Spritual Passions 2010!
~ February ~

Peace, War, Politics
Seanan Holland, Intern Minister
Sunday, February 14th ~ 1:00 pm–Archives Room
Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize and escalates war in Afghanistan! You are invited to discuss how Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech challenges us to look at questions of war and peace in the context of religious values. We will exchange our own perspectives, and look at how Obama’s speech echoes theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. For your convenience, you can find the text of Obama’s Nobel acceptance speech at WBUR—Obama Nobel Speech

Open to all. Facilitators: Seanan Holland, Arlington Street Church Military Chaplain Intern Minister, and Roger Hooper.

~ ~ ~

Mindful Eating
Erick DuPree, Religious Educator
Sunday, February 14th ~ 1:00–4:00 pm
Mindfulness can transform our struggles with food and renew our sense of pleasure, appreciation, and satisfaction with eating. Mindful eating is an approach that involves bringing one’s full attention to the process of eating, to all the tastes, smells, thoughts, and feelings that arise during a meal.

This spiritual passion includes an introduction to meditation practices that tune into our body’s own wisdom about what, when, and how much we eat. We will open a dialogue considering topics such as identifying our habits and patterns with food, and develop a more compassionate attitude towards struggles with eating. With all this talk of food and eating, we will conclude with cooking a light vegetarian meal from the Tassajara Cookbook, putting our new techniques into practice.

This gathering is open to all people — those who struggle with food and those who don’t, and regardless of familiarity with meditation or cooking. If you participated with Rev. Kim in her meditation passions, this is an exciting opportunity to go deeper into being mindful.

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O, Freedom: Our Southern Legacy
Rev. Yvonne Schumacher-Strejcek, Acting Associate Minister
Sunday, February 21st ~ 1:00–3:00 pm
In February 2009, Rev. Yvonne participated in the profoundly moving Unitarian Universalist Living Legacy week-long pilgrimage to Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, Alabama, as well as rural eastern Mississippi, visiting civil rights landmark sites with a busload of Unitarian Universalist leaders from all across the United States. She wants to share her memories of that experience with you. The presentation will be a combination of travelogue with a projected slide show, history lessons, and personal reflections on what made this experience a spiritual pilgrimage, not just a travel tour.

~ ~ ~

Fractionate! Understanding and Resolving Conflict
Kaul Paulnack
Sunday, February 28th ~ 1:00–3:00 pm
Fractionation (the opposite of escalation) is a process by which big conflicts are broken down into little conflicts, where they can be more easily understood and resolved. We’ll explore the way conflict manifests in three venues (intrapsychic, interpersonal and intergroup) but we’ll focus on interpersonal aspects. We’ll explore the important issue of when to engage a conflict (and, importantly, when not to!) as well as two strategies for engagement: winning a conflict vs. resolving a conflict (both are useful and appropriate, but involve completely opposite techniques.) Perhaps most important, we will learn to use a handy little tool for diagnosing and analyzing conflicts, providing a framework for breaking them down into smaller pieces that can be more easily resolved.

Fun fact: did you know that there are only five things that people fight about? All conflicts are about one (or more) of these five things. (You’ll have to attend the workshop to find out what those five are!)

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Spiritual Passion of Singing and Choir Open House
Mark David Buckles, Director of Music and the Arlington Street Choir
Sunday, February 28th ~ 1:00–3:00 pm
Welcome to an afternoon of communal music-making: the spiritual passion of singing! We believe that the act of singing together is a central and beautiful part of our spiritual practice as Unitarian Universalists. Will you join us? We will learn, briefly rehearse, and sing together an evocative selection of beautiful and interesting pieces, and offer answers to questions like, “Can I sing in choir if I can’t read music, or if I’ve never sung in a choir before?” (yes!), and, “What do you do during rehearsal anyway?” Come prepared to share the music within you!

~ March ~

The Larger Thought of God*
Rev. Yvonne Schumacher Strejcek, Acting Associate Minister
Sunday, March 14th ~ 1:00–3:00 pm, Chapel
Some Unitarian Universalists don’t want to have anything at all to do with any sort of notion of God, but perhaps that rejected notion of God is simply too small. Come explore what you were taught, what you believe now, and some alternative (and empowering) ways of conceiving divinity. Welcome, seekers and skeptics alike!

* The title of this Spiritual Passion comes from hymn #12, “O Life That Maketh All Things New,” in our hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition.

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The Practice of Silliness
Led by Cheryl Thieret
Sunday, March 28th ~ 1:00 pm, Chapel
It’s never too late to have a happy childhood! Using simple household items such as paper plates, garden twine, velcro and duct tape, we will make fabulous edible Easter Bonnets, just in time to model on Easter Sunday! Children of all genders and ages are encouraged to sign up at The Welcome Table. Bring scissors and a pack of Peeps to class, as we spend a joyful afternoon engaging in the spiritual practice of silliness!