Action of the Week!
Republican and Democratic Senators and Congressional Representatives agree! The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a great program. It brings health insurance to children who need it. It helps working families who make too much for medicaid, but too little to cover their kids through employee plans. Its great! Yet this beloved program has expired, and Congress is having a hard time getting it renewed. Congress needs to know that we support this bill and we are watching. It matters! 80,000 children and 1,700 pregnant women in Oregon are covered by this plan. Nationally, 8 million children are covered. This is important, effective, insurance that saves lives. Can you imagine having a child that needed medical care and you couldn't afford it! Because we covenant and affirm justice, equity and compassion in human relations, please click here to send a message to your representatives. Doesn't it break your heart that we even need to advocate for this? We do though. I hope you follow through and let Congress know we expect action. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell
1 Comment
Action of the Week!
The Action this Week is -- Rejuvenate. There is plenty to do. There always is. Justice is needed every day of the week, 24 hours a day. If suffering and inequity were a smell -- you could sniff it in the air any time of the day or night! Our bodies don't run on machine time. No, as organic, creatures we need downtime. We need quiet. We need love and community. We need sleep! Christmas and New Years stand like two poles of a hammock with one week of delicious time between them. One week that even our busy 'doing' culture enshrines as down time. The kids are out of school. Even the Earth gets into the act, and in the Northern Hemisphere, it is dark, and cold. In Portland this week, it's been hard to leave the house. Icy roads invite you to spend a quiet evening at home. If you can take this time to rejuvenate, do so. Enjoy yourself. The New Year will turn and the world will get back to business. You can count on it! See you next week. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell PS There are only a few more days to make a matching gift to Oregon Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice. I know you want to! The UU Funding Program will not match after January 1. So -- give now. The button is on the right. Or go to our web page and give there! Our legislature worked out a deal with big health care companies. They asked the companies to pay a small fee, and keep vulnerable Oregonians in the medicare system. The big health care companies agreed, they wanted to keep these patients in Medicare.
However, now this deal is on the January special election ballot as Measure 101. Its been put on the ballot by anti-tax advocates. Boy, don't you wish anti-tax people would go after something other than poor people and children's health care! They argue it is a tax not a fee. I would rather argue that the money raised is not a burden to these companies. Providence Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente and Legacy Health, among others, agreed to this fee, and support it. Open your heart and support "justice, equity, and compassion in human relations". All of us should receive decent health care. A vote for Measure 101 supports our seven principles. The Action of the Week is an opportunity to volunteer for the Yes on Measure 101 campaign. Click to volunteer in your area. The Measure will come to a vote on January 23 and many people do not know anything about it. The campaign needs your help. They have actions all over Oregon. Find one that will work for your schedule. If you want to know more about Measure 101, here is a fact sheet. This Action of the Week is part of two Oregon UU Voice's campaigns: Human Rights and Economic Inequality. A NO vote targets the poor and vulnerable. Be sure and vote Yes. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Every day of the week, the Gorge ICE Resistance (ICE is Imigration and Customs Enforcement) holds a vigil at noon in front of the NORCOR county jail. NORCOR holds immigrants for ICE on their way to being deported or further incarceration.
Immigrant detainees report the conditions at NORCOR are terrible. They are civil detainees but are treated the same as prisoners. They have held 2 hunger strikes to get basic privileges such as milk, hot meals, blankets for the cold temperatures inside the facility, shoes (they are only issued sandals!), family visits (immigrant detainees are not allowed family visits), and prompt health care. These problems are ongoing. Our faith makes no distinction between citizen and immigrant; between those with legal or without legal standing. All have inherent worth and dignity. All deserve justice, equity and compassion. For the Action of the Week, Join Portland Immigration Rights members and friends on Saturday, December 9th in The Dalles. Sign up here via Facebook. It's an opportunity to stand together in vigil with the Gorge ICE Resistance and to say to NORCOR prison "ICE OUT OF NORCOR". If coming from the Willamette Valley here is a meet-up for carpooling: 9:45 AM: Meet up in SE Portland at Ascension Catholic Church parking lot (743 SE 76th Ave) to leave at 10 AM. Carpools will go from there to NORCOR Prison in The Dalles: 201 Webber St, The Dalles, OR 97058 12 Noon to 1:00 PM: Rally in front of NORCOR. The Mid Columbia UU Fellowship in Hood River inspired this action of the week. Members are often found at the daily rally in front of NORCOR. Their minister, Rev. Judy Zimmerman visits detainees weekly to keep their spirits up. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Our partner organization, Move to Amend, is meeting in cities around our state starting on December 5th. This is the kick off to their Democracy Movement organizing effort. It's purpose is to safeguards our citizen's rights from the undue influence of corporations and money in politics.
