Be the Healing Conference 2021 with Dr. Joy DeGruy
2021-10-08 08:30 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Conference Objectives
At the completion of this conference, participants will:

Understand how the structural inequalities beginning with the period of enslavement continue to impact African Americans and their communities today.
Select and apply strategies to enhance empowerment for African American populations at risk, and to promote economic and social justice.
Analyze relevant concepts of the Relationship Approach and the Philosophical Aspect of cultural difference as a basis for understanding the behaviors of African American individuals and families within their social/cultural environments.
Examine and investigate culturally appropriate interventions including “Virtues Training” for work with African American individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities.
Understand the role that social learning theory and learned helplessness has played in the adaptive behaviors of African Americans and other racial and ethnic groups.
Apply improvement tools in work with individuals, families and communities.

A Latine Caribbean Celebration in Words of Praise!
2021-10-14 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
A Latine Caribbean Celebration in Words of Praise!
Join us as the United Church of Christ continues to celebrate Latine/Hispanic History Month with the celebration of UCC Leaders of Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban Descendant share their stories of faith, hope and love.

Doctrine of Discovery Hawaii
2021-10-19 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
In their own voices, Hawaii will discuss the destructiveness of the Doctrine of Discovery past and present on their people and how it differs from the experiences of present-day Americas.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Spirit Day with GLAAD
2021-10-21
On October 21, 2021, millions will go purple to stand against bullying and in support of LGBTQ youth. Take the pledge now and go purple on October 21. Purple symbolizes ‘spirit’ on the rainbow flag.
Spirit Day is about speaking out against bullying and standing with LGBTQ youth, who disproportionately face bullying and harassment. Pledging to “go purple” on Spirit Day is a way for everyone — companies, global leaders, celebrities, neighbors, parents, teachers, classmates, and friends — to visibly show solidarity with LGBTQ youth and to take part in the largest, most visible anti-LGBTQ bullying campaign in the world.
The United Church of Christ is partnering with GLAAD to raise awareness for the ongoing struggle for justice and equality for our LGBTQ+ siblings. Be in solidarity by taking the pledge, wearing purple on October 21, and posting to social media to show your support for our LGBTQ+ siblings and a just world for all.
Download UCC Spirit Day social media images

The Sermons That Keep Preaching
2021-10-21 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
It’s said that the sermons preachers preach fall into a few key themes, year after year. Join a panel of local pastors thinking through the sermons that keep coming back, year after year, and why those messages continue to be critically important. In times of crisis and calm, we lean on our faith to guide us through. What are the messages that have resonated through the scripture and through the ages?
Thursdays for the Soul is a webinar series to care for the whole church. Topics are wide-ranging and are focused on the spirituality and care of people. Prayer, worship, music, psalm readings, or compassionate teaching are included. This will be a predictable time of gathering for something to feed your spirit.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

What Shall We Say to These Things? Crafting a Social Gospel for the 21st Century
2021-10-26 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Join us for a 90-minute inter-generational conversation, between Ruby Sales: a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s, founder of the Spirit House Project, and one of fifty African Americans spotlighted in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History; and Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Ferguson Commissioner and activist, co-founder of Campaign Zero, NBC News and MSNBC contributor, and member of President Obama’s 21st Century Task Force, as we discuss the current role of faith and faith leaders in the midst of socio-political crisis. This conversation will be moderated by Rev. Traci Blackmon.
Watch the recording of “The People’s Inauguration.” https://thepeoplesinauguration.org/
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Celtic Worship
2021-10-28 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
In this ongoing season of Lent and as we gather ourselves in for all to follow; pour yerself a cup of tea, wouldja, and join in on the day after St. Patrick’s for some traditional Celtic music by Laureano Sanchez and worship led by Rev. Dr. Chris Davies, Rev. Brendan Curran, and Chaplain Lynn Cooper.
A blessing from the 19th-century compendium of Gaelic prayer, the Carmina Gadelica:
The guarding of the God of life be upon me,
The guarding of loving Christ be upon me,
The guarding of the Holy Spirit be upon me,
Each step of the way,
To aid me and enfold me,
Each day and night of my life.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Church-Based Reparations
2021-11-02 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Church-Based Reparations
There is a growing call among many US religious groups to explore financial reparations as part of amends through financial investments and long-term programs benefiting African Americans.
We will explore the theological grounding for reparations and will share learnings, mistakes, suggestions for the next steps and practices for engaging the work. Join us for an ecumenical panel discussion of representatives of various predominantly white congregations and entities who have engaged in reparations.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

OWL Taking Flight: OWL and Racial Justice
2021-11-03 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
OWL Taking Flight: Racial Justice Replay! Take time to watch or review this practical and reflective conversation with OWL Trainers of Color about how to be more intentionally anti-racist as an OWL facilitator.

