Language has incredible power to harm or heal, to oppress or liberate. Using words with care is a vital practice for people of faith and conscience—it’s even a key spiritual practice in many traditions. But it’s not always easy. What do we do when some words (like “queer” or “God”) feel violent to some people but empowering to others? What about when our brains struggle to use words (like pronouns) in ways that feel sticky or wrong? In this service radical copyeditor Alex Kapitan will answer these and other questions and inspire us to let go of “correctness” in favor of care.
Zr. Alex Kapitan is a lay community minister, educator, editor, consultant, and activist. Ze is the co-founder of the Transforming Hearts Collective and the founder of Radical Copyeditor, an anti-oppressive language project. With a background in book publishing, faith-based organizing, and activism, Alex does interfaith LGBTQ work, supports congregations in practicing radical welcome, and also regularly offers workshops and presentations on conscious language for publishing companies, media organizations, and other groups. Pronouns: ze/per (as in: Alex is great, ze is an awesome preacher, be sure not to miss per sermon!)
Guest preacher: Zr. Alex Kapitan
Worship Associate: Brian Weller
Special music: Ruth Huber, pianist
Follow along in the order of service: bit.ly/uucpa_oos_20230806.
Join the service via Zoom: bit.ly/uucpa_service_1015am_v3. To get the passcode, email sundayservice@uucpa.org or call UUCPA’s outgoing voicemail message, 650-494-0541. It is also included in the weekly update emails. To watch the service live on our Facebook page (no passcode required), visit: www.facebook.com/uucpa/live_videos.