UUFSMA: “Circle Round for Human Rights”

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Online Service
“Circle Round for Human Rights”
Speaker: Reverend Ned Wight

Sunday, November 21, 2021
10:30 am

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040 
Password: 294513

By Joseph Plummer

UUFSMA Board Secretary

The Reverend Ned Wight, UUFSMA Guest Minister for this Sunday’s Service, devotes much of his ministry to human rights, the principal cause of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), where he serves as board chair. In his sermon, reflections, and readings, he will seek to dispel any notion that such work is abstract, distant, or a diminishing necessity.

The UUSC has worked to advance human rights around the globe for over 75 years. Its mission grew from the heroic efforts of Waitstill and Martha Sharp, who left their comfortable Unitarian parish and children in Wellesley, Massachusetts, to help refugees escape from the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia and southern Europe. For their heroic work in rescuing hundreds of refugees, the Sharps were recognized by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, as Righteous among the Nations, the second and third of five Americans to receive this honor. Ever since that beginning, the service committee has been throwing light on threats to human life and dignity, partnering with others to counter those threats, and advocating for government action that will protect and further advance rights for all people.

“UUSC is determined to dismantle systems of oppression and institute just structures that position communities to control their own destinies,” he says.

Reverend Wight retired in August 2019 from his position as Interim Senior Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, New York. Prior to that, he served for a decade as Executive Director of that congregation’s UU Veatch Program, which makes grants to U.S. organizations committed to social change. He holds degrees from Harvard Divinity School, Boston University, and Stanford University and has served UU congregations in California and Massachusetts. He currently chairs the board of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, partnering with grassroots organizations to champion human rights at home and abroad. He serves as Vice President for the UU Retired Ministers and Partners Association and lives in Roslyn, NY, on the north shore of Long Island, in William Cullen Bryant’s historic home, Cedarmere.

To participate in our online Sunday Service, visit www.uufsma.org and click on the Zoom Service button on the home page. If requested, enter password: 294513. Sign-in from anywhere Sunday mornings between 10:15-10:25 am CST.

UUFSMA donates at least fifty percent of its income to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page Donate button. Now more than ever, your support is essential.

UUFSMA has returned to very limited in-person Sunday services. A few pre-registered members may attend in-person services at the Hotel Aldea by contacting Diana Amaya for the important safety guidelines which must be followed: info.uufsma@gmail.com. The UU Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Previous online services can be found at https://www.youtube.com/. Enter UUFSMA in the search box.