On the Road to Providence — Cruelty
January 27, 2009
As a youth I worked in my family’s delicatessen and since we had a mixed clientele I was instructed in Jewish Dietary Laws (Kashrut). Later in life I discovered there were good reasons why certain foods are kosher; some because they have been prepared in a clean and merciful manner or the animal was free of disease or defect. Sometimes the food is to fulfill some religious ritual recalling an event in Jewish history. Some food is forbidden because in Biblical times such food could not be properly harvested or prepared and thus would endanger the consumer.
However the one overarching rule I found fascinating was the prohibition for consuming meat and dairy products together. This was to prevent cooking or preparing an animal in that which would nourished and sustained it; the milk of its mother (Ex. 23.19: Ex34.16: Dt.14.21). To avoid even accidentally doing this cruel act, food is marked as meat (fleishik); dairy (milchik) or neither meat nor milk (parve).
While I am impressed that Rabbinic Laws strives to avoid cruelty in this manner, I am disheartened that secular practice in Rhode Island goes the opposite way and tries to inflict as much cruelty as possible. The Donald W. Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls might qualify as cruelty in Rabbinic Law; it certainly is cruelty in my opinion. In a city of mostly immigrants, this detention center sits at the edge of town, beside the public ball fields. From behind its walls and barbed wire fences, fathers can look out and see their children playing baseball. They can look out across a struggling mill town where they tried to support their families until they were incarcerated as a consequence of this nation’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The Wyatt Detention Center is part of the new growth industry in poor neighborhoods: immigration detention.
Instead of providing jobs and federal funds to help pay for police and fire services, Central Falls began to lose the very people that were trying to improve Central Falls. Their crime was seeking to improve their lives, the lives of their families and their community; the same as wave after wave of others have been doing since the first European set foot on this continent and began displacing the native tribes. Immigrant detention in maximum-security facilities is a growth industry that enhances the revenue of the facility owners and slowly kills the surrounding neighborhood. Often the government officials in the community are blithely unaware of the cruelty they have welcomed.
Citing fears of “Arab terrorists,” they enforce racism and classism and never see the Latino communities – the backbone of their service industry – are being destroyed by their cruelty. They turn a blind eye to a system that dehumanizes and inflicts punishment without regard to the individual.
As Unitarian Universalists, we must raise our voices and condemn the cruelty in Central Falls and elsewhere in this country. As Unitarian Universalists, we must help the people of Central Falls, because they are our sisters and brothers.
~Rev. José Ballester
Faith and Our Stories
January 27, 2009
Raymond Perreault
Thomas Potter and James Eddy each built a house of worship without a congregation, with faith that they would come. What can these stories tell us today about the role of faith in Unitarian Universalism.
Parker and Parker
January 27, 2009
Rev. José Ballester
Theodore Parker was a difficult Unitarian Minister who afflicted the comfortable. Rebecca Parker is the president of a UU seminary who comforts the afflicted. In the synergy of their theology the moral arch of the universe does bend toward justice.
I’m Not a Christian, But I Love Jesus
January 27, 2009
Rev. José Ballester
In this country at this time we either have an informed opinion on Jesus or we run the risk of being culturally illiterate. This service was scheduled for Jan. 11, but was snowed out.
What I Learned From Sports
January 27, 2009
Rev. José Ballester
On this Super Bowl Sunday many people will be watching “The Game”; some for the commercials others for the athletic contest. However many more people will ignore this yearly ritual and perhaps miss some of the most basic truths of life.
Religious Education
January 27, 2009
It has been wonderful to have so many families participating at Bell Street this fall. The Religious Education program will continue meeting twice a month through May. The program will be the second and fourth weeks January through March and the first and third weeks April through May. The children will continue to participate in the church service until the story for all ages is over. Then they will go downstairs with two teachers. They will share their joys and concerns during a short worship experience and then participate in a reflection of the ideas explored during the story for all ages.
The children are also encouraged to join in helping to make sandwiches for Crossroads on the first Sunday of each month.
The sessions for January and February will be Jan. 11 and 25 and Feb. 8 and 22. For more information contact Kate Gillis at kgillis@netzero.net.
~Kate Gillis
Winter poetry
January 16, 2009
Worship Committee
Words of hope in the dark, quiet cold.
