UU Women and Religion
Retreat for Northern New England District Women's Group
check out www.uuwr.org > District Women's Groups > Northern New England District for details on this retreat.
All are WELCOME to attend. . .
an Adult Religious Education (RE) Class this fall. We hope to encourage multi-generational participation, so if you are between ages 16 and 116, please join in!
Sign up for a class or attend an event not only for the topic but also for the new connections you may find or deepen, and the self-knowledge you may gain.
FUUSE RE programs are inspired by community volunteers, as well as by curriculum purchased from the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Religious education is defined quite broadly here at FUUSE, consistent with our independent, democratic, self-governing process.
This semester’s classes include a series on “Ethical Eating,” “UU-101,” exploring the real American politics in Iraq (with invited speaker Judge Brennan), an exploration of the nature of free will, multi-generational Kripalu YogaDance, Tonglen Meditation, and much, much more. . .
Please read on to get all the details. Sign up is usually required, as some classes can not run without a minimum number, so please mark your calendars early and let us know which classes look right for you.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Spring 2010 Offerings • [See below for Ongoing Offerings]
Discussions on Faith and Community
Facilitators: lay leaders, various
Dates: February through April after both Sunday services, as possible
(Look for more timely information in church bulletins)
Time and Location: 11:00AM in Parsonage Room #2 (the dining room), and 12:15 in the Community Room*
*Please note childcare will be available in the nursery during the 11AM session, but childcare will not be available during the 12:15 session
Please stop in and consider spiritual topics raised during services while they are fresh in our minds, in a safe and accepting circle of friends. Volunteers from the congregation will facilitate these informal Sunday talks.
No sign-up necessary to attend. If you would like to be a lay-facilitator, please contact Cynthia to select a date that works for you!!
Tonglen Meditation Practice
Facilitator: Kimberly Wootan, Director of Lifespan Religious Education
Dates: Now an Ongoing Event the 3rd Wednesday evening of each month: Jan 20, Feb 17, March 17, April 21, May 19, and June 16
Time/Place: 7:00–9:00PM, Parsonage Front Room
Tonglen is a Tibetan Buddhist breathing meditation practice popularized in recent years by the Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron. We have used a simple version of this practice in Sunday worship during the first part of this church year. Kimberly and Kendra have been using this meditation practice regularly during the past year and Kimberly looks forward to continuing to sharing her practice and learnings with you. [Back to Top]
Small Group Ministry*
Co-coordinators: Ginny Berrien and Pam Greene
Dates: March to May, bi-weekly
Time/Place: To be announced
For over a decade, Small Group Ministry (SGM) has been an integral part of many UU congregations. SGM provides opportunities for people to reflect on life issues in a spiritual context while getting to know each other in a small group setting. A lay member of the church acts as a convener/facilitator, providing the topics for reflection and helping everyone to share and listen deeply to each other in a safe and caring environment. Participants in each small group commit to meeting for six sessions, usually bi-weekly. Groups for the spring begin in early March, with registration held in February. Day and Evening sessions will be held. Newcomers and long-time members welcome.
To SIGN UP or request more information, please contact Ginny Berrien and Pam Greene directly at
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, 580-1240 or
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, 347-1540
*These groups are intended for those age 18 or older
Pathways to Membership (UU-101)
Facilitator: Mary Alice LaPoint with Doug Flockhart, and surprise guests
Dates: 5 Monday evenings: March 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 (Snowdate: April 5)
Time/Place: 7:00–9:00PM, starting in the Community Room
What is Unitarian Universalism? How did it get that way? How is it different today, and how is it practiced in this church? What goes on in this church, and how may I get involved? What is the difference between the Caring Committee and the Outreach Task Force? Between the Knitting Ministry and the Group Quilt? Do I have to audition to sing in the choir? What on earth is “Radical Hospitality”? How do we make coffee in the scary looking urn, and where do we keep the extension cords anyway?
This Program will answer these and many other questions, in an attempt to explain who we are and what myriad things go on here. Whether you’re a newcomer just starting on the pathway to membership, or a longtime member scratching your head trying to figure out how the church is changing in this time of growth, we will try to provide a smooth and lively transition from first introductions to more active involvement in church community life.
