Presenter: Rev. Matt Alspaugh, Service Associate: D’Vorah Kelley.

Nature offers us important lessons, if we know where to look. Look at nature in the wrong way, and we can take away some quite distorted ideas about how to live with each other and the Earth. But we can take a different perspective, and find wonderful lessons pointing to a healthier and more whole society. This is the week of the Equinox, and so is a good time to look toward the natural world for its teachings.

From politics to everyday life, humans have a tendency to form social groups that are defined in part by how they differ from other groups. We will explore the science behind this concept and ask the question are we hard-wired to distinguish Us vs Them.
Led by Bob Koches.

Presenter: Mark Etkin, Service Associate: Jane Castleman.
Personal relationships are an important part of our spiritual life. We often hide ourselves behind barriers of fear, not knowing how to be more connected to others. This service will explore a model from a personal growth center in British Columbia about how to engage our courage and curiosity to take steps to be more open and vulnerable with others to bring more intimacy into our lives.

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Rev. Matt Alspaugh, Presenter, Annie Morris, Service Associate.
Do Unitarian Universalists have faith? Many of us struggle with the idea of faith. I cannot speak for all UUs, but for myself, if faith is something certain and unchanging, then I am one of little or no faith. But if my faith can change, if I can have faith in things unknown to me, then yes, I am full of faith, I’m faithful. We’ll explore the complexities of faith in the UU world, and what faith might look like for many of us.

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Kriss Gang, Presenter, Deb Gang, Service Associate,
Food scarcity is a global problem that reaches the shores of Lake Chapala. Kriss Gang, LCUUF board president will present the scope of this problem from a global, Mexican and local perspective and how LCUUF has been engaged with hunger in the Lakeside community. FoodBank Lakeside, a Share The Basket recipient and efficient and effective local non-profit formed during the Covid-19 pandemic, will be part of the presentation sharing their success stories and how they provide food support to the most needy Lakeside.

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Led by Bob Koches.
Our Humanist Discussion for Feb. will focus on disinformation and the rise of the oligarchs globally and its threat to democracy. We will also look at the rise of autocracy and from the lens of history how oligarchy has also been with us.The thesis is Oligarchy has been the rule in history and Democracy is the exception.

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Presenter: Elly Conreras, Service Associate: Barley Donahue
Breaking the Silence about Dementia, Elly Contreras will share a number of factors about dementia, how we can determine our risk factors and how to prevent or slow down dementia. Through her organization “Lakeside DayBreak Dementia Support” the aim is to make Lakeside a Dementia Inclusive community and offer support to those dealing with the disease.

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Presenter: Rev. Tim Boeve. Service Associate: Heidi MacLennan

Our world today is filled with harm, seemingly, of late, getting worse by the day. Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön says that one anecdote to not causing harm to ourselves, and others is through mindfulness. The Rev. Tim Boeve will explore tried and true ways of not causing harm in what we think, say, and do. Drawing upon the wisdom of Chödrön and others, he will talk about staying awake, slowing down and noticing what is taking place within ourselves in any given moment. Though we are not directly responsible for much of the harm that we see in the world, our way of being in the world can either add to it or lessen its pervasiveness. As people of conscience and good will, Boeve believes we will want to choose the latter, and through staying awake, slowing down and noticing make the world a safer and better home for ourselves and others.

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Speaker: Rev. Matt Alspaugh, Service Leader: Lynn Cleek/
Many organizations claim they are inclusive, but what does that mean? We can say that we welcome everyone, that all are included, but reality can kick in when we realize that diverse people may bring diverse ideas and behaviors. How many of those ideas are acceptable, even to a community that is open to diverse beliefs? What kinds of behaviors are acceptable, even in a ‘tolerant community? We’ll explore radical hospitality as a way to be more inclusive to everyone, from those who are just curious about us, to our longest-term members.

