… doing the work to create a just world

We function within and benefit from centuries-long oppression and the system that perpetuates it. We therefore have the responsibility to take action and change it.

It is the responsibility of each of us individually and all of us together to examine how our community is impacted, learn more than we now know, and engage directly in the political and spiritual movements for change in our communities and our country. UUCR invites you to locate yourself in this movement. We offer multigenerational programs through our committees and Lifespan Religious Education program, and for the whole congregation. We are committed to creating a just world for all people. Our evolving program includes the following:

• Raising a Black Lives Matter banner in June 2020 on church grounds as an outward symbol of our determination to do the work of justice and healing
• Providing ongoing learning sessions for children and teens about the “herstory” of the BLM movement, including reflection on UUCR’s choice to raise a banner
• Passing a Governing Board Black Lives Matter resolution in June 2020, pledging that we will not be silent or complacent in the face of police violence, systemic racism, and anti-Blackness
• Participating in a five-session series created by Side With Love and the UU Service Committee to understand the BREATHE Act, which seeks to reform federal laws and eliminate funding for federal programs that criminalize Black, Muslim, and immigrant communities, instead reinvesting resources in community solutions for education, health, and the environment
• Joining in a June 2020 rally for racial justice sponsored by Reading Embraces Diversity, the Reading Human Relations Advisory Committee, and concerned citizens
• Taking part in Race Matters all-church book reads and discussions:
  • The Selma Awakening (2014)
  • Waking Up White (2015)
  • Hosting Debbie Irving, author of Waking Up White, with the Reading Clergy Association and the Reading Public Library (2016)
  • White Fragility-Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism (2018, 2019)
• Offering a three-session adaptation of the UUA curriculum Be the Change: A UU Training for Building Multicultural, Anti-Racist Beloved Community
• Taking part in an annual overnight with Boston CityReach, experiential learning with people who are unhoused and/or living in need of basic services
• Marching with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and learning to create and sustain a peaceful environment
• Offering a seven-week story series for children featuring material that decenters whiteness
• Participating in the UU Service Committee’s Guest at Your Table to learn about advancing human rights and social justice around the world
• Cooking a monthly meal for the guests at Bread and Roses in Lawrence and teaching older youth about issues of food injustice
• Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and partnering each year with Reading Cares for a Saturday of Service
• Learning about climate justice from the UUCR Green Sanctuary Team
• Supporting Community InRoads, to help address profound social inequities in Lawrence
• Sharing every offertory collection with a non-profit organization that makes a real-world difference and shares our UU values
• Raising funds for the high school and college education of a young UU in the Philippines
• Providing Christmas packages for about 80 children and youth in the care of the MA Department of Children and Families
• Hosting an ongoing collection for the Reading Food Pantry
• Collecting signatures for minimum-wage and paid sick-leave ballot initiatives
• Offering the Our Whole Lives curriculum for middle school students, which includes focused learning on justice and inclusion
• Conducting study and action around causes that children and teens propose
• “Peace-ing It Together” to learn about issues of systemic racism, with a focus on prisons

We’d love for you to join us at any level of involvement. Please contact our Member Services & Volunteer Coordinator for more information.