On this Sunday, the closest to Valentine’s Day, we will explore what it means to “Stand on the Side of Love” with undocumented immigrants and their families. In the fall I spoke with you about the “Dream Act”, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented folks who came to this country as children. Our General Assembly in June in Phoenix AZ will also focus on this issue. In this service we will explore the broader immigration landscape and attempt to find some historical perspective on this issue, which is nearly as old as our country. I hope to answer questions such as: What (if any) is our civic and spiritual responsibility relative to the undocumented residents of our country? Why is this issue a priority for our denomination? What’s love got to do with it anyway? A discussion will follow the service for those who are interested.
Worship Leader: Rev. Suzanne Marsh
Worship Associate: Kyi Kyi Whiting.

As we approach Presidents Day weekend, lets explore what we really know about our “Founding Fathers” thoughts on the separation of church and state. We’ll also consider what, if any, part their faith played in their ideas or if they were a result of Enlightenment thinking rather than religious values.  In the wake of the increasingly loud voices telling us that our country was founded as a “Christian nation”, we’ll try to discover whether the Fathers intended us to be “one nation under God” or a secular nation, with liberty and justice for all. A discussion on the topic will be held after the service for those who are interested.

Worship Leader: Rev. Suzanne Marsh
Worship Associate: Kyi Kyi Whiting

Choir practice begins at 9:45 am and the service begins at 10:30

Our denomination’s name, Unitarian Universalist, gives equal billing to both of the religious traditions of our forebearers, but I don’t think we modern UU’s give them equal time. So often, the Unitarian part of our heritage, with its illustrious writers and great orators, grabs most of our attention. The simplicity of the Universalist message as summed up by Rev. John Murray: “Give them not hell but hope”, stymies us. When the majority of us believe in neither heaven nor hell, do we need to be engaged in questions of salvation? This Sunday we will learn some Universalist history and ponder how the theology of Universalism might inform our lives here in the 21st century.  A discussion will follow the service for those who are interested in the topic.
Worship Leader: Rev. Suzanne Marsh
Worship Associate: Karen Fothergill

On this Sunday before the Martin Luther King holiday, we will celebrate the life of Dr. King, a leader and ultimately a martyr for the cause of civil rights in the United States. Both Rev. King and his wife Coretta Scott King attended Unitarian Churches and felt a strong affinity with liberal theology and the principles found in Unitarian Universalism. In this service we will consider the beliefs that were at the core of Dr. King’s call to activism and consider what his cherished beliefs and those at the core of our faith have to teach us about both our humanity and our divinity.

Worship Leader: Rev. Suzanne Marsh
Worship Associate: Karen Fothergill

Worship Leader: John Olsen

As the human race moves into the year 2012, and we move into the second decade of the 21st century, the schisms between major traditional cultural & religious entities has grown to a degree not seen in centuries.

In the last 20 years the human species, moving at breakneck speed via the digital & information age, are now facing not only social, political, financial, and cultural issues never seen before, but are also experiencing a distinct, spiritual void that demands attention.

The spiritual aspects that are so essential to mental & physical health will not just go away, they must be intelligently addressed.

“Humanism” bears further investigation by those who have become disenchanted with current offerings.

John Olsen will provide insight on the following:

• What are the origins of “Humanism”?
• Are Humanists necessarily atheists?
• What is the guiding moral code for Humanists?
• How does Humanism square with the ‘Ten Commandments?

Twin Falls Senior Center, Twin Falls, Idaho
Beginning at 10:30 AM

The Burning Bowl: A Ritual for the New Year

Worship Leader: Karen Fothergill

The ‘New Year’ is an artificial ‘beginning,’ but a useful way to reflect on the year past and an opportunity to release ourselves from things we said or did that we wish we hadn’t, or what we didn’t say and didn’t do and wish we had. The ritual of the Burning Bowl is a timeless invitation to “begin again.” This will be a simple service of music, meditation and sharing.

During our service this morning, MVUUF member Karen Fothergill will lead us in our Burning Bowl ceremony to provide space to release fears, sorrows, and regrets and put them behind us in order to make way for new beginnings and resolutions.

As we continue to seek out the stories of hope in our world in the New Year, there are also some things we would very much like to put behind us from the old year. Scraps of paper on which to inscribe those things from which we would seek to unburden ourselves will be distributed (you may also inscribe these things prior to coming to our fellowship in the privacy of your own homes).

These scraps of paper will then be placed in the Burning Bowl and consign them to the purifying flames.

A discussion will immediately follow our service.