Upcoming Sermon Topics – May 2013

5 May               Three Mortalities

Led by the Rev. Melissa Carvill-Ziemer and Worship Associate Elaine Bowen

The poet Wendell Berry writes, “No, no, there is no going back. / Less and less you are / that possibility you were. / More and more you have become / those lives and deaths / that have belonged to you.” This morning we will explore what it means to become the lives and death that have belonged to us through three particular mortalities selected by last fall’s service auction sermon winner, Gene Wenninger.

 

 

12 May             Family Matters

Led by the Rev. Melissa Carvill-Ziemer and Worship Associate John Marfy

We often say that families come in all shapes and sizes and that love is what makes a family. This morning we will again affirm the many ways in which families are formed and nurtured as we reflect upon why it is that families still matter.

 

 

19 May             Lessons from the Life of Malcolm X

Led by the Rev. Melissa Carvill-Ziemer and Worship Associate Kristina Spaude

If Malcolm X were still alive, he would have been turning 88 years old on this day. Over the course of his life cut too short, Malcolm X made an incredible journey from an exclusivist affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood to an expan-sive embrace of what he called “the family of man.” This morning we will tell his story and listen for the inspiration it holds for our own lives.

 

 

26 May             The Angel of the Battlefield

Led by the Rev. Melissa Carvill-Ziemer and Worship Associate Justin Czekaj

This Memorial Day weekend we will return again to the story of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. Bar-ton devoted her life to tending the needs of soldiers. How are we tending the needs of soldiers and their families today and caring for veterans and their families when they finally return home?

Share this:

Does Life Long Learning Have to Be ALL My Life? – Sunday, April 28, 2013

Led by the Rev. Elaine Strawn and Worship Associate Bonnie Harper –  Continuing Education requirements never end…neither does spiritual development. We will try to integrate psychological and spiritual ideas to understand where we are in the scope of things. Rev. Elaine Strawn is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wayne County. Along with Melissa, she is participating in a three congregation pulpit swap this morning. Melissa will be leading services at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Meadville, PA.

Share this:

Church Library News

Library New Books 2013-02-17The Library Committee is pleased to receive donations that reflect the categories of our collection. The categories listed below may help you to select donations from your own library for the church collection. Please, when making a donation, be sure to give us your contact information, particularly your phone number and e-mail address, so we may acknowledge your donation. As another reminder, please return any books you have had for over two weeks.

Categories: Biography; BGLT (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender); Buddhism; Celebrations and Passages; Christianity; Church Leadership; Family Life; Humanism; Inspiration; Meditation; Men’s Studies; Philosophy; Religious Studies; Social Justice; Spirituality; Theology; Unitarian Universalism; Women’s Studies; World Religions.

The church library has just acquired the 2013 UUA Meditation Manual, which is available in the Meditation category. While helping with the data management of our library, Andrew Bores noted that Meditation was our most-used category. This is partly because our worship associates who help the minister in the Sunday services look for worthwhile selections to read in the service. This year’s meditation manual is Falling Into the Sky: A Meditation Anthology, Abhi and Abhimanyu Janamanchi, editors (Boston, Skinner House Books, 2013). Abhi Janamanchi is senior minister of the UU congregation in Clearwater, FL. Abhimanyu Janamanchi is a lifelong UU who has served as youth observer on the UUA Board of Trustees and the UUA Moderator Nominating Committee. The manual is a selection of prayers, meditations, and short essays by UU ministers, lay people, theologians, poets, philosophers, and activists. They each provide personal insights into the workings of the inner self to help us move into a realm where calm replaces busyness, peace overcomes anxiety, and compassion delivers the soul from selfishness.
Book Review by Martha Kluth

Share this:

Like This Service – April 14, 2013

Led by the Rev. Melissa Carvill-Ziemer and Worship Associate Max Grubb – A colleague recently asked me whether I have ever used the teleprompter app on an iPad when preaching my sermons. I didn’t even know a teleprompter app existed! There are so many technologies being devised to help us work, learn, connect and play better and more efficiently. How do we decide when technological developments can help and when they might actually hinder our growth?

