Open Hearts news: February 2011

Open hearts reconciling community and friends:

Open hearts is an official Reconciling communty of RMN (Reconciling ministry network) and a faith support group of GLBT persons and allies in the grand island area, come join us Sunday Feb 20 --

HERE is the lastest news for feb, march :

1) New ACTION that just came in for KC Sunday Feb 20 --  with SOULFORCE --  if anyone can go or if you have friends in the KC area forward it to them! I hope some folks from NE and KS can go to lend support to this Action by Soulforce Sunday Feb 20!

2) Upcoming Events / Dates and Diversity news from Peggy and Gale our friends in Dannebrog!!

3) Let's Celebrate and come support Becca's story sunday, Feb 20, spong books in the am see below after the ACTION!    maureen and mena, Email contacts for Open hearts Reconciling community  (and mena is ELCA doing ecumenical work to help us!)

4) Upcoming GI HIV AIDS Benefit concert April 8 evening .. let us know how you can help by coming, bringing cookies, cupcakes, donations, friends and more!

For info on this April 8 HIV AIDS Benefit Concert in G Island in GOLLAHER CHAPEL a new VENUE for this event ---  Contact Rev Scott Taylor at First Christian, G Island or TUMC church offices!

Four musicians will be providing music and we will take a break for freewill offerings and intermission we hope..
we need help with cupcakes, cookies at the intermission or if you can help brew coffee, tea or get out ice water, wash mugs, cups --  and your support with AIDS ribbons, donations and friends to come join in the BENEFIT for TUMC Emergency HIV AIDS fund ..

this fund that is four years old gives direct Assistance to NAP kearney for medical emergencies with Waiting lists in NE for these emergencies and in 20 other states!!

If you can help with cookies, cupcakes, goodies during INTERMISSION Scott take flyers and table tents to places in G Island and the area, contact Scott at First Christian G Island church or on Facebook!   Or maureen in Feb and April!

5) Celebrate the New HIV AIDS testing site at TUMC two times a month! First Thurs in the morning, Third Thurs
3 - 5 PM, Parish nurse office at Old Walnut apartments, donations!  KNOW YOUR STATUS .. call for an appt or just come! Call TUMC for info weekdays: 308-382-1952

6) GI TUMC is the new Recipient of the Working for an AIDS FREE world Grant for 2011 as it gives $650 to the TUMC Emergency HIV AIDS fund and project!

ACTION IN KC FEB 20 with Soulforce, see below and dates after that! Maureen and Mena, Email contacts

----- Original Message ----- From: "Judy Sandeen" <jsandeen@hastings.edu>
To: "undisclosed-recipients:"
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 1:59 PM
Subject: action item

This tells about an event in KC, but there's also a petition you can sign.

Soulforce - Relentless Non-Violent Resistance

Greetings Justice Seekers!

On February 20, 2011, Sunday, Soulforce will join with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to engage in a non-violent act of resistance to the exportation of homophobia and religious bigotry to Uganda by Lou Engle, evangelist and founder of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) and The Call. We will be joined by volunteers from the organization EQUAL of Kansas City, Missouri, volunteers who conducted a highly visible public protest of Mr. Engle's activities on last December, 2010.

We will deliver a petition with 36,000 signatures calling for the end of USA supported ministries in Uganda that catalyze harm and death to LGBTQ people. We will join in a vigil outside the church during worship services at IHOP, awaiting Mr. Engle's response to our letter request (below, also available online) to dialogue about the horrific treatment of LGBTQ Ugandans arising out of USA broadcasts and on-site religious propaganda.

We want to thank the United Nations Faith Coalition for LGBT Human Rights for its groundbreaking work in Uganda in defending the worth and dignity of all people, particularly members of the LGBTQ community. Friends and allies of LGBTQ peole are invited to join together on the sidewalk in front of the International House of Prayer (3535 Red Ride Road) at 7:45am on Sunday morning.

SCHEDULE

7:45 am - Vigil begins on sidewalk in front of the International House of Prayer
10:15 am - Sunday Worship
12:30 pm - Press Conference

The International House of Prayer is located at 3535 E Red Ridge Road, Kansas City, MO 64137.

Limited parking is available across from IHOP and in the surrounding residential areas east and west of IHOP

Please check out our Facebook event, and rsvp to attend this action.