A minimum of 8 participants (and maximum of 20) are required for this course. Arrangements can be made to have childcare available for those who may need it.
(TO SIGN UP for UU-101 please contact Cynthia Young at 686-7266 or
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with your name, phone number and email address, and please note whether you require childcare to facilitate participation.) [Back to Top]
UUs Beyond FUUSE
Facilitator: Laurie Loosigian
Date: Thursday evening, April 15
Time and Location: 7:00–8:30PM, Parsonage Front Room
Have you wondered about the UU experience at Ferry Beach? At Star Island? How about General Assembly (GA)? Are you curious about our UUA District and what it provides for us? Laurie Loosigian, who has a wealth of experience with all things Unitarian Universalist, will share her knowledge and answer your questions — in time to register to attend GA or Ferry Beach this year!
Poetry as a Spiritual Practice
Facilitator: Kimberly Wootan and Cynthia Young
Date: Thursday evening, March 25
Time and Location: 7:00–8:30PM, Parsonage Front Room
Poetry can be a creative outlet for the writer and for the reader as well. It can provide a path to the ineffable through imagery and sound. Our UU services often include poetry.
How is it that this form of expression seems able to connect us to the divine? We will explore the use of poetry as a spiritual practice by sharing poetry together in community. Bring a poem to share, whether your own or by a favorite poet. We will appreciate these works and explore how the touch our souls. [Back to Top]
Behind the Veil in Iraq in 2007: My Reluctant Education in an American Betrayal
Facilitator: Judge Arthur Brennan, invited speaker
(thanks to the facilitation of Barbara Benham)
Date: Monday evening, April 26
Time and Location: 7:00–8:30PM, Community Room
Judge Brennan is a former NH Superior Court Judge and was employed by the Department of State in 2007 as Head of the Office of Accountability and Technology in Bagdad, Iraq. Judge Brennan has shared his eye-opening experience with a Senate Committee and in other public venues. We are grateful for his willingness to continue to educate the public about the actual conduct of U.S. policies in Iraq. His observations and insights have far-reaching implications for anyone interested in fairness and freedom in our global society.
Listening to his story we will understand the disillusionment and frustration of honest Iraqi people and well-intentioned Americans as the process in Iraq has unfolded. Brennan has worked hard to get asylum for the Iraqis who risked their lives fighting corruption under the Baghdad regime and who were effectively abandoned by the Americans who should have fought for them.
The speaker’s first hand observations may open our eyes to needed reform in our government and others. [Back to Top]
Inheriting Painful Histories: Making Sense of Hatred through Art Spiegelman's Maus books
Facilitator: Barbara Benham
Date: 2 Monday evenings: April 12 and 19
Time and Location: 7:00–8:30PM, Parsonage Front Room
A college teacher of literature and writing, Barbara is also a third-generation survivor of the 1915 Armenian genocide. She appreciates this author as a brave, creative, and pioneering survivor within the literary community. She will guide participants in discussing Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer-winning books Maus I and Maus II.
Spiegelman was instrumental in the American birth of the "graphic novel" in the 1980’s, a literary form with a long history in Japan but one that is new for America. How could this form do any justice to a topic like the Holocaust? Can comics be literature? Is a picture really worth a thousand words?
We’ll consider Spiegelman’s books through a couple of lenses: (1) Spiegelman is a model of an artist who would not let anybody tell him how to tell his story (and history). He is above all a brave writer who refused to give into literary traditions and convention. A second lens (2) is how does a young man or woman make sense of growing up in a home that is weighed down with incredible painful histories?
Spiegelman, whether he intended this or not, speaks to all people with assorted painful histories. When we track his methods of exploration, curiosity, obsession for truth, and bravery through getting the book published, we learn about struggling to make sense of history.
Through his books we will meet this true survivor together! Please purchase these books online or order early from local bookstores to be prepared before the class begins. [Back to Top]
Ethical Eating: How Can We Better Nourish Ourselves While Also Nurturing and Sustaining Our Social Communities and the Earth?
