Ever Flowing Streams 2013
In This Issue
Praying with our Legs: On Pilgrimage Against Fracked Gas
A Vision of the Beloved: Building Solidarity in the Age of Ferguson
We Cry Out Our Cry of Hope
UCC Criminal Justice Gathering to Precede Ecumenical Advocacy Days
Immigrants Day at the State House
Low Wages: The Fight for 15
Spirit and Healing in a Violent World
House Bill will Assist Elders, Others
Mass Interfaith Power & Light Events
NOHO Pride
Faithful Readiness: Preparing for Disasters
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April 2015 
Praying with our Legs: 
On Pilgrimage Against Fracked Gas
by Patrick Cage
MACUCC Climate Justice Intern

When you start to do the research, you realize that basically nobody outside the Kinder Morgan boardroom wants this pipeline.

You might be an affected landowner dismayed at the surveyors in your yard, knowing the health risks and falling property values that a pipeline brings. You could be a climate hawk, aware that natural gas is a hesitation and not an answer to climate change. Maybe you are a conservationist, repulsed by the scar the pipeline cuts into forests under preserve, or a citizen alarmed by the toll fracking takes on rural communities in Pennsylvania. Perhaps you are a local troubled by the risk of gas leaks or explosions, or another Massachusetts taxpayer incensed at Kinder Morgan's attempt to pass their pipeline's several billion dollar price tag to ratepayers, despire the fact that most of the gas is for export. 

These pipes have such an ecosystem of problems that the campaign growing to oppose them is one of the most exciting frontiers of climate action in New England. Pipeline opposition brings folks of different stripes together, just as faith can.

And it is this story of unity that has me so enthused to join the Pipeline Pilgrimage, a faith-based, Quaker-led - and spirit-led - walk along the proposed route of the Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline over the first twelve days of April.  

A Vision of the Beloved: Building Solidarity in the Age of  Ferguson
Sunday, April 12, 2015 4:30 p.m.
Hope Central Church
85 Seaverns Ave., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Please join us for a critical conversation with Rev. Traci Blackmon, Pastor of Christ the King, UCC in the Ferguson area. As people of faith we are called to
love one another as Christ has loved us. What does this mean for the church in the 21st century when the problem of the American democracy is still the color line? 

Rev. Traci Blackmon is a nationally recognized preacher and speaker, ordained in the United Church of Christ and the African Methodist Episcopal Church,
who has been ministering on the front lines of the Ferguson demonstrations since the beginning. Her early and prominent response to racial tensions in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown earned her an appointment to the Ferguson Commission. 

 

For directions and to register, visit our website.

We Cry Out Our Cry of Hope
by John Buttrick for Global Ministries

The words of the Kairos Palestine document, written by clergy and laity of thirteen Christian communions, issue a call to local Christians, Palestinian and Israeli religious and political leaders and civil society, the international community, and to Christians and churches around the world. Now is the Kairos time, they write, God's time breaking in, to heed the reality of Palestinian daily life. This time set aside for creative resistance (4.2.3) to the issues of military occupation which dictate and control the lives of people residing in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

UCC Criminal Justice Gathering to Precede Ecumenical Advocacy Days

Breaking the Chains: Mass Incarceration & Systems of Exploitation ~ April 17-20, 2015

Doubletree Hotel, Crystal City, Washington D.C.  

Ecumenical Advocacy Days is designed to educate and empower grassroots religious advocates to speak out to political leaders on policies that impact our world. More information and registration info is available here.

UCC Justice and Witness Ministries will be hosting a gathering of UCC advocates interested in advocacy and organizing around criminal justice issues immediately prior to the Ecumenical Advocacy Days Conference on Friday, April 17, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church in Washington, DC. Learn more and register here.

Immigrants Day at the State House
The Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition invites all interested to join them at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 14, on Beacon Hill for Immigrants Day at the State House, the largest annual immigrant advocacy day in New England.

