During our recent fall congregational meeting, we discussed money in our budget for reparative debt payments.  Several years ago we made a commitment to step this amount up to $20,000 annually (currently at $15,000 for our 2023 budget).  At the meeting, a strong majority affirmed we are ready to step all the way up. Leadership Team will present this final version of the 2024 budget for a vote after worship December 3. Reparative debt payments is the language we’re using for incorporating our commitment to antiracism and contesting White supremacy into where we direct funds.  Reparative affirms that acknowledging past harms isn’t enough.  Justice calls for concrete steps toward repair.  Debt stakes out the nature of the relationship between those who have profited from stolen land and unpaid labor, and those who have suffered its generational consequences.   Payments likens this to a bill owed, rather than a gift given.  Every

One hundred and twenty five years ago, South Dakota did something no other state in the nation had done.  They affirmed a process for people to have direct lawmaking powers.  Soon other states followed in allowing for ballot initiatives and referendums. A key leader in this movement was Father Robert Haire, a Catholic priest, and a socialist.  He initially called for getting rid of elected representatives altogether.  This effort failed, but he continued to be a leading advocate of what we call direct democracy.  This was enshrined by South Dakota lawmakers in 1897 and approved by voters the following year.  Today, slightly less than half of US states, 24, allow for some form of direct democracy.       Ohio is one that does, and yesterday Ohioans voted to support reproductive rights and decriminalize marijuana.  We’re a week past All Saints Day, but to the cloud of witnesses we can add a South Dakotan socialist

I hope you all had a happy Halloween, a blessed All Saints Day, and are enjoying a beautifully sunny All Souls Day. Or perhaps you celebrated Dia de los Muertos. Or maybe you know these holy days as Samhain. Regardless, I hope these days of transition from Fall to Winter that help us think about the cycles of life and death have been meaningful ones for you. This coming Sunday, we will have our annual All Saints/All Souls worship service where you will have the opportunity to light a candle and name those who have died in the last year. It’s always a beautiful time of remembering and I hope you can join us. A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with some people before worship about the perceived rise in interest in all things Halloween or even just all things spooky. That conversation was mostly anecdotal, but

Midweek Blog: Trust the Circle 25 October 2023 “Trust the circle” was a favorite phrase of Rubén Castilla Herrera, best known to our congregation as the organizer behind Edith Espinal’s sanctuary stay in our building.  That phrase is also the name of a new book about Rubén’s life: Trust the Circle: The Resistance and Resilience of Rubén Castilla Herrera.  It’s written by OSU Professor of Latino/a Cultural and Literary Studies Paloma Martinez-Cruz, a friend of Rubén’s. My copy came in the mail this past week.  It’s difficult to review or recommend a book one has just opened, but here are three reasons you might want to own a copy. 1. Circle Philosophy Over the course of his life, told throughout the book, Rubén developed practices that brought people together in circles.  He also encouraged people to think in circles.  A quote from him in the book: Everywhere you are is

Here’s a poem I’ve been sharing in a few different circles.  It’s fitting for fall, a season when change is somehow felt more deeply in the bone; for this congregation remembering the gift of an elder like Al Bauman; for times of political tumult. The image of the thread gives me some needed orientation, even as it leaves open the question of what that thread is for each person. “The Way It Is” by William Stafford There’s a thread you follow. It goes amongthings that change. But it doesn’t change.People wonder about what you are pursuing.You have to explain about the thread.But it is hard for others to see.While you hold it you can’t get lost.Tragedies happen; people get hurtor die; and you suffer and get old.Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.You don’t ever let go of the thread.