Events
January 2, 2009
On Sunday Dec. 7, Jesse Holstein, Heath Marlow and Jeff Louie from the Providence String Quartet performed their second annual concert at Bell Street chapel to raise money for Community MusicWorks. About 80 people attended and all proceeds from the concert will go to the Fred Kelley Memorial Scholarship fund. They played the Mendelssohn D-minor and Tchaikovsky A-minor piano trios.
Some Bell Streeters have expressed an interest in attending “A Gathering of Fiddlers and Fishermen,” a performance at Common Fence Music in Portsmouth on Jan. 17. The cost is $12 and this is the first year Common Fence is taking reservations for this always-sold-out concert. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and everyone is welcome to bring in drinks and snacks with more food and beverages available in the hall. This is a unique concert where a variety of local artists are welcomed on stage. If you are interested, bring $12 to Ellen Kellner by Jan. 4 so she can make a reservation. We need a minimum of six sign-ups to consider it a Bell Street cultural event. Ellen Kellner is the contact person for this event. You can reach her at odiebijou@cox.net or (401) 949-3128.
Mark your calendar for the January mid-year meeting on Jan. 25 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. following morning service. This will be a lunch/brunch potluck and the Events Committee will post a sign-up on Jan. 11 to ensure a variety of offerings and give you an opportunity to volunteer for the set-up and clean-up.
Beth Jackson, a former president of Bell Street Chapel, has sent us some information on a movie series co-sponsored by her church, Murray Universalist Church of Attleboro, that seems apropos with our launch of the study of ethical eating. It is their winter film series, “The Green Reel: Films for Sustainable Living.” The first film, “King Corn,” will be on Sunday, Jan. 25, at 7 p.m. at Agudas Achim Synagogue, 901 North Main St., Attleboro. This movie is about two friends who plant an acre of corn and learn about genetically modified seeds, powerful herbicides and the realities of modern farming, which promotes our fast-food life style. These film showings are free and open to the public. Let Ellen Kellner know if you are interested in attending so we can carpool to Attleboro for the Jan. 25 movie. The next two movies will be shown on Feb. l (“Escape from Suburbia”) and Feb. 8 (“Everything Cool”).
~ Ellen Kellner,
Events Committee chairperson
Share the Plate program
January 2, 2009
At its December meeting the Board of Trustees passed a proposal that is gaining popularity among many Unitarian Universalist congregations that both increases revenue and spurs involvement in social justice projects: Every week, a portion of the Sunday collection is given to some charitable organization.
Beginning in February 2009, we will take the open offering (non-pledge payments and contributions that aren’t designated) and award half of that amount to some charitable organization working in Rhode Island whose mission is consistent with our U.U. principles and practices. Each month a new organization will be selected in consultation with the Parish and Social Concerns Committee, and the entire split of the offering for that month would go to the charitable organization. Selected organizations would be encouraged to provide information or speakers during their designated month.
The selected organizations will be 501 (c) (3) not-for-profits and strong consideration will be given to organizations with volunteer opportunities. For February, McAuley House, where our Community Minister Mary Margaret Earl is director, will be the recipient of the funds.
This program will be evaluated after three months.
~Rev. José Ballester
Leadership and change
January 2, 2009
For the past four months, the Governing Board has started each board meeting by watching “Leading Change in Your Congregation,” a video series by Gil Rendle from the Alban Institute and released by U.U. University. The Alban Institute is a nondenominational resource center for congregations.
The video series has focused on facilitating change from a leader’s perspective. Typically, church leaders try to “fix problems.” If we notice the church is not meeting some need, we look to fill that need, often by forming a subcommittee. Leadership for change requires something a little bit different. It requires that leaders become more attentive to the process than the solution, listen closely to the congregation and have a high tolerance for ambiguity.
In the December video, Rendle discusses the “roller coaster of change.” When change is announced, the energy of a congregation initially increases, but as change is always accompanied by a loss, negative feelings arise, and energy diminishes. Often congregations make decisions when the energy is at its lowest point. It is at this point when members either recommit to the congregation and embrace change, or leave. Once a congregation makes a decision about change, its energy increases and becomes more productive. Church leaders are often ahead of the congregation, both in terms of decreasing negative energy and increasing positive energy.
Bell Street Chapel finds itself in such a position of change. We are in the process of defining ourselves, and making some important decisions about our future direction. We are now on the “roller coaster of change.” While the ride promises to be bumpy at times, it’s going to be a lot of fun.
In peace,
Dan Greco
At-large Governing Board member