Between Sundays 12-13-23

Good People,

     One of the enduring legacies of the UU Church of Ventura will be its advocacy for our unhoused neighbors, its influence over policy and practice on issues of homelessness, and direct assistance to people in need.

Under the auspices of Lift Up Your Voice to End Homelessness, one of the centerpieces of our work has been the hosting and organizing of a Memorial Service for our Homeless Neighbors. The service honors all the souls who died in Ventura County while living without shelter. Too often they have been forgotten and overlooked in life, and so we do what we can to honor their memory. 

For more than 15 years, this service (inspired by the Longest Night tradition that began in 1990) has been held in Ventura on the weekend closest to the Winter Solstice. For the last three years, a twin service has been held in Oxnard as well, sponsored by the City and faith community of Oxnard.

The 2023 Longest Night Memorial Services for our Homeless neighbors will be held on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 3:30 pm in Ventura’s Plaza Park and on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 3:30 pm in Oxnard’s Plaza Park.

These services honor the lives of those who died without shelter and offer solace to their family and friends, as well as to their unhoused companions. We read the names of those who have died, ringing a bell and lighting a candle for each.

Even as we honor the lives we have lost, the memorials also serve to raise awareness of the larger issues of homelessness and the plight of those who are still struggling to stay alive without shelter. There are many reasons why people reach this point in their lives. Many more people than we know live on the edge, and then are pushed over it by economic or medical tragedies.

This undertaking needs many hands to bring it into existence each December. We collect clothing, create headstones, need ‘day of’ help setting up, and have opportunities for youth to create items (like hygiene packs) to distribute at the memorial. If you would like to help with the Ventura Longest Night service, please contact Gale Naylor at galejnaylor@gmail.com. If you would like to help with the Oxnard Longest Night service, please contact Yukio Okano at yukio.okano@yahoo.com.

Perhaps the most significant way to help out with this service is simply to show up, honor the lives we have lost, and open your heart to the humanity—and heartbreak—of our neighbors living without shelter. 

The number of homeless people is growing in our county, in our state, and in the whole nation. The solution is beyond any of us as individuals. Yet, we can still show up, remember how deeply we care, bear witness.

This work is central to the mission and vision of this congregation. You have all been at it for so many years, that in some ways it has slipped into the background: a familiar, beautiful, and powerful part of our Tapestry of Love.

Let us remember its power and its purpose together.

In Faith,
Rev. Dana