Living Our Vision Everyday
Archives – Spring 2019
Virtual Faith Development Class Schedule
Spring, 2020
UUCP is delighted to offer Faith Development Classes for Winter/Spring 2020. Each class is 6 sessions. When held on Thursday Nights/Community Nights, 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.
“Resistance and Transformation: UU Social Justice History”
This class will be held via ZOOM Virtual Meeting. If enrolled, you will receive meeting instructions from Debbie Westwood.
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.
New General Semantics Study/Discussion Group
CLASS IS FULL
This class will be held virtually.
“Kernels of Character”
6 Sessions: Each Thursday, February 13- March 19, from 7-9 PM
Registration is closed; class is full.
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.)
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
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
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.
Registration is closed; class is full
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:
- Click to view class materials for the introductory class on February 13th.
- Acceptance: Humility, Non-attachment, Patience
- Empathy: Compassion, Charity, Respect, Justice
- Integrity: Honesty, Perseverance, Discipline
- Gratitude: Attentiveness,Wonder,Joy
- Hope: Courage, Creativity, Faith
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