SojoAction - Uplifting Black Mamas, Uplifting Life on Wednesday, April 12 at 3 pm ET

In the United States, the maternal mortality rate for Black women in 2020 was 3 times the rate for White women in the United States. Almost two-thirds of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable.   We invite you to join us in honoring the 6th annual Black Maternal Health Week from April 11-17 by joining the webinar Uplifting Black Mamas, Uplifting Life on Wednesday, April 12 at 3 pm ET. We will focus on bringing awareness and taking action on supporting the needs of Black mamas. We are excited to participate in this weeklong campaign founded to build awareness, activism, and community-building​ to amplify ​the voices, perspectives and lived experiences of Black mamas and birthing people and the lives they bring into this world.   Register Here At SojoAction, we believe that we are called to put our faith in action to address this crisis to honor the inherent dignity and worth of mothers and their children. We know that, when women thrive, so do their families and communities and that “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy” (1 Cor 12:26). We hope you will join us for this educational webinar to help raise awareness and find ways for us to help save the lives of women and children, together. See you there, Sandy and Lauren Sandy Ovalle Martínez and Lauren W. Reliford Director of Campaigns and Mobilizing and Political Director

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Change.org Petition: Border fire deaths symptom of broken system - Urge Biden to protect immigrants

Border fire deaths symptom of broken system: urge Biden to protect immigrants 542 have signed Krisy Gashler’s petition. Let’s get to 1,000!

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At least 40 people died in an immigrant detention center on the U.S.-Mexico border after several detained people set fire to mattresses to protest the terrible conditions in the detention center, and the news that they would be deported. Surveillance videos show that guards saw the fire but made no attempt to free the imprisoned immigrants. This story is yet another tragedy of the broken U.S. immigration system.  Please sign to urge President Biden to protect immigrants and asylum seekers and to live up to his campaign promise to “take urgent action to end the Trump Administration’s draconian policies, grounded in fear and racism rather than fact, work to heal the wounds inflicted on immigrant communities, and restore America’s moral leadership.” During the Trump administration, “ICE expanded the immigration detention system by over 50 percent, signing contracts to open over 40 new detention facilities. This expansion overwhelmingly benefitted private prison companies, which housed 91 percent of all people held in detention centers that opened during those years,” according to the ACLU. This needless and expensive expansion of immigrant detention costs taxpayers billions of dollars, enriches private prison operators like GEO Group, and destroys the lives of people who need help, not handcuffs. Although President Biden has undone some of Trump’s most horrific attacks on immigrants, he has continued his needless criminalization of asylum seeking. There is a better way, and Biden knows it – during the final years of the Obama administration, the US government implemented the “Family Case Management Program,” under which safely vetted asylum seekers were free to live in peace in communities while they awaited the outcome of their hearings – which frequently take months to years to be decided. The program “achieved a 99% compliance rate with ICE and immigration court requirements at a fraction of the cost of detention and supported hundreds of families in finding stability in their communities, [while] supporting them with their immigration requirements,” according to the Women’s Refugee Commission. From a purely economic standpoint, it is ludicrous for our government to imprison asylum seekers: the Family Case Management program cost taxpayers just $36 per day per family, compared to $319 per day per person for detention. But this issue is not purely economic. It is also ethical: we are bankrupting ourselves, financially and morally, to maintain our xenophobic hatred of immigrants and refugees. Please sign to urge President Biden to: End the criminalization of asylum-seeking. Reinstitute the Family Case Management Program. Cut all ties with private prison corporations, which have perverse incentives to imprison peaceful human beings, and have repeatedly violated basic norms of human rights.  Spend our money on more judges, not more prisons. No one benefits from the current system, except private prison operators. In solidarity, Mina Takahashi, Sangeeta Pratap, Esther Lee, Dan Gashler, and Krisy Gashler, on behalf of Delaware County Citizens for Refugee Support

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Presbyterian Peace Fellowship - It's time to ban assault rifles.

