Program

Minnesota is at the center of the 2012 presidential elections.  Michelle Bachmann is and Tim Pawlenty was a candidate, and the state is a frequent destination of many presidential visits.  This talk examines the connections between Minnesota and national politics, offering insights on what to look for in 2012.

We welcome back our speaker, David Schultz, to present this timely topic. David is a Professor and Editor for the Journal of Public Affairs Education (JPAE) at Hamline University School of Business

For today's program, we are pleased to welcome back multi-instrumentalist Michael Monroe for a live performance. Michael has been performing and composing original music for four decades and makes his home in a solar powered cabin in Grand Marais. Among his many handcrafted guitars are some that were hewn from wood salvaged from the bottom of Lake Superior.

About his style, from his website:

Susie Rosenthal is back to put our newly forged dialogue skills to test. We will use the method of dialogue, not to answer a Yes/No question of whether or not our cynicism is justified or what it is that we are cynical about.  Rather we will examine the UU principles and live in the question of how whatever cynicism we might have helps to ground us in the UU principles… or not.  Be ready to stretch your point of view, to be surprised by what you hear, and to let go of defending your own point of view.

Of the 3 types of conversational styles - debate, discussion, and dialogue- dialogue is by far the most challenging and has been found to produce the most learning on the part of the participants.  It's also found to be the most difficult and frustrating because of the demands it places on the listener.  Because we UUs are committed to learning, we are going to engage in a program of dialogue as a prelude to the juicy topic on October 23rd: Exploring how our cynicism supports (or not) our UU principles.  This program will be facilitated by Susie Rosenthal who has worked in th

People interpret the bible through their own basises and personal motives.  In order to truly understand the bible one needs to be an expert on the lives and times of the people who wrote it. This includes understanding the colloquial phrases, politics, family life, humor the architecture, etc, etc.  Very few people have such expertise.

Jim Tift will facilitate a follow-up discussion to his presentation last February on developing a framework for ethical decision-making. He will contrast the seven ethical principles of UU for adults as well as children with consequentialist and absolute principle ethical principles often applied in ethical decision-making. He will also illustrate the application of these ethical principles through the use of a case study.

Today's program will feature ideas and discussion based on a Chautauqua Lecture given by E.J. Dionne, Washington  Post columnist and weekly NPR commentator, broadcast 7/26/11 on MPR's midday. All are encouraged, but not required to listen by going to: minnesota.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=minnesota/news/programs/2011/07/26/midday/midday_hour_2_20110726_64 .

The DREAM Act is legislation that would give eligible young people who were brought to the U.S. as children the opportunity to legalize their immigration status and work towards citizenship. To move from being undocumented to being a U.S. citizen, eligible young people would be required to pass background checks, be of good moral character, graduate from high school and go on to attend college or serve in the military.

Fellowship members, please bring to the program a small amount of water from a place that is special to you. During the program, people will, one by one, pour their water together into a large bowl, and tell why this water is special to them. The Water Ceremony, also sometimes called Water Communion, was first used in Unitarian Universalist worship in the 1980’s.

The Lake Fellowship congregation will not meet again until next fall. Please visit the Web site
(www.lakefellowship.org) for updates and invitations to summer activities.