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Dear Justice-Seeker,

I continue to hold all of you in prayer as we continue to navigate COVID-19, climate change, and systemic injustice in the midst of a presidential election in the United States. Making your views heard by your vote is essential and I hope you are making plans to cast your vote during this election. Please continue to follow us on social media and check out our website for more information on how you can make a difference this election season. 

Speaking of our website, MFSA is pleased to announce that we have a brand new website! www.mfsaweb.org Our new site has a new and improved resource section, along with the ability for you to renew your membership through your chapter directly on our site. We will continue to make improvements to our site so that it not only better communicates who we are and what we care about, but also helps you to connect with each other and access more information. 

This issue of MFSAVoices is jam-packed with resources and information. So much so that it won't all fit in your email message so be sure to click view entire message at the bottom of this email to view the entire issue. Our newsletters are jam-packed and designed not to be read or accomplished in one sitting. They are designed to be used all month long. So take a quick glance and take note of important dates to add to your calendar but also come back in the following weeks to work your way through the action items. 

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We continue to see the urgency of our work to make broad systemic change. Change that honors the dignity and worth of all people, puts people over money, and honors the earth and all her inhabitants. COVID-19 continues to highlight the inequities in our society that has literal life or death consequences. Since 1907, MFSA has been shining a light on injustice and organizing to change it. 

You make our collective work possible by your witness for justice every day in your church, community, and Annual Conference. MFSA does not receive any financial support from the United Methodist Church's giving channels. 100% of our budget is funded through your membership dues and your generosity in giving.

Support MFSA's Anti Racism Work

The national outcry of police violence and the recent awakening to systemic racism has brought national attention and renewed energy to the racial justice conversation and work. Systemic racism is not a new concept and the work to embed white supremacy within all the levels of our society did not happen overnight. It is so cleverly ingrained that it can be hard to spot and often when there are attempts to make real change like the call for right sizing police budgets, it is met with violent opposition. We must reflect on our actions and our inactions that have led to this point in our individual lives, churches, and our country.

Taking place between Labor Day and World Food Day, the Harvest of Justice season is a time period in which NFWM raises awareness and actionable items related to the farmworkers rights and issues. In the words of NFWM, “Harvest of Justice is an opportunity to raise consciousness, commitment & contributions for farm workers!” This year’s theme is “Farmworkers and the Environment” ; Week 1 was on Global Migration, and Week 2 was on Heat Stress.

MFSA's partner Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) offers a new "go-at-your-own-pace, free virtual learning opportunity": Compassion School. RCRC's Compassion School is a response to the current crises of the world including "a global pandemic, systemic racism, economic insecurity, corrupt leadership, and more," and it provides folks with the opportunity to learn in weekly lessons how to take part in building a “more compassionate and just society.”

On September 21, 2020, the 48th anniversary of the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos’s declaration of martial law in 1972, MFSA released a Statement of Solidarity with the Filipino people condemning the continued Human Rights abuses in the Philippines and uplifting the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA).

Webinar: Peace with Justice in the Holy Land:

Churches can make a difference

Please join us for an important conversation with Rifat Kassis, General Coordinator for Kairos Palestine, and co-author of the Kairos Palestine document (from which United Methodists for Kairos Response was named). He will be joined by David Wildman, Middle East Area Liaison, and Representative to the United Nations for the United Methodist Church. Our presenters will highlight church actions to date and will share steps that we, United Methodists and other denominations, can do in the future. Discussion topics will include BDS, Kairos movements around the world, the current political situation, and more.

Chapter Highlight: East Ohio MFSA

East Ohio MFSA launched a multi-week study addressing racial justice titled “Race Matters: What Can I Do?” via Zoom on August 3, 2020. The study emerged from a Resolution presented by MFSA to the 2020 Annual Conference, endorsed by East Ohio social justice units, including RMN, UMW, CORR, and the Board of Church and Society entitled, “A Call for East Ohio United Methodists to Address Racism in our churches and
communities.”

*Disclaimer: The image above was taken pre-covid.

MFSA Regional Community Events:

The pandemic has demanded us to all improvise on what life looks like in 2020.  The same goes for our Regional Communities.  In the time of COVID, Regional Communities have become creative and imaginative in the work of organizing, educating, advocating, and seeking justice.  Check out some of exciting upcoming events from our Regional Communities:

North Carolina MFSA holds the 12th Annual Jack Crum Conference on Prophetic Ministry.  Instead of holding its annual conference in person, NC MFSA invites us to join a series of webinars that will focus on the theme of "Voices on Health Care NC."  The webinars are free for all interested, but pre-registration is required.  Learn more about the individual webinars and speakers, and register today for the virtual 12th Annual Jack Crum Conference on Prophetic Ministry: Voices on Health Care NC.

New York MFSA presents a Virtual Fall Banquet on "How to be an Anti-racist Congregation."  Garlinda Burton, the current interim General Security and CEO of General Commission on Religion and Race, will speak on what it looks like for our churches to be authentically anti-racist.  Join the call early at 6:30 for a time of virtual socializing, or join at 7pm for the main program.

