Calendar
Sunday Services - 11 am at the church and via Zoom
Child care is provided.
February 5, 2023: Rev. Terry Ellen. Topic: "The Fallacy of Original Sin." Many of us have grown up under the concept of original sin. As best as I can tell, it is a very unfortunate doctrine developed for mistaken reasons, and it has damaged many people. There are other ways to explain all the ways we humans mess up that do not put us all under a depressing origin story. Let's look at these.
February 12, 2023: Richard Gordon Zyne, MS, MDiv, DMin. Topic: "The Hero's Journey - Where Are You On Your Spiritual Journey of Life." The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you are looking for. The damned thing in the cave that was so dreaded has become the center. In loving the spiritual, you cannot despise the earthly. The purpose of the journey is compassion. As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It is not as wide as you think. - Joseph Campbell
February 19, 2023: Rev. Mike Franch. Topic: "Being Different Together: Our Diverse, Pluralistic UU Community" Once upon a time, I went with the 'tweens class at my home congregation to visit congregations of other denominations. Friendly people welcomed us, we heard good values expressed, and we met people trying to make a better world. These were good folks, nice people. Of course, I disagreed thoroughly with most of the theology. And I thought, this was like my home church: nice, friendly people, good values, people trying to make a better world - and some theology I don't agree with. And I like that! We can be different together!
February 26, 2023: Rev. James Gibbons Walker. Topic: "Competition, Competence, and Spring Training: Playing to win. Playing to play." Holding the metaphor of baseball's "spring training," Rev. James Gibbons Walker will invite reflection on how competition has helped and hurt, competence can be a weapon, practice is important, and play is the only thing we have.
March 5, 2023: Rev. Karyn Marsh. Topic: "The Fear Factor." Fear permeates our culture. Movies, books, video games, news broadcasts, and many of our leaders seem to pedal fear as a matter of course. Sometimes the alarm must be sounded. However, the cost of fear mongering has been the corrosion of trust. Indeed, the fear has been described as the opposite of trust. In this service, Rev. Karyn Marsh will explore how we can dispel the fear by building trust.
March 12, 2023: Rev. James Gibbons Walker. Topic: "The Secret Six: A Clash of Principles on the Eve of the War of the Rebellion." Sedition is again in the news. One hundred and sixty-three years ago, six founders of hospitals, schools, and other philanthropic institutions, all of them either Unitarians or followers of other liberal religions, supported and financed John Brown's Harper's Ferry Raid, an armed rebellion against the United States. Come hear their stories and their reasons and consider with Rev. James Gibbons Walker, Affiliate Minister of the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, questions about means and ends, morality, and the greater good.
March 19, 2023: Richard Gordon Zyne, MS, MDiv, DMin. Topic: "Alan Watts - On the Eternal Now and Being Here and Now"
March 26, 2023: Rev. Mike Franch. Topic: "Toward a Mature-ish Faith: Does Having a Growing Faith Mean We Never Really Get There?" I was very much moved last month when, after my sermon, several of you talked about your own religious upbringing. Many of us - probably most of us - grew up in a religion other than Unitarian Universalism. Some of us fled our religion of origin, some of us just drifted away. So here we are. Some of us might move on to something else, others have found their final home. But even those of us who stay don't have to internally stay put. We can still grow. Our reflection on our religious pasts - of former religions but even our experience as Unitarian Universalists - offers us an opportunity to grow.
April 2, 2023: Rev. Karyn Marsh. Topic: TBA.
April 9, 2023: Richard Gordon Zyne, MS, MDiv, DMin. Topic: TBA.
September 4, 2022: to lift up the need for urgent action on climate and climate justice if we are to worthy of the name n Rev. Terry
Contact Fran Kriston at fkriston@yahoo.com for any additional information concerning upcoming services that is not provided above.
Additional Activities
Book Club
We read a variety of books. The selection is usually chosen by a group vote. The Book Club meets every five or six weeks at 11:30 on a Thursday. You can attend in person at the church or on Zoom.
Weekly Walk
We meet every Tuesday at 12:00 (the time will be adjusted according to the weather). We will walk for two miles on different sections of the Ma and Pa Trail and other local trails. In the event of bad weather, we will walk at the mall.
The Unitarians were considered heretics, but it was the Universalists Book really caught if from the orthodox. And with good reason: by removing hell from the religious equation they completely upset the dogmatic applecart, taking away the prime motivator for religiously towing the line. With no fear of hell, the orthodox feared chaos. With no fear of hell, the Universalists opened up a whole new world freedom and joy that transformed religion in the West. And we are their ambassadors today.