This Sunday: Responsible foraging builds environmental awareness and is the most ecologically sustainable method of procuring food. But more than anything, harvesting wild food satisfies a deep desire to connect with our roots and participate in Nature. We gather to nourish body and spirit. This is our fourth service in a series on ethical eating. The final service in the series will be in September and will examine raising animals for food. You can find online materials, including an Ethical Eating Study Guide, at http://www.uua.org/socialjustice/issuesprocess/currentissues/ethicaleating/. Lay Leader, Frida Shroyer, Speaker, Lisa Sporleder, Accompanist, Susan Johnson.

Gathering: Berry Picking as a Spiritual Discipline - Sporleder [ 21:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This Sunday: In a recent New York Times article, author and food activist Michael Pollan asks why we should bother trying to change our lifestyles when the immensity of the climate change problem dwarfs any possible personal response. Yet he argues that growing your own food — even just a little — is one of the most powerful things an individual can do to change the cheap-energy mind. For the second Sunday in our series on ethical eating, we’ve invited accomplished local gardener Dr. Walter Benesch to philosophize on why he gardens. Lay leader, Rich Seifert. Accompanist, Vera Alexander. Read More »

Why Garden? Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In a radical little movie last summer, the robot WALL-E helps humanity come to its senses after generations of luxurious meaninglessness. Our journey, too, can include learning to become “more than the sum of our wants.” Guest ministers, Revs. Barbara Wells ten Hove and Jaco B. ten Hove are both “homebred” UUs, were ordained in the mid-1980s, married in 1990 and served separate congregations in the Seattle area. During that time, they made a few trips up to Fairbanks to preach and teach. Then they began a co-ministry in Maryland in 1998, but last summer they returned to the Seattle area, now co-ministering at Cedars UU Church, on Bainbridge Island, Wash., so we lured them back to Fairbanks for a visit. Read More »

More than the Sum of Our Wants Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is the first in a series of summer services that will look at the ethics of eating. Our May 31 program explores the ethics of hunting and the question of how Alaskans, UUs or not, reconcile their hunting practices with their spiritual beliefs, including Unitarian Universalism’s seventh principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.  We have invited several speakers to present varying perspectives on the question. Later services in the series will examine growing our own food and raising animals for food. Ethical Eating was selected at UUA General Assembly 2008 in Fort Lauderdale, FL, to be the Congregational Study/Action Issue for 2008-2012. The UUA site has online materials including an Ethical Eating Study Guide. Lay leader, Cam Leonard. Accompanist, Laurel Holmes.

Hunting: Our relationship with animals Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This Sunday: A pilgrimage is a long journey or search of religious or spiritual significance. Two UUFF members share their stories about recent inward or external journeys of spiritual significance to them. Marilyn Richardson will tell us about spiritual retreats she has taken with Thich Nhat Hanh in Plum Village, France, Ram Dass in Portland, Oregon, and Wayne Dyer at Machu Pichu, Peru. Dave Welch will talk about his personal journey with Kundalini yoga and the teachings of Yogi Bhajan, including three separate, intense weeks of instruction in the Aquarian Teacher Training program that culminated in his being certified as a Kundalini Yoga Instructor on April 19th, 2009. This is a follow up to our November service, Pilgrimages Part I: Back to Our Roots, when Julia Stewart and Marilyn Russell talked about their journey to Unitarian villages in Transylvania, Romania. Speakers, Marilyn Richardson and Dave Welch. Lay leader, Lisa Sporleder. Accompanist, Marsha Sousa.

Marilyn Richardson on spiritual retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in Plum Village Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

David Welch on Kundalini yoga teacher training Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This Sunday: It is a simple miracle in itself, yet nothing miraculous, to awake to each moment, anew, where the world is full of possibility. Join us Sunday, April 12 to celebrate Easter, Spring and a whole new season of possibility and renewal. Easter hats optional. Speaker, Peter Pierson. Lay leaders, Shaun Lott and Frida Shroyer. Accompanist, Marsha Sousa.

The Gift of Being Human Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This Sunday: The Universalist side of our Unitarian Universalist heritage – the side most of us know less about – has near its beginning a distinguished and fascinating figure: Judith Sargent Murray. Judith was not only an articulate defender of Universalist ideas, she was also the first published American feminist author with a 1790 essay “On the Equality of the Sexes.” Her path-breaking work was long overlooked, but is now getting fresh attention from feminists, historians, and religious scholars. Part of this renewed attention is due to the discovery in 1984 that Judith had, through most of her life, copied her outgoing correspondence into blank books. The Rev. Gordon Gibson, who discovered those 20 books containing thousands of letters, is our speaker for this service. Guest minister, Rev. Gordon Gibson. Lay leader, Larry Fogleson. Accompanist, Marsha Sousa.

First Lady of Feminism, First Lady of Universalism [ 23:34 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We are taught to think of great, larger-than-life figures as the creators of social change. For example, in the popular imagination “the civil rights movement” and “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” are two ways of saying the same thing. In reality, much change flows from multiple small acts, many of them quietly courageous, performed by people un-noted in the history books. Gordon Gibson, our visiting minister, was a participant in the Selma voting rights campaign of 1965 and was the Unitarian Universalist minister in Mississippi 1969-84. He has spent years collecting stories of small acts of great courage. Last summer he witnessed such acts when the church he now belongs to in Knoxville, Tennessee, was attacked by a man with a shotgun. Guest minister, Rev. Gordon Gibson. Lay leader, Michael Bonilla. Accompanist, Laurel Holmes.

Small Acts Plus Quiet Courage Equals Change [ 34:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress, can be judged by the way its animal are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi. Homeless is a word that we’re hearing more and more as our economy spins downward. While more Americans are facing homelessness, an estimated 8 million dogs and cats regularly become homeless each year in our affluent country. With respect to the seven UU Principles, there are some very practical steps that each one of us can do to help reduce this needless statistic, even if you are not willing to adopt another critter. Jeanne Olson is a holistic veterinarian in North Pole, and was the veterinarian/manager at the FNSB Animal Control from 2002-2004. She has also volunteered to help the street dogs and cats in Guam and Romania. Jane Smith will speak about her experiences with the FNSB shelter foster program.

Speakers, Jeanne Olson and Jane Smith. Lay leader, Lisa Sporleder. Accompanist, Laurel Holmes

UU Fellowship of Fairbanks - Helping the Other Homeless: Animal Rescue Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

How does Zen practice help people negotiate the ups and downs of every day life? Zen Master Bon Soeng (Jeff Kitzes) is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice and a Zen Buddhist abbot and guiding teacher of the Empty Gate Zen Center in Berkeley, California. His specialty is the integration of Zen Buddhism and Western Psychotherapy. He has been practicing Zen since 1975, and began practicing with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1979. He received transmission in April 2001. In addition to his work at the Empty Gate Zen Center in Berkeley, he is the guiding teacher of Cold Mountain Zen Center in Fairbanks. Lay leader, Susan Kessler. Accompanist, Marsha Sousa.

True Self, Authentic Self Play Now | Play in Popup | Download