Uncategorized

Rev. Olson

Day Four

Monday, January 18
gathering at the church at 5:30 p.m.
514 N Charles Street

Reclaim MLK Day
Rally for Police Accountability in Maryland

Lawyer’s Mall
on the grounds of the State House
Annapolis, Maryland
7:00 p.m.

Representatives from the Maryland Coalition for Justice & Police Accountability will hold a press conference at about 7 pm on MLK Day. Residents from all parts of Maryland need to show up and rally for police accountability legislation. Feel free to use this page as a place to organize transportation and carpooling.

Please invite your friends to this rally and bring signs.

Together, we can demand that . . .
– the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBR) be ammended to completely eliminate the 10 day waiting period before an officer can be interrogated by a superior
– LEOBR be ammended to include a prohibition against officers viewing written records by other officers that describe events in question
– LEOBR be ammended to enable local jurisdictions to make their own decisions about how to create effective and meaningful civilian oversight of police (including the power to subpeona)
– The Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) be amended to allow Marylanders to learn how their complaints of police misconduct are handled
– Legislation pass requiring police departments to recruit and retain officers that reflect the makeup of the communities they are sworn to serve
– Legislation pass requiring officers to undergo continuous training to ensure that the highest measures of cultural competence
are achieved. This includes, but is not limited to, training on racial and ethnic bias, implicit bias, and structural racism

“It may be true that morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless. The law cannot make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important also. And so while the law may not change the hearts of men, it does change the habits of men.”– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

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 #BlackLives Matter 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.

 

 

 

Rev. Olson

Community Calendar

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,

Be More Community Sing 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.

 

Rev. Olson

Day Three

Spirituality of the Black Lives Matter movement
Sunday, January 17, 2016
9:30 a.m. in the Religious Education Building, 12 W. Franklin St.

Religious Education for All class with video presentation by Rev. Alma Faith Crawford, Founder and Pastor of the Chicago-based on-line Congregation for Black Lives. Rev. Crawford is a leading intellectual among United Church of Christ ministers and was formerly a professor at Starr King School for the Ministry, a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Berkeley, California.

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 #BlackLives Matter 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.

Rev. Olson

Day Two

Saturday, January 16
10 W. Franklin Street, Baltimore, Maryland

Sacred reflection at noon, including raising  the #Black Lives Matter banner on the Portico of our historic Sanctuary.

We gather at noon to stand in witness to our desire to be transformed as a people. We yearn to express the reality our faith proclaims—the interdependent web of existence, of which we are a part, and the inherent worth and dignity of each person—and we acknowledge that in our society, Black lives are more subject to violence, police abuse and brutality, and mass incarceration. And so, to affirm the sacredness of every life, we must declare that #BlackLivesMatter.

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.

Rev. Olson

Day One

Film: “Dear White People”

Soup at 6:30 p.m.
Popcorn and movie at 7:00 p.m.
Followed by conversation and community

This 2014 satiric film reveals the reactions of an elite college community to a radio show “Dear White People” and the commentary “Ebony & Ivy” created by an undergraduate student who seeks to raise the consciousness of her school, and the complicated and comical responses of her classmates, professors and the college administration. The film premiered to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival.

Note: This film is rated “R.” Parents of teenagers may want to consult reviews and other opinions before bringing their teen-aged children.

 

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.