Building the Beloved Community at All Souls
For generations, people have been attracted to All Souls because of the diversity of thought, culture and lifestyle that flourishes in our faith community. Maintaining such diversity is not easily done, especially when it comes to matters of race and ethnicity. In the fall of 2005, the All Souls Board of Trustees charged a task force to ensure that All Souls remains a welcoming spiritual home for persons of color. The group works under the name, “Building the Beloved Community.”
This title harkens back to the vision most vividly articulated by Martin Luther King, Jr. of a tough-minded and strong-hearted intentional community devoted to working across racial and cultural lines that normally divide us.
Working toward this aim, community-building efforts are offered by most every aspect of our congregation, from music to religious education, social justice activities, theater, lectures, social mixers and speakers. This work can not be completed by one group alone. We invite your participation, either as a participant in one of the events, or by putting your good-intentions into action.
Beloved Community Mailing List
If you’d like more information about events that are focused on issues of race, culture and equity, or about All Souls, please click HERE and give us your e-mail. (http://lists.all-souls.org/listinfo/building-the-beloved-community)
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How We’re Building the Beloved Community
All Souls is committed to being an intentional multi-racial, multicultural spiritual community where the divisions that often divide the human family are named and dismantled. Communities are known by the stories they create and share, and by the experiences they provide. Here are a few ways we’re working to do justice-making, day by day.
- KUUMBA Players (http://www.all-souls.org/kuumba-players)
- White, Anti-Racist Allies (http://uuallies.org)
- Melissa Harris Lacewell
- Rob Hardies on Black and Gay
- Rob Hardies and Shana Lynngood on Building the Beloved Community Sunday
- Diverse & Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUUUMM)
- Youth and Young Adults of Color
- African Descent Caucus
- Asian/Pacific Islander Caucus (A/PIC)
- White, Anti-Racist Allies
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The All Souls pulpit is often the site for articulating powerful visions of what it takes to live up to the challenge of being a multi-racial, multicultural community. Check out a few of the voices that have spoken elegantly on these topics:
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Calendar of Events
Click here to see an updated schedule of events that focus on issues of race, culture and equity at All Souls. (http://www.localendar.com/public/btbc)
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Opportunities for Volunteering
We gladly welcome your ideas, feedback and HELP in creating and sustaining this work. Let us know if you’d like to contribute to this work. We particularly seek people who can help with creating and promoting events that help to inform and deepen the work of building a multi-racial, multicultural spiritual community at All Souls.
For more information, contact BtBC’s facilitator, Mark Hicks at mhicks at gmu.edu, or All Souls clergy charged with supporting this work, Rev. Shana Lynngood at slyngood at allsouls.ws and/or Joyce Palmer, Director of Membership and Lay Ministries at jpalmer at allsouls.ws.
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Similar work is being done on the denominational level. For more information visit:
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