193: St. Louis with Kimberly Hampton and Jake Lyonfields
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Join our hosts this week as they chat with Kimberly Hampton and Jake Lyonfields about St. Louis.
What can people do?
* Follow sources that are reliable to find out what is really happening in St. Louis.
Riverfront Times: http://riverfronttimes.com
STL Public Radio: http//stlpublicradio.org
Arch City Defenders: http://archcitydefenders.org
Rebelutionary Z: http://twitter.com/Rebelutionary_Z
* Donate.
St Louis Legal Fund: bit.ly/stlbail
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For the best listening experience:
– subscribe to the audio podcast on iTunes, Android, Stitcher or your favorite app: http://www.questformeaning.org/subscribe-to-vuu-podcast/
– listen directly at: http://www.questformeaning.org/vuu/
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The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET. We talk social justice, Unitarian Universalism, religion, spirituality, and whatever else is topical and interesting!
Hosts: Meg Riley, Michael TIno, and Aisha Hauser; production support provided by Jessica Star Rockers
The VUU is brought to you by the Church of the Larger Fellowship
Sustenance During Vulnerability
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One of the things that can sustain us in our moments of greatest vulnerability is belonging to a community that we can trust to support us and give us the spiritual resources to continue on. Read more →
The Difficult Gifts of Vulnerability
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I’m a grown man. I’m doing time for the second time around in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In other words, I’m not new to this thing. Read more →
A Hazardous Country
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I like the comfort I find when I’m able to be vulnerable. That comfortable space, though, is not easy to find, and from within a prison it may not be the best thing to be vulnerable. Read more →
Did You Know?
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…that we are looking for UUs to join our Prisoner Pen Pal program? Read more →
Inhabiting Vulnerability
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Vulnerability is not a weakness, a passing indisposition, or something we can arrange to do without; vulnerability is not a choice. Read more →
Vulnerability
October 2017
We are at our most powerful the moment we no longer need to be powerful. ―Eric Micha’el Leventhal
Articles
Sacred Vulnerability
Vulnerability is the core of all emotions and feelings. To feel is to be vulnerable. Read more »
Sustenance During Vulnerability
One of the things that can sustain us in our moments of greatest vulnerability is belonging to a community that we can trust to support us and give us the spiritual resources to continue on. Read more »
The Shadow Side of Vulnerability
During a sabbatical in the UK a few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting a British Unitarian minister named Jane at a ministers’ retreat. I liked her instantly. Read more »
The Difficult Gifts of Vulnerability
I’m a grown man. I’m doing time for the second time around in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In other words, I’m not new to this thing. Read more »
A Hazardous Country
I like the comfort I find when I’m able to be vulnerable. That comfortable space, though, is not easy to find, and from within a prison it may not be the best thing to be vulnerable. Read more »
From Your Minister
Who are the most vulnerable people you know—both individually and because they hold identities which are marginalized and dismissed by powers and principalities? Read more »
REsources for Living
What do you choose to do even though it makes you feel vulnerable? Do you speak up in class or in a meeting? How about if you’re not entirely sure you have the right answer? Read more »
Inhabiting Vulnerability
Vulnerability is not a weakness, a passing indisposition, or something we can arrange to do without; vulnerability is not a choice. Read more »
Vulnerability
October 2017 edition of Quest Monthly – We are at our most powerful the moment we no longer need to be powerful. ―Eric Micha’el Leventhal Read more »
192: BLUU with Lena Gardner, Didi Delgado and Rev. Mykal Slack
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Join our hosts this week as they chat with Lena Gardner, Didi Delgado and Rev. Mykal Slack from BLUU. BLUU stands for Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism. Its mission is to provide information, resources and support for Black Unitarian Universalists and it works to expand the role & visibility of Black UUs within the UU faith. Read more →
191: White Supremacy Teach-in 2
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191: White Supremacy Teach-in 2
Last year, two-thirds of UU congregations participated in the White Supremacy Teach-In. This year the VUU is back to discuss the second White Supremacy Teach-In with Aisha Ansano, Tracy Breneman, Josh Pawelek, Christina Rivera and Krista Taves. Through public witness, education, and introspection, our faith is coming to understand that fighting white supremacy means both resisting its most blatant forms “out there,” and disrupting its systemic manifestations within. Everyone has to start somewhere, but it takes a commitment to disrupt business as usual.