Mysticism and Mindfulness
2021-11-04 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Mysticism and Mindfulness
This webinar will offer conversation and practice from some of the leading mystics and mindfulness practitioners in the UCC. Come and listen alongside Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer, Shannon Abbott, Rev. Dr. John T. Myers and Rev. Brendan Curran. Come where you are with a willing heart and spirit, and leave grounded and nourished.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Disabilities, Mental Health, and Racial Justice
2021-11-09 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Disabilities, Mental Health, and Racial Justice
Join international disabilities scholar Rev. Dr. John Swinton and UCC’s Minister for Disabilities and Mental Health Justice Rev. Dr. Sarah Lund for a theological and practical conversation about God’s calling for us to create communities of radical belonging and liberating love.
We will explore the intersections of disability justice, mental health justice, and racial justice. We will share suggestions for how faith communities can live out this call for radical belonging, liberating love, and justice.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Digital Funerals & Grief: A Conversation & Ritual
2021-11-11 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
As we collectively both prevent and respond to what is happening in our world, the impacts of a global pandemic on how we grieve continue to offer both opportunities and demand creativity in keeping people safe.
On this panel, we will be talking through the reality of what many are experiencing as grief goes digital. We will look towards how local pastors and chaplains are offering opportunities to grieve, through what has been a shared experience of collective trauma in this age. And together, we will hold a service of collective grief.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Stigma, Science, and the Sacred: The Role of Faith Communities in Addressing Biomedical (Vaccine) Stigma
2021-11-16 11:00 - 12:00 | Zoom
An intentional conversation on the important role of faith communities in addressing scientific stigma and dismantling barriers to biomedical prevention and treatment access.
Presenters:
Ulysses Burley, Founder, UBtheCURE, LLC
Louis Shackelford, Project Manager External Relations, COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) & HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN)

Faith — Trauma & Healing
2021-11-16 15:00 - 16:00 | Zoom
An engaging conversation on how faith can be both a source of trauma and healing, centering the experiences, journeys, and perspectives of stigmatized people from marginalized and vulnerable communities.
Presenters:
Rev. Michael Crumpler, LGBTQ and Multicultural Programing Coordinator, Unitarian Universalist Association
Min. Erica Poellot, Director of Faith and Community Partnerships, National Harm Reduction Coalition, & Director of Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention, United Church of Christ
Kamal Fizazi, J.D., Leadership Team Member, U.S. HIV AIDS Faith Coalition

State of Creation
2021-11-16 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
What is necessary to halt the deleterious effects of climate change in the 21st century? Join Rev. Brooks Berndt, Minister for Environmental Justice, UCC, and Jim Antal, author, public theologian, Special Advisor on Climate Justice to the General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ.
Rev. Antal will address:
• The current state of climate change
• The impact of the roll-back of over 100 EPA regulations and disengagement from the Climate Accord; needed reforms
• The role and responsibility of people of faith
• Actions we can engage both as individuals and as communities in 2021
Join us in a formal address from Rev. Antal as well as some dialogue moderated by Rev. Brooks Berndt about what we can do together to ensure God’s creation thrives in 2021 and beyond.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Queer the Church
2021-11-18 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Darrell Goodwin and Chris Davies are queer leaders in the United Church of Christ. They have worked together: visioning, dreaming and praying for a future where the United Church of Christ is relevant for the past several years. Come with your questions, dreams and spirituality, and listen alongside their conversation of Call, faith and hope…for who we are, and who we can be: where every voice is honored along the journey. While they will be speaking from their own place of identity and call; this offering is not only for queer-identified people but for ALL people seeking a place of rest for the soul.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

What is the Doctrine of Discovery?
2021-11-23 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
In their own voices, First Nations Indigenous People will discuss the destructiveness of the Doctrine of Discovery on their peoples in what is presently known as the Americas and the Caribbean.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Let’s Talk About Abortion
2021-11-30 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Let’s Talk About Abortion
Abortion access is an issue of faith! The United Church of Christ has had a strong history of supporting access to safe and healthy abortion since before Roe V. Wade. UCC Clergy have been advocating for the women and people who need abortions for decades!
Join for a conversation with Elaina Ramsey, Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Sandy Sorenson, United Church of Christ DC Team Leader, and Rev. Dr. Chris Davies, advocate for abortion access in Ohio.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

OWL Taking Flight: Sex Ed Trivia!
2021-12-01 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
Join us for an interactive time with sex ed trivia and prizes!

Global HOPE Blue Christmas Worship
2021-12-01 14:00 - 15:00 | Zoom
Join us on Wednesday, Dec 1, 2pm ET for a virtual worship service with Team Global HOPE at UCC National Ministries for a Blue Christmas worship service. Blue Christmas services traditionally provide space for those who don’t feel so “merry and bright” during the holiday season.
This service seeks to recognize and stand in solidarity with the experiences of those aggrieved or displaced by disaster or forced migration in 2021. We remember that we are called to stand in solidarity with the captive and the oppressed, and work together with God’s guidance to create a just world for all. UCC Clergy and choirs engaged in humanitarian ministries across the denomination will be providing reflective liturgy, music, and preaching during this event.
We will be celebrating communion together virtually so please have something to eat and drink ready. It can be whatever you have on hand, not necessarily bread and juice. This event will be recorded for later availability or use in local Blue Christmas events.

