Northern California – Nevada UCC – Annual Gathering Keynote Speaker Event August 21!

On August 21, 10-11:30 a.m., we will continue our year of Annual Gathering with our keynote address by the deeply respected and devoted Activist and Author, Ruby Sales, author of Bridges Out of Poverty.

Register here: https://ncncucc.org/2021/06/24/annual-gathering-keynote-speaker-event-august-21

In preparation for this event, a new Let’s Talk About Race discussion series began on July 27 with a conversation about black spirituals, back folk religion, speaking to someone’s pain, and having a theology of love instead of hate. Participants viewed these two videos:

Where Does It Hurt? (Ruby Sales)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STa0KU6-4mw

Slave Songbook: Origin of the negro Spiritual (PBS) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zeshN_ummU

Questions for discussion included:

• What is the role of spirituals and how did it influence Ruby Sales? What can we learn from this to apply in today’s context?
• The title of the video is “Where does it hurt?” What do you say to someone that feels as if they’re caught up in the throes of death? What was that like for the other person? What was that like for you?
• Ruby speaks of a spiritual crisis of meaning. Reflecting in our own context, how do we raise people from dehumanization to humanization? How do we raise a theology of hate to a theology of love?

Additional resources shared during the conversation include:

• Sweet Honey in the Rock documentary  
• A documentary on Bernice Johnson Reagon
• Let the Church Say Amen – The Black Church