Programs for the Year 2006
January 1 - No Service - Happy New Year
January 8th - Report from UU General Assembly - Barbara Brown
January 15th - "Emerson and the UU's of Today " - Rev. Ron Green
If Emerson were alive today, how would he relate to the UU's? In his Harvard address he said: "Let me admonish you, first of all, to refuse the good models, even those which are sacred in the imagination of men, and dare to love God without mediator or veil…." Indeed he may have found the UU's of today more open to his message than was his congregation of mostly Christian Unitarians.January 22nd - "Robert G. Ingersol: Americas Greatest Free Thinker" - Earl Godt
One of Ingersol's quotes is "My creed is that Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time is now. The way to be happy is to make others so."January 29th - "Hell From a UU Perspective" - Rev. Ron Green
UU's have a hard time believing that God would create and sentence souls to hell. This sermon will explore the thinking and the writings of Christian preachers and theologians who oppose the conventional teaching about this place of eternal torment.February 5 - Theodore Parker, UU Abolitionist - Rev Ron Green
He thought he was just going to have a nice parish job, but more and more his preaching turned toward social justice and abolition. He even organized townspeople to follow and harass slave hunters who were trying to catch slaves who had escaped from the South.February 12 - "Songs of Love" - Harold Schmalfeld
A special program for Valentine's Day. Afterward, we will have the recognition of Secret Friends.February 19 - Father Hunger - Rev. Ron Green
To quote Newsweek, "Growing up without a father is like being an explorer without a map".February 26 - The Golden Rule - Dean Howd and Robert Rippy
March 5 - Transylvania: The Cradle of Unitarianism - Rev. Ron Green
The Unitarianism that we cherish began nearly 450 years ago in Transylvania. Unitarianism's commitment to freedom and reason in religion has continued unbroken through the centuries, making Unitarians older than Methodists or Baptists, Pentecostals or fundamentalists. Come and take a look at the "cradle" of our faith.March 12 -The Healing Powers of Hado-Lessons from Water, Life Force and Happiness - Rod Walkley
March 19th: - Global Warming: What's Faith Got to Do With It? - Rev. Ron Green
Global warming is one of the Study/Action issues up for vote this year at the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. We'll look at this proposal and develop a response for our representatives to take to General Assembly.March 26 - Cultivating Our Gardens - Roger Mohr, consulting minister at the Clinton, Iowa Fellowship
In his comic novel, Candide, Voltaire leaves us with the recommendation that we focus on cultivating our own gardens. As UU's we have a tradition of self-cultivation and community service. In a small city, how can we make our lives and our communities more beautiful and nourishing? (This service is part of the Burlington, Iowa Fellowship's ministerial search process. The process requires that candidates appear in a neutral pulpit, rather than in the congregation in which they are seeking settlement.)April 2nd - American Unitarian Beginnings - Rev. Ron Green
Last month we looked at the "Cradle of Unitarianism" in Transylvania. This time we will look at the birth of American Unitarianism. It's a complex story, and one that celebrates all the highest hopes of human potential and freedom.April 9 - Seeking the Sacred in a Post-Religious World: Reflections on the Work of Eckhart Tolle - John Simmons
April 16th - What a Wonderful World! - Rev. Ron Green
On this Easter morn, let us take a moment to celebrate the wonder of life. With Louis Armstrong's unforgettable ode to the world a as starting-off point, we will travel through several poignant reminders of the preciousness of this world and the life upon it.April 23 - Christianity's Civil War: Self-Serving vs. Self Transforming Paradigms - John Hallwas
April 27 - The Human-Nature Relationship in Religious Songs - Christine Dove
May 7 - The Iowa Prophetic Sisterhood - Rev. Ron Green
During a time when not even the Unitarians were ordaining women into the ministry, a group of women on the Iowa frontier literally made their own churches. Come and hear their story.The dedication of our new Peace Pole will be held at 11:30, after the regular Sunday service. We will be hosting special guests for this dedication ceremony. Cake and punch will follow.