For those interested in attending the action, we will be having an important call - in training and briefing about our schedule for this action and the non-violent principles by which we operate. This call will take place at 7:30pm EST on Thursday, February 17th. We ask that when you join the call, you not announce yourself and place your devices on mute. There may be a large number of participants, and this will make the call more functional. The call will last about an hour, and will be informational. A period for questions and feedback will take place after the briefing and training. A copy of our source material for the presentation can be downloaded here.  Participants are encouraged to read over this presentation and follow along throughout the call.



Conference Call details

  1. Call (712) 451-6050 prior to 7:30pm EST.
  2. Dial our conference code: 1007067# to connect.
  3. Place phone on mute to eliminate background noise.



We are dedicated to ending the exportation of bigotry and spiritual violence. We also want to honor and keep in remembrance those whose lives have been taken in Uganda, including most recently David Kato.

Please make plans to join us in Kansas City. Even if you can't be with us in person, you can still aid this and other important programs by donating today!

Please pass this information along to all of your friends and folks who live in the Kansas City area!

Sincerely,
The Soulforce Team

The letter:

February 11, 2011

Pastor Lou Engle
International House of Prayer/The Call
3535 East Red Bridge Road
Kansas City, MO 64137


Dear Mr. Engle,

We at Soulforce and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) are saddened and distraught at the plight of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Ugandans. The social climate in Uganda has become so toxic that LGBT people are not safe in their homes or on the street. And, we believe that the untruths and misrepresentations that you and
other U.S. based Christian evangelical leaders continue to proclaim regarding the goodness and wholeness of LGBT people is at the root of this climate of fear and violence. These misrepresentations and untruths must stop now.

The safety of LGBT people, as well as their friends and their families, has been put at risk because of the proposed “anti-homosexual bill.” You have claimed to oppose this bill, but you have not taken a clear and public position in Uganda where your opposition could make a difference. Instead, after fueling the flames of anti-LGBT sentiments in
Uganda, you have stood beside the bill’s supporters and referred totheir work as righteous. You cannot preach that  “homosexuals have demons” or say to LGBT people, “let the Bible kill you?” and then ignore the results of speaking such words. Words have power.  And, your words create fear and hatred toward LGBT people.  This fear and hatred puts the lives of LGBT people at risk and perpetuates a climate of terror and
violence.

The purpose of this letter is to introduce ourselves and let you know that it is our intention to continue to pursue dialog with you until you stop your vitriolic rhetoric against LGBT people.  We ask you to formally renounce the “anti-homosexuality bill” in Uganda. We ask you to call on MP David Bahati, MP James Nsaba Buturo and Pastor
Julius Oyet to cease and desist their persecution of LGBT people. And, we ask you to call for a fair and impartial investigation into the murder of David Kato.   Informed by the principles of nonviolence as demonstrated by Mohandas Gandhi and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we at Soulforce and HRC will not give up on our call to end this outrage.

As a beginning point in this dialog, members of a Soulforce and HRC delegation will be traveling to Kansas City on Sunday, February 20th to meet with you and to deliver a petition signed by over 36,000 Americans who are deeply saddened by the murder of human rights defender, David Kato, and horrified by the role U.S. religious leaders have
played in perpetuating a climate of misunderstanding and violence against LGBT people.  Our intent is to work with you in an honest effort to find what Gandhi called “the third way,” a way that recognizes the dangers of continuing on the current path. As people of faith, we respect your profound commitment to prayer and to making the world a better place, yet we cannot stand by while your rhetoric wreaks havoc on an entire community of people.

Member of our delegation would welcome the opportunity to worship in your congregation on Sunday and we will be in respectful vigil outside the IHOP facilities on East Red Bridge Road on Sunday morning throughout services – ready, willing, and able to join you in this dialog toward truth. Please advise us whether you will welcome us into this dialog and where and when you would like to meet on Feb. 20th. You may direct your response to Rev. Dr. Cindi Love’s email (cindi@soulforce.org) or  by phone at 972 358 5907. We look forward to our time together.

