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Worship Services Sunday, 10:00 a.m. Location Unit 2 33739 Marsh Rd. Lewes, DE 19958 (302) 645-6334 Minister |
UUSD Social Justice UUSD's Social Justice Program Social action is a core component of the UU religion and philosophy. We each contribute in our own way to making the world a better place for all life. Individually and collectively, we assume responsibility for our future, our community, our children, and our interdependent world. The Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware functions to increase awareness within the UUSD community about important, current social justice issues and ways in which the church membership can participate in these causes. The committee promotes and plans organized actions in the church community in a variety of social justice areas, including civil rights, global peace and human rights issues, and environmental protection and preservation. While we recognize that our opinions on individual issues will vary, preservation of personal freedom and human dignity and the fostering of humanistic values and social progress in our communities are core values of Unitarian Universalism. To this end, the UUSD Social Justice Committee promotes and encourages:
UUSD Social Justice Projects
UUSD Social Justice Contacts Pat Schaeffer, Chair
JOIN THE GREEN SANCTUARY MOVEMENT AT UUSD By Pat Schaeffer and Joe Farrell "We are called to assist the earth, to heal her wounds and in the process, heal our own – indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder." These beautiful words of hope and healing come from Dr. Wangar Muta Maathai, Environmental and Political Activist, from her 2004 Nobel Peace Price acceptance speech. In 1977, Dr. Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots environmental non-government organization, which has now planted over 30 million trees across Kenya to prevent soil erosion. She has come to be affectionately called "Tree woman" or The Tree Mother of Africa." We believe the Green Sanctuary program can be UUSD’s response to the call to "assist the earth" and "to heal her wounds" and to "heal our own." The program is sponsored by the UU Ministry for Earth (UUMFE), an affiliate organization of the Unitarian Universalists Association. UUMFE believes that the Earth is in peril from human activities, and that for people of faith, this is a moral and spiritual crisis of utmost importance. The program was started in 2000, and there are now over 120 UU certified green sanctuaries or official candidates to become certified. The UUSD Green Sanctuary Committee will launch this program early next year. The kick-off will begin with engaging the congregation, in a format still to be determined by the newly formed committee, to become informed, excited, and committed to the process and the program. The Green Sanctuary program has several goals including: · To build awareness of societal environmental issues among UUs; · To generate commitment for personal lifestyle changes; · To motivate UUs to community action on environmental issues; · To build a connection between spiritual practice and environmental consciousness; and · To build awareness of and rectify environmental justice. Becoming a certified Green Sanctuary is a step-by-step process that usually takes about two years. First, a Green Sanctuary Committee, consisting of representatives from committees, is officially sanctioned. Second, an environmental audit is conducted to provide a snapshot of where the congregation stands with respect to environmental behaviors. It establishes a baseline or starting point for the program. Third, a comprehensive action plan is created to complete some 12 environmental activities in four program areas – Worship, Religious Education, Environmental Justice and Sustainable Living. Fourth, we apply for Green Sanctu ary candidacy and then set out to complete the activities. After completing all twelve projects or activities in the Action Plan, the congregation must vote affirmatively to apply for accreditation as a Green Sanctuary. A final report documenting all the activities completed is then submitted to the UUMFE office. UUs have long been involved in environmental issues and practices, and UUSD itself has a history of active engagement in environmental issues through RE projects, adopt-a-highway or beach, recycling, endorsing the offshore wind power project, and many more. Becoming a certified Green Sanctuary offers us an opportunity to increase our focus and build on these environmental efforts and integrate them into everything we do at UUSD. We are now in the process of setting up a date in January to hold the Green Sanctuary Committee's first organizational meeting. We will be working through the committee chairs to determine whether they or someone from their committees should be invited to the meeting. We also want to invite to this meeting those who are interested in representing the congregation. If you are interested being one of the representatives of the congregation and would like to be invited to this meeting, please contact Joe Farrell at jfarrell@udel.edu. We thank Jean Charles, the Board, and the Committee Chairs for supporting the Green Sanctuary program here at UUSD and for encouraging us to move forward with it. Becoming a certified Green Sanctuary will require the hard work of all us. We are excited about the Green Sanctuary program and look forward to sharing the details with you early next year.
SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE ON PEACEMAKING Based on the premise that peace starts within, the Social Justice committee on Peacemaking has focused on Internal and Interpersonal Peacemaking. To that end, the committee selected the following three areas: Forgiveness, Non-Violent Communications, and Interfaith Dialogue. In an attempt to prevent fragmentation and to maximize our limited resources (instead of creating additional groups i.e. starting a peacemaking book group) the committee is developing a comprehensive plan that integrates our activities within existing committees and groups. Currently we are working with the Worship, Book Group, Adult and Youth Religious Education committees to plan and coordinate Peacemaking services and activities. With the Worship Committee we have established the first Sunday in August, as Forgiveness Sunday and will continue to hold an annual Forgiveness Service. In 1996, the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance (WFA) created the International Forgiveness Day celebration. The primary goal of WFA is to designate the first Sunday in August as a globally celebrated International Forgiveness Day holiday. For more info see www.forgivenessday.org We are also working with the Worship committee to co-sponsor another interfaith service in the spring. The first interfaith service, a vespers service was held at UUSD in the fall. We are in the process of contacting a core group of clergy to help plan the service and establish an on going interfaith dialogue. Based on recommendations from UUA Peacemaking Congregational Study Team, the UUSD book group has selected Marshall Rosenberg’s Speak Peace in a World of Conflict: What you Say Next Will Change Your World. This book provides an overview on how nonviolent communications can change our lives and change the world. Future plans include designing and presenting Adult and Youth RE classes on Forgiveness and Nonviolent communications and also informing the community on relevant Peacemaking activities. One such activity is a lecture series sponsored Salisbury University Center for Conflict Resolution. The Center sponsors a lecture series on Peacemaking, which is titled "One Person Can Make a Difference". In the past they’ve sponsored speakers such as Aurun Ghandi, founder of M K Ghandi Institute for Non Violence, former president de Klerk of South Africa, Lech Walesa, former president of Poland, and Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, UN Undersecretary- General and former chair of PeaceKeeping Operations. For more information go to : http://www.conflict-resolution.org/sitebody/education/lectureseries.htm
Social justice infuses almost all of the work of the UUA in some way. UUA staff, committees, affiliate organizations and congregations all contribute to our collective efforts for justice. The UUA also has a commitment to work for justice in ways that are inclusive, anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and multicultural.
A voluntary, nonsectarian organization working to advance justice throughout the world.
The mission of the UUAHC is to improve the lives of low- and moderate-income families and individuals in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area by promoting livable and inclusive communities with affordable housing, quality childcare, greenspace, and access to economic opportunity. To accomplish its mission, UUAHC lends resources from socially responsible investors and donors for community development and collaborates with neighborhood, faith-based and environmental partners.
A membership organization affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association, dedicated to the spiritual, political, and social well-being of Unitarian Universalists who are confronting oppression as bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, and heterosexual allied persons, and dedicated to facilitating the celebration of the culture and lives of its members.
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