Moderated this year by Boston City Councillor Ayanna Pressley, the program features a keynote address by the Senior Pastor at Leon de Juda ministry, Dr. Roberto Miranda, and a welcome by Winchester Senator Jason Lewis. Afterward, the crowd of 700 immigrants and allies will break into groups to meet with state legislators about crucial budget items such as Adult Basic Education, worker training, and domestic violence treatment, and about important legislation such as the Safe Driving bill and the Massachusetts Trust Act. 
Low Wages: The Fight for 15
From UCC Justice and Peace Action Network: This month, low-wage workers - in fast food, home care, retail - will rally in support of higher wages ($15/hour) and a union. All workers deserve a living wage and fair share of God's resources. 
 

Let's put our faith into action and support our hard-working, under-paid neighbors. Read more about the issue of low wages here: Jesus was a Low Paid Worker. 


A local rally will be held in Boston on Tuesday, April 14, at 4 p.m. Location is Forsyth Park (off Huntington Ave, near Northeastern University).  Ralliers will be standing up, speaking out, and fighting for fair pay at the MASSIVE rallies around the globe for the Fight for $15.

Please note the Boston rally is on April 14, NOT April 15.

Spirit and Healing in a Violent World: An Experiential Multi-Faith Conversation
Sunday, April 12, 2-5 p.m.
Open Spirit: A Place of Hope, Health & Harmony
Edwards Church, 39 Edwards St., Framingham

Violence touches all of our lives-we see it, we hear about it, we experience it, sometimes we participate in it. Join Open Spirit for a conversation about how our faith practices and spiritual traditions help us heal from the violence and help us be part of healing our world. 

Keynote speakers will be Pat Scanlon from Veterans for Peace, and Rev. Lucy Marshall, Protestant chaplain at MCI Framingham. They will be joined by a multi-faith panel including Rabbi Don Splansky, Rabbi Emeritus at Temple Beth Am; Christine Lee, coordinator of Veterans Acupuncture Care Metrowest; Philip Cantor from the Baha'I community; Chaplain Mary Lahaj from Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland.
For more information, visit www.openspiritcenter.org.
House Bill will Assist Elders, Others
From Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless
An Act Relative to House Bill 529 Improving 
the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children Program (EAEDC), is now in the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs. Lead sponsors are Representative Jim O'Day and Senator Patricia Jehlen.  
EAEDC is a state-funded cash assistance and benefits program providing support to approximately 22,000 extremely low-income individuals, administered by the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA). 
To learn how this bill would help low income elderly, disabled and children, and to find out which state officials are endorsing it, download this flyer.

Mass. Interfaith Power & Light Events
MIPL
Pricing Carbon to Combat Climate Change: What Can we Learn from British Columbia

Monday, April 13, 1 p.m.; doors open at 12:30.
Walker Memorial, Morss Hall, MIT
142 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Featuring: Premier Christy Clark
Moderated by Robert C. Armstrong, Director of MIT Energy Initiative
Presenting: Daniel Gatti, MA Campaign for a Clean Energy Future

Sustainable House of Worship Workshop
Saturday April 18, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
First Churches of Northampton
129 Main St., Northampton 
NOHO Pride is May 2

Saturday, May 2, 11 a.m.

Gather at parking lot across from Northampton Brewery, Hampton Ave. Northampton, MA

 
United Church of Christ open and affirming churches are invited to march together at NOHO Pride!
Please register your church no later than April 15. Include the church's name, approximate number of marchers, and the name, cell phone and email of a contact person. 
Email your information to: [email protected].

Download a flyer here. Visit the NOHO Pride website here.

Faithful Readiness: Preparing for Disasters

FEMA Workshop
Wednesday, May 6 
8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Salvation Army
25 Shawmut Road
Canton, MA

You are invited to attend this FEMA spring workshop and learn how to prepare your congregation to better cope with disasters. Register or find more information by emailing [email protected] with the subject line: RSVP MA. 


Endorsed by the Disaster Resource Team of the MA Conference, UCC

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