Learning is a lifelong (and complex) process. When it involves important issues, that can be challenging. But through it, we become more compassionate and grow into deeper understanding of our selves and our purpose. I am so grateful to the lay and ordained leaders who are helping facilitate this process, and who are keeping so many UUCW adults growing in spirit. 

Please join me in thanking Carla Roden and Jeanne Jarecki (Soul Circle facilitators); Rev. Monica Cummings (Chair Yoga instructor from Bradford Community Church UU, in Kenosha); Dennis Wanless (Meditation group coordinator); Barb Holzhauer and Joanne Kopischke (leaders of UUCW book discussion groups); and Rev. Denise, Vicki Banville, and UUCW’s Anti-racism Transformation Team members (“Widening the Circle of Concern” discussion group facilitators). They are proving that “the church” truly is “the people” in it. 

All those groups continue to meet, so please contact a leader or me about joining one yourself…also if you’d like to be part of newer opportunities now available as well: 

  • Join the UUA’s 30 Days of Love.  Each week (thru February) a ‘menu’ of activities is available for a multigenerational audience. If enough people let me know, we will arrange for small groups to connect and share. (Rev. Denise also plans to lead a related worship service.) 
  • Form a new Soul Circle group – or receive the monthly Soul Matters packets for personal use.
  • Enroll in Beloved Conversations: Within (a course in “racial justice as spiritual practice”) or Within+ Exploration Stations (for those who have already completed “Within”). 
  • Join Rev. Denise and others in further exploring a recent Worship topic/sermon. 
  • Join UU Wellspring Reads: Sacred Earth, a 6-session spiritual deepening program for UUs based on the books, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and The Sustainable Soul by Rebecca James Hecking. 
  • Discuss UUCW’s “Common Read: Widening the Circle of Concern”. (Spring session days/times still TBD, but sign-up now to share your preferences.) 

Looking forward, 

Dave Cicero, UUCW Dir. of Lifespan Religious Education