On Sunday, January 13 from 10:45-11:45 CUMC will host a Brief Overview of Immigration Enforcement in Orange County. Robert Carlos Herrera, Community Engagement Coordinator of Resilience Orange County will present. 

The mission of Resilience Orange County is to promote resilient youth leaders that engage in the critical work of building youth oriented institutions in Orange County. They work toward transforming the social system while promoting healing, trauma-informed and culturally relevant practices that are inclusive of all members of the community. 

Join women of all different faiths as we discuss The Book of Forgiving and work on forgiving ourselves and others. This group gives us an opportunity to meet women of different faiths and develop relationships and friendships. We cover a chapter at each group meeting. We meet the 2nd & 4th Fridays of the month. The study began January 11th at 10:00. All women are invited to join us.

According to the publisher: “Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Chair of The Elders, and Chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, along with his daughter, the Reverend Mpho Tutu,offer a manual on the art of forgiveness—helping us to realize that we are all capable of healing and transformation.

Tutu’s role as the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission taught him much about forgiveness. If you asked anyone what they thought was going to happen to South Africa after apartheid, almost universally it was predicted that the country would be devastated by a comprehensive bloodbath. Yet, instead of revenge and retribution, this new nation chose to tread the difficult path of confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Each of us has a deep need to forgive and to be forgiven. After much reflection on the process of forgiveness, Tutu has seen that there are four important steps to healing: Admitting the wrong and acknowledging the harm; Telling one’s story and witnessing the anguish; Asking for forgiveness and granting forgiveness; and renewing or releasing the relationship. Forgiveness is hard work. Sometimes it even feels like an impossible task. But it is only through walking this fourfold path that Tutu says we can free ourselves of the endless and unyielding cycle of pain and retribution. The Book of Forgiving is both a touchstone and a tool, offering Tutu’s wise advice and showing the way to experience forgiveness. Ultimately, forgiving is the only means we have to heal ourselves and our aching world.”

Aizaiah Yong, a PhD student at Claremont will be returning to CUMC to teach a workshop on Radical Hospitality this spring, dates to be determined.

Aizaiah was the keynote speaker at the 2018 Family Camp helping us to be peacemakers by cultivating compassion within ourselves.

He is currently studying for his Doctor of Philosophy in Practical Theology: Education and Formation. His expertise includes pastoral care, interfaith studies, contemplative studies, critical race theory, nonviolence studies, and higher education leadership.

We live in a world of beauty, creativity, and love, yet for many of us our everyday lives are busy, anxiety provoking and polarizing. Jesus taught an alternative path that is grounded in radical hospitality! Come and learn Jesus’ path to peace through the power of radical hospitality and how to incorporate these practices into our everyday lives at these one hour workshops.

Please contact Suzanne Morgan at suzanne@cumchb.org with any questions.