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Presenters: Jane Castleman, Michael Swords, Annie Morris. Service Associate: Tim Boeve
Stories are an important part of life, enriching us and providing meaning. We live by our stories, the ones we learn and the ones we tell ourselves. This Sunday at LCUUF we will hear three separate stories from three of our Fellowship members, Anne Morris, Michael Swords and Jane Castleman. Each one will share their unique spiritual journey combining to provide our morning message, with Tim Boeve serving as Service Associate. We will hear what initiated these members onto a path that puts each one’s sense of spirituality as a focal point of their lives, and how it is that they became part of a UU congregation. In doing so the hope is that other members of the congregation in future services will be prompted to share a bit of their spiritual journey as well.

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In our January Unitarian Universalist (UU) humanist discussion, we will delve into the pressing challenges of global depopulation and replacement, exploring how technology and artificial intelligence (AI) might offer innovative solutions. The conversation will focus on the potential of AI to enhance societal resilience and address demographic shifts, while also considering the ethical implications of such technologies, including issues of equity and the preservation of human connections.

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Presenter: Rev. Matt Alspaugh

Service Associate: Dee Dee Camhi

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Presenter: Ted Fahy, Service Associate: Priscilla Taylor
Each of us has endless and endlessly different stories about ourselves. Sunday’s service is an exploration of how our personal narratives are formed and reinforced, although they may bear little resemblance to the realities we have lived. It requires effort, open eyes, resilience, and humility to discover our untruths and to rescue ourselves from our myths while preserving our essential selves.

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Rev. Matt Alspaugh, Presenter Elly Cantreras, Service Associate.
We all have stories about our lives. Some of these stories may be unconscious, they may be limiting, they may no longer be true, they may have never been true. Others may be invigorating, life affirming, hopeful, purposeful. But to make space for more stories like these, we may need to unearth and change or drop those limiting stories. We’ll explore how we might rewrite those stories. For this first Sunday of the year, we will have a boring bowl, in which we (ritually) let go of parts of our old stories that no longer serve us, so that we can begin to rewrite new stories.

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Presenters: Rev. Tim Boeve, Rev. D’Vorah Kelley, Jane Castleman.

Join us for this Taize inspired contemplative service as we transition from 2024 to 2025. Through music, readings, and time for silent contemplation, we will Enter the Silence and Awaken the Spirit. Guest musician Areli Medeles (cello) will join our Music Director Michael Reason (piano) for classical music and chants. The service will include an explanation of Taize.

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Rev. Matt Alspaugh, Prenter
Carol Johnson, Service Associate

We have just experienced maximum darkness, with the Winter Solstice one day previous. While this is a season of light, in many traditions, what underlies that joy is the dark. Are we afraid of the dark? Do we avoid it? Or can we engage the darkness with the light?

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Rev. Matt Alspaugh, Presenter
Ted Fahy, Service Associate

Surgeon Atul Gawande is the writer of the book “Being Mortal.” He learned, he says, too late in his career as a physician, that the central question for his patients was “What Does a Good Day Look Like?” Not questions about fighting, or fixing, or when to give up. We’ll explore this question, “What Does a Good Day Look Like?,” not just in the context of end of life, but in the larger sense of how our good days define a good life.

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Noris Binet, Presenter, Tim Boeve, Service Associate/
Ms. Noris Binet, a resident of Lakeside for the past six years (along with her husband Tim Boeve) and a graduate of the University of Guadalajara when in her twenties, in recognition of Mexico’s celebration on December 12, will bring a message centered around The Virgin of Guadalupe, whose apparition to Juan Diego first appeared on Dec. 12, 1531. Binet, a visual artist, writer, and spiritual teacher spent much of her life as a sociologist studying ancient cultures especially here in Mexico. Her talk will underscore the importance of myth — particularly the preeminent myth in Mexico of the Virgin of Guadalupe, in helping us reach our full potential as human beings, integrating both masculine and feminine qualities into our lives. The Virgin of Guadalupe provides one doorway for us to bring about this important transformation.

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In his new book NEXUS: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Harari looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence.

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At LCUUF, Dec 1, 2024

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