On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Faithful Fools, I have invited Community Minister Reverend Dr. Kay Jorgensen to preach from our pulpit. Our collaboration with this vital street ministry in the Tenderloin has opened the hearts and minds of many of us to replace "otherness" with the oneness we share with all humanity, especially our neighbors.

Please join Rev. Dr. Jorgensen and me as we share leadership in this service with the Reverend Jana Drakka, Alejandra Brown, Sr. Carmen Barsody, Nicolette Toussaint, Mason Ingram, Nan Parks McCarthy, Alex Darr and his clown AFRAID, Melissa Farfarman, and Ministerial Intern Jeremy Nickel.

Music will be provided by Footprints (Frank Buffum and Rick Higgs), and we'll have a skit under the direction of our Young Adult Group president Michaela Romano-Meade.

Rev. Dr. Jorgensen says a few words about this service, below. Don't miss this special Sunday!

"The Power of Reflection" is a powerful message of hope itself, and our worship will engage us both reflectively and motivationally. Together we'll explore a synchronicity of thought and action in our social justice conscience that encourages us to draw from the power we already have.

Lee Helena Lawrence, a founding member of the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry California (UULM) board and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, will talk about the work of the ministry including its efforts for health care reform, freedom of same sex couples to marry, and the impact of global climate change on water justice.

The UULM is a statewide justice ministry seeking to empower the moral voice of Unitarian Universalist values in the public arena.

The free program will start at 9:45. Come at 9:30 for conversation, coffee, and (for a slight charge) a light breakfast.

from Betty Skwarek,
Acting Director of Religious Education

Rev. Greg Stewart and Acting Director of Religious Education Betty Skwarek will be meeting with the parents group at 10 to talk about the religious education program in general and our summer program in particular. The group will also talk about the proposed programming for the coming year.

Instead of the regular Sunday school schedule, Religious Education participants will be doing spring cleaning starting at 11. So wear your grubbies!

The Religious Education leaders are planning to create a bring-one, take-one book exchange area; move curriculum and other reference materials to the new Religious Education office; and get things prepared for the sextons to come in and move furniture. The team hopes to have frequently used materials organized and accessible, a usable small meeting room, and a better organized area for preparing and serving food.

Betty will be accepting lots of help from both adults and children!

The Faithful Fools celebrate 10 years of presence on the streets with Food from the Streets of the World!

Join in the clowning and entertainment featuring Alan Senauke, Vulture Peak, and dancing to the DJ. Oscard, Rev. Dr. Kay Jorgensen's personal clown, invites you to come, eat, drink, and be merry foolish.

Tickets for this fun-raiser are only $50 per person. Please make reservations in advance by phoning the Fools at 474-0508. Can't make it? Just call them and donate a ticket for someone who could not otherwise attend!

Longtime member Marvin Mercer had a heart attack on Thursday evening, March 20, while waiting at a bus stop on Market Street. A good Samaritan performed CPR until an ambulance arrived. Marvin was taken to Davis emergency room unconscious and passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 22.

Marvin had recently celebrated his ordination as a Zen priest and his 50th anniversary as a Society member. Marvin lived at the San Francisco Zen Center, and we are making tentative plans for a joint memorial service to be held at the our church on Saturday afternoon, April 12.

• Zen Center blog on Marvin

We are also saddened by the news of the recent death of Martin Skewes Cox.

Another longtime Member, Martin served as Moderator of the Board of Trustees in 1978-80. Although Martin and his wife Betsy moved to Sonoma, they continued to host a party for Society for Community Work each year. Betsy passed away earlier, and we will miss them both.

Rev. Mark Belletini will conduct Martin's Memorial service at St. John Episcopal Church in Ross on May 7 at 11 am.

• Martin's notice in The Chronicle

Our condolences to Carla Kincaid-Yoshikawa and her family on the loss of Carla's father. Kenneth Kincaid died in Seattle last Saturday after a period of declining health.

Dolores Perez Priem is pictured in this Indymedia photograph lying down on Market Street as part of the protest against the continuation of the Iraq War. The civil disobedience occurred last Thursday, the 5th anniversary of the United State's invasion of Iraq.

Dolores and others were arrested shortly after this picture was taken. In this shot, fellow anti-war activist Daniel Ellsberg is the white-haired man being interviewed at Dolores' feet.

How fortunate we are, as persons in the U.S. to have a Constitutionally guaranteed right to protest, to state our minds, to believe differently than whatever tyrant may be in the Vice President's office. But, do we have a right to commit civil disobedience? My peace officer self knows the law, which says that only in an exigent circumstance can a law be broken with permission of the state. Is civil disobedience to resist an evil war committed under exigent circumstances? I don't know, for I am not judge and jury, just a cop. My Unitarian Universalist self, the me which is on the path to enlightenment, can mount a teleological argument in support of civil disobedience which does not include anarchy (anarchy harms the innocent sometimes). Oh, the waters get muddied quickly.

I have no answer, but I do have a request. Please, when you protest, be kind to cops. Some, and perhaps many secretly agree with you, but cannot show their views when they are in uniform. Going limp so that cops must pick you up can injure and permanently disable an officer: Was that an act of peace? Perhaps that officer has children and a partner. What will happen if the major breadwinner is disabled?

So, disobey if your conscience leads you to do so. But, in your zeal, don't attack the police; they are not the enemy. When they ask you to get up, don't risk committing violence upon their body and health by going limp, and putting them at risk for a disabling back injury.

This is one Unitarian Universalist peace officer's view.

Rev. William G. Sinkford (pictured at left), President of the UUA, and Rev. Meg A. Riley, Director of the UUA Advocacy and Witness Staff Group, have shared their thoughts on the intersection of religion, politics, and race following Barack Obama's March 18, 2008 speech.

Sinkford, writing on UUA.org says, "Obama's speech, by naming the honest concerns and fears on both sides of the racial divide, presents us with that rarest of opportunities, an invitation to re-engage with an issue many people would prefer to ignore. I hope and pray that we have the courage to take advantage of this gift."

Riley, writing on the UUA Advocacy and Witness Blog ("Inspired Faith, Effective Action") observed, "I believe that conversation about race in the United States is relevant to every day of all of our lives. While the country actually focuses on race for at least a news-nanosecond, this could be the moment to take the step of amplifying the conversation with every resource we have. And when a Presidential candidate invites us into a meaningful conversation on this topic, we need to accept with heart and soul; such an opportunity is long-overdue and may not soon come again.

The adult choir is practicing for the year's major music performance, Brahms' The 'Human' Requiem, which will be the centerpiece of the April 27th worship service.

"I felt this Requiem is quite special for the Unitarian Universalist service because of its clear purpose and the intentions of Johannes Brahms, its composer," writes Dr. Sumner.

"This Requiem was to be a text in the vernacular and intended for Protestant use, but in a secular setting. Not only was the standard Catholic Latin text not used, the whole thrust of the texts which Brahms selected himself, was to comfort the living---those who had lost loved ones---rather than commemorating the lives or praying for the souls of those who had died."

The chancel was crowded with new Members as the Congregation welcomed those who have joined the Society in 2008. Fine hats were the rule of the day as we ate cake and conversed in the warm courtyard after the service.

See some of the shots captured by Sonnie!