OfflineHey all, namaste.
In response to the shootings in Knoxville last Sunday, I would like to have my congregation fold paper cranes and send them to the two congregations affected - Tennessee Valley UU Church and Westside UU Fellowship - and will call my church today for permission to set up a table on Sunday. Am sending this idea out to UU lists and forums that I know in case others would like to join us. The churches addresses are on UUA.org, but I can post them here if someone needs them.
In faith and for peace,
shaktinah
It occurred to me that if I want people to use these forums, then at the very least I should post here myself, instead of just posting in other forums. The following is a redacted version of what I've posted elsewhere:
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Honestly, I'm still ambivalent about "worship" online (in Second Life). No hymns. No real sermon. More of a discussion. And you can't hear, touch, even
smell the people around you. But there are some cool things about it.
On Sunday, when I logged on to SL, there was a group notice about the
shooting in Knoxville. It was the first I'd heard of it. Spontaneously,
UUs gathered at the sanctuary and sat vigil. A fund was set up with
online contributions going directly to the affected congregations. It
allowed us to respond almost instantaneously, and UUs from all over the
country - all over the world actually - were in the same "space." On
Monday, in solidarity with the vigil in Knoxville, we held another one
at the same time. Each of our avatars holding lighted candles (and
talking too much). On both nights more than one UU said how grateful they were for the UU church on SL because they couldn't make it to their real life church (or didn't have one) and needed to be with other UUs. Virtual community - weird but also good.
The FUUCSL collected over $200 to send to the affected congregations in Tennessee, and they're still collecting. And TODAY I found out that a picture taken of the SL vigil is on the UUA website:
http://www.uua.org/giving/donatenow/117168.shtml