Living the Life of Aloha

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This morning’s assembly is all about living the life of LOVE. Dorayne Breedlove will share 5 key concepts that allow us to live a life of love everywhere we go. Drawing upon her experience of Hawaii and the deeper spiritual meaning of Aloha, we will come to understand the important and necessary role we play as channels for love especially through challenging moments.

Dorayne Breedlove is a storyteller, musician, and Spiritual Life Coach.  Having roots in the Unitarian Universalist philosophy, she lives and practices the universal truth of the interconnectedness of all life.  Over the years, these “roots” have supported her work to be a peacemaker and teacher of practical spirituality.

Breathing UU Faith Into The Body Politic

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A compelling teaching from the Epistle of James reads, “Removing action from faith is like removing breath from a body.  All you have left is a corpse.”  Religious progressives have allowed the faith narrative in Texas to be dominated by an extreme vocal sect of one religion.  No wonder our state is on life support!!  Come hear why breathing UU faith into the body politic will literally transform us from a near-death experience into a state of living, loving souls!

Rev. Chuck Freeman has been in the ministry since 1977 serving Church of Christ and now Unitarian Universalist congregations. He is the founding minister of the Free Souls Church in Round Rock, Texas. Chuck is a founding member of the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry (TXUUJM) and its Executive Director. He is the co-founder & organizer of Undoing Racism Round Rock working for systemic racial equity in the community. Chuck is also an active leader in Shut Down Hutto which is a sustained campaign to close the T. Don Hutto immigrant prison in Taylor, Texas.  

Easter for the Non-Religious: Our Seventh Annual All-Music Easter Morning

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Religious communities often disagree more than they agree – conflicting theologies, writings, beliefs … the list goes on and on. One thing, however, seems to be present in many, if not all, gathered communities of faith: music.  We will again this year celebrate Easter special concert by flutist Cornell Kinderknecht. For those who cut church on Easter fearing it would clash with your sense of being, here’s your chance for redemption!

Cornell Kinderknecht is an award-nominated recording artist and performer of flutes and other woodwind instruments from around the world, including Native American flute, bansuri flute from India, ocarina, recorder and bamboo flutes. His original compositions and playing have been described as soothing, soaring, haunting, and playful with influences of Native America, the Middle East, India, and the Far East. His musical style draws from his experience in the areas of classical, pop, folk, jazz and world music.

Watch Cornell in concert:  https://youtu.be/PLqkmcRsaUM

Embracing Religious Pluralism and Celebrating Interdependent Community.

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An exploration of how our society can leverage our religious diversity to find common ground for our journey together into Beloved Community.

Mark Davies is the Oklahoma State Humanities Scholar for the Smithsonian Institute Museum on Main Street Water/Ways exhibit.  He is also the Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics; Director of the World House Institute for Social and Ecological Responsibility; and Executive Director of the Leadership. Education, and Development Hub North America for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry at Oklahoma City University where he has worked in both teaching and administration for 22 years.  He is a United Methodist minister and holds a Ph.D. in Social Ethics, from Boston University.

Mark engages in advocacy and activism in the areas of peace, social justice, and ecological sustainability. Locally this is expressed through his work with the Human Community Network, which works to create non-violent systemic change for a just and flourishing human and ecological community through collaboration, education, innovation, and action.

He and his wife Kristin live in Edmond, OK and they have two teenage daughters.

 

Close to You? Distance and Communication.

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Would you rather be close or far? How far is it, and how long till we get there, Sisyphus?  How close is too close, Icarus?  Oops, better ask Daedalus!

William Lloyd Fridley, a longtime friend of the congregation. Fridley is an Associate Professor of Education and has been at Southeastern Oklahoma State University since 1999. He teaches Foundations of Education and his areas of expertise are philosophy of education, professional ethics and ethical theory, and multicultural education. William is also an artist and song writer and collaborates with his wife Carolyn in musical recording, performing and other creative projects.

The World is my Parish

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The World is my Parish – reflections on what we might learn from the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, in our current global context. We will also be exploring the universalist themes within Wesley’s understanding of grace.