Purple Church
2021-12-02 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Purple Church
The United Church of Christ contains people with a wide spectrum of theological beliefs and political alignment. People who choose to be in a church that holds differences of opinion often do so with a few different strategies of love and conflict management.
In this conversation, we will hear from leaders of Purple Churches, or churches that have members across the theological/social/political lines, about how they show up authentically with each other in the midst of difference.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

The History of Afro-Christian Churches in the UCC
2021-12-07 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
The History of Afro-Christian Churches
In 1957, when the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational and Christian Churches formed the United Church of Christ, there was a fifth stream that fed into our formation, the Afro-Christian Church.
While it maintained a Christian identity, it was an independent and separate organizational structure comprised of the Afro Christian Convention, five conferences, 150 churches, 25,000 members, 185 ordained ministers, and licentiates.
Join us as we hear of this rich legacy from Dr. Yvonne Delk, a daughter of the Afro-Christian tradition and spiritual leader in our midst.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

The State of Black Bodies in the US
2021-12-09 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Dean Kelly Brown Douglas is Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Theology at Union. She also serves as the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral and Theologian in Residence at Trinity Church Wall Street.
Her groundbreaking and widely taught book Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective (1999) was the first to address the issue of homophobia within the black church community. Her latest book, Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God (2015), examines the challenges of a “Stand Your Ground” culture for the black church. The publication of her next book, “Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter,” is forthcoming.
Join us as Dean Douglas invited us to consider the current state of Black liberation in this country and how we must contend with the myth of Anglo-Saxon Exceptionalism.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

The State of Rural Churches & Communities
2021-12-14 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
In rural and small towns, the church is often a focal point for the spiritual and social well being of a community. During these times of health, economic, and social uncertainties facing the U.S., how are UCC congregations serving rural and small towns, and what are they doing to meet the needs of their communities?
In the United Church of Christ, rural and small congregations make up 60% of the denomination and are the backbone of the UCC.
Join Roberto Ochoa, UCC Program Associate for Congregations of Color/Ethnic Identified Congregations as he moderates a panel of Conference and pastoral leaders as they bring a voice to the celebrations, challenges, and the needs of leading UCC congregations in a rural/small-town setting.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Blue Christmas Service
2021-12-16 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year—or is it? For many, it echoes old griefs and illuminates the new. When so many things have changed this year, we’ve lost people important to us, and so many hold their hardest parts in isolation, This Christmas will be so difficult for so many people.
Blue Christmas is a service that holds the tension of the grief and difficulty of the season for many, in tension and awareness of the societal messages that Christmas is a season of ONLY JOY—at the expense of all other feelings and circumstances.
Jesus’ mother Mary will be our guide for this journey as she reminds us of God’s presence in the midst of our suffering. Join us for a worship service “Mary’s Blue Christmas” hosted by the National Setting’s Thursday’s for the Soul in partnership with the Overdose and Drug Use Ministries as well as the UCC Mental Health Network.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

Hymn Sing!
2021-12-21 15:30 - 16:30
Hymn Sing!
Join us as we gather together to listen to the music of advent and Christmas, sing along, and close the year off together! You are welcome to dress up and “show off” your Christmas spirit throughout the program. We are looking forward to being together digitally once again this year.
*Please note this session is pre-recorded.

OWL Taking Flight: OWL Revisions – Flight Status
2022-01-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
Join us to learn the status of revisions and updates to various levels of OWL, what is out of print and why, and what to do until publication.

Grace Emerged Visible
2022-01-06 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
Come and worship with members of the national setting as we observe Epiphany and explore “the responsibility to distribute God’s grace.” (Ephesians 3:2a CEB)

Getting Congress to Act: Strategies, Tactics, and Vision for 2022
2022-01-12 13:00 - 14:00 | Zoom
Frederick Douglass once said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” This webinar will focus on the art and craft of making a demand while casting a vision of what can be achieved in the year ahead. In this instance, we will focus specifically on how people of faith can best organize themselves to place pressure on Congress to act in 2022. For insight and guidance, we will turn to those with experience as organizers working locally and nationally:

Rev. A. Kazimir Brown, Co-Leader of the National Faith Team for the Poor People’s Campaign
Rev. Chibuzo Nimmo Petty, Senior Organizer at For Our Future
Kim McMurray, Field Director for Indivisible

Even if you cannot make the webinar at its scheduled time, still sign-up, and we will send you a link to a recording of it.
This monthly installment of Creation Justice Webinars is co-hosted by the Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt who serves as the Minister of Environmental Justice for the United Church of Christ and the Rev. Michael Malcom who serves as the Executive Director for Alabama Interfaith Power & Light and the People’s Justice Council.

Queerness & Disability: Showing up as our Full Selves
2022-01-13 15:30 - 16:30 | Zoom
To many members of both the LGBTQ+ and disability communities, the intersection between Queerness and Disability may not be obvious. But for people who identify as both queer and disabled, this particular intersectional identity can strongly inform their understandings of self, others, and God. Join queer, disabled members of the UCC Disabilities Ministries Board as they discuss invisible identities, self discovery, and living outside the box.