Recent supreme court rulings elevate corporations to the level of a person. They also treat money as if it is speech. Both of these have a distorting effect on our democracy. This is a root issue -- it strikes at the heart of where our democracy has become corrupt. As I have written before, our faith has a special place for democracy. We "affirm and promote the use of the democractic process within our congregations and in society at large." The action of the week is to attend one of these kick-off meetings featuring Move to Amend Executive Director, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap. Many of these meetings are being held in UU Congregations. The schedule of events (For more on these events, click this Link and scroll down ): 12/5, Tuesday, 7:00 PM, Corvallis Benton County-Corvallis Public Library 12/6, Wednesday, 6:30 PM, Bend The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon 12/7, Thursday, 7:00 PM, Portland First Unitarian Church, Eliot Chapel 12/8, Friday, 7:00PM, Astoria Alderbrook Hall 12/9, Saturday, 1:30-4:30pm, Eugene "Defend Equality to Defend Democracy" Conference The Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene If you can't be at one of these events, you can still help with the effort. Please join over 440,000 people who have signed an online petition supporting a constitutional amendment at MoveToAmend. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Giving Tuesday!
#GivingTuesday harnesses the potential of social media and the generosity of people around the world to bring about real change in their communities; it provides a platform for them to encourage the donation of time, resources and talents to what they care about. What Do You Care About? As a Unitarian Universalist you care about living out your faith in the world(right?). Oregon Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice gives you a way to do that. UUs live their faith through their congregations, and through favorite social justice organizations. So why give to Oregon Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice? Living Out Your Faith We bring together the resources, the congregations and the activists to work together to create a better Oregon in your name as Unitarian Universalists. We bring you together at our annual conference, at rally's, to lobby and with other faith partners. You do social justice from your own home with our Actions of the Week and drill down into being a complete activist through LiFT (Legislative Focus Team). Check out our website and join one of our Campaign teams. Keep in Touch Give today on Giving Tuesday! As it says under the Donate button to the right, we have a matching grant. Please use that donate button! Every dollar you send between now and the end of the year is matched by the UU Funding Program. In Love and Faith, (And Generosity!) Rev. Katie Larsell Action of the Week!
Give thanks on this day: Today, fellow UUs, we have a whole day devoted to giving thanks. And the thanks can be for anything. Most of my thanks this Thanksgiving are for my parents. They are growing old and are now struggling with all kinds of bodily afflictions, but they still love to see their children and get a kiss from their grandchildren. How can I not be grateful for that? The Action of the week, during this Thanksgiving week, is not a click away. It is to give thanks today. As Religious Liberals we are dedicated to the truth. We know enough of history to know that our country has done many things that make us weep. It isn't all the past either, we see injustice now. And yet ... one part of a spiritual life is that we strive to live without bitterness. On this day your justice task is to hold thankfulness in your heart while knowing the imperfect nature of our world. We need to live in hope. Not a hope based on made up stories, but an eyes-wide-open hope. We see clearly that much is wrong, but we know that the future is not certain and we can be part of it's change. This eyes-wide-open hope balances between the two truths of the world's terribleness, and its wonder. It is a middle path and a discipline. Love the world while knowing it. Love what is, while changing it. When we discover the middle path, we neither remove ourselves from the world nor get lost in it. We can be with all our experience in its complexity, with our own exact thoughts and feelings and drama as it is. We learn to embrace tension, paradox, change. Instead of seeking resolution, waiting for the chord at the end of a song, we let ourselves open and relax in the middle. Jack KornfieldIn Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Housing for Columbia River tribes
The Trump administration's Office of Management and Budget recently reached across the country to mess with the lives of Native Americans who live and fish along the Columbia River. It started with the big Columbia River Dams that were built during the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's. People had to move to make way for the rising water. The federal government promised to build houses for displaced people. That promise was fulfilled for white people. yet after 50-70 years, Tribal people still don't have the promised housing. The four Columbia River Treaty Tribes have worked for years to bring attention to unsafe, unsanitary housing at traditional fishing sites. After years of persuasion, this was the year housing at fishing sites along the Columbia River would be funded by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers. A few weeks ago Director Mick Mulvaney of the Office of Management and Budget for the Trump administration--took away the funding without giving a reason. This week's ACTION OF THE WEEK is to call Director Mick Mulvaneyand tell him you want funding restored for Tribal housing on the Columbia River. Click CALL DIRECTOR MULVANEY for instructions on how to place this easy call. Tell him you want the United States of America to keep the promises it made to Tribal people decades ago In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell Vote on Tuesday, November 7thDon't forget to vote in Tuesday's Special Election! If you got a ballot in the mail and it is still sitting on your kitchen counter, or on the hall table where your mail tends to collect, then sit down and fill out that ballot. Find out where you need to drop it off and then do it.
This Tuesdays election is so quiet and so under the radar that it is easy to forget. Many of us are not even being asked to vote. If you DID NOT get a ballot, you probably live in a district that does not have anything up for election. If you got a ballot -- take the time to vote. Portland Community College has a bond measure on the ballot. Other School districts, Phoenix Talent and North Marion are two, are asking for your support. There are City Charter changes, Fire District Levys,Libraries, and Road Improvement Districts being formed. If you already voted -- Good for you! Our faith has a special place for democracy. We "affirm and promote the use of the democractic process within our congregations and in society at large." Voting can be a spiritual practice when it is done thoughtfully and with faith. We have faith in our local institutions and we support them. Not blindly, or without thought or critique, but knowing they aren't perfect, but we need them and they need us. In Love and Faith, Rev. Katie Larsell |
Printable PDFs of
Action of the Week here. Archives
August 2019
Categories
All
|