All in-person Services and Circles canceled until further notice
As we all take precautions for the Covid-19 virus spread, UCOT will be cancelling upcoming live gatherings until further notice. We will conduct live-streaming services on Zoom until further notice. If you are not currently getting the weekly email that contains the necessary Zoom link, please visit our “Contact Us” page and we will add you to our mailing list.
Sunday, June 27, 2021, 11 a.m. — Sharing Circle: Play
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing” (George Bernard Shaw). “Almost all creativity involves purposeful play” (Abraham Maslow). “Those who play rarely become brittle in the face of stress or lose the healing capacity for humor” (Stuart Brown, M.D.). Share your experiences on how ways of playing have enriched your life, and learn from others. How has your play changed? Can it be nourished? Email sharing will be on June 13, and a Zoom session follow-up will be 11 a.m. to noon on June 27.
For information on how to join us, please complete our contact form at https://uutaos.org/contact/ unless you are already on our weekly email list.
Sunday, July 4, 2021, 11 a.m. — Service: Devil As Trickster: Declaring Our Independence From Victimhood, Rev. Jeanne Montclair
“The Trickster is always found at the threshold,” says Lewis Hyde in his book Trickster Makes This World. A threshold, as in the threshold between an old-world paradigm and a new one, as in an old sense of self and one which we could scarcely imagine to be possible. The idea of self-as-victim is endemic in our society—so much so that we hardly notice it exists—but anger, discontent, and feelings of powerlessness point to this reality, or, as Byron Katie says, our argument with reality. The cultural, and familial myths we were brought up with can reinforce feelings of vulnerability living in what has often been defined as an out-of-control, threatening doomsday world.
As unpredictable as the world may be, are we victims to it, or to our thoughts and beliefs about it? How have we participated in our victimhood? We only need to look as far as to where we have given our power away—to whom or what. Let us stand strong in our values and collectively “Take back from the devil everything that he stole,” or that we gave away for free because we didn’t realize we had a choice. Yes, we may have been tricked by our society’s values and repetitive mind- and heart-numbing messages, yet there are valuable lessons here—and transformation too—waiting just a few steps away.
For information on how to join us, please complete our contact form at https://uutaos.org/contact/ unless you are already on our weekly email list.
Sunday, July 11, 2021, 11 a.m. — Sharing Circle: Waiting
The theme of the July Circle will be “Waiting.” The topic demanded attention when this question kept coming up: “So what are you waiting for?” And Gary’s opening remarks for his address about the Beat Generation included the lovely poem “I Am Waiting,” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Then Jeanne Montclair in her recent address asked the question: “When is enough?”
We do lots of waiting in our lifetimes—sometimes as pedestrian as standing in a checkout line, or as deeply important as waiting for a dream to come true. But when should we draw the line, if ever? When does waiting become enough or too much? It seems we shouldn’t wait much longer to confront this topic of WAITING.
Email sharing will be on July 11, and a Zoom session follow-up will be from 11 a.m. to noon on July 25.
For information on how to join us, please complete our contact form at https://uutaos.org/contact/ unless you are already on our weekly email list.
Sunday, July 18, 2021, 11 a.m. — Service: Great or Mostly Good Apes, Rev. Gary Kowalski
Established in 1973 by financier John Templeton, the award that bears his name is now known as the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities, carrying the largest monetary honorarium in the world. The 2021 Templeton Prize Winner is primatologist Jane Goodall, whose groundbreaking insights into the social and emotional worlds of chimpanzees did as much as Darwin to change the human understanding of our own place in nature. This morning Gary offers an appreciation of Dr. Goodall’s spiritual and scientific journey as a model for a new religious paradigm.
For information on how to join us, please complete our contact form at https://uutaos.org/contact/ unless you are already on our weekly email list.
Sunday, July 25, 2021, 11 a.m. — Sharing Circle: Waiting
The theme of the July Circle will be “Waiting.” The topic demanded attention when this question kept coming up: “So what are you waiting for?” And Gary’s opening remarks for his address about the Beat Generation included the lovely poem “I Am Waiting,” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Then Jeanne Montclair in her recent address asked the question: “When is enough?”
We do lots of waiting in our lifetimes—sometimes as pedestrian as standing in a checkout line, or as deeply important as waiting for a dream to come true. But when should we draw the line, if ever? When does waiting become enough or too much? It seems we shouldn’t wait much longer to confront this topic of WAITING.
Email sharing will be on July 11, and a Zoom session follow-up will be from 11 a.m. to noon on July 25.
For information on how to join us, please complete our contact form at https://uutaos.org/contact/ unless you are already on our weekly email list.
For more information on Sharing Circles, click here.
