1/20/2024 – Finding Our Way: Where Our Liberal Religion Must Go From Here by Rev. Todd Eklof
Rev Eklof talks about
12/16/2023 – Blue Christmas by Rev. Twinkle Manning
December’s NAUA worship service theme was: “Blue Christmas.” The holiday season, while filled with light, can create palpable darkness. This service offers a space to hold your grief sacred and to honor any loss or pain you are feeling. Join us for heartfelt music, sacred solace and reflection. This service includes Christmas, Solstice and Hanukah Music.
Our worship leader for this service was Rev. “Twinkle” Marie Manning. Twinkle is the contract minister for the Universalist Unitarian Church of Waterville, Maine. She is an author, poet, retreat leader and liturgist, as well as a semi-retired television producer. She served for many years on the core leadership team for UU Women and Religion and is the Creator of the UU Talks platform. Her theology is centered in, “Living Life as a Prayer.” For more information about Rev. “Twinkle” Marie Manning, visit: www.TwinklesPlace.org www.EmpoweringWomenTV.org www.TVforYourSoul.org
12/13/2023 – Lessons from the Unitarian Quest for Consensus 1865-1895 by Kevin McCulloch
The Transcendentalist critique of historical Christianity created a rift in the Unitarian church between traditional-minded Unitarian Christians and more radical Free Religionists who felt that the church should embrace a more universal form of religion. Although the National Conference of Unitarian Churches was founded in 1865, it took nearly 30 years for the conference participants to reach consensus on a statement that defined what it meant to be a Unitarian. Since we are living through another period where there is a lack of consensus on what Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism are all about, we will revisit this earlier conflict to see what lessons it holds for us today.
Speaker: A lifelong UU, Kevin McCulloch holds a Master’s of Theological Studies from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he studied American religious history. He most recently taught Unitarian Universalist history as a member of the adult religious education committee at All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington, DC.
11/14/2023 – Parliament of the World’s Religions by Bruce Knotts
“We accept all Religions as Truth” are the words spoken by Swami Vivekananda at the founding of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1893 in Chicago. Our speaker is Bruce Knotts, a Trustee of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
Bruce discusses the founding and history of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, as well as its Mission to create and cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities, foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world. This same sentiment is reflected in the 6th Principle of Unitarian Universalism, ”the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all”.