Reconciling Ministries recent newsletter:  http://www.rmnetwork.org/rmnnews/

MFSA Fall 2013 Progressive Voice is available for download at:

http://mfsaweb.org/?page_id=208

Current Faith in Action from General Board of Church & Society –

http://umc-gbcs.org/faith-in-action

Plan to join us in the Austin MLK March on Monday, January 20, 2014.   More details will be available later. 

You are invited to a World AIDS Day Service

A service of remembrance and hope; a time to
memorialize and celebrate the life of your loved ones

Sunday, December 1, at 5pm.
Trinity United Methodist Church

4001 Speedway

Austin, TX 78751

Please contact The Care Communities at 512-459-5883 or
http://www.thecarecommunities.org for more information

http://umc-gbcs.org/faith-in-action/world-aids-day-dec.-11

December 1 marks the 25th year people around the world will unite to fight against HIV & AIDS. Are you and your congregation ready to commemorate World AIDS Day, the first Sunday of Advent?

As a partner in the global fight to end HIV & AIDS, the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund (UMGAF) reemphasizes its commitment to Just Save One.

The universal theme of “Getting to Zero” is not possible as long as babies are born with HIV and funds are not geared toward prevention. UMGAF has committed to focus on the reduction of mother-to-child transmission and to preventing children from being born with HIV & AIDS for the next year.

Zimbabwe is a country in which babies born to HIV-positive mothers are disproportionately affected themselves.  Persons Living with HIV, if given support and treated as partners, can tackle these inequalities.

Support the Just Save One Initiative

UMGAF has raised more than US $3.5 million to assist thousands of people who are infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. Yet, there are 34 million individuals living with the virus. We need your financial contribution to Just Save One of those millions.

• A gift of US $20 can provide nursing care for a child born HIV positive;
• A US $50 gift can help educate young people and adults how to prevent HIV;
  • A US $100 gift will supply nutrients to 100+ AIDS orphans suffering from dehydration.

The event is free, with donations accepted for the Henderson defense fund. For more information, contact Galia Harrington,galiahar@yahoo.com.

Location: Quaker Meetinghouse, 3701 E. MLK Blvd., Austin

Tuesday, Dec 3, 2013, 6:30 to 8:30 pm

Austin Bahá’í Center

2215 E M Franklin Ave, Austin, TX 78723

The final topic for the fall season of The Red Bench will explore, “Us versus Them: Can we keep our ideal of inclusiveness as we deal with today’s turbulent current events?”

• Is it possible to create a completely inclusive society?
• What can we personally do to be more inclusive?
• How can we benefit from being more inclusive?

We invite you to participate and bring friends to this conversation. According to past participants of The Red Bench – Interfaith Conversations that Matter,  the experience has given them valuable insight, enriching their communication and listening skills.

Free event, everyone is welcome.

A light vegetarian meal will be provided.

Parking is available at the center.

If attending, please RSVP on Facebook so we may get a headcount.

A few short months after the Methodist Federation for Social Service was founded, a newsletter was published: Social Questions Bulletin.  Many people came to know and love the SQB as it was called.  The newsletter connected a movement of faithful, thoughtful Methodists and shared ideas in an age when a newsletter was the only way to share important amounts of information at one time.

Over the years some things have changed: the Methodist Federation for Social Service is now the Methodist Federation for Social Action; the Social Questions Bulletin is now The Progressive Voice; and it no longer takes days for the newsletter to reach you – it’s available online! 

The Fall 2013 edition of The Progressive Voice is our first in almost a year and a half.  Learn more about MFSA and our work – and please, help us engage faithful United Methodists in acts of justice so we may live out our calling and mission.

Hope Food Pantry Austin
4001 Speedway
Austin, Texas 78751

Or donate online:

Your donation will show “Hope Food Pantry” in the Designate my donation box.

Double your donation in November and December at Natural Grocers at 3901 Guadalupe St., 10515 N. Mopac, & 1335 E. Whitestone Blvd.

Over Two-Dozen Evangelical Christian Leaders in Texas and Nationwide
Request Mercy for Duane Buck, Urge District Attorney to Not Seek Execution Date

(Houston, TX, Thursday, November 21, 2013) – Today, 27 Evangelical Christian leaders across Texas and the United States are calling on Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson to allow a new, fair sentencing hearing for Duane Buck. Mr. Buck is an African-American man who was condemned to death after his sentencing jury was told that he was likely to be a future danger because of his race.  These Evangelical Christian leaders oppose the setting of any execution date for Mr. Buck.

“We write to respectfully request that you support a new, fair sentencing hearing for death row prisoner Duane Buck,” the letter states. “Although opinions on the death penalty vary within each of our churches, we are strongly united in our view that no death sentence should be a product of racial discrimination, as it was in Mr. Buck’s case.”

