Adult Spiritual Development
Our Mission
We offer opportunities for members and friends to explore and to grow intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually, to learn from and to strengthen their connection with each other and the world.
Through our ASD program, we offer a variety of classes, small group ministries, meditation, meaningful movies, discussions, and events designed to support and enhance the life-long spiritual exploration of our members. Our offerings encourage participants to open their minds and hearts to new understandings, to share their diverse experiences with one another, and to engage in compassionate action outside of the congregation. We invite you to join us in the pursuit of our congregational mission: To inspire joy and justice in an imperfect world.
Teens and Young Adults are most welcome to join any of our programs. We all benefit from interaction across the generations.
In the past we have offered programs and discussion around many topics such as:
- Aging in Wisdom and Grace
- Mindfulness Meditation
- Memoir Writing as Spiritual Practice
- Writing One’s Ethical Will
- Deep Listening
- Conversations that Promote Peace
- Systemic Injustice
- Theology in Our Everyday Lives
Watch this space and the weekly newsletter for updates and new offerings as they come online!
Have an idea for an offering? Please share your idea with asd@uumarin.org
Winter / Spring 2024
- Connect Women’s Group
- Meditation
- Small Groups
- Classes
- Meaningful Movies
- Conversations
- Coming Attractions
Connect Women’s Group
The Connect Women’s Group meets on the second Sunday of the month from 12:00 to 1:30 pm in the Fireside Room. Childcare is available. Please contact connect@uumarin.org to request it.
The goal is to pair venerable elder women in the congregation with younger women seeking support and connection. The purpose is to provide more support for all women, to enrich one another’s lives, to foster deeper connections, and to encourage personal growth. The group is grounded in confidentiality, non-judgment, and compassion.
Venerable women of the congregation are paired with younger women who share overlapping concerns and passions. The pairing of women is accomplished by selecting quotes from famous women that resonate for both members of each pair. Pairs are encouraged to support each other as mentors and friends.
Leaders: Glynda Christian and Lindsey Koelman; Advisors: Kat Braeman and Juliet Christian-Smith.
Contact connect@uumarin.org with any questions and to request childcare. (Our childcare providers benefit from knowing how many children will need care and what their ages are.)
Meditation
We have two meditation groups, one that meets online each Tuesday afternoon and one that meets in person each Saturday morning in the Clara Barton Room.
Still Waters is an ongoing, silent worship/meditation group held on Tuesdays from 4:15-5:00 pm on Zoom. Each Zoom gathering provides opportunities for silent meditation, quiet reflection, and sharing. A poem or religious text is read, followed by 15 minutes of silence. We then have an opportunity to voice any insights. Rinse and repeat for the second half! For more information contact stillwaters@uumarin.org
Still Waters Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86538666898
Meeting ID: 865 3866 6898
Phone: 669 444 9171
Spirit Journey We meet in person each Saturday morning. Our approach is eclectic utilizing various practices from Buddhism, Hinduism, Mystical Christianity and more. If you are interested in learning to meditate or already have a practice and would like to meditate in a group, please join us. We will include your ideas in our practice. We often start our meditations with singing bowls, bells and a gong. We occasionally start with a guided meditation as well.
Shared facilitation; Contact Pamela Vantress and Kate Hudson at asd@uumarin.org with any questions or to sign up.
We meet each Saturday at 10:00 AM in the Clara Barton room.
Small Group Ministries – Winter 2024
Small-group ministry is intentional, lay-led small groups that deepen and expand the ministry of a congregation. Two key focuses are Intimacy, or building community and deepening relationships, and ultimacy, or the opportunity for deeper spiritual exploration and search for meaning.
—From the UUA
The Newcomers Circle of Trust is for members and friends who have recently begun attending or just joined. This group will meet twice a month for 3 months to discuss themes related to why and how we participate in a religious community. It will follow a Circle of Trust model developed by the Quaker, Parker Palmer, in which deep listening is practiced, and no attempt is made to advise or fix one another.
