Personal and Spiritual Exploration for Adults, December 2020 - Unitarian Univeralist Congregation of Santa Monica

Learning and exploration are about the transformation of the individual, our community, and the larger society. Participation helps us grow in wisdom, compassion, and ethical living. See below for our December activities, programs, and workshops for adults.

To contact the facilitator in regard to any offering, you may email AdultRE@UUSM.org with the title of the group in the subject line. Your email will be forwarded. Please note that currently, all offerings are facilitated through Zoom. Contact Teri Lucas for more information and the link to the Zoom meeting.

Do you have a passion or an expertise? Are you a chef or a gardener, a historian or an actor? Would you like to offer some help, support, or some frivolity to our UU community via Zoom? We’re seeking programming that is fun, informative, and engaging. Please let us know if there’s something you’d like to offer and the Adult RE Committee will help you to do it. Email the Adult RE Committee (AdultRE@UUSM.org) or Teri Lucas (uusmREassist@uusm.org) and we can work with you on presenting your ideas.

Community Building Through Personal Development:

Nature Journaling with Dorothy Steinicke Sunday December 13

Come and join us in observing, learning about, and enjoying nature. Whether you are spending some time outdoors or not stepping out your front door at all, you can still enjoy and appreciate nature. You are welcome to join even if you have no knowledge of nature, botany, drawing or writing. In fact you are encouraged to join if this is the case. People who attend these groups remark that they are reminded of times in childhood when they had the time to get lost in wonder at the natural world. As adults, we rarely give ourselves that permission. We will meet from 2:30 – 4:00 pm. Contact: Dorothy Steinicke.

Ukulele Strum Along Saturday December 12

Come and play ukulele with us or join with another strumming instrument. We recommend a familiarity with the ukulele for this online format but all levels are welcome (beginner to advanced). Bring a ukulele to our Zoom meeting and chords and lyrics will be provided in advance with a few folks prepared to lead some songs. We will share tips and support each other, pulling from a wide range of music. This event is for ages 15 and up, or 10 and up if accompanied by a guardian. We will need your email contact information by December 10, so that we can send you the music ahead of time. We will gather from 9:30 – 10:30 am. Contact: Kim Kalmanson.

Exploration of Ideas:

AAHS Freethinker Forum Sunday December 27

The Freethinker Forum is a monthly interactive meeting sponsored by AAHS: Agnostics, Atheists, Humanists & Secularists of UU Santa Monica. All are welcome to join in a lively discussion where a diversity of viewpoints are encouraged and respected. We’ll meet from 12:00 noon – 1:30 pm via Zoom. Contact: James Witker.

Science Non-Fiction Book Discussion Tuesday December 15

We will discuss “The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” by Deborah Blum. Toward the end of the 19^th century, food was dangerous – even lethal. For example, milk was diluted with formaldehyde. When Dr. Harvey Wiley became chief chemist at the Department of Agriculture, the agency began investigating food and drink fraud. “The Poison Squad” was a group of young men who volunteered to be guinea pigs. To receive the link to join the discussion, you will want to be on the group email list. All are welcome. We meet from 7:30 – 9:00 pm. Contact: Rebecca Crawford, sci-nonfiction@uusm.org.

UU Men’s Group Thursday December 3

The Men’s Group offers a special opportunity to the men of the congregation and other like-minded men to join our welcoming group in provocative and stimulating discussion and to get to know others with UU perspectives in a more meaningful way. The topic for Thursday, December 3, is: Ideally, as we get older, at some point we become at peace with all the decisions we made in our past. However, do you have a particular regret and wish that you could have had a do-over? How might your life be changed as a result? How might it have actually turned out worse? We meet the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7:30 pm via Zoom. For more information, contact Richard Mathias.

Meditations:

Open Meditation Mondays December 14, 28

We gather twice a month to sit together quietly for 20 minutes, to walk with gentle awareness for seven minutes, and to explore the integration of meditation with ordinary life through reading and sharing. Anyone who senses they would benefit from 20 minutes of silent, non-guided sitting is welcome to join us. We have found that this time of quiet meditation and shared exploration can be deeply nourishing – a time of simply “being” amidst all the “doing” of our lives. We meet from 7:30 – 9:00 pm. Contacts: Bev Shoenberger or Carol Ring.

Open Meditation: Wellsprings All Wednesdays and Fridays

These are exceptional times. Taking this time for quiet meditation and sharing in the intimacy of having sat in silence together can help sustain and ground us during these difficult days. We trust each of you will use this group in the way that fits your needs. We listen to brief readings, sit together quietly for twenty minutes, journal, and share with each other what’s on our hearts. We simply sit together in our shared humanity. We call off the struggle to become other than we are. These are drop-in groups. You are welcome to join us when it feels right to you. If you come in late or need to leave early, just do so quietly. We meet every Wednesday and Friday afternoon from 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm online. Contact: Bev Shoenberger.