“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)

“Be a Man: Of Love and the Killing of Crabs”

Thomas Bell will be telling stories and offering thoughts about the struggle to stay soft and gentle in a world that tries so hard to mutilate our loving hearts.

Facilitator: Sara Drew
Musicians: Jeremy Glass and Jean Heinrich

“Open Mic: Narrating our Own Experience with More Spaciousness”

The congregation is invited to share in this “open mic” service led  by D. Patton White on the theme of spaciousness.  What choices have you made and then subsequently changed your mind about?  In what ways have you moved away from something only to come back to it from a new perspective? Do you know of a poem about the theme of spaciousness and possibility that you find meaningful?  Have you created a piece of visual art that conveys an aspect of potentiality?  Do you know a song that is inspired by flow that you would like to share?  Have you written in your journal about your own personal transformations?

The open mic COL  is inspired by this recent opinion piece by Melissa Kirsch in the New York Times.

Facilitator: Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
Musicians: Bill Chelton

“250: On Freedom and Coming Home”

As we now celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of our nation, we are submerged in an incredibly tumultuous and dangerous time. Sartre, who lived through an even more intense time, wrote, “Freedom is what you do with what has been done to you.” It is only proper for decent human beings to abhor the bad things in the American experience. But, it’s a yin-yang thing. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Facilitator: D. Patton White
Musicians: Craig Rafuse

“Navigating Spirituality as a Southern Black Queer Feminist Writer”

Facilitator: Cindy Lou Who
Musicians: Mick Kinney

“Becoming a Father through the lens of Existentialism”

Facilitator: Sara Drew
Musicians: Jasmyn Clark, Jean Heinrich, and Amos Warren