Talking With Children About Gun Violence
How can we help our children understand shootings that we don’t understand ourselves? It’s a conversation no one wants to have, but we must because our children will hear about them from other sources.
Three rules always apply before you speak:
• process your emotions first with a trusted adult,
• start where your child, grandchild, or neighbourhood child is,
• and listen.
A Word from Laura: After Uvalde
Following the apostle’s call to weep with those who weep, this week we have joined with those from Uvalde to Laguna Woods to Buffalo and everywhere in between grieving the senseless loss of lives to gun violence.
Worship Ministry: June Worship
We’re excited to share with you that next month brings some worship services we hope will deepen our connections in faith as a community living into God’s love and justice, and we want you to join us in person!
Reporting Voter Suppression at the Polls
Voter intimidation can take many forms -from activists giving out misleading election information outside of a polling place to disruptive behavior inside or near a polling place. Even broken voting machines are a form of voter suppression. And voter intimidation can come from anyone: other voters, bystanders, law enforcement, and election officials themselves.
Read more …
A Word from Laura: Power of Peace
Almost a week after the murders in the Buffalo supermarket, of ten people shot by a white man who claimed to be targeting Black people, our hearts are still breaking. I have heard some Black friends speak of not feeling safe in public, of being re-traumatized by dangerously pervasive white supremacist ideology. I have heard white friends and Western members wanting just to do something. In this time when communities remain overwhelmed by this ever-mutating disease, and we all work more to achieve a sense of normalcy, I feel powerless.
A Word from Laura: Reclaiming Scripture
“Laura, it’s not your ministry that I’m frustrates me; I just think I’m done with organized religion.”
One of you shared your frustration with Christian faith recently. (Part of me wanted to say, “Yes, but at Western we’re not THAT organized!”) Your frustration at the “Christian” organization behind the impending overturn of Roe v. Wade had broken your heart. You hadn’t been part of the Free Inquiry discussions on public theology, nor had you been part of one of the conversations about what it means for our congregation to become more intentionally antiracist and intercultural. I’m not judging; these days it’s hard to stay connected with the faith we share at Western if you’re not able to be with us in person on Sundays and you’re not interested in engaging on-line.