Justice-Seeking Community Highlight:

St. Paul and St. Andrew UMC

A Justice Seeking Community, St. Paul and St. Andrew UMC of New York City, NY has proactively encouraged voter turn out and registration.  On September 22, 2020, National Voter Registration Day, church members set up a table outside the church to help folks get registered to vote for the upcoming election.  Even more, St. Paul and St. Andrew, in partnership with SAJ and other members of the UWS Voter Engagement Coalition, has taken initiative to offer a phonebanking series.  "As we get closer to the election, phonebanking becomes an even more critical tool for voter engagement."  The goal is to offer "crucial information to help voters avoid long lines, voter intimidation on election day, and to make sure their votes count" every other Tuesday.

If your church, small group, ministry group, or community is interested in becoming a Justice-Seeking Community, please click the link and check out the JSC Covenant: https://bit.ly/2HUTgA1

MFSA in the News

Part of a 400+ interfaith coalition, MFSA "signed a legal brief for a U.S. Supreme Court case arguing that Christian foster care agencies contracted with the government must place children in same-sex households.”  In the city of Philadelphia, foster care agencies, Catholic Social Services and Bethany Christian Services of Greater Delaware Valley, were refusing to place children in same-sex couple households.  And in 2018, the city decided to stop placing "children in homes of foster parents affiliated with" these two agencies because of their discriminatory policy.  The latter agency changed its policies, but the former, Catholic Social Services, sued the city, arguing on the means of religious freedom.  Eventually this case continued to go up the ladders, and the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments in February.

We at MFSA believe that religious belief should never be used to discriminate and do harm to others, and we will continue to fight for justice in solidarity with our LGBTQ+ siblings.

OUT: The National Cancer Survey

In September, the National LGBT Cancer Network launched the Out: The National Cancer Survey.  This survey is aimed to fill the large gap of information from the experiences of LGBTQ+ cancer survivors.  This completely anonymous survey will be utilized to "help inform cancer care for the estimated 81,000 LGBTQI+ people who are diagnosed with cancer every year."  Learn if you are eligible to contribute to this valuable survey and make a critical impact on cancer care for our communities.

Now's the Time for Action

Now is the time to continue to push for broad systemic change. Here are a few ways you can seek justice in these uncertain and difficult times:

1. Ensure your voice counts, and vote in this November's election.  Make sure you're a registered voter, and consider working as a poll worker.
2. The current deadline for the 2020 Census is October 31st.  10 literal minutes will define public policies for the next 10 years.  Complete the 2020 Census today.
3. Register for the November 11th Inaugural James H. Cone Lecture presented by Dr. Anthony B. Pinn, "The view from Bearden: James Cone, Black Suffering, and Theologizing Poetic Imagination."
4. Contact your elected official to sponsor the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA).  If passed, the PHRA "will block all forms of U.S. aid to both the army and police of the Philippines until human rights conditions are met."
5. Virtually attend the free, go at your own pace Compassion School offering by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
6. Join the National Farm Worker Ministry in observing the Harvest of Justice season by learning about farm workers and the environment and by demanding protections for farm worker rights.
7. Being shot multiple times in the back by police officers, Jacob Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down. Demand justice for Jacob Blake.
8. Deaconess Cindy Andrade Johnson joins refugees at migrant camps in filling out 1000 to 2000 postcards directed to Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Biden, and Senator Harris to remember them and change the inhuman policy of MPP, the Migrant Protection Protocol.  See a sample to write a letter and join the grassroots organizing for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants.
9. Sign the petition and join Palestinian Cry for Hope: a Call to Decisive Action, a global movement set by Kairos Response that "rouses churches to action and awakens civil society to the reality of Palestinian suffering."
10. Grow in your personal learning or as a community with a group study by taking advantage of free online university courses on systemic racism.
11. The pandemic marginalizes those already most marginalized in society.  Host a virtual Card Writing Party to write and mail letters to immigrants in detention via The Casa Mariposa Detention Visitation Program.
12. Call your legislators (202-224-3121) and advocate for permanent federal paid sick leave, expanded unemployment benefits, SNAP increases, and a moratorium on evictions, utility shut-offs, and payments. 
13. So much of this country is in an economic free-fall in response to COVID-19 while many Americans were already at rock bottom before the virus hit.  Use your voice and sign the petition calling on Congress for a moral response to COVID-19.  The current legislation doesn't do enough to address the extent of the crisis (universal health care, living wages, worker protection, adequate income, and anti-poverty programs to name a few).
14. Sign the petition: Demand state and federal lawmakers end the use of private prisons and protect incarcerated people from COVID-19.

In Case You Missed It

1. Watch the recorded webinar exploring the question of "Is it Antisemitic to Criticize the State of Israel?" and get access to additional resources.
2. Get the recording of MFSA and UMKR's August webinar featuring Rev. Drs. Stephen Sizer and Munther Isaac, two recognized authorities on Christian Zionism, and learn about the flawed theology of Christian Zionism and why it is an inaccurate interpretation of Scripture that harms Palestinian Christians and the entire Middle East peace process.
3. Watch the recording of MFSA and UMKR's webinar on Responsible Tourism in the Holy Land and additional resources.
4. Watch the recording of the MFSA and UMKR's joint call on the Israeli annexation of Palestinian land and a list of action items you can take to actively oppose the apartheid in Palestine and Israel.

We at MFSA encourage you to be a witness and a good neighbor. Please continue to do your part in flattening the curve by practicing physical distancing and worship from home.