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.”

UNITED METHODIST WOMEN in TEXAS

26th Annual LEGISLATIVE EVENT 

Program planned and produced by Texas Impact 

A Thousand Voices: Telling the Story of Texas

JANUARY 26-28, 2014

Austin, Texas 

EARLY REGISTRATION DEADLINE: JANUARY 5, 2014

The 26th Annual United Methodist Women’s Legislative Event is a joint project of Texas’ five United Methodist Annual Conferences and Texas Impact.  This year’s theme is “A Thousand Voices: Telling the Story of Texas.” It is a time to learn the latest on the issues, meet with state leaders, and visit the Texas Capitol.

Legislative Event is a national model educational program that brings together women of all ages and backgrounds to learn how state government works, what key issues face Texas, and how to advocate effectively on issues they care about.

Registration is unlimited and the event is open to women of all faiths. Read more about the event and register here.

A ministry in the Austin District of the Southwest Texas Conference of the UMC

“but let justice roll down like the waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream” – Amos 5:24

The board of the Austin Region Justice for Our Neighbors (ARJFON) is pleased to announce we have approval from the national JFON to begin operation of a legal aid clinic in Austin. The Austin Region JFON (ARJFON) legal aid clinic will be held at Servant Church (located at Asbury UMC) in partnership with Parker Lane UMC and Westlake UMC. Additional clinics will be added as resources become available. The goal is to hire an attorney by the middle of January.

Justice for Our Neighbors is a network of legal clinics whose goal is to provide hospitality and compassion to low-income immigrants through free or low cost immigration legal services, advocacy, and education.

JFON is a non-profit ministry, with a staff attorney working with volunteers to serve immigrants by:

• reuniting families;
• helping women escape domestic violence and live safely in the US;
• assisting asylum seekers, survivors of human trafficking, and college-age children to establish their immigration status; and,
• enabling eligible individuals to attain work authorization, maintain or advance their immigration status or work toward citizenship.  See the national JFON website at njfon.org for more information.

At the request of Bishop James E. Dorff, a development team formed an Austin Region Board of Directors with members representing various UMC Austin District churches and possessing a range of skills. The initial annual budget will be in the neighborhood of $130,000. The board is on target to meet half of the budget by January 1, but we need some help with individual donations to match a grant of $10,000 from the national organization.

If you can help before the end of the year, make checks payable to ARJFON and mail to ARJFON c/o Dr. William Cain, 3600 Brownwood Drive, Austin, TX 78759. For more information, contact Helen Harkreader at helen.harkreader@gmail.com.

All donations will be tax deductible and a receipt will be given.

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