A relatively new phenomenon at East Shore is the Alternative Service Co-op, an attempt to deepen our spirituality by centering marginalized voices.
- In November, they produced a 9:00 am service centering the homeless men staying at our church.
- In February they produced a Black History Month 11:00 am service with three speakers, including Elmer Dixon, one of the founding members of the Seattle Black Panthers.
Currently, the Co-op is placing itself “in service” to help others in their events and endeavors while “going deeper” spiritually and as a community.
- On April 1st one of our congregants is presenting two services on trees and our relationship with them
- On April 6th, some congregants supported by the alternate service co-op will be putting on a workshop centering current Native American issues. Confirmed Speakers for the April 6th workshop include Ken Workman (Duwamish), Dakota Case (Puyallup), Chelsea Hendrickson (Arapaho for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women), Victoria Leistman (Sierra Club), and probably Carolyn De Ford (Puyallup)..
- On the 7th there will be two services centering Native American voices.
Our Black Lives Matter Flash Stance team will be at it again in April on the 7th (Factoria in Bellevue), the 14th (Issaquah) and the 28th (Kirkland). All events are for one hour starting at 12:30 pm. See JUUstice Washington’s calendar for more complete information.
On two dates we have world class seminars led by our nationally known Education Director, Aisha Hauser: April 14th (Conversations About Race) and the 28th (Race and Identity); April 26th Aisha will be at the Busch School leading a seminar on “Talking to Your Children About Race”. On the 28th at 4:00 pm, she and some of the Black Lives UUs will be presenting a symposium on the issue of “Cash Bail” providing information and support for Moms currently in the system. In addition, on Labor day Aisha will be doing an all levels OWL (pre-school through adults) training that affirms healthy sex ed and provides a holistic program involving but not limited to consent and relationships.
Finally, our restorative program Guru, Pam Orbach, will be presenting the last two installments of “Introduction to Non-violent Communications” in which thirty two people are registered. They are working to 1) become aware of their feelings, acknowledge them, and sit with them; and, 2) dig deeper in order to understand the needs that are underneath the feelings.
They are also learning a great deal about anger. Marshall Rosenberg (author of Nonviolent Communication) is guiding their work, through Pam Orbach. He says, “We are never angry because of what others say or do. The cause of anger lies in our thinking–in thoughts of blame and judgment. When we judge others, we contribute to violence”; Violence here is defined as including any emotional harms as well as actual physical violence.
In a previous workshop on “Restorative Practices”, a great majority was non-UU. A portion of the group was from the education sector in one way or another but from different parts of Puget Sound. The rest had a variety of reasons for being there. The workshop seemed to be very well received by them. Everyone wanted to be there; they participated. Trust in their fellow group members developed enough for people to be willing to role play in a talking circle. The role play seemed to impress everyone for realism and effectiveness for showing how talking circles are done. Watch our website calendar for repeats. Great for those wanting to go deeper and expand in both disciplines.
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