Facilitators: Kathy Gallant, Tracey Miller, Amy Robinson, and Leigh Sloss
Date: 4 sessions Tuesday Evenings: March 30, April 6, April 13, April 20 (Snowdate: May 4)
Time and Location: 7:00–9:00PM, the Community Room and kitchen
The national Unitarian Universalist Association invites us all to consider topics in ethical eating this year from a social justice perspective, and we are very fortunate to have several UU members and friends well-prepared to lead us in this exploration!
Facilitators are Kathy Gallant of Exeter’s Blue Moon whole foods market, café, and community gathering place; Tracey Miller, holistic health counselor and cooking and “green” food movement educator; Amy Robinson, local beekeeper who has chosen an organic farming lifestyle at home; and Leigh Sloss, baker of artisan-style bread, well-educated about sustainability and equity concerns. Collectively, this group has a broad-based knowledge of issues that we all may want to consider and question in our approaches to feeding ourselves.
Participants will have an opportunity to learn and explore through informational presentations, hands-on projects and ritual experiences (including cooking and eating), and thoughtful discussion. If you have wondered whether purchasing “organic” or “free-range” products really makes a difference for the environment and for your health, have questioned how eating could become a more intentional part of your daily life, or wonder exactly what people are referring to by “sustainability” as it relates to the food industry, this series is an opportunity for you to learn and share together in an atmosphere of friendly community exploration.
Some topics outlined in the discussion series book “Menu for the Future”, developed by the Northwest Earth Institute, will be considered, and participants may choose to more deeply explore these topics in a separate Adult RE course also (See “Menu for the Future” below).
We look forward to eating, talking, cooking and thinking together about this important topic in all of our daily lives! [Back to Top]
Menu for the Future
Facilitator: Leigh Sloss and surprise guests
Date: 6 Tuesday evenings: April 27; May 4, 11, 18, and 25; June 1
Time and Location: 7:00–8:30PM, Parsonage Front Room
"Food is our common ground, a universal experience" James Beard —
Menu for the Future is a six session self-facilitated discussion group which explores the connection between food and sustainability. Food connects us with the world around us and provides an entry point into the discussion of many of the ecological concerns we face today. Course participants learn more about modern food systems and to reflect upon their own role as eaters in a global food marketplace. Each participant will purchase a course book of various readings from multiple perspectives — cultural, economic, ecological, health, and social — each presenting a different angle on the complex modern food systems most of us depend on. At each discussion group, participants are invited to bring their own experiences and critical thinking to the process. Participants are encouraged to facilitate one of the class sessions. With the aid of the course manual and the group facilitated discussion format, participants learn from themselves and from each other. The goal is that those attending will come away with an increased awareness of how food connects us to place, to others, and to the Earth and that this will inspire us to act upon that awareness.
"The act of putting into your mouth what the Earth has grown is perhaps your most direct interaction with the Earth." —Francis Moore Lappe
Your $22 materials fee for book order, payable to FUUSE, is due by April 13 please.
Kripalu YogaDance for the Whole Family: Movement to Music as Spiritual Expression
Dance Instigator: Chris Chance, certified Kripalu YogaDance instructor
Dates: 3 Saturday mornings: March 6 and 20, April 3
Time/Place: 10:30AM–12:00 noon, the Parish Hall
This Yoga-inspired dance has been described as transformative, spirit-moving, and just plain fun; AND, we can dance together as a multi-generational tribe! During each class, dancers will stimulate all the yogic energy centers or “chakras” while enjoying evocative and inspiring music.
The dance begins with stretching warm-ups on the mat, moves into heart-pumping rhythms in the middle, and ends with relaxing meditation. Movement suggestions may include specific postures as well as visual images, dance games, dance prayers, and circle dances. Dance movements are modifiable to respect one’s own unique body, consistent with the Kripalu yoga tradition. All are welcome, including those who may choose to sit in chairs to respect the body’s limits. The only experience required is breathing! So let’s get together and celebrate life through dance! Be an octopus in the ocean, a lion in the jungle, and a worm relaxing on the floor all within a one hour journey of discovery! If you’re not sure how to move to a certain rhythm, the children will show you, as we launch our imaginations into motion together!
What to bring: Comfortable, layered clothing; soft-soled shoes or bare feet; a yoga mat or beach towel; a bottle of water; and an open heart.
