with our Unitarian Family and Friends

1:00 Fellowship Hall

Christmas Party at the Mitchell's

Look for details and directions in next month's newsletter.

Durrell Watkins

Program at UFL

Durrell Watkins, one of the Fellowship's most enjoyed speakers, will be making a special trip from the Northeast to do a program at the UFL on December 26th in addition to visiting relatives in Arkansas and Texas.

Rev. Durrell Watkins is the pastor of Metropolitan Community Church/Christ the Liberator (affiliated with The Center for Progressive Christianity). CTL is the only MCC in New Jersey. Before coming to CTL, Durrell served as the AIDS Chaplain at the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, the senior pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in Longview, and as a staff minister at Agape MCC (Ft. Worth) and New Light MCC (Hagerstown, MD).

In addition to being a parish minister, Durrell is also an arts activist and playwright. Durrell holds a Master of Arts degree from Goddard College and is a Master of Divinity student at Union Theological Seminary in NYC.

Adult RE ... (continued from page 1)

Kindergarten and It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It. He is one of three ministers who wrote the book.

John Buehrens, the third author, describes how the world's problems are not caused by faith, but by the lack of authenticity and openness in faith. Problems arise from pseudo-faiths that substitute for a healthy spirituality of mutual respect and dialogue.

We have more to learn from John Buehrens, as we have four more chapters before we complete the book. Our class would welcome anyone who might like to sit in on our sessions or to do the rest of the book with us. We meet at the Fellowship Hall on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M.

My knowledge in the area of religion has been almost nonexistent; however, I have always had my opinions. What I am getting out of this book discussion is a view of organized religion that I had never realized existed. It also gives me a mixture of views. In the past I only discussed religion with Sky. Bottom line is, I am enjoying the book, topic and the group

When I asked Jessica if there were any "UU 101" classes, she immediately got in gear and started one. She actually seemed to be pleased to tackle yet another project. What a wonderful attitude!

After Jessica told the class we would be reading A Chosen Faith, I thought it could be rather dry, dull reading, but felt group discussion would help. I've been pleasantly surprised to find the book to be a lively, interesting and entertaining account of UU history, principles and sources. It's a great resource that I will probably read again from time to time.

After we read our weekly assignments, we spend our class time sharing our thoughts about what we've read and how it relates to our lives and the world around us. That always leads to questions and spirited discussions. We frequently drift off course, but our diversions are usually just brief, interesting detours. Jessica is obviously a skilled teacher who keeps us on course, readily shares her thoughts and experiences, asks open-ended questions and encourages us to think.