The Unitarian Church of Quincy, Illinois episodes:

• May 14, 2017Healing the Heart of Democracy

  We can keep on having half-conversations

  about who's right and who's wrong, and further feed

  the brokenness that threatens to tear us apart. Or we can

  see each other as part of a larger We -- a We that is

  broken, but a We that is in this brokenness together. We

  will explore Parker Palmer's "Healing the Heart of

  Democracy" for ways to ground our work for

  justice.

  ...more

  

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• April 30, 2017The Born-Again Unitarian Universalist"

  It's a curious thing about change.

  Change can take an incredably long time to accomplish. And

  yet, it is that moment when a change begins that we often

  find so enduringly memorable. For instance, compare the

  dates: July 4, 1776 and March 4, 1789.

  ...more

  

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• March 26, 2017Culture Wars as Holy Wars

  When we, whoever we are, are on the side of

  pure goodness, and we are locked in a cosmic battle with

  our enemies, who are on the side of sheer evil; hatred will

  always beget hatred. To be peacemakers, we must not become

  like the terrorists. If we do, then terrorism wins. We do

  not win. They do not win. Terrorism wins. It is not always

  easy to stand on the side of love.

  ...more

  

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• March 12, 2017Spirit of Life, Come Unto Me",

  This is the last in our six part series on

  Unitarian Universalist theology. We will explore Unitarian

  Universalist approaches to the concept of spirit. How does

  the spirit move? Can you be a humanist and include a

  concept of spirit in your worldview? How do we embody the

  spirit of life in a way that is not simply personal and

  private but also public and social?

  ...more

  

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• February 26, 2017Waiting . . .

  Waiting often inclines us to impatience.

  "Waiting for Godot" seems so pointless. When you

  are waiting and wishing you weren't, frustration can

  set in. But Waiting . . . With an awareness of your present

  place in this present world . . . It can be an

  inspiration.

  ...more

  

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• February 19, 2017Moving Forward, Getting Back to Eden

  Every religion imagines an end point in the

  evolution of human life, where we arrive at the place where

  we are living the way life/God/spirit intended for us to

  live. Martin Luther King called it Beloved Community.

  Unitarian Universalism, with its focus on social justice,

  equality, and freedom, has always envisioned us as part of

  that sacred journey.

  ...more

  

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• January 29, 2017The Box That I Came In

  There are so many metaphors that revolve

  around the word, "box;" around the concepts of

  compartmentalizing and catagorizing. In what order do you

  place the adjectives that can be used to describe yourself?

  Are you a brown, female, gainfully-employed,

  Unitarian-Universalist, Republican? Or are you

  gainfully-employed, a Republican, and a Unitaian

  Universalist, who is female and brown? In what order does

  our society choose to recognize our quirks and traits, our

  strengths and our weaknesses?

  ...more

  

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• January 22, 2017The Ethics of Excellence

  Timing is everything! There xcouldn't

  be a better point in histor for a classicist to be

  discussing Plato and Aristotle and their views of

  "Virtue."

  ...more

  

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• December 11, 2016To Buy Or Not To Buy

  Dilemmas most often happen as dualities, as

  either / or problems. This talk is about the efficacy and

  ethics of boycotting as a means of social or political

  activism. And the dilemma confounds even Shiva's

  plurality of "other hands."

  ...more

  

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• November 27, 2016On the Necessity of Heresy

  In how many ways are Unitarian

  Universalists described as Heretics? Our speaker is a

  professor of Literature, and today's subject revolves

  about writings from the middle years of the 19th century in

  England and America.

  ...more

  

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