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Ohio-Meadville District of the UUA |
Led by Neal Anderson, Intern Minister, West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church
As a seminarian at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California I had a number of opportunities to be involved in Street Retreats in the San Francisco district of the Tenderloin. The street retreats were developed and hosted by the Faithful Fools Street Ministry, a ministry supported by the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco. I was moved and changed by my experiences on retreat and believe that this model of active meditation and witness is a powerful and life-changing practice.
The purpose of a street retreat is to give people the opportunity to “discover on the streets our common humanity”. People are asked to gather together in readings, songs, meditation and introductions before leaving to walk the streets alone for a portion of the day. There are no expectations of the participants, just that they will remain open to the experiences that they will encounter. People may wish to eat at a soup kitchen or find a place to sit down and witness to what is happening that day on the street. Participants are encouraged to walk in reflection actively questioning their assumptions and biases that arise throughout the retreat.
The Faithful Fools describe a street retreat on their web-site as follows, “While moving through the day people are asked to walk with a consciousness to that which arises from within them - attitudes, judgments, fears, assumptions, etc. - about who is in the streets and why some people are homeless, especially at a time when we are being told that this is an era of great prosperity in the U.S.”
The retreat will begin at the Urban Hope storefront location at 3204 Lorain Avenue in Cleveland’s Near West Side. Participants will retreat in the area surrounding Urban Hope’s location. There will be a simple soup lunch after the retreat and reflection. A donation of $10 to $25 is asked for the day or whatever you are able to give, even if that means a smile. For further information about the retreat please contact Neal Anderson at nanderson at uuma.org. To register e-mail Doris Matthey dmatthey at sbcglobal.net or KellyAnn Booth urbanhopefuller at aol.com
Download a pdf flyer about this event by clicking here.
