Sunday is the Ingathering Water Ceremony for UUCO! This intergenerational service will honor the importance of water in our lives and will explore how the movement of water can be a metaphor for our physical and spiritual journeys. People are invited to bring a small amount of water to add to the common bowls. If you cannot bring some, we will have plenty. Our ceremony will be contemplative rather than verbal with time to share with each other after the Ceremony.
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Unitarian Universalists have a heritage to celebrate in Mississippi, standing for justice, equity and compassion when it wasn’t popular. Today, we will consider the legacy we’ve received as liberal religious people in the Deep South, and the legacy we might leave behind us.
Carlton Smith recently wrote, “If there was ever a time when Unitarian Universalism was ripe for renewal, this is it. The national political landscape disturbs many of us, and yet the disruption it represents can be an opportunity to rethink how and why we do what we do as liberal religious people.” Join our service this morning to explore what it means to be Unitarian Universalist in Mississippi today! REV. DAWN COOLEY The Rev. Dawn Skjei Cooley believes that Unitarian Universalists are called to "Love the Hell Out of the World" and tries to practice this on a regular basis. She is passionate about helping congregations adapt to the changing cultural religious landscape. After seven years as the minister of First Unitarian Church in Louisville, KY, this passion for helping congregations led her both to begin a Masters program in Nonprofit Management and to join the staff of the Southern Region of the UUA. REV. CARLTON SMITH Carlton Smith grew up in Holly Springs, MS, where his family was active in the town’s public life in many ways and where his father was mayor for over a decade. Carlton left home to attend Howard University in Washington, DC, where he received not only his undergraduate degree but also, in 1992, his Masters of Divinity. As a Unitarian Universalist minister he served congregations in New York, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia before joining the Southern Region staff in 2012. "Each of us is indispensable if we are to minister to a broken and wounded world," said Bets Wienecke, but how can we choose where to place our time and efforts when bombarded by a multitude of issues? At the Kansas City General Assembly in June, we heard about many important issues, some of which we will share with you in this service. We will be modeling our service on a workshop done by Rev. Kathleen McTigue, entitled, "Saying Yes, and Saying No, Discernment Toward Justice."
Rev. Gail Tapscott will share her life long interest in dreams. She will discuss theories and controversies about dreams in various cultures and suggest ways dreams can help you face life and death. Greg Johnson will also play some Celtic Harp music.
Ever wish you could get your hands on God (you know, if there was one)? Don't you have questions? and complaints? and outrage? Wouldn't you like to hold God fast and close and demand an explanation? The Hebrew anti-hero, Jacob, can tell a little bit about that, and how to usefully wrestle with our own faith questions.
Rev. Ruth Vann Lillian serves as both the contract minister at the UU Congregation of Tuscaloosa and the Interim Director of Religious Education at the UUC of Birmingham, both in Alabama. She is also a Compensation Consultant for the Office of Church Staff Finance. She is a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College, and holds a M. A. Ed. in counseling from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a M. Div. from the Iliff School of Theology. She & her husband, Bill Malone, have two teen-aged boys & one cat. She is the daughter of Civil Rights Movement mediating attorney, David J. Vann, who later served as Mayor of Birmingham. A former United Methodist minister, Ruth has been an active Unitarian Universalist for over 13 years. |
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