By Joan Ward
Pagosa Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
The Pagosa Unitarian Universalist (UU) Fellowship continues virtual services on the first and third Sundays of the month.
Please join us on this Sunday, March 7, at 10 a.m., as we gather to discuss the meaning of home. Home is the theme of the Guest at Your Table Program of the UU Service Committee (UUSC). The UUSC works around the world with grass roots organizations.
Four “guests” are highlighted who are addressing their right to home in a variety of ways. From the UUSC’s website: “Adela Ramírez is from UUSC’s partner organization Asociación Pop No’j (pronounced Pope-No). Pop No’j works to address root causes of migration in Guatemala and support people who are deported from Mexico or the United States to Guatemala.”
Mark Stege (pronounced STAY-ghee) is a climate researcher who works with communities in the Marshall Islands to collect data on flood risks and groundwater quality. The UUSC states: “According to research, climate change will leave many homes in the Marshall Islands uninhabitable by 2050.”
Chief Shirell ParfaitDardar is the leader of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe in southern Louisiana. She works in conjunction with the Lowlander Center, an ecological justice organization in southern Louisiana. Her tribe is dealing with the effects of climate change on their homeland.
UUSC’s partner Suja Karimuddin is one of the many Rohingya people forced to leave their homes in Burma. He co-founded an organization called Elom Empowerment to support Rohingya and other refugees in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Home and the loss of it or the threat of loss is the story of these people. Pauline Benetti, lay leader, will invite participants to dwell for a few moments on their own homes and imagine a threat to its loss; from that experience answers to the following questions will emerge for sharing, “What does home mean to me?” and “Has that meaning been altered by months of living with COVID precautions?”
The Pagosa UU Fellowship is collecting and sending monetary donations to the UUSC Guest at Your Table Program. How to donate is in the March newsletter on the Pagosa UU Fellowship website.
Please participate with us through Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88284380641?pwd=ZnAycGppOUdZTVlJMlRYVGV6OVdQdz09; telephone: (346) 248-7799; meeting ID: 882 8438 0641; password: 059944.
Our fellowship offers each individual support in their unique spiritual path and an opportunity to participate in social and environmental action. We welcome diversity and invite everyone to share in our faith community.
Religious Exploration classes have been temporarily canceled due to COVID-19. For more information about the fellowship, check the pagosauu.org website or email info@pagosauu.org.
