Living Our Vision Everyday

Archives – Spring 2019

Faith Development Class Schedule
Spring, 2020

UUCP is delighted to offer three Faith Development Classes for Winter/Spring 2020. Each class is 6 sessions. They will be held on Thursday Nights/Community Nights where you can have a meal from 6-7 pm and then enjoy your class from 7-9 pm. Minimum Registration for each class is 6 people and maximum is 12 people.

“What Moves Us” 

6 Sessions: Each Thursday, Jan 23-Feb 27, from 7-9 PM  

Click here to register for What Moves Us
This program peels back the doctrine-rich theological language that can prevent us from affirming our faith experiences with one another and in the wider world. Through shared direct experiences and reflection exercises, readings and lessons, and ethical deliberations, What Moves Us creates an adult faith journey for Unitarian Universalists who want to preach and teach what they already experience but have not been able to articulate: the spiritual power of our faith.

Led by by Bonné deBlas: Always fascinated more by the questions than the answers, Bonné de Blas is a poet and visual artist (and recovering attorney,) who teaches high school English Language and Composition after having taught at the college level for several years. Stories—both personal and mythological—captivate her as in them are the essence of the universe. She appreciates the silences, too, where the dark protects what is not yet ready to be made manifest and shared.

“Kernels of Character”

6 Sessions: Each Thursday, February 13- March 19, from 7-9 PM

Registration opens Feb. 3 (Gary is away until then)
Click here to register for Kernels of Character

Description: What are the characteristics of a “good person” or a “life well lived”? It is not a short list; life has many dimensions, and there are many virtues that are admirable. None of us can embody them all, and different religions, philosophical traditions, and writers emphasize some more than others. In the spirit of living an examined life, in each of these sessions we will look at 3-4 of these virtues, grouped by a common theme: Acceptance (Humility, Non-attachment, Patience); Empathy (Compassion, Charity, Respect, Justice); Integrity (Honesty, Perseverance, Discipline); Joy (Wonder, Attentiveness, Gratitude) and Possibility (Courage, Creativity, Faith).

Led by Gary Ezzell: In each session, we will first share readings, quotes, poems, and songs that illustrate or celebrate the selected qualities. Then we will offer our personal reflections: Why are these important (or not), when have we experienced or needed to draw on them, when are they difficult to live up to, when have we seen them expressed? Finally, we will consider how we might cultivate these qualities in our lives. (Please go to Pillar Three heading below for more details and class materials.)

“Resistance and Transformation: UU Social Justice History” 

6 Sessions: Each Thursday, March 26 through May 7 (not including April 9th ), from 7-9 PM 

Click here to register for Resistance and Transformation

Grounded in the belief that even “failures” in our history can be instructive, this program presents the ongoing struggle of our tradition to live up to its ever-evolving ideals of social transformation. Themes include abolition, peace-making, civil rights, free speech, utopianism, counter-culture, the women’s movements of both 19th and 20th centuries, sexuality education, and LGBT equality.

Led by Debbie Westwood: Originally from England where she attended a traditional evangelical church, Debbie has lived in Phoenix for five years and in North American for more than 20 years. She has a passion for learning and adult education, currently with a particular interest in spirituality, social justice and intersectionality.

 Radically  Inclusive: Pillar One 

Focus: NeuroInclusion

In-Person at UUCP

The UUCP Inclusion Team is planning Thursday night panel discussions featuring members who have personally experienced neuro-diversity (including autism) or mental health conditions, such as bipolar disorder. Please consider sharing your story using a medium that feels right for you, including speaking, writing, or through a spokesperson. Want to participate or just learn more? Please contact Vince at comprofasu@gmail.com or Amanda at rogers.amanda.k@gmail.com

Books

Autism
  • Neurotribes by Steve Silberman 

Articles

Mental Illness

“Why It’s Incredibly Problematic to Call White Supremacists Insane”  by Alex Kapitan

ADHD

“What is ADHD?” by the ADHD Editorial Board

Autism

“About Autism” from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network

“Autism FAQ” by Lydia X. Z. Brown

“‘It’s A Spectrum’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think” by C.L. Lynch

“Identity First Language” by Lydia X. Z. Brown
 (The use of ‘autistic person’ vs ‘person with autism’)

“Low Functioning” by Rhi Lloyd-Williams
 (What an autistic meltdown can feel like)

“Thinking About Patterns of Opposite Extremes Among Autistic People” by Lydia X. Z. Brown

Pathological Demand Avoidance

“What is Demand Avoidance and When is it Pathological?” by Emily Wilding

Videos

Autism
 Neurodivergent Rebel series
(An autistic person’s video blog on life with autism)