Mark Davies is the Oklahoma State Humanities Scholar for the Smithsonian Institute Museum on Main Street Water/Ways exhibit.  He is also the Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics; Director of the World House Institute for Social and Ecological Responsibility; and Executive Director of the Leadership. Education, and Development Hub North America for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry at Oklahoma City University where he has worked in both teaching and administration for 22 years.  He is a United Methodist minister and holds a Ph.D. in Social Ethics, from Boston University.

Mark engages in advocacy and activism in the areas of peace, social justice, and ecological sustainability. Locally this is expressed through his work with the Human Community Network, which works to create non-violent systemic change for a just and flourishing human and ecological community through collaboration, education, innovation, and action.

He and his wife Kristin live in Edmond, OK and they have two teenage daughters.

 

An Instinct for Kindness: Being an Ally in Times of Crisis

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Dr Tudor filed a complaint of discrimination against Southeastern University when she was denied tenure solely because she is transgender. They retaliated by firing her. She sued and won (unanimous vote of the jury). She is now asking a federal appeals court to allow her to return to Southeastern with tenure. The State of Oklahoma is opposing that remedy. Thirty-one professional organizations have filed “friend of the court” briefs supporting her reinstatement. Dr. Tudor returns to our pulpit to update us on her struggle to be allowed to be who she is – a struggle no human should experience.

Why We Love Elephants

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Robert and Lanan Shelton are long time members of Red River UU.  Robert began his love affair with elephants when he was a child.  His grandmother traveled extensively, and when she visited a country with an elephant population, she brought a figurine representing an elephant indigenous to the area.  Robert’s sister moved to southern India, and the collection grew.

Lanan enjoyed the collection and began to look for other figurines.  Now theircollection is proudly displayed in our home.  The Sheltons have been intrigued with documentaries about these magnificent creatures and would like to share their love for elephants with you.

In The Spirit of Woody Guthrie with “Toulouse T’ Care”

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Toulouse T’ Care, the singing duo of Fenton Rood and Mark Christian,  brings us a morning filled with songs  Woody Guthrie Wood wrote,  along with a couple of songs about the man.   Guthrie was a lot of things.  He was an activist during the depression and all the way through World War II. As Unitarian Universalists we can learn a lot from the way  Guthrie took on the issues of his day, holding compassion for the people while making business and governments accountable.  1853 Theodore Parker wrote that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice.  Our job is to find that moral arc and bend it towards justice.

Mark Christian is the retired minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Oklahoma City.  Fenton Rood is the Director, Waste Systems Planning at Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.  They’ve been singing protest songs as a hobby for awhile and enjoy sharing their enthusiasm with most anyone who will listen.  They’ve found an audience in several UU churches, all of whom enjoyed their program on Woody Guthrie.  And the name?  Singing at the OKC farmer’s market someone asked if it didn’t bother them that people were just wandering around, not paying loads of attention to their singing, Mark’s reply was, “Ah, we’re too loose to care.”

Teams (video message)

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“Teams”

The morning worship from
The First Parish in Bedford, MA
The Rev. John Gibbons, speaking

We go to movies to become engrossed with what we see, hear and feel. We know it is a film and yet we feel the emotions. We laugh or cry, are happy or sad. We leave often deeply touched by the experience.

The result is no less real than sitting in a theater watching the actors in front of us.

Most of us rarely, if ever, have worshiped at other UU churches. We don’t know how other UUs “do” Sunday morning.  On Sunday we’re going to try an experiment – by bringing a complete worship experience to our chapel, thanks to the miracle (well, so common now we hardly remember what a miracle it is) of video.

We will experience how a New England UU congregation – one that has been meeting every Sunday for 289 years – does worship! Will the experience be on par with going to a movie?  Come find out how another UU congregation worships.

The sermon has a timely message for us as well!

The preacher is terrific (he’s been with the congregation 29 years!)

Image: Church Steeple. The historic steeple clock is wound by hand weekly. The steeple bell is run each Sunday and at midnight New Years Eve.