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Articles and websites mentioned on the show:
* “Ibram Kendi, One of the Nation’s Leading Scholars of Racism, Says Education and Love Are Not the Answer” by by Lonnae O’Neal:
https://theundefeated.com/features/ibram-kendi-leading-scholar-of-racism-says-education-and-love-are-not-the-answer/
*”Dear Jews: This year, we fight Nazis. Here’s how.” by Mimi Arbeit
https://medium.com/@MimiArbeit/dear-jews-this-year-we-fight-nazis-heres-how-b225c0ad2dbb
*7 Principles of Black Lives:
http://www.blacklivesuu.com/7-principles/
*Spring 2017 Lectures: Historical and Future Trajectories of Black Lives Matter and Unitarian Universalism:
https://vimeopro.com/user9111141/spring2017minns
*What it means to be white – Robin DiAngelo – The VUU #144:
*DeReau Farrar Offers Testimony:
http://www.firstunitarianportland.org/director-music-dereau-farrar-offers-testimony/
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The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, and Aisha Hauser, with production support provided by Jessica Star Rockers. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
The VUU is brought to you by the Church of the Larger Fellowship
Hope in the Possibilities of Life
Dear Reverend Meg,
It is with great honor and admiration that I now pen this missive. As it reaches your hands and my words now become your thoughts, I would hope that it finds you with the same peace of mind I now have as I sit here writing it.
First and foremost, I want to thank you for the powerful pieces that you write in Quest every month. I feel like you are speaking directly to me every time. I’ve been a member of the CLF since 2004. I haven’t been as active as I used to be when I was writing pieces and corresponding with Jean Rzepka, who was the minister back then. I have just had a really rough time the last few years. This piece that you wrote on resilience moved me to pick up my pen.
I’ve been incarcerated twenty years straight so it is a topic I know well! I’m forty-five years old and have spent twenty-five in prison. This is my second time. The first time I did five. But you know, Meg, as I look back, it is clear to me now that I am a conscious spiritual man that, even when I was outside the gates, I was in “prison” in one way or another: be it the prison of poverty, drug abuse, family dysfunction, sexual abuse, or hunger. These were all prisons to me. Many of these were worse than the actual prison I’m in now, but the one thing that got me through all that, before I even understood what it was, is resilience.
I never knew the extent of my capabilities until I was tested by my circumstances. I haven’t broken yet after all these years, though I’ve seen several people commit suicide that had even less time than me. This is why I so clearly identify with your piece in the Quest. You were right on point. I’ve had to wake up willing to face another day in a place where love is probably something I’ll never know, and where fear is something I’m forbidden to show. I’ve had to “will” myself not to become the “beast” that I’ve seen so many lost souls in here become. Being caged like an animal will cause someone with a weak mind to become an animal.
I came here a drug addicted mad man with a “death wish.” I’m now a down to earth man with a “life wish.” I can tell you that I account for this transformation by having been introduced to Unitarian Universalism.
I’ve sought to build on it by joining the CLF. In doing so, I found a home, somewhere I don’t have to worry about being judged or criticized because I believe different than someone. I found a place that gives me hope in the possibilities of life going forward, and a place where real love in its purest form exists. Thank you, Meg!
I’ll close for now, but I’ll be in touch. I’m writing a book called A Testament to Faith: Living the Seven Principles in Prison. I’ll let you know when it’s done. At any rate, enclosed you will find some writings from my cell mate. Could you please send him a New UU packet as well?
Your in Love and Solidarity,
Kenneth ___ ___
