Have you ever wished you had a regular opportunity to explore a variety of religious and social justice topics with other UUs? Have you found it difficult to attend such events in the evening due to distance or work and family obligations? Recently representatives from five of our church committees met to collaborate on an ongoing program of Sunday morning adult discussions and education to respond to these needs:
Environmental Action Council
Library Committee
Religious Education Committee
Social Action Committee
Welcoming Committee
Each of these committees periodically holds discussion events on topics relevant to our UU principles, but all encounter barriers to scheduling and participation. Publicizing so many individual events becomes cumbersome. Room scheduling often encounters conflicts. Night events are often poorly attended. Barriers to attendance also include child-care responsibilities and distance from church.
We agreed that a regularly scheduled program of events would provide ongoing opportunities for adults to interact with other UUs on a flexible but regular basis outside of the worship hour. It would likely encourage wider and more inclusive attendance at all of our events, with attendance likely to better reflect the diversity of ages and stages of life in our congregation. These Sunday activities will allow us all to get to know each other and to bring new folks into the family more quickly. Each session will stand alone but be part of the series which would include a wide variety of topics related to our UU values.
Based on this discussion, we decided to go forward with a pilot run of Sunday morning “Coffee, Conversation, & More” events from January to May this year:
- The program will run on the 2nd and 4th Sundays from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. in the Romer Room, with childcare available.
- Individual committees will be responsible for specific sessions scheduled into the general calendar.
- Announcements of specific topics will be provided each month in the newsletter, with weekly reminders in the enews, and advance posting on the website. This regular publicity will help everyone plan to attend.
- The committee sponsoring a particular Sunday will take responsibility for preparing the coffee, getting volunteers to bring some sort of food, and arranging childcare with Carol Zimmerman.
- In May we will evaluate the pilot and make decisions about continuing in the fall.
On May 8 we will discuss “Choices at the End of Life.” As a follow up to the Common Read discussion of Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal earlier this year, members of the Library Committee will help us continue the discussion of end of life issues. Please read the article in the Spring 2016 issue of the UU World entitled “Choice at the End” by Elaine McArdle (p.24) and come share your thoughts and experiences. The article is available online and a few copies will be available in the Coots Library. We all face such issues multiple times during our lives, whether it involves a family member, close friend, or ourselves. Our UU faith provides many supports during these times, and this session will highlight some of the many resources our Coots Library Memorial Collection has to offer us.
A reminder: “Coffee, Conversation and More” will be on vacation for the summer but will be back in September. Please speak to any of the planning group members listed below if you want to suggest a topic that you think would create deep conversation: Environmental Action – Sue Powers; Library – Lorraine Olendzenski; Religious Education – Esther Katz; Social Action – Eileen Raymond; Welcoming – Stevie Michaelson; Staff – Carol Zimmerman