For July 9th, "Flashes of Insight"

Based on recommendations from some of our most outstanding members, this coming Sunday we'll view and discuss the sermon "Flashes of Insight". Here's the blurb: "Knowledge is not wisdom. We often know a lot of things that we do not allow to change our lives for decades or centuries. This sermon identifies the crucial intuitive move of Paul towards liberation, freedom from legalism and piety and encourages us to embrace knowledge more quickly and turn it into wisdom especially as relates to our awareness of the abuses of a million Americans in prisons and jails awaiting a cultural dawning of compassion and intelligence in the treatment of criminals."

The sermon is given by Rev. Roger Ray, pastor of Community Christian Church of Springfield, Mo. It's a liberal prespective from a liberal church in a town that is easily as conservative as upper East Tennessee.

Here's a link if you'd like a preview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Raab9rlHpvE

Join us. We're fun, smart and good-looking.

Addiction, Spiritual or Chemical?

This Sunday, June 12th, we're going to use an episode of Radiolab (The Fix) as the basis of a discusion on the nature of addiction. The sides of the debate are whether the nature of addiction is a spiritual/moral problem, or is it brain chemistry, and of course, is it somewhere in the middle.
Please join us.

The Camino a Santiago de Compostella

This coming Sunday, May 8th, we're going to hear from Jo Jo Morrison about his recent walk on the Camino de Santiago de Compostella. This is one of Christian Europe's oldest, most renown pilgrimages. You can read more about the destination here: Click me. The walk to the destination is taken on by tens of thousands each year.

Jo Jo is a regular visitor. He is the son of John and Mary Ellen Morrison.  He has been walking long distances since he went backpacking with his Father to Philmont Scout Ranch in 1981.  After high school he worked at Philmont for three summers as a backpacking guide and staff member.  To support his walking habit, he went to law school, graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law.  After law school he clerked for a federal circuit court judge and then taught constitutional law for four years before becoming an assistant public defender in Miami where he met his wife, a Cuban-born accountant.  After their wedding, she surprised him by telling him that she needed to go to medical school.  Over a decade and eight moves later, she is a physician at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.   He currently lives in the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife while working long-distance for the Miami Public Defender's Office.  In July-August 2014, they walked together from the French border to Santiago, Spain, and then on the the Atlantic ocean.  That is the route of an ancient medieval (or older) pilgrimage, and he will share the story of that pilgrimage, and the spiritual lessons learned along the Way, with us at the Adult Forum.

Please Join Us.

Carrie Newcomer's Commencement Address

Well, it is the season of graduations, so it seems fitting to listen to a delightful commencement address, one given by Carrie Newcomer at Goshen College. It's deeper and truer than any I've heard. Here's the link: Click me. Please join us for a group listening and discussion. We'd love to see you.

How spiritual experiences underpin our prosperity and our survival

This Sunday, April 24th, we're going to use a video presentation by Prof Roland Griffiths as a starting point to explore how our thoughtful, mediative self-awareness forms the basis of our reducing our suffering and increasing our caring for each other and the world. It's biology, neuropharmacology, spirituality and growth.
Here's a link to the video. Especially note minutes 13 though the end.
Please join us!

On Being -- Carrie Newcomer

Here's the link: http://www.onbeing.org/program/carrie-newcomer-a-conversation-with-music/7049

Pet Therapy! with Julie Wade

April 10--The Mission of Pet Therapy:  Julie Wade, with the assistance of her therapy dog, Jake, will describe their 7 years of therapy work at our local hospitals and nursing homes.  Therapy animals have been used to help individuals with disabilities such as  physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, and other conditions.  We’ll talk about some of the groups that animal therapy helps (autistic individuals, the elderly, veterans, etc.)  and provide some personal experiences that have made this 7 years a very rewarding mission for both Jake and Julie.  Come join us, and get some “free” therapy from Jake!