‌ It's time to ban assault rifles Let us love, not in truth or speech, but in truth and action. ~ 1 John 3:18 We pray. We act.  We pray. We act.  We pray. We act.  We pray to tend our hearts so that we will not fall numb to this violence.  We pray to lift up those who are most suffering from systems of oppression, systems that drive people to violence and that cause children to die on our watch, in our schools.  We pray specifically for those children and families who lost loved ones.  And we pray specifically today for trans people, who continue to be targeted and experience violence in the name of Christianity. We pray to clarify our longing...  ...to imagine a world where our greatest weapons are truth, compassion and love, ...to imagine a world where all people feel support, care and belonging just as they are.  Today we offer you a few prayers to support you and your community as you hold each other inside of the grief and rage and sorrow that emerge when we stand together in the wake of another school shooting. Download the congregational toolkit (includes prayer vigil) Pray the Truth and Action Litany And… we invite you to act.  Guns are the leading cause of death among children  and teens in the United States. And there is one clear step we can ask congress to take to help save lives. Ban assault rifles.  We ask that you call your senators and representatives this week and ask them to pass S.25 - Assault Weapons Ban of 2023  Since the lapse in 2004 of the federal assault weapons ban, assault style weapons with large-capacity ammunition magazines have become the favorite weapon of those who wish to do harm.  According to Giffords Law Center, an analysis of public mass shootings resulting in four or more deaths found that more than 85% of such fatalities were caused by an assault style rifle.   Here is how you can contact your lawmakers. Share that you stand with the 67% of Americans who support a ban on assault style weapons and want congress to prioritize children's lives over gun industry profits by passing the Assault Weapons Ban of 2023.    TAKE ACTION The good news is that we don’t have to wait on legislators to take action. We can do something in our own communities now. We can dismantle guns and forge them into tools that grow food.  There are few ways to get rid of a gun and ensure it will not cause future harm unless you chop it up. Even gun parts, if not dismantled properly, can be used again to create new weapons. Be a part of the growing movement to use church parking lots as safe surrender sites where unwanted guns can be dismantled permanently.  We invite you to commit to joining the next action circle for our Guns To Gardens campaign. On June 10 we will host a national day of action and churches around the nation will host events where they chop up unwanted guns. (You can read about prior national action days here and here.) Sign up for this five-week action circle that starts on May 4, 2023 to learn how to dismantle a gun, how to plan for your event, support to create liturgy and healing space for those who bring in weapons, and more.  With grief and determination, Rev. Deanna Hollas Gun Violence Prevention Coordinator

SojoMail - Churches should be outraged by U.S. immigration policy

U.S. Immigration Policy Kills. Where Is the Church? Sandy Ovalle At least 38 migrants were consumed by a fire — reportedly started by some of the migrants in protest — at a government-run immigrant detention facility in Ciudad Juárez, México late night Monday; nearly 30 more were injured. These deaths are the human cost of U.S. immigration policies primarily intended to deter people seeking asylum from ever reaching our borders. Bad policy kills. I am not sure what else needs to happen so the entire U.S. church wakes up to the realities of the evils entrenched in our immigration system. Honoring the dignity of all people is our calling as Christians; no other entity is tasked with recognizing the image of God in every person. Our Latine brothers and sisters are leading the way, but the whole church should be outraged; we should be demonstrating without ceasing. We should not let people sleep until they see the humanity of every migrant. If you are having trouble following all the policies that will or could impact immigrant communities, you are in good company; there’s seemingly no end to the ways this nation is trying to hurt immigrants. But one thing is clear: No matter who is in office, Democrats and Republicans alike fail to deliver policies and protections that honor the dignity of immigrant people. READ THE FULL ARTICLE Forward Share

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Our Latest How Christianity Affirms My Blackness (by Cassandra Ogbevire) When I experienced racial discrimination, misogynoir, and challenging seasons of my life, my Christian faith sustained me. The Harlem Sunday School Teacher Who May Prosecute Trump (by Meagan Saliashvili) Alvin Bragg’s role as Manhattan DA is influenced by his devoted Baptist faith, and it goes far beyond investigating former presidents. My Trans Identity Was Forged In the Wilderness (by Shannon T.L. Kearns) Wilderness moments are vital for our maturation as humans and as followers of Jesus. The Liberating Theology That Transformed My Understanding of God (by Lauren W. Reliford) When I learned about womanist theology, I realized I had been missing a key element of my faith.

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From the Magazine No Room in the Inn? Go Straight to Jail (by Eric Tars) Churches beware: Big bucks are funding bad state-level homelessness policy.