The Evangelical Christian leaders who are advocating for Mr. Buck include: Paul Basden and Jim Johnson, Pastors of Preston Trail Community Church; Chris Seay, Pastor of Ecclesia Houston; Robert Hunt, Director of Global Theological Education at Southern Methodist University; David Gushee, Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University; Gabriel Salguero, President of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition; Fisher Humphreys, Professor of Divinity, Emeritus, Samford University, and others.

Their plea comes in the wake of Wednesday’s decision by a splintered Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to dismiss Mr. Buck’s appeal. For more information: http://tcadp.org/2013/11/21/two-dozen-evangelical-leaders-support-new-sentencing-hearing-duane-buck/

An Evening with Will Allen

Date: December 8, 2013

Time: 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm

Will Allen—son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player, ex-corporate sales executive and now an urban farmer—is a leading voice on agriculture and food policy. Allen is founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee that believes all people, regardless of their economic circumstances, should have access to fresh, safe, affordable and nutritious foods at all times. Allen has received a McArthur Foundation “genius grant” and in 2010 was one of Time magazine’s “100 World’s Most Influential People.”

The talk will be followed by a panel discussion and a Farmers Market in the Theatre’s lobby. Tickets for the lecture and panel discussion are $35. VIP tickets that include a 6-7 pm reception—featuring local chefs with local food, drinks and music by Bluegrass Outfit—are $100. Information and tickets are available at the Paramount Theatre Box Office, online or (512) 474-1221.

The evening is part of Edible Austin’s “Eat/Drink Local Week,” with proceeds benefiting the Paramount Theatre, Sustainable Food Center, and Urban Roots. Doors open at 7 pm and the event begins at 7:30 pm, with the Farmers Market at 8:45 pm.

Location: Stateside at the Paramount, 719 Congress Ave., Austin, 78701

– See more at: http://www.thirdcoastactivist.org/events/an-evening-with-will-allen/#sthash.fHERYlxi.dpuf

by Wayne Rhodes, Editor, Faith in Action on November 04, 2013

The General Board of Church & Society (GBCS) has prepared a bulletin insert to assist congregations in conducting a worship observance of the anniversary of the Newtown, Conn., gun-violence tragedy that occurred Dec. 14, 2012.

In that tragedy, 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School and six adult staff members were killed in a deadly assault by Adam Lanza. He also killed his mother before going to the school. The children who died were six and seven years old.

Bill Mefford, GBCS director of Civil & Human Rights, envisions congregations including the bulletin inserts in their worship materials on Dec. 15, and also reading from the pulpit the names and ages of the persons who died during the massacre.

“All of the great movements for change in history were either birthed or were intimately accompanied by a spiritual awakening,” Mefford said. “Seeing the inaction over the last year in response to the gun shooting tragedy in Newtown — all the while almost 10,000 people have been killed by guns — should drive us to prayer and reflection. And then to action.”

Mefford emphasized that you can help birth this in your own congregation Sunday, Dec.15, by taking five minutes during the normal prayer time to read aloud the names of all those who died that day and to pray a simple prayer. “We have created a bulletin insert to help your church pray and reflect on what happened and what can happen,” Mefford said.

United Methodist Resolution

The bulletin insert lists the names and ages of the victims of one of the worst gun-violence incidents in U.S. history. It also includes a suggested prayer, and an excerpt from the United Methodist Resolution “Gun Violence” that states violence to children and youths is a primary concern for United Methodists.

“We call upon the church to affirm its faith through vigorous efforts to curb and eliminate gun violence,” states the These acts of senseless violence should not be an acceptable occurrence in any community: suburban, urban, or rural, according to the resolution. “The church must continue to address these issues of violence and develop programs to enrich the lives of all children/youths,” he declares.  Register to access the free download at http://umc-gbcs.org/faith-in-action/remembering-newtowns-victims

https://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50192/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=74674

Response to retired bishop conducting same-gender ceremony

November 19, 2013

http://umc-gbcs.org/faith-in-action/council-of-bishops-requests-charges-be-filed

LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. — The United Methodist Council of Bishops during its annual meeting here have taken actions to address a retired bishop’s conducting a same-gender ceremony in violation of denomination law.

The bishops requested that Council President Rosemarie Wenner and Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett of the North Alabama Conference, where the ceremony occurred, file a complaint. It would target Bishop Melvin Talbert’s action for “undermining the ministry of a colleague and conducting a ceremony to celebrate the marriage of a same-gender couple.”

“When there are violations of the Book of Discipline, [the denomination’s book of laws], a response is required,” the bishops said in a statement.

Initiate a task force

The Council also voted to initiate a task force to lead conversations about human sexuality, race and gender in a global perspective. The goal of this effort is to come to a shared theological understanding amid diverse opinions in the denomination about these issues.

These actions followed days of prayerful discernment and conversation about the action it would take after Talbert, a retired bishop, conducted the Oct. 26 ceremony celebrating the marriage of a same-gender couple in Center Point, Ala. This is a chargeable offense for United Methodist clergy.

Denomination law states, “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.”