What is ours to change... and what is beyond our control? Knowing the difference can be helpful in this life full of planned and unplanned events.
The irreverent Ric Jones received a Master’s from Oklahoma State University focusing on cross-cultural communication. In May 2012, Ric received a Master of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, Illinois. Ric is a certified Healthy Congregation/Organizational facilitator and has completed both the basic and advanced clinics in Emotional Process in Family Systems. His educational background helps to provide a framework to continue to support corporate executives and congregational leadership focused on transformational change, stress management and how family of origin and social locations impact the person and the organization. If you are an ‘outside of the box’ leader, you will enjoy the “ministry” that Ric provides from his own independent perspective. How do we maintain hope in the face of story after story of hardship, suffering, and environmental degradation in the world? How do we maintain hope in our UU community as we try to find common ground from which to act together for change? Drawing on work by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, we’ll explore hope as a spiritual practice.
Rev. Carly Gaylor serves as Assistant Minister for Outreach and Social Justice at the First Unitarian Church of Hamilton. She is passionate about social justice as well as community-building and spiritual growth. She enjoys sports (running, ultimate frisbee, and soccer) as well as embodied spiritual practice, and recently became a certified yoga teacher. And she remembers fondly and with gratitude her time here as an intern in 2009-2010. In a spirit of celebration of International Women's Day (March 8th), we will explore the roles of women in faith traditions. We will also consider what we as Unitarian Universalists can do to honour the messages embedded in the film Honor Diaries (a film about 'honour' violence against women and girls).
Lori Kyle is the UUCD’s spiritual leader. In May 2014 Lori completed her Master of Divinity degree. She hopes to be ordained in 2015 following her meeting with the Unitarian Universalist Association Ministerial Fellowship Committee in April. Lori Kyle is the UUCD’s recently hired spiritual leader. In May 2014 Lori completed her Master of Divinity degree. She hopes to be ordained in 2015 following her meeting with the Unitarian Universalist Association Ministerial Fellowship Committee in April.
In recognition of February being the month of love, and having just celebrated Valentine’s Day, on this Sunday Lori Kyle will join us in exploring some of the secrets of falling and staying in love. We will also incorporate the celebration of our annual Chocolate Communion!
Lori Kyle is the UUCD’s recently hired spiritual leader. In May 2014 Lori completed her Master of Divinity degree. She hopes to be ordained in 2015 following her meeting with the Unitarian Universalist Association Ministerial Fellowship Committee in April. The LivingRoom Community Art Studio is a registered not for profit that provides people from all walks of life - including those who are most marginalized - with a safe space to make and share art for free. We believe that everyone is an artist, regardless of age, ability or training, and that when people are given the space, materials and time to come together in order to express themselves and share their skills and stories with one another that they change their lives - and their communities - for the better. The LivingRoom is located in Oshawa at 149 Simcoe Street South, and is open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10am to 6pm, with Pay-What-You-Can community led workshops occurring every Saturday. We also arrange private "Closed" Studio time for various community organizations (like groups from the YWCA and Community Living Oshawa/Clarington) upon request, and host special events like concerts, vendor markets, open mic nights and studio chats outside of regular studio hours. To keep up to date with our activities and special events sign up for The LivingRoom's newsletter and like our Facebook Page. To get a taste of what the studio offers watch this clip from Channel 12's visit to the Studio.
Mary Krohnert is a professional actor, art therapist and Coordinator for The LivingRoom Community Art Studio Project. She has spent much of her professional life exploring ways to connect her passions so that she can support and serve audience members and clients alike, with the understanding that voicing one' s experiences of self in the witnessing presence of others can bring about healing and creative growth for all. Early in her training as an art therapist Mary was introduced to the work of Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos and learned that it was indeed possible to do just that. Janis teaches in the creative art therapies department at Concordia University where she researches how Community Art Studios (also called Art Hives) encourage community development and over all well being for the individuals and families who make use of them. After travelling to Montreal in 2013 to study the Art Hive movement with Janis, Mary returned home determined to create a space in Oshawa like those she'd experienced in Montreal. The LivingRoom Community Art Studio was formed that fall with the support of founding board members Szanne McNutt, Steve Longauer and Carol Vandersanden, with the storefront studio opening in the following fall of 2014 as a pilot project funded by The Ontario Trillium Foundation! Visit Art Hives to learn more about how they inspired Mary and the LivingRoom project. This Sunday we are delighted to welcome four people who will share their talents and stories of what it has meant to them to identify as a transgender individual. For most of our speakers it will be the first time they have been offered the opportunity to share their story in a faith community setting. Please join us in this special celebration of diversity.
Lori Kyle is the UUCD’s recently hired spiritual leader. In May 2014 Lori completed her Master of Divinity degree. She hopes to be ordained in 2015 following her meeting with the Unitarian Universalist Association Ministerial Fellowship Committee in April. As Unitarian Universalists, we hope to be welcoming and open people. And yet, we’re all familiar with the warning: “Don’t talk to strangers!” One of the gifts of spiritual growth is the deepening ability to love people we think of as “other” and to embrace the parts of ourselves we don’t know (or like) very well. Lynn Harrison will offer both spoken and musical reflections on the joys and challenges of “Talking to Strangers”.
Click here to listen to the awesome song Lynn sang as our postlude! (Shared with permission.) The complete sermon can be read below: In celebration of Martin Luther King Day we will explore the man whose legacy not only forever changed the civil rights movement, but whose ideals are also deeply embedded in our UU tradition. We will consider the extent to which we as Unitarian Universalists embody those ideals in the life of our congregation and in our personal lives.
Lori Kyle is the UUCD’s spiritual leader. In May 2014 Lori completed her Master of Divinity degree. She hopes to be ordained in 2015 following her April interview with the Unitarian Universalist Association Ministerial Fellowship Committee. Herizon House is a not-for profit, charitable organization which provides temporary shelter and services to abused women and their children in Durham Region. They provide non-judgmental, supportive counselling based on a feminist analysis of violence against women. They advocate on behalf of women and children and are committed to ending the cycle of abuse and violence in the community. In her talk, Ms Hector-Alexander will provide an overview of the services provided at Herizon House and how they support women's transition back into the community independently and free from abuse and violence. She will also talk about the types of abuse, cycle of abuse and the impact of abuse on entire families and communities and discuss the stigma of abuse and how we as a community can be supportive to survivors of abuse.
Allison Hector-Alexander is a mother, wife, feminist, nurturer and educator. She is presently the Outreach Crisis Councellor at Herizon House as well as the Diversity Consultant at Durham College and works within an anti-oppression/ anti-racism framework. Allison’s work centres around human rights education with a focus on violence against women, power and privilege dynamics and cultural awareness. Previous work includes the development of a campus women’s centre, food centre and an LGBTQ centre as well as work in cultural safety, violence against women and the employment readiness field. Allison has worked with diverse groups of individuals which comprise of youth at risk, street involved youth, Ontario Works recipients, new immigrants, women survivors of abuse, faculty and students. Allison has a social work background and is presently pursuing a degree in Digital Technology and Adult Education with a focus on how technology impacts social location. |
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