine opportunities for study and reflection, witness and action, and will take leadership in “bringing our cousins” on the journey toward communal integrity and wholeness.
Toward that end, we’ll publish calendars created by members of the church which might inspire action. Here are activities discovered by congregational leaders that might be of interest to our people:
MLK DAY 18th (Mon)
MLK Day Parade 12-2 pm starts at
Police accountability rally Annapolis 7 pm,
Coming to the Table gathering (UUCA)7:00-9:00 p.m.
Tues 19—On-line reflection (by Congregational President)
Alondra Nelson The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome. 6:30 p.m
W 20—West Wednesday’s action
TH 21. Book Discussion with Rev. Jim Wallis, author of America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America. 6:00-8:00 p.m
Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice
Fri 22. A Dialogue On Race and Ethnicity (ADORE) 6-9 pm
. Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice
Sat 23. UULM Annual Meeting in Annapolis, with Paula Cole Jones
Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice
SUN 24
Sunday service at First Unitarian—Mutuality Movement service led by Meditation Group
Book Launch Party for Karen Branan- The Family Tree: A Lynching in Georgia, A Legacy of Secrets, My Search for the Truth. 3- 5 PM
Westminster DC Presbyterian Church 400 I Street, SW, Washington DC 20024, (202) 484-7700, www.westminsterdc.org.
M 25 “Liberation from Mental Slavery through Emotional Emancipation” Keynote Speaker: Dr. Cheryl Grills http://blackmentalhealth.com/upcoming-events.html
TUES 26. (open)Do one thing from the 21 Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge; link is: http://debbyirving.com/21-day-racial-equity-habit-building-challenge/ We can do this on any of the open dates.
W 27. West Wednesday’s action
40 Days of #BlackLivesMatter
January 15-February 23, 2016
First Unitarian Church of Baltimore
(Universalist & Unitarian)
From the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to the birthday of Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, First Unitarian Church of Baltimore will mark #BlackLivesMatter in our community. Each day, we will offer one opportunity to engage in study and reflection, direct service, or public witness to our aspirations to be transformed as a whole people on a journey together.
“Forty” is an image drawn from Hebrew tradition to signify a very long time. The story is told of a deluge lasting forty days and forty nights, during which a faithful remnant of living beings, gathered by Noah, brought forward a transformed life of the whole planet. The followers of Moses were said to have wandered in the wilderness for forty years as a part of their journey toward liberation. The prophet Jesus of Nazareth was said to have spent forty days in the wilderness fasting before he was fully prepared to engage his public ministry to the good news of a transformed and transforming way of being in the world, a way of healing and community building, of teaching and justice making. We look forward to the changes in our identity, relationships and effectiveness in the world that will come from periods of concentrated spiritual activity.
40daysofblacklivesmatter 