Sincerely,


Rev. Dr. Cindi Love
Soulforce, Inc.
Executive Director
Human Rights Campaign Religion Council Member
P.O. Box 249
Abilene, Texas 79604
cindi@soulforce.org
Phone:  972 358 5907


Dr. Sharon Groves
Acting  Director,
Religion and Faith Program
Human Rights Campaign
1640 Rhode Island Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-3278
Sharon.Groves@hrc.org
Phone:  202-772-3898

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UPCOMING EVENTS and DATES in the G Island area:

Feb 20, Gathering Place, TUMC, 511 N Elm, Grand Island, NE --- 2:45 PM, Open Hearts Gathering with Becca sharing her journey starting a GSA at GISH last year!   Come lend support to this new GSA in G Island!   Becca is a senior and we want to thank her for her amazing ability to hang in there!   Bring a snack to share at 2:45 and bring your friends who are allies or GLBT persons of faith.  Come early at 2:45 if you are new to the group so you can read the Support group Guidelines!

FEB AND APRIL:  NEW DVD's for our RAINBOW CRATE WILL BE SHARED IN FEB AND APRIL GIVEN BY AN ANONYMOUS DONOR..  THANKS OR IF YOU HAVE DVD'S TO ORDER OR SHARE, BOOKS, MOVIES!

( April 10 we meet at the same time to share Awakenings and Happenings for spring and summer! )

Feb 20 sunday -- Book Share with Bishop Spong books you have read: 10:45 --  11:30 in Miller Hall, Trinity UMC

Feb 24 Suicide prevention workshops .. come and tell us Shelley if you can sunday!

March 15 : action in Lincoln, see NE Statewide Reconciling Network group email earlier today!

march 25 - 27, Horizons of Faith weekend, Omaha First umc, Bishop Spong as guest Theologian for the Tenth Ann!
www.horizonsoffaith.org

April 10, Open Hearts Reconciling Community Gathering, Awakenings and Happenings for spring and summer!  come join us at the same time as Feb 20 at 2:45 PM, Gathering Place, TUMC, 511 N Elm Street, G Island, NE

June 1 - 4, St marks UMC, NE UMC annual conference  : events and help with items for the rainbow suitcase, HIV AIDS table and more!

PRIDE EVENTS THIS SUMMER!

Sept 19, Fall gathering :  Ryan Sallens coming to share his story :  POTLUCK and Meeting with Hastings PFLAG and Hastings GSA at Hastings college, monday night, new time for open hearts, Potluck meal for GSA and new students at Hastings college!   More info coming!

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Diversity News106 South Mill Street – Dannebrog, Nebraska 68831

For Immediate Release……… Contact Gale Pemberton 308-226-8286
Gale1938@live.com

Pawnee Speakers Series in April
The Pawnee Arts Center
106 South Mill Street
Dannebrog, NE 68831


This April, The Pawnee Arts Center in Dannebrog will celebrate its first
year of operation. In celebration, we are pleased to announce our next
Speaker Series.

Sunday April 3, David Wishart will present a program on “Ethnic
Cleansing, Cultural Genocide, and Pawnee Removal. “ Dr. Wishart is a
Professor of Geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His
publications include An Unspeakable Sadness: The Dispossession of the
Nebraska Indians (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press,
1994) which won the J.B. Jackson Prize for Best Book in North American
Human Geography with appeal to a popular audience (also nominated for a
Pulitzer Prize).

Sunday April 10, Rob Bozell will present “Pawnee Origins on the Great
Plains: Archeological, Historic, and Oral Traditions.” Mr. Bozell
received his degrees in anthropology from the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln. He is with the Nebraska State Historical Society, and
his professional interests include working with Native American tribes,
and archeological research involving changes in cultural traditions,
climate, and subsistence.

Each program will start at 1:30 pm and will be presented in the meeting
Room of the Fire Hall located at 114 East Oak Street. Admission is a
free will donation. Parking is free and plentiful. Park on Mill Sreet or
Oak Street. Enter the building on Mill Street. The programs will be
followed by a Speaker’s Reception in the Arts Center. Light refreshments
will be served.

We are open every Thursday and by appointment.

WINTER HOURS: 5 pm to 8 pm on Thursdays - weather permitting
SPRING HOURS: 5 pm to 8 pm on Thursdays
SUMMER HOURS: 4 pm to 9 pm on Thursdays

See our Facebook page.
Our website www.thepawneeartscenter.org
is under construction. Watch for it!!.
308-226-8286
from Dannebrog and the Pawnee ARTS CENTER :  Peggy and Gale

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Join Reconciling ministry network today :  www.RMNetwork.org   no membership cost per se other than a commitment to a more fully inclusive UMC and faith groups!

Maureen and Mena, Email contacts for Open hearts Reconciling community, G island, NE
maureen :  mvetter@charter.net  or mena:  ottomine1971@gmail.com