Wednesday Around the UUWorld BBL

For the Wednesday "Around the UUWorld" BBL (Brown Bag Lunch) on Wednesday May 2:
These articles from the UUWorld:
"Service is Our Prayer"
"Occupy Paradise", and
"Bay Area Clergy Arrested at Occupy Oakland"

1.

In "Acts of Service," Molly Howes reports that her congregation in MA has been sending groups to New Orleans since Katrina. They do hands-on home construction and rebuilding.

They see: "horrifying conditions and decades of deprivation." Howes characterizes this as a "tremendous shadow," and also as "a gift as important as the work itself."

Q: Have you ever felt grateful about being horrified? What's going on when that happens?

2.

In "Occupy Paradise," Marcus Liefert describes his feelings on the night of Nov 15 when he was among the 33 UUs arrested for refusing to vacate the Occupy Oakland encampment when police came to clear it out. He says he did it because "it was the chance to be part of something beautiful." Being with those people in that way at that time "was the best way I knew how to participate in paradise, here and now."

What was paradisal about the Occupy Movement? Liefert says: "finding more creative ways to be in community, to have inclusive decision-making processes, to take care of those in need, and to discover who we are."

Q: What are the prospects for community, inclusive decision-making, care for the needy, and self-discovery these days? Is the Occupy Movement the answer?

3.

In "Bay Area Clergy Arrested at Occupy Oakland," Michelle Bates Deakin reports on UU clergy arrests at Occupy Oakland last November. One of those arrested, Rev. Jeremy Nickel, minister of the UU Congregation in Fremont, CA, "said the Occupy movement is distinctly different from any form of protest he has seen, and he believes it’s important to be involved in it." Nickel said:

“There is this idea that Occupy is really disorganized, and that’s not true. There were UUs involved from the beginning of the movement who helped shape this participatory democracy, and it’s the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. People are learning to talk to each other. This is a place where you really do not have to think alike to love alike.”

Q: It's now been 5 months since that arrest. From what you have gathered of developments since then, how would you now regard Nickel's assessment of the Occupy Movement?

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For a brief look at where the Occupy movement now stands, see this Christian Science Monitor article: click here.