Reverend Victoria Safford

VICTORIA SAFFORD is minister of White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church. A native of New York State, she came to Minnesota in 1999, following a ten-year ministry at Northampton, Massachusetts and five years of work with the American Friends Service Committee as a community organizer and activist.  Reverend Safford is a graduate of Vassar College and Yale Divinity School and the winner of numerous sermon awards, including most recently the UUA's Annual Program Fund award and that of the Unitarian Universalist Sunday School Society.  She lives in Mahtomedi with her husband Ross and their daughter, Hope. 

FROM THE MINISTER

July 2009

Monday Morning Conversations

Philosopher Cornel West defines “the blues” as “the elegant coping with catastrophe that yields a grace and dignity so that the spirit of resistance is never completely snuffed out.” That’s the song I want our congregation to be singing. Our church will be, in the words of the Rev. Rob Hardies, “a shame-free zone.”

– from the sermon on 7 June 2009, “Walk Together Children, Don’t You Get Weary.”

Beginning on Monday morning, July 6, from 10:00 – 11:30 a.m., join us for coffee and conversation here in the Social Hall. If you or someone in your household has been laid off from a job or furloughed, if you’ve lost benefits or lost confidence in these most painful economic times, if you’re facing foreclosure, or anxious uncertainty – please come. These conversations, facilitated by Victoria Safford with help from Doug Federhart, will convene every Monday morning, and are open to anyone affected by the recession, and to all who are interested in finding new ways to speak openly and honestly about money. If you have skills to share (resume writing, networking strategies, professional counseling experience), or would be available to facilitate a small-group circle, please speak with Victoria (vsafford@whitebearunitarian.org 651.426.2369).

These groups will meet not at night as if it were a leisure time activity, but on Monday mornings, bright and early, in the plain light of day, as if we all had work to do, as if we’re all needed and we need to show up. People come, they’re urged to come, not only because they themselves may be hurting, but because others may be helped by their presence. You might not show up for yourself, but would you come if it might help someone else feel better, more connected, not alone?

– from “Walk Together Children, Don’t You Get Weary.”

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Victoria Safford can be reached at 651.426.2369 / vsafford@whitebearunitarian.org