(TO SIGN UP please contact Cynthia Young at 686-7266 or
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with your name, phone number and email address) [Back to Top]
Considering Free Will: A Multi-media Experience
Facilitator: Frank Merrick
Date: Tuesday evening, March 9
Time and Location: 7:00–8:30PM, the downstairs Young Church classroom space
Are you freely choosing to read this sentence right now? Is there a little 'You' inside your head capable of making the decision to read this sentence completely independent of your history?
Or, have your genes, life experience, and environment made reading this sentence inevitable? Is it possible you’re being compelled to read this sentence, with no more choice in the matter than an automaton, even though the decision ‘feels’ free? Maybe a little of both? Can we even hope to know?
Enjoy this multi-media experience as we delve into these philosophical musings with Frank’s guidance (in the style of his “Practical Subversion” class many enjoyed last year).
We’ll talk about the latest research on the topic of free will, along with the implications the concept of free will has on such critical social issues as crime and poverty.
This class promises to be a thought-provoking adventure!
“Collision”: Is Christianity Good for the World?
Facilitator: Frank Merrick
Date: Tuesday evening, March 23
Time and Location: 6:30–9:00PM, Community Room
“(Christianity) is a wicked cult, and it’s high time we left it behind” —Christopher Hitchens
“There are two tenets of atheism. One, there is no God. Two, I hate him.” —Douglas Williams
The documentary “Collision: Christopher Hitchens vs Douglas Williams” pits leading atheist, political journalist and author Christopher Hitchens (“God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”) against fellow author and evangelical theologian Pastor Douglas Wilson on a debate tour of the US arguing the topic “Is Christianity Good for the World?”
Lives and worldviews collide as Hitchens and Wilson wittily and passionately argue this timeless question, showing themselves to be well matched intellectual, philosophical and cinematic rivals.
Join fellow UUs as we watch the 90 minute film together then participate in what promises to be a lively group discussion afterwards.
Our UU principles don’t have much meaning if they are not put in practice, and what better way to exercise your “free and responsible search for truth and meaning” with your fellow UUs! [Back to Top]
Art as a Spiritual Practice
Facilitator: Vicky Anderson
Date: Tuesday, March 2
Time and Location: 7:00–8:30PM, Community Room
How does one cultivate a sense of spirituality through art? What do we want of art? Of creativity? What makes something art? What do you expect of art? This class potentially offers an opportunity to refine/expand your own ‘take’ on art.
Some find resources for sanity in recognition of others’ creativity — creativity in dealing with personal and surrounding imperfect worlds. As we share in spiritual expression, we nurture each other and we nurture our inner selves.
Through visualization we’ll explore our own personal artistic sensibilities: share as you are inclined. Bring, at least in your mind’s eye, an art piece you don’t care for — and also one you like (and go back to).
Vicky Anderson earned her BA in Child Development/Creative Arts in Learning, and is the Assistant Director at Three Maples Art and Nature Program. We are pleased to have her facilitate this sharing of art as a spiritual practice.
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Ongoing Offerings
Small Group Ministry (Beyond Coffee Hour)
We offer small groups for deepening discussions around topics of religious and spiritual interest. Groups are facilitated by trained group leaders.
Knitting Ministry meets the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6:30 pm in the Parsonage to work on healing/spirituality shawls or other articles for our congregation. Beginner and experienced knitters and crocheters are welcome.
Contra Dance
Monthly Saturday contra dances are held in our Parish Hall with Richky Holt calling. live music is provided by Jim DiCarlo (Irish flute and pennywhistle), Silas Robinson (fiddle), Brad Robinson (guitar), and Nancy Fiske (pennywhistle, recorders, clarinet). You do not need experience or a partner. All dances will be taught and kids are welcome. Bring clean soft-soled shoes. Donations are reuqested, under 10 free.
Men's and Women's Pot Luck Suppers
Fun, food, and fellowship each month. We usually split into a men's group and a women's group, but ocassionally combine the two groups. Watch the Calendar, the Order of Service Announcements, and monthly Newsletter for details.
Lit FUUSE
The Lit FUUSE is a creative arts magazine that includes poetry, prose, photography, and fine art on a wide range of topics by, and for, FUUSE members. The latest edition, Volume 3, is now available.
For more information, please email Bob Moore at
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