Going Away and Getting Rooted July 30, 2009

Today is my last day in the office before I go away for the month of August. I am so excited to have time to nest with my husband in our new house.  I will also have a directed spiritual retreat with my spiritual director who has been companioning me since we moved to Fort Myers.  And, of course, all the books I will read.  Some are for fun.  One of my mentors, the Rev. Nan Hobart, always told us students how important it was for us to read fiction and to read what our people were reading.  In this way, we could enter the imaginative realm of hundreds of people who have been affected by stories, sounds, and images created in popular fiction books.  But I will also read websites and books about church administration and commnication.  And then some vacation time in East Tennessee offers some time to my roots.  Andy and I will celebrate my mom & stepdad’s 20th wedding anniversary in Knoxville.

Roots is the theme for the year.  Just last night, Our Unitarian Universalist Story class reminded us of our theological roots in Poland, Transylvania, and England.  So quickly did our discussion wander to the present, to stories of tolerance and intolerance today in our lives.  Knowing who we are and were we came from informs our present.

Being a minister is interesting in terms of role and identity.  It is so easy for me to become so wrapped up in my identity as a minister that I could sacrifice the past  (my roots, if you will)  that helped shape my call to Unitarian Universalist ministry.  Identities like, young adult, wife, friend, daughter, sister, niece, cousin, granddaughter, activist, peacemonger, and weird-o goofball , all have to be a part of my minister identity.  These branching roots give me a solid base.  And the time I spend away helps me draw deeper the nutrients I need for the coming year.

I have been told that unhealhthy leaders (minister or otherwise) are the ones who cannot leave, who cannot take their vacations, who simply cannot set the boundaries in their lives to take care of themselves.  So I exercise the trust in leaving for a month, knowing our capable staff and empowered leaders keep us going and reaching out into a community that needs our love and care.  The more important lesson is knowing that the ministry of the church does not revolve around me.  It’s about us and about who has not yet come through our doors. It’s about responding to basic human needs in our community: love, hunger, dignity, quality of life.

So I will see you in a month, UUCFM, and I will be in touch!

view of our house from the dock out back

view of the Caloosahatchee facing southwest from the dock

LOVE AND CONNECTION: CyberSpirit July 25, 2009

Looking into space, it surrounds you

Love is the place that you’re drawn to

Looking into space, it surrounds you

Love is the face that you’re drawn to.

from “What Is The Light,”

The Flaming Lips

The Soft Bulletin

LONG TIME, NO POST July 24, 2009

How ironic that the Sunday service entitle “CyberSpirit” approaches, and yet I have not blogged in what feels like millions of days.

So I have August off.  During this time I will be playing catch up.  See, I have been to so many places in the past 2 months.  On May 18th Andy and I bought a house.  Then a few days later went to Scotland.  Then when we got home we had to pack and move in to the new house.  Then I went to General Assembly.  Then I had less than a week to unpack (not done! boxes in garage!).  Then I went to Guatemala with 2 church folks for our GRACE Project ministry (providing sustainable, holistic educational materials through the leadership of UUCFM member Genelle Grant, a super-smart, spiritually grounded woman who knows her stuff in education).  Then, well that brings me to this week.  Or was that last week?

Anyhow, for someone who KNOWS that time management is a struggle, I can’t beat myself up too much about this wild ride the past 2 months.  Sometimes you just gotta say Yes anyway. However, over the year (a full year anniversary of service will be August 18) I have learned to leave spaces in my schedule so that I am not as wildly busy as I have been.  But sometimes the perfect house is for sale and needs to be bought!  Sometimes a still small voice within says, do it!  So I think August will give me some time to process some of my experiences at General Assembly as well as our trip to Guatemala.  I will post pics from Guatemala as well.

All of this is to basically say, I will stay in touch!

Letter to Publix: Campaign for Fair Food July 2, 2009

Friends,

The 2008 UUA General Assembly passed an Action of Immediate Witness entitled, “End Present-Day Slavery in the Fields.” This Action urges UU congregations “to work with the CIW in calling upon restaurant and grocery corporations to end slavery and sweatshops in the fields.”Yum Brands (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC), McDonalds, Burger King, Subway and Whole Foods are all working with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to improve wages and conditions of tomato pickers.  on Sunday we will join in signing postcards to call on leaders of Publix to do the same.

I have yet to hear a peep from any representative from Publix in response to the letter I sent posted below.  I love my local Publix and my reusable Publix grocery bags.  I enjoy connecting with the friendly folks at check-out, bagging, or cart-stacking.  I love the Green Initiative.  But tomatoes from Publix may have been picked by the hands of an enslaved brother or sister. This is I do not love.  This real possibility is most disturbing.  My hope is that the added positive expectations and pressures we put on Publix will encourage them to contact the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and take a stand for fair food in Florida and on our grocery shelves.  See the following letter I sent:

June 11, 2009

Mr. Ed Crenshaw, CEO
Publix Supermarkets Corporate Office
PO Box 401
Lakeland, FL  33802-0407

Dear Mr. Crenshaw,

As a board member of Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida and as a person of faith, I ask for you and your constituents to reconsider your silence and lack of accountability in the larger systems of agricultural industry that affect day-to-day lives of Florida farm workers and their families.

As the Chief Executive Officer of a large corporation you have the opportunity to set a precedent by calling for an end to the human rights abuses and sub-poverty wages faced by workers who pick the tomatoes sold in your stores.  Departed are the days when we could not point fingers at others and abdicate responsibility.  As many political critics remind us, we cannot rely on the government to do everything for us.  That includes taking a stand against injustice in Florida’s tomato fields.  Publix continues to purchase tomatoes from both Pacific Tomato Growers and Six L’s, despite the fact that workers who worked on those farms have been held against their will.

I am asking you to truly fulfill your mission.  In 2001 Publix began a Green Routine initiative.  Your website declares: “Sustainability means balancing the needs of humanity with the needs of the living earth.”  Taking a hands-off approach in the issue of modern day slavery in Florida fields is anathema to your Sustainability Initiative.  Publix Corporation’s silence dishonors the needs of humanity.  A basic need of humanity is freely chosen, dignified work with a living wage.  Sustainability of our planet depends on the stewardship of human dignity and freedom.  I applaud your green efforts.  Don’t diminish these efforts by denying the power you have to call Six L’s and Pacific to account for injustices that happen in their tomato fields.

Sincerely yours,

Rev. Allison Farnum