Share this:

Spiritual Cinema Moved to Friday, April 12 – The Da Vinci Code

Please join us for Spiritual Cinema this Friday, April 12 at 7:00 PM. We will watch the motion picture, “The Da Vinci Code” (2006). The movie is 174 minutes and will be followed by a short discussion of some of the topics raised by the movie. This month we will be screening the movie in Dan Flippo’s home, 2650 Easthaven Drive, Hudson OH 44236Please RSVP to Dan at [email protected].

Comments by Dan

Since it is Easter, I thought it would be interesting to watch a movie that brings up many controversial questions about Jesus Christ.  For two thousand years there has been a debate over whether Jesus Christ was a man, god, or both.  Originally, the term “Unitarian” was intended to be an insult of American liberal ministers who questioned the holy trinity concept of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Famously Thomas Jefferson created his own version of the Gospels in that time period eliminating all miracles and ending at the crucifixion   While I am aware of the creative license that Dan Brown used while writing the Da Vinci Code, I believe it is very effective at raising questions about how much of the gospels is based on historical events and whether it is possible that there are living descendants of Jesus.  Ours is a faith that welcomes these questions and I hope you will join me in a discussion of the historical Jesus after the movie.

Movie Trailer:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMba3fckhuQ]

Amazon.com Description

Critics and controversy aside, The Da Vinci Code is a verifiable blockbuster. Combine the film’s huge worldwide box-office take with over 100 million copies of Dan Brown’s book sold, and The Da Vinci Code has clearly made the leap from pop-culture hit to a certifiable franchise. The leap for any story making the move from book to big screen, however, is always more perilous. In the case of The Da Vinci Code, the plot is concocted of such a preposterous formula of elements that you wouldn’t envy screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, the man tasked with making this story filmable. The script follows Dan Brown’s book as closely as possible while incorporating a few needed changes, including a better ending. And if you’re like most of the world, by now you’ve read the book and know how it goes: while lecturing in Paris, noted Harvard Professor of Symbology Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is summoned to the Louvre by French police to help decipher a bizarre series of clues left at the scene of the murder of the chief curator. Enter Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), gifted cryptologist. Neveu and Langdon team up to solve the mystery, and from there the story is propelled across Europe, ballooning into a modern-day mini-quest for the Holy Grail, where secret societies are discovered, codes are broken, and murderous albino monks are thwarted… oh, and alternative theories about the life of Christ and the beginnings of Christianity are presented too, of course. It’s not the typical formula for a stock Hollywood thriller. In fact, taken solely as a mystery, the movie almost works–despite some gaping holes–mostly just because it keeps moving. Brown’s greatest trick was to have the entire story take place in one day, so the action is forced to keep moving, despite some necessary pauses for exposition. As a screen couple, Hanks and Tautou are just fine together but not exactly memorable; meanwhile Sir Ian McKellen’s scenery-chewing as pivotal character Sir Leigh Teabing is just what the film needed to keep it from taking itself too seriously. The whole thing is like a good roller-coaster ride: try not to think too much about it–just sit back and enjoy the trip. –Daniel Vancini
Share this:

April Social Justice Meetings

Meetings are scheduled for the following Social Justice Task Groups in April:
social_justice_isnt_just_for_rock_stars_pins-r681bc3bf93324fba96dc0e1e046dbe5b_x7j3i_8byvr_216
SJ Visioning Committee – 4/21, 12:45-2:45pm, Ted Voneida chairing
SJ Human Rights – 4/25, 6:30-8:30pm, Susan Poole chairing
SJ Environmental Justice – 4/30, 7:00-9:00pm, Andrew Rome chairing
All meetings are open to everyone.   Ask us for more information! Please come!
Share this: