03 Jan April

Worship Services 

Sunday,  April 1

Blessings

Rev. Bill Zelazny

You will often hear me say at the end of a Sunday service “A blessing on us all.” I use that phrase to wish everyone well as we depart.  But what is a blessing?  We can easily agree that it’s a very positive thing, but when we try to pin the concept of blessing down to a definition, it suddenly seems surprisingly slippery. What can it mean in a UU setting?  On this Sunday what is observed in the Christian world as Easter, Bill will offer some ideas about the concept of blessings.

Sunday, April 8

Repainting, Replanting, Beginning Again                     

Rev. Bill Zelazny

Playwright and poet, Bertolt Brecht, once said, “Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are”  Sometimes things happen in our lives — Jobs change, marriages end, stuff happens. We need have to repaint our self portrait, replant roots and begin life anew and find a new direction. Where do we start?  This Sunday Bill will talk about new beginnings.

Sunday,  April 15

What Would Rev. Channing Think?

Professor Robert Thorson

Social media — Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and yes, selfies — nudge us into becoming the “paparazzi of our own celebrity.”  We feel good when we post, but are we really gaining popularity, making  friends and getting in with a group? Hardly. Instead, we’re all alone, our conversations muffled by the silence of hand-held screens. Perhaps it’s time to resurrect Channing’s “self culture” that calls us to seek validation from inside ourselves and discover our powers to be social, to reach out to others, to think, reason and acquire truth.

Robert Thorson, member of Channing and popular Sunday speaker,  is a geologist specializing in archeological and cultural geology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut. His latest book is The Guide to Walden Pond: An exploration of history, nature, landscape and literature. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 2018) 

Sunday, April 22

Let’s Stop Trashing Our Oceans!

The Green Congregation Committee & Susan Adie

Join us for a service about valuing our oceans and their inhabitants, and stopping the massive pollution by humans with plastics and other trash.

A ceremony to welcome individuals who wish to become members of Channing Memorial Church will be held during the Sunday service on April 22.  Becoming a member entails signing the membership book, witnessed by a member of the Membership Committee.  Individuals unable to attend the service may make arrangement to sign the book at another time. Persons interested in becoming members are asked to contact Rev. Zelazny at minister@channingchurch.org

Sunday, April 29

Connecting the Dots

Rev. Dr. Kathleen Green

Isolation is on the rise and the need for connection is urgent. Regardless of religious affiliation, human beings are hardwired for connection. As a Unitarian Universalist minister and the Executive Director of the Yale Humanist Community, Dr. Green will speak from her experience and ongoing research on the need for connection.

The Rev. Dr. Kathleen A. Green is Executive Director of the Yale Humanist Community and a Silliman College Fellow. .   She is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister who received her Mdiv from Meadville-Lombard Theological School and her DMin from New York Theological Seminary. Her doctoral dissertation focused on collaboration between humanists and religious adherents in interfaith engagement.  Dr. Green also serves on the faculty of Claremont Lincoln University’s Master of Arts in Interfaith degree program. She resides in Old Lyme, CT.