Hospitality
Hospitality
encompasses reaching in and
reaching out. It means caring for our members AND caring for our
community, our country, our world. Sometimes being hospitable
involves something as small as just ‘being there’ to listen to
someone. Sometimes being hospitable means taking action on
important issues.
Social Justice News
The UUA Advocacy
& Witness Team has three newsletters to help you keep updated on
important social justice opportunities Visit uua.org/socialjustice. One
of their actions is Lobbying for BGLT Equality. They are asking UUs to
visit their representative or senator’s district or national office and
ask them to support BGLT equality by working on the following issues:
Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; supporting the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act; Marriage Equality, and stricter Hate Crimes
enforcement.
The Peace Movement
Through
participation in the annual Clinton
non-violence march and other events, we strive to show that we stand on
the side of peace, justice and equality.
Share the Plate
On the third
Sunday of each month, offering
donations that are not marked for pledges are donated to a non-profit
organization that whose values reflect our UU principles.
Guest at Your Table
Yearly we participate in this UU
Service Committee’s Program. GAYT boxes are
taken home by each family and set on the table where
meals are eaten. Family members are encouraged to think of all
the people who have less to eat than they do, while putting enough cash
into the box to feed a ‘guest’ for that meal. The boxes are returned
and the money collected is turned in to the UUSC who shares with us
what worthwhile causes the money has been--and is--being used for.
Reduce,
Reuse,
Recycle
The Clinton
UUF's application for the Green
Sanctuary status has been accepted, as of May 2010! This is just
the
beginning of the
process to help to nurture, repair and protect our planet Earth. One of
our first environmental justice actions out in the community was to
help
with the local Clinton County Waterway Cleanup Project, Stream Stomp, on June 5,
2010. Six of our members (one was not available for this picture)
participated in the project in Clinton on that day, and helped to
collect nearly three tons of refuse from the Mississippi River between
the North and South bridges.

Earth Cinema!
Clinton’s Unitarian Universalists
continue their new film series
entitled Earth Cinema (click
here to view, download or print the flyer), at 6:30 pm, Friday,
August 13, at their Fellowship
building,
309 30th Avenue North, Clinton.
Admission is FREE and open to the public.
These movies – some old favorites,
some new releases – will include
feature films and documentaries, ranging from the lighthearted to quite
serious
in tone.
On August 13, the film, ‘Crude,’ will be shown. It is an American documentary directed
and produced by Joe Berlinger. The film follows the progress during
2006 and 2007 of a $27 billion legal case brought against the Chevron
Corporation following the drilling of the Lago Agrio oil field, a case
also known as the "Amazon Chernobyl".
The plaintiffs of the class action lawsuit are 30,000 Ecuadorians
living in the Amazonian rainforest they claim has been polluted by the
oil industry. In addition to the legal struggle, Crude shows interviews
from both sides, and explores the influence of media support, celebrity
activism, the power of multinational corporations, the shifting power
in Ecuadorian politics, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures on
the case. It follows a two year portion of an ongoing class action
lawsuit against the Chevron Corporation in Ecuador.
The Earth Cinema series continues on the second Friday of
each month. Light snacks and a drink will be provided.
“All of these films,” says UUF
board president Pat Everly, “address
environmental issues: pollution, energy usage, the ethical treatment of
animals, climate change, sustainability, and many others.
“The more we understand the part
we each play in creating
these challenges,” she also says, “the more we can do to minimize our
impact on
our Earth home.”
Earth Cinema’s environmental theme
reflects the UUF’s
mission: ‘to provide a welcoming, caring space where we embrace
diversity,
nurture intellectual and spiritual growth, promote social justice, and
encourage
stewardship of our planet.’
Hosting this series is also one
action step related to the
process of attaining ‘Green Sanctuary’ status, a designation marking
concentrated
environmental activism which is awarded to some congregations within
the
Unitarian Universalist denomination.
More information about Earth
Cinema and the congregation’s
Green Sanctuary efforts are available at www.uuclinton.org,
as are directions to the UU Fellowship building.
.
Members of the
Clinton UUF are working on a program to inform, cooperate with, and
challenge other community members to do their part in rescuing our
Earth from the effects of years of overuse and abuse. At this point, we
are focusing on using a UUA-sponsored program called ‘A Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to
Lose 5000 Pounds.’ Experts
say that we
(inhabitants on this planet) have no choice but to join together NOW to
help save Earth as we know it. UUF member Pat Walke will coordinate and
lead these workshops, beginning in September 2010. All you need is the
workbook (available at the sessions, used and recycled, of course) and
a willingness to learn and make thoughtful changes to your lifestyle!
Now that we’re all becoming more
conscious of our ‘carbon footprint,’
you are invited to save paper (junk mail, this newsletter, etc.) and
lightweight cardboard for recycling. Bring it to the basket in the
church office and we’ll take it from there.
Special
services throughout the year
feature programs and collections for social action.