“Celebrating 50 Years!”

Facilitators: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner and Libby Ware
Musicians: E-chorus, Big Light Band (Shanti Price, Harold Torres, Jean Heinrich) and Jeremy Glass

“The Days of Lilacs – Kumla Manor, Sweden”

This  talk will follow Lili Baxter’s talk last year about her  grandmother Laura, who she is named after. It will focus on her parents, Holocaust refugees from Poland, who found each other again in Sweden after the war, and Lili’s own earliest beginnings in Kumla Manor. She returned to Kumla Manor and its flowering lilacs in June.

Facilitator: Sara Drew
Musicians: Mick Kinney

“I Feel Like Ranting About Reconstruction Era: Here We Go Again”

The Reconstruction Era after the Civil War was the most significant period for generating plans to fix this country’s previous woes. The experiences of the movers and shakers of that era, through to the Civil Rights Movement, provided blueprints on ways of building a country that is diverse, equitable and inclusive. Let us learn those lessons from the past and heal the weakest places in order to keep moving this country forward.

Facilitator: Charlene Ball
Musicians: Craig Rafuse

“The Hundred Dollar Hamburger: Reflections on Wealth, Responsibility, and Self-Care”

Would you pay a hundred dollars for a hamburger? That was the subject that a pair of boys in their early teens debated some fifty-five years ago. The conversation took some unusual turns, and carries particular relevance today.

Facilitator: Wade Marbaugh
Musicians: William Chelton

“Batman, the Outsiders, and Me”

Clint will  talk about feeling like the outsider in nearly every situation, and how he’s  learned to deal with it.

Facilitator: Jan Modica
Musicians: Craig Rafuse

“The Great Dance: Freedom, Belonging, and the Sovereignty of the Soul”

Join Ruth Schowalter to unlock the wisdom of your body.  She will do a little show-and-tell from her newly published intergenerational book, The Great Dance (she’s the artist), followed by an embodied exploration of its central vision: that the universe, Earth, and all living beings belong to one unfolding dance of relationship.

What does it  mean to awaken the sovereignty of our souls—the “me of me” and the “you of you”?  We will acknowledge our own unique dance while honoring the dance of others. You are invited through simple movement, storytelling, and reflection (or witnessing, if you prefer) to experience the freedom that comes with being your authentic self while in community.

Facilitator: Sara Drew
Musicians: Kristen Hampton

“Free Press/Free People”

Rev. Marti Keller  will be talking  about her  personal history as a member of the press,  at the  threats today and a look at our UU history of involvement in this aspect of the free and independent  search for truth and meaning.

Facilitator: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
Musicians: Charli Vogt

“Love is God”

Leon Clymore will discuss how, to him, love takes the place of a god.  For it is the greatest human value and blesses the world in every way.

Facilitator: D. Patton White
Musicians: Elise Witt

“Meditation, Metabolism, and the Alarm State”

Drawing from information presented in their LifeWatchers classes, Shanti and Dr John will discuss the relationship of meditation on metabolic health and how it relates to the alarm state that we can all experience physically, emotionally and mentally.

Facilitator: Libby Ware
Musicians: Big Light Trio (Shanti Price, Harold Torres, Jean Heinrich)