UU Christian Fellowship for 2014-15

from CUC Community Minister, Rev. Kelly Murphy Mason:

Happy summer, everyone! In just a couple of months, starting in September 2014, we’ll resume our monthly meetings of the Metro NY Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship for the 2014-15 program year. Our new theme is:

Desert Spirituality: Contemplation in the Christian Wisdom Tradition.

On Thu Sep 18, we’ll gather at:
The Community Church of New York
40 E 35th St
Manhattan, NY 10016
7:30pm - 9:00pm

Through the church year, we'll gather every 3rd Thursday evening of each month following, for fellowship and conversation.

See these three PDFs:
1) Flyer highlighting the new Metro NY UUCF theme this coming year, Desert Spirituality (CLICK HERE).
2) The customary agenda for our chapter meetings, with our regular chalice lighting (CLICK HERE).
3) A comprehensive UUCF program calendar and detailed outline of our upcoming discussion topics (CLICK HERE).

One cornerstone of our conversations will be Dr. Christine Valters Paintners award-winning text, Desert Fathers and Mothers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings, published by SkyLight Press.

Companion volumes this year will include:
Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert
Mary C. Earle, The Desert Mothers: Spiritual Practices from the Women of the Wilderness.

All of these books are available for purchase online. Together the books will help introduce us to the ‘Desert Spirituality’ at the heart of some of the earliest Christian contemplative movements. Note that our reading list – while quite illuminating – is only recommended, not required. Paintner’s book should be especially useful in our ongoing conversations, but certainly, people are welcome to join the group at any time with any degree of familiarity with the material.

Do let me know about any questions, concerns, or comments you might have regarding our Metro NY UUCF chapter meeting. Folks from various congregations throughout the tri-state area have attended in recent years, so thank you all for your generous support of UUCF within this Metro NY district. You are heartily encouraged to pass on word of our regular UUCF meetings to those in your UU congregations or to other Christian-curious friends who might be intrigued by what UU Christianity, in particular, has to offer. A number of you attended the recent UUA General Assembly in Providence. It was great to see you there with thousands of other UUs and also members of the national UUCF organization. Many thanks to UUCF Executive Director the Rev. Ron Robinson for helping us publicize and promote our program here in Metro NY. At the national level, UUCF has its own rich store of resources available at its website and invites lively dialogue about alternative Christian communities and various “heresies” within the larger church, all online at www.uuchristian.org.

Suggestions about future programming for Metro NY UUCF will be gratefully taken into advisement. We also respond to invitations from area congregations, either for communion services or occasional adult religious education offerings. Feel free to copy, post, forward or otherwise distribute any & all of the attached PDFs to anyone anywhere who might be interested in our local UUCF programs. I do hope to see some of you at Community Church this coming fall. Please remember that this UUCF chapter is always kept open; the invitation to join us at the Metro NY fellowship remains a standing one, month after month, year after year.