May 14 - RE Sunday
Our Sunday School teachers and children will present a program about their year's work.May 21 - The Humanist Manifesto - Rev. Ron Green
Many Unitarian Universalists profess humanism as their faith. Throughout history Humanists have been in the vanguard of the struggle for human rights, peace, and justice, and they are still there today. Thanks to them, the past 50 years have seen great improvements, especially for those who were once discarded or ignored. Humanism is a faith we all must advocate. We must fight for the rights of all living creatures and for the betterment of our society as though this is the only chance we have.May 28 - Picnic in the Park
We will have a short service followed by our annual picnic.June 26 - The Symbolic World of Torah - Discussion Leader: Bob Zellmann
From the video series "Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine"July 2 - Palestinian Judaism in the Greco-Roman World - Discussion Leader: Dean Howd
From the video series "Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine"July 9 - Judaism in the Hellenistic Diaspora - Discussion Leaders: Harold Leslie and Holly Head
From the video series "Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine"July 16 Jesus and the Gospels - Discussion Leader: Jean Whitehead
From the video series "Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine"July 23 - The Resurrection Experience
From the video series "Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine"July 30 - To be announced - Discussion Leaders: Pam and Earl Godt
August 27 - Water Service - Rev. Ron Green
This is our annual service of regathering. There is no Sunday School, as the children are invited to participate in the service.September 3 - Welcome Back, Welcome Home - Rev. Ron Green
As our regular services resume, we return with a sense of either coming home or seeking home in some way. We recommit ourselves to creating a "Spiritual Home" where we can share our hopes, dreams and values in an atmosphere of love, candor and acceptance.September 10 - The Spiritual Discipline of Giving - UU Program Committee
September 17th - UUA GA Report - Rev. Ron Green and Mari Loehrlein
Ron and Mari will share their "favorites" from General Assembly in St. Louis this past June. With video clips from the Opening Ceremony Banner Parade, Meg Barnhouse's "Radio Free Bubba", and Rev. Gail Geisenhaimer's rousing Sunday morning sermon, Ron and Mari will try to convey to you some of the spirit of this year's GA.September 24th - Unitarian Universalist Music: Singing the Living Tradition to Singing the Journey
October 1 - Which one of us is the Messiah? - Rev. Ron Green
Someone close by to you is the Messiah. It is our joy in life to be able to recognize the Messiah's at our side. It may be the person in line with you at the grocery store. Did you bestow Messiah status on the one beside you? Don't worry, you’ll get many more chances. As people of faith and good will we should find and honor the Messiahs in our midst.
Children's Message: Beavers
Beavers are plant eaters. They feed on tree bark all year round. In spring and summer, they also eat new green plants. Beavers have razor-sharp teeth for cutting trees. Special chemicals in their stomachs help them digest the bark. Their favorite trees are aspens or poplars. They also eat the bark from willow, birch and maple trees. You will see a photo of a beaver lodge Mari and I saw on our canoe trip this September and a stick we "borrowed" from a beaver lodge. It made a good tool for pushing our canoe away from dangerous rocks!October 8 - Islamic Views of Jesus and His Second Coming - Dr. Yavuz Agan
October 15 - One Ocean, Many Streams. One Sun, Many Windows. - Rev. Ron Green
We UU's honor, as did Rumi, the many streams that lead to the ocean. Are we as good as our word? Do we honor the many different "windows" that the Sun shines through? In this time of tragic polarization and suspicion we need to be extra radical in our inclusiveness.
Children’s Message: Pet photo day!
Bring a photo of your pet or pets to show! Can you think of a story to tell about your pet? Bring that too!October 22 - Sanctuary: Creating Safe Places - Ben Parks and Kristi Heaton
Ben Parks and Kristi Heaton are WIU Grad Students in Student PersonnelOctober 29 - "For Everything A Season": Ecclesiastes 3 - Ron Wroblowski
Ron Wroblowski is from Spoon River College.November 5th - Tanzania, a brief history - Rev. Ron Green
The Olduvai Gorge, the Olduvai Theory and music of Tanzania. Featuring the UU Youth Singers presenting a Tanzanian song from May This Light Shine, a new songbook for children and youth by the UU Musicians Network.November 12 - Wangari Maathai - Andrea Bowen and Sheila Nollen
Wangari Maathai won a Nobel Prize last year. She is the woman who started the Greenbelt movement which has lead to reforestation in Africa.November 19 -The Butterfly Effect - Rev. Ron Green
The Butterfly Effect says that a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa may cause a tornado on the other side of the world. This is not a bad way to think of our actions, at the same time small, yet powerful. Let's consider the effect of our actions, both the lawful and the civilly disobedient ones.November 26 - Country Wit and Wisdom - Harold Schmalfeld
December 3 - The Crisis of Climate Change, our UU Statement of Conscience - Rev. Ron Green
About fifteen years ago, the people of a small, thousand-year-old, oceanfront hunting village in Alaska noticed that the surrounding ice was growing slushy and weak, freezing later in the fall and melting earlier in the spring. In the summer of 2002, with storms intensifying, the ice melting, and the land shrinking all around them, the residents of Shishmaref, which is only twenty feet above sea level, were forced to move their entire town miles inland.
We will decorate the Fellowship house for Christmas following the service.December 10 - A Talk on Buddhism - Dr. Win Htwe
December 17 - Celebrating Hanukkah - Rev. Ron Green
In 165 BCE, when Palestine was under Syrian rule, there was a campaign to force the Jews to adopt Greek dress and customs. The Syrian emperor decreed that the Temple in Jerusalem would become a temple to Zeus. A small band of soldiers led by Judah Maccabee rebelled against the Syrians and rededicated the Temple. Hanukkah celebrates the restoration of religious freedom and the preservation of Jewish customs.December 24 - Candle Light Service
This service will begin at 7:00 p.m. instead of our usual 10:30 a.m. time. Please bring your family for a brief time of songs, friendship and the magic of candles.December 31 - A Surprise Service - Dean Howd!