Undermining Hope, Asylum in 2019

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Our asylum laws were developed to comply with our obligations to provide refuge to persecuted people.  That system is being undermined with unprecedented attacks. What is going on and what should we do?

Since 2012 Bill Holston has been the Executive Director of Human Rights Initiative of North Texas. Prior to that he practiced law with Sullivan and Holston. Since the 1980’s Bill has provided pro bono legal representation for political and religious asylum applicants. Over the years he had clients from 21 countries in Immigration Court or before the Houston Asylum office.
In 2012 Bill left his law practice to become the Executive Director of HRI. Bill was a member of the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas. He is also a member of a the Dallas Bar Association’s Pro Bono Activities Commit-tee. Since 2008, he has been an avid mentor to young lawyers in the Dallas Bar Association’s Transition to Law Committee.
Bill is a member of the North Texas Chapter of Master Naturalists, guides hikes in the Great Trinity Forest and is an Eagle Scout. He is a commentator for KERA, and writes a column for D Magazine’s Front Burner, Law Man Walking.
Bill is married to his best friend Jill, a Dyslexia Specialist for RISD, and they have two grown sons. They attend Greenland Hills United Methodist Church.

World on Fire

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A 16-year-old named Greta Thunberg just spent two weeks crossing the Atlantic in a sailboat to keep from contributing to CO2 emissions by flying to New York. In the meantime, the U.S. is lowering fuel standards and removing limits on methane emissions by oil and gas companies. The Amazon is burning and Brazil refuses help to put the fires out. Elena Westbrook will talk about what we can do to convince more Americans that we must take action now, before the future of humanity goes up in smoke.

Meliorism: Living Between Optimism and Pessimism

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On Sunday an exploration of what realistic hope might look like. In the midst of our current chal- lenges and how we might find joy together as we work together to heal our communities and trans- form the world.

Labors of Love – The All-Church Work Sunday (really!)

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A different way to be together.  We do this every three or four years!  The All Church Work Sunday: No Adult Forum,  No Morning Assembly, No Conversations & Calories (but snacks for those who stay)

Labor Day week-end seems, to the worship team, the perfect time for us to shift gears and give a gift to our building and grounds.  Starting at 10, while it will still be cooler, come and roll up your sleeves, look over the list of things that need doing, make a choice and go to work.  There are windows to wash, oak paneling to polish, chairs to be spot cleaned, the basement to be attacked.  The contents of the F. Church Library and the Susan Anthony room need to be swapped (The Anthony room will become the church nursery).  Books to move, cribs too.  Closets to organize, carpets to vacuum.  You get the idea.  Spring Cleaning in August!  Something for everyone.   Do come. Work parties are fun and a fine way to meet people.  We conclude with some lunch!

The Future of Water and the Dedication of the Spirit of Life Monarch Waystation

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Our annual water communion assembly this year will focus on the future of water and conclude with the dedication of our monarch waystation, that will involve some of the water everyone brings on Sunday.  Please bring a small(ish) container of water, to assure we have enough for the dedication.

The Earth Community

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The Earth Community – an exploration of what life might be like if we thought of ourselves as earthlings first.

 

Rev. Dr. Mark Y. A. Davies is the Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics, Director of the World House Institute for Social and Ecological Responsibility, and Executive Director of the Leadership. Education, and Development Hub North America for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry) at Oklahoma City University where he has worked in both teaching and administration for 22 years. He is an ordained elder in the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church where he has served as Chair of the Board of Church and Society from 2015 to 2018.

In 2017, the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church selected Dr. Davies to serve as the convener of the writing team tasked with revising “The Natural World” section of the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church. This is the first time the Social Principles have undergone a thorough revision since their adoption by the denomination in 1972.

Mark engages in advocacy and activism in the areas of peace, social justice, and ecological sustainability. Locally this is expressed through his work with the Human Community Network, which works to create non-violent systemic change for a just and flourishing human and ecological community through collaboration, education, innovation, and action. See www.humancommunitynetwork.org.

He and his wife Kristin live in Edmond, OK in the United States, and they have two teenage daughters

J.S. Mill’s Satisfied Pig: Thought Experiments in Values

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In his 1863 booklet Utilitarianism, British philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote that he would “rather be Socrates unsatisfied than a pig satisfied.”  What would you rather be, and why? We will look at his reasoning on this and explore other thought experiments in values.

William Lloyd Fridley is a professor of Education at Southeastern Oklahoma State University (SOSU), where he has worked since 1999.  His areas of expertise are philosophy of education, ethics, pragmatism and Plato, and he is involved in shared governance and academic policy with the SOSU Faculty Senate and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).  His wife Carolyn is the Coordinator for the Liberal and Applied Studies program at SOSU.

That Other Four-Letter Word

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Political theorist and philosopher Edmund Burke wrote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Much is currently being written about standing up against and rallying against evil in our world and country. But well-meaning people sometimes hold very different views of what actually is evil. UUs are typically suspicious of absolute concepts such as good and evil – how has our faith tradition historically dealt with such concepts, and what might be the most useful ways for us to wrestle with such ideas today?

Scott is on the final stretch of a year-long Chaplaincy Residency at Parkland Hospital in Dallas and has just begun preliminary fellowship as a UU minister. Scott graduated in 2016 with his Master of Divinity degree from Brite Divinity School and completed his Ministerial Internship at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento. Scott will begin serving the First UU Church of Houston as Assistant Minister for Congregational Life in September.

Promises to Keep, and Miles to Go

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It was the youngest parent in our community who suggested we devote a Sunday morning to an exploration of parents, children and liberal religion.  Parenting is a lifelong commitment, filled with promises to keep and miles to go.  Parents, it seems, have rather strong opinions about parenting and often are not shy about telling others the proper way to rear children.
On Sunday we’ll be taking a somewhat different approach in looking at parenting.  One that may well surpise you as the approach shifted dramatically after our worship team meeting on July 21st.

 

Prophets and Priests

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Throughout the history of religious experience, there has been a tension between the prophetic and priestly functions of religion. Religion sometimes challenges the norms and practices of society and culture, and at times it reinforces the norms and practices of society and culture. What is the appropriate balance in this tension between calling for change and justice and contributing to order and stability?

The Rev. Dr. Mark Davies is the Oklahoma State Humanities Scholar for the Smithsonian Institute Museum on Main Street Water/Ways exhibit.  He is also the Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics; Director of the World House Institute for Social and Ecological Responsibility; and Executive Director of the Leadership. Education, and Development Hub North America for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry at Oklahoma City University where he has worked in both teaching and administration for 22 years.  He is a United Methodist minister and holds a Ph.D. in Social Ethics, from Boston University.

Mark engages in advocacy and activism in the areas of peace, social justice, and ecological sustainability. Locally this is expressed through his work with the Human Community Network, which works to create non-violent systemic change for a just and flourishing human and ecological community through collaboration, education, innovation, and action.