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Money, Faith and You: Online Study Groups What does Christian faith say about managing our money in ways that support people and the planet? Faith and Money Network’s study groups meet via video conference to study and discuss faith-driven approaches to daily life’s money choices. New group starts in April! MCC full-time Training and Development Specialist MCC seeks a full-time HR Training and Development Specialist to facilitate learning and development for U.S. staff. Will develop and implement a training program, facilitate the performance review process, support staff and supervisors with individual development plans, and optimize use of available training tools. Apply by April 10. Weaving a New Story of Meaning, April 28–29 Join author and integrator Jeremy Lent and musician Sara Thomsen for a two-day learning session, April 28–29, in person in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or live from anywhere via Zoom. We will explore a new worldview of deep interconnectedness and discuss an integrated framework for well-being and spiritual groundedness.  This Easter, be a steward of the earth to protect all of God’s creation. We are all God’s creation. Our actions have an impact on the health of our community, shared home, and planet. Caring for our climate means caring for our neighbors and one another – just as the Lord intended. This Easter, answer the call and be a steward of the earth. Sojourners Fellowship Program  Interested in combining your faith and passion for social justice? Apply to Sojourners' yearlong fellowship program. The holistic program offers an entry-level position in our office and shared life in intentional Christian community. The application deadline is April 17, 2023 for the next cohort starting in August 2023.

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Ministry Matters - Special edition: responding to gun violence's horrors

As we lament and reflect on the deadly shooting at Covenant School, we share this special edition of our weekly email. This week you will find some articles from our collection that offer reflections and responses in light of horrible tragedy and gun violence. You will find connections to resources for taking steps toward reducing risks in our congregational life, leading courageous conversations in your communities, and taking steps toward advocating for meaningful change in our world too frequently ravaged by senseless bloodshed.

What can we say? Healing wounded souls by Joni Sancken   In the midst of serious trauma and other more common wounding experiences, preachers can help. As agents of grace we can contribute to God’s healing for those with soul wounds. We can also foster resiliency in our congregations so that they can better weather the storms of faith and life and emerge as powerful witnesses to God’s activity in our world. Read here

Can we reframe the conversation and lead toward meaningful change? Can church leaders help reframe the gun debate? by Lovett Weems   Today all leaders face a dilemma that cries out for reframing — the debate about the dramatic number of people in the United States who die by guns each year, far beyond the death rate for gun violence in other countries. There is no one way to reframe this hot button issue, but all of us must seek to give thoughtful people alternatives. Here is one possibility. Read here

Is there a better definition of freedom? Gun control: a biblical and theological case by Matthew Kelley   Today all leaders face a dilemma that cries out for reframing — the debate about the dramatic number of people in the United States who die by guns each year, far beyond the death rate for gun violence in other countries. There is no one way to reframe this hot button issue, but all of us must seek to give thoughtful people alternatives. Here is one possibility. Read here

Have we learned anything from Abraham's witness, or not? Binding our children in our 'modern' age by Cameron Merrill   In the midrashim reflecting on Abraham’s journey up Mount Moriah, one of the rabbis says that God waved Abraham around like an ensign, like a flag for all the world to see. Most of our translations set the scene by saying that God put Abraham to the test. So, does Abraham pass the test? Read here

Moving Toward a Safer Church   Even while recent events bring acute attention, the truth is that we should always take steps to reduce these risks but often don’t know where to start or what to do. Join Rev. Ken Sloane, Director of Stewardship and Generosity and guest presenter Jeff Koch, president and CEO of the United Methodist Insurance Company, as they explore the many ways your congregation can be moving toward a safer church. Webinar on Tuesday, April 18 at 6:30pm CDT.

Courageous Conversation about Gun Violence   A resource from The United Methodist Church's Discipleship Ministries office, for hosting a courageous conversation with members of your community to open up dialogue around gun control, Christian identity, and our calling as the church.

Kingdom Dreams, Violent Realities: A Bible study   A three-week Bible study, produced by the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society. This resource helps us identify and articulate the common good that is essential in our policies and attitudes toward guns, giving us faith-filled conversations about this public health epidemic.

5 Ways to improve the safety and security of your place of worship   A three-week Bible study, produced by the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society. This resource helps us identify and articulate the common good that is essential in our policies and attitudes toward guns, giving us faith-filled conversations about this public health epidemic.