Welcome to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oxford, Mississippi! We are an intergenerational community that fosters spiritual growth through free thought and respect for personal beliefs. We seek the wisdom of many religious traditions and of ourselves, and we encourage the expression of personal ideals in service to people, other life, and our planet.

We meet Sundays at 11:00 at 31 CR 198. The link below provides a map to our location. We welcome children of all ages and provide childcare during the service (from 10:50 -12:15).
Click here for directions to the home for Unitaritarian Universalists in Oxford!

July 4--Qi Gong  Chris Aloia

Chris will lead us in a Qi Gong service. "What is Qi Gong? Qi is the Life energy that flows through all living things. Gong means work or discipline. So, Qi Gong is the practice of learning about the flow of that energy throughout the body... It is Movement and Meditation" (http://scottleemusic.com/images/).

Chris Aloia is well know in Oxford. He and wife April Grayson and son Jonah lived in Oxford for many years before they moved to Vancouver for Chris to complete a graduate degree in public health. The family now also includes Amos! Chris has studied Tai Chi and Qi Gong for 14 years and has taught for many years as well. Chris believes that all people should have access to quality health care and education. You can see more of what he is thinking about on his web page: http://taichiamerica.blogspot.com/.

Gail Stratton will be the service leader.

July 11--Torture is Never Acceptable (and it doesn't work) Bob Spencer

Bob will be visiting from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tupelo, where he has been active in working to end U.S. sponsored torture. In 2008, he helped to organize a public awareness rally in downtown Tupelo. The UU Congregation of Tupelo was joined by several people from UUCO!! Bob has continued his work through NRCAT (National Religious Campaign Against Torture: http://www.nrcat.org/).

Bob worked in the Intelligence Community for the United States for 35 years before he retired to Tupelo. He has served as the President for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tupelo and is currently serving as their lay minister.

Luanne Buchanan will be our service leader.

JULY 18--Food for Thought and Thinking About Food in Oxford
Join us this Sunday morning for a discussion of the growing number of local food sources in Oxford!

In addition, it will be a Give-Away-the-Plate Sunday, with the plate going to the Oxford Community Garden (http://www.oxfordcga.org/). The Mission of Oxford Community Garden is "to enhance the well-being and beauty of the community by assisting people in growing fresh produce, providing locally-grown food to people in need, increasing social interaction in the community, and creating an educational garden in an attractive setting."

Shanna Flaschka will be the service leader and Christine Bertz will provide the music!


July 25--Citizens for Global Solutions and the Search for Global Cooperative Order: from Oxford to Buenos Aires, (the site of our next international meeting). Jordan Bankhead

Citizens for Global Solutions (CGS) is an international nonprofit dedicated to "a future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms, and solve the problems facing humanity that no nation can solve alone." In order to do this, CGS members promote effective democratic global institutions that will apply the rule of law while respecting the diversity and autonomy of national and local communities. Local chapters across the United States and throughout the world promote these shared values to influence governments to recognize our universal rights and responsibilities. For more on this check out www.globalsolutions.org.

Connection to UU: One of the principles of UU is the recognition that global community, through a free and democratic process, serves the best interests of humanity in the long run. This view is at the heart of CGS, which works daily to lobby governments, work alongside non-government organizations advocating universal rights, and support individuals and groups to build a peaceful and just future that is true to FDR's vision of a world free from want, fear, and tyranny.

Jordan is a longtime member of UUCO who is an attorney in town. He will be speaking about forming a local chapter of the Citizens for Global Solutions.

The UU Congregation of Oxford began gathering a decade ago and was formally recognized by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1997. We moved into our current buiding in 2003. We are part of the Mid-South District.