Summer 2021: Doing Good

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead, you relax, and float. The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

Alan Watts

UMW Shows up for Soup Singing

On May 26, in continuing partnership with Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light (MNIPL), Minnesota Conference United Methodist Women (MNUMW) President Cindy Saufferer and MNUMW Nominations co-chair Shirley Durr attended a virtual Soup Singing to Stop Line 3. 
 
Soup Singing is a ritual that connects people virtually and joyfully in their home kitchens to prepare soup and sing for Water. It is a grounding practice to co-create collective nourishment, honor Water and Indigenous treaty rights, connect with a growing community, and inspire courage to resist the Line 3 tar sands pipeline project.

The Soup Sing featured Taysha Martineau, Fond du Lac Band of  Lake Superior Chippewa member, Anishinaabe water protector, and founder of Camp Migizi, one of the Line 3 resistance camps. 
 
While soups were simmering, Martineau explained how stopping line 3 is not “just about oil” but also about missing and murdered Indigenous women and sex trafficking. Martineau explained that although her daughters are old enough to dress themselves, she dresses them herself so she’ll know what they’re wearing in case they, like other Indigenous females, go missing.

Minneapolis musician and song leader Sarina Partridge led attendees in learning “Nibi Song” by Doreen Day, a song in Ojibwe written and sung for the water, a song of healing and love inspired by a child. 
 
Sarina also taught “Water Allegiance” and “Down to the Well” -- two of Sarina’s own original songs.
 

The Soup Sing also featured Minneapolis singer-songwriter Mayyadda performing and teaching “Mississippi.” Mayyadda’s song is about how the river develops as it flows from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, connecting our own lives to Water. Mayyadda is a member of New City United Methodist Church.
 
After the Sing, there was talk led by Nancy Beaulieu (citizen and resident of Leech Lake) who is a MN 350 Climate Justice Organizer. She talked about how to show up in solidarity with Anishinaabe people exercising their treaty rights.

Beaulieu explained that stopping line 3 is “about our treaties” which are about relationships. Native peoples and settlers are “treaty partners,” she said. Honoring treaties gives us not only the right to occupy the land but also the obligation to live in peace and care for the land. Beaulieu believes that building Line 3 endangers biodiversity and sovereign lands and dishonors the treaties “your ancestors signed with my ancestors.” 
 

Following Beaulieu’s talk, breakout rooms met to discuss what it means to be treaty people as a way of preparing for the Treaty People Gathering June 5-8 in northern Minnesota. Cindy and Shirley made plans to show up.

Racial Justice Book Club: What to do after reading the book?

 

The first leg of our journey towards racial justice that began on January 12 with the first Zoom session of the Racial Justice Book Club (RJBC) ended with the last Zoom session on April 27 discussing the last chapters of How to Be an Anti-racist by Ibram X. Kendi. 

The last session also included discussion about how to take the next step of putting what was learned into action. Tentative plans were discussed for meeting at George Floyd Square, 38^th and Chicago, and sharing a meal together from a business in that neighborhood while processing their shared experience and brainstorming other actions to take towards racial justice. Others who did not take part in discussing the book are invited to join in this activity.

Besides the facilitator, Crixell Shell (Assistant Executive Director of the Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute), Marcia Alexander, Julie Burrows, Shirley Durr, Leo Jones, Katie Knutson, Karol Lehman, Mary Ellen Reetz-Pegues, Steve Reiser, Berri Reiser, Pat Reiser, Nan Rice, Tim Rice, Cindy Saufferer, and Carolyn Winslow also took part in the RJBC.
 
Mary Ellen Reetz-Pegues, as well as others, admitted finding the Kendi book difficult at times but Mary Ellen is glad she read it. “I learned a lot,” she said, “but I don’t think I contributed much to the discussion.”
 
Despite this perception, Mary Ellen’s personal experiences with racism throughout her marriage and her willingness to question some of Kendi’s precepts were valuable contributions to small and large group discussions.

Pastor Steve expressed appreciation for the Racial Justice Book Club because it “gave us an opportunity to explore Ibram X. Kendi's book together.” He also “enjoyed connecting with folks both inside and outside of our Epworth community.  Additionally, it gave me an opportunity to build a connection with Crixell and MN Peacebuilders.”

Epworth hopes to maintain that connection within the Book Club and beyond it.

 
If you want to be part of the George Floyd Square visit or if you want to help choose what the RJBC reads for the next leg of this long journey, email with your book suggestions and let us know if you are interested in taking part in other RJBC events.