Adult Religious Education 

The programs listed here are designed to allow adults to continue to explore their religious and philosophical paths. They include discussion groups and formalized classes.

Classes:

• Choices for Sustainable Living
  • If you enjoyed the Adult RE class, “Voluntary Simplicity” consider another class from the Northwest Earth Institute, “Choices for Sustainable Living”. For nine Mondays from 7:00 PM—8:30 PM, beginning on Monday January 17, we will discuss the ways in which our activities have an impact on the earth and how we can be a “blessing to the planet”. The format involves rotating facilitators. The first night facilitator is a member of the Adult RE committee. The topics cover such issues as Sustainable Living, Sustainable Food, and Sustainable Buying.
• New UU Class - (This is a class for new and old members alike wanting to learn more about Unitarian Universalism)
• Forgotten Christianities - Instructor: Jon Cleland-Host

Discussion groups:

• Hot Topics - Every Sunday from 9:30am to 10:15am.  This is a discussion group which is open to anyone who is interested on a drop-in basis.  No sign-up is required.  Topics are selected for each week by the social justice committee.  When possible a "host" will prepare readings for the discussion that are made available a week before the discussion.  The host's role is merely to get the discussion rolling (and to kick everyone out at 10:15 am so that the Children's RE program can set up and the participants can attend the service).

The UUFOM Book Club

• We meet the first Sunday of every month at 6:30PM. Please join us! There is NO requirement to read the book beforehand. Someone there will be able to summarize.
  • December 5, 2004, 6:30PM THE KITE RUNNER, by Khalid Hosseini
    • In The Kite Runner, Amir and Hassan grow up together in Afghanistan like brothers, although they couldn't be more different. Amir is the son of a wealthy businessman, a Sunni Muslim, a Pashtun; he's educated and reads voraciously. Hassan's father is a servant to Amir's father, and Hassan is a Sh'ia Muslim, a Hazara; he's illiterate and he has a harelip. Neither boy has a mother and they spend their boyhoods roaming the streets of Kabul together. Amir, continually uses his superior position to taunt or abuse Hassan and one day hides in fear as Hassan is beaten mercilessly by bullies. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan sends Amir's family to the United States, but he returns as an adult during the Taliban rule to atone for his sins to Hassan.
  • January 2, 2005, 6:30PM THE CELTIC RIDDLE, by Lyn Hamilton
    • Late Irish business magnate Eamon Byrne speaks to his dysfunctional family on videotape at the reading of his will. Byrne attempts to force his family to work together by giving each one a line from an ancient Celtic epic poem. Taken together, the lines lead to a great treasure, which can only be found if the family pulls together and shares the clues. Drawn into this are Lara McClintoch, a Toronto antique dealer, and her associate Alex Stewart, who become involved in the treasure hunt as a lark and an excuse to explore the lovely County Kerry countryside. When the hunt turns deadly, amateur sleuths Lara and Alex can't resist the temptation to ferret out the killer.
  • February 6, 2005, 6:30PM A FINE BALANCE, by Mohinton Mistry
    • With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India. The time is 1975. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers -- a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village -- will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future. As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state.
  • March 6, 2005, 6:30PM 42nd PARALLEL, by John Dos Passos.
    • The first novel of Dos Passos trilogy "USA" presents a picture of the US from the beginning of the 20th century until 1917 when the US declared war on Germany. The remaining 2 novels of the trilogy (1919 and The Big Money) continue until the early 1930's. In these novels, Dos Passos created a new literary style in which documentary style news clips form a background to relate the characters to political and economic events and make the novel seem like a panoramic picture of the state of the nation. NOTE: Some reviewers say this novel is hard to read. Others say it is one of the greatest in American literature.

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Midland is recognized by the Unitarian Universalist Association as a Welcoming Congregation. We welcome, affirm, promote and celebrate the full participation of all persons in all of our activities without regard to age, gender, sexual orientation, race or any other such category of exclusion.

Please feel free to contact us with any feedback, corrections or questions at jaham1729@gmail.com