The Sabbath Year could not be off to a better start on the Congregations end of things! Jubilee Sunday on January 21 was an enormous success.
After seven new congregations signed up with Jubilee USA the week of Jubilee Sunday, a bunch of the existing Jubilee Congregations that participated in a special service shared experiences on the Jubilee Congregations conference call, and I shared my own impressions of the Jubilee service I attended. The following two blogs are our Jubilee Sunday stories.
'Ready to Rise' on Jubilee Sunday
Visit the Jubilee USA site to learn about becoming a Jubilee Congregation.
I had the genuine pleasure of attending a Jubilee Sunday service at The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Virginia, on an invitation from Barbara Johnson of the churchâs social action committee.
After spending much time promoting the Jubilee worship materials, it was amazing to see the materials come to life. The church stood and sang the Jubilee Hymn âAre You Ready to Rise?â that was distributed in our worship packet. The song was led powerfully by Noelle Stanley. They also used the dramatic script of âChild of the World, Child of Debt,â performed stunningly by Ann Terpstra and Lance Haworth. When Reality Man dumped the dirt into Child of the Worldâs water glass, I almost cried. Lance told me he always gets chosen as the villain ever since he impressed everybody as the Grinch in a Christmas play. I made a mental note of that for the next âIMF stole Christmasâ protest.
The ministerial intern Archene Turner did a moving sermon and tied it to racism in America after speaking about the history of Jubilee activism as well as doing the Luke 4 scripture reading and reflection. I set up a literature and action table after each of two services. By the end of the day, I had collected about 30 valentines for our February 6, Liberia action and later received several thoughtful and inquisitive emails from folks I met that day.
I had a wonderful day. They all invited me to come back again, and I donât intend to pass that generous invitation up.
—post by Nate Fishman
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