January 1- Out With The Old, In With the New
Rev. Kim Miner
This Intergenerational Service will explore some of the New Year’s
customs and traditions from different cultures and regions. It will
be followed by the annual New Year’s Potluck in the Fellowship
Hall.
January 8 - Finding Fragments of the Holy in Our National
Parks
Rev. Rhett D. Baird
Installation of Officers - The Sermon today will be an invitation
to find ways to experience the rhythms of nature and life found in our
National Parks and beyond. To appreciate more fully the interdependence
of all life, the strength, and great diversity of all the life that
shares this planet. A celebration waiting to happen, every day!
January 15 - Profiles on the Journey to Freedom
Rev. Rhett Baird, Rev. Kim Miner and Others
Intergenerational Service Today is the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. He was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta. The Sermon section
of the Service today will honor the life and work of Dr. King. It will
include excerpts from his writings, and brief profiles of selected African
Americans who plowed new ground on the journey toward freedom.
Some made their mark before and some after Dr. King, but each one was
a pioneer in their own right and sphere of influence. Each was a bearer
of profound courage worthy of our awareness and attention. Each of their
lives brought us, as a society, to a new level of greatness.
January 22 - Seeing the Sacred in the Very Fabric
of Our Human Relationships
Rev. Rhett D. Baird
On some level we all shape and are shaped by the history and dynamics
of the human communities of which we are a part, from our primary families
to the history, geography, political institutions, and culture, and
our interpretations of our life experiences. With the help of Walt Whitman,
Langston Hughes, Robert Pinsky, Alexis de Tocqueville, Peter Jennings
and Todd Brewster, we'll have a look at the resilience of the human
spirit and some of the enduring sources of strength in community.
January 29 - Saving Us from Our Religion
Dr. Kirby Godsey
Religion has been a source of great human good in the world, a deep
reservoir of grace and hope, but we should face up to the dark side
as well. Religion, including Christianity, is being used for profoundly
evil purposes. We live in a lethal world and religion is being used
to justify human destruction. Maybe war is sometimes the best that we
humans can do, but we should never sanctify war by calling it holy.
War is never holy. War means that we have not yet become fully civilized.