“Experience What Autism Might Feel Like” by Robert J. Szczerba 

(Videos that simulate the experience of autism)

Interactive

Mental Illness

Depression Quest by Zoe Quinn, Patrick Lindsay, and Isaac 

Schankler

(An online game that simulates the experience of clinical depression)

Websites

UU Mental Health Network

Ways to Reflect and Discuss

Inclusion Ministry Team Meetings –1st and 3rd Saturdays at noon

Inclusion Ministry Team Chats – Sunday between Services in the Johnson Room

Justice Centered: Pillar Two

Focus: Earth Justice

In Person

Sunday, 12:30 PM,  please see calendar for dates. Earth Justice/Green Sanctuary Meeting in Annex G  

On-Demand classes

Webinars on demand at https://www.uumfe.org/resources/learning-training/#webinars

Webinars  

Books

General Environmentalism: 

  • A Sand County Almanac or Wilderness, or Aldo Leopold’s Southwest  by Aldo Leopold
  • The Great Work by Thomas Berry
  • World as Lover, World as Self by Joanna Macey
  • The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolber
  • Eearth by Bill McKibben
  • Co2oler Smarter by the Union of Concerned Scientists

What to do:

  • Drawdown: the most comprehensive plan ever to Reverse Global Warming, Edited by Paul Hawken (Note: see webinar 12/10/19)
  • Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis, by Cynthia Barnett

Why and how to do it (justice):

  • Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong
  • A Constellation of Connections: Contemplative Relationships by Vanessa F.Hurst  (Note: see webinar 6/12/19)
  • Love Your Enemies by Arthur C Brooks
  • Active Hope, by Joanna Macey and Christopher Johnstone (self care)
  • Climate Justice by Mary Robinson  (Note: see webinar, *10/09/19)

More books at https://www.uumfe.org/resources/uumfe-recommended-books/

Videos

Please go to   <https://www.uumfe.org/resources/uumfe-recommended-films/

  • “The Story of Stuff” available online
  • “Plastic” by Michael Moore
  • “From Paris to Pittsburg”  and others

Ways to Reflect and Discuss

Earth Justice Ministry monthly meetings: Usually second Sunday of the month after service.

Book discussion group:  An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (To be scheduled).

Theologically Diverse: Pillar Three

Click here to register.  For more information: Please email the facilitator, Gary Ezzell, at gaezzell@gmail.com 

Focus: Character, Values and Virtues

In-Person classes at UUCP

Kernels of Character – An Exploration of Virtues

Gary Ezzell, facilitator

Six sessions starting Thursday, Feb 13, 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. through Thursday, March 19th.

Click here to register; registration begins Feb. 3.
For more information: Please email the facilitator, Gary Ezzell,at  gaezzell@gmail.com

What are the characteristics of a “good person” or a “life well lived”?  It is not a short list; life has many dimensions, and there are many virtues that are admirable. None of us can embody them all, and different religions, philosophical traditions, and writers emphasize some more than others. In the spirit of living an examined life, in each of these sessions we will look at 3-4 of these virtues, grouped by a common theme:

In each session, we will first share readings, quotes, poems, and songs that illustrate or celebrate the selected qualities.  Then we will offer our personal reflections:  why are these important (or not), when have we experienced or needed to draw on them, when are they difficult to live up to, when have we seen them expressed? Finally, we will consider how we might cultivate these qualities in our lives.

Readings and links are posted above, and participants are encouraged to add material they find personally meaningful.

In order to facilitate productive conversation, participation is limited to 12.

Here are some example quotations.

Acceptance:

Generally speaking the human species does make things a very big deal. Our problems are a big deal for us. So we need to make space for an attitude of honoring things completely and at the same time, not making them a big deal. It is a paradoxical idea, but holding these two attitudes simultaneously  is the source of enormous joy: we hold a sense of respect for all things along with the ability to let go. — Pema Chodron

Empathy:

What I’ve come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures, but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible acts of compassion, everyday acts of compassion. In South Africa they have a phrase called ubuntu. Ubuntu comes out of a philosophy that says, the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.  — Chris Abani

Integrity:

This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.  —  Shakespeare:  Polonius to Laertes in Hamlet

Joy:

Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness. — Mary Oliver

Possibility:

You can never cross the ocean

until you have the courage

to lose sight of the shore. — Andre Gidev

On-Demand classes

Books

Articles

Videos

Podcasts

Social Media Accounts

Ways to Reflect and Discuss