Facilitator: Dave Hudson; Contact nmcot@uumarin.org with questions or to sign up.
Dates and times: 2nd and 4th Sundays, from January 14th- March 28th 12:15 – 1:30; Childcare will be provided.
Classes – Spring 2024
Memoir Writing as Spiritual Practice In six consecutive weekly gatherings, we will take time to notice and celebrate the magic in our lives. We will dare to reach deep within, to touch – gently, respectfully, thoughtfully – a lived experience – to travel deep into its emotional core, and, with whatever words arrive, to bring back to life that one magical moment in time. Some remembered moments will bring laughter, some, tears. Some will spring back to life eagerly; some may need to be coaxed back into the light. You will marvel at your courage, and smile at your folly. And you will come to see more clearly how the warp and weft of your lived moments have woven and continue to weave together the colors and the textures of your one unique, unrepeatable, irreplaceable, precious life. Learn more about this class here.
Facilitator: Ann Carden. This class has begun. Contact soulmatters_th@uumarin.org with any questions.
Continuing Small Ministry Groups for 23-24
Some may still have space. Use contact info to learn more:
Soul Matters is a theme-based, facilitated, small-group ministry. 8-10 participants commit to meeting monthly for 10 months to develop stronger connections with each other and engage in deep listening to their inner voice and to one another. Packets are provided each month to all participants allowing for exploration into a spiritual theme such as forgiveness. Learn more here. New Groups formed in September. Three groups are forming this fall. All groups that have space will welcome new participants midstream.
First Thursdays, 7:30-9:00 facilitated by Ann Carden on Zoom. Contact soulmatters_th@uumarin.org
Fourth Wednesdays, 1:00-3:00 facilitated by Janice Prochaska in person. Contact soulmatters_w@uumarin.org
Fourth Fridays, at 10:00 facilitated by Joan Smith on Zoom. Contact soulmatters_f@uumarin.org
The Small Group Ministry is a covenantal group that meets monthly for 9 months. Participants are limited to 7 members, have committed to attending each and every meeting, and to develop their covenant together in the first and second sessions. All participants have the opportunity to share their perspectives, tell their stories, and engage in deep listening. Complete confidentiality is held. This group began meeting in November 2023.
Facilitator: Jim Harrison; Contact sgm@uumarin.org
Classes, Fall 2023
These classes have ended
Foundations of Unitarian Universalism is a three-week class that explores the history of our heretical faith. We’ll trace our roots in radical protestant Christianity through the revolutionary era of Transcendentalism and the 20th-century arc of Humanism… to our pluralistic and multi-cultural present. This class is a great way to really explore and define your Unitarian Universalist identity and place YOUR personal spiritual journey in the context of centuries worth of seekers, iconoclasts, and revolutionaries. You won’t want to miss this! October 22nd, Nov. 5th, Nov. 19th, 5:30 – 7 pm, potluck dinner and drinks.
Facilitator: Rev. Cory Wells Lovell; Contact revcory@uumarin.org
Global Spiritual Evolution is a class focused on the evolution of world religions. John Young, UU Marin member and retired UU Minister will be leading a course based on his book, Nurture Your Spiritual Path: Exploring the Rainbow of Belief. You may purchase the book at Amazon Books (paperback for $14 or Kindle for $10), and our Adult Spiritual Development Team will also have several copies on sale on October 1 during the Committee Fair for $14. His only requirement for attendance is to read the chapters covered in advance of the sessions attended since questions and discussion will be a major part of each class.
Facilitator: Rev. John Young; Contact: asd@uumarin.org
Noon to 1:30 pm Sundays
Meaningful Movies 23-24
We show movies in the Fireside Room four times a year.. Some movies have been full-length feature films and some are documentaries. We hope these showings can be both fun, social events, and also provocative ones that send you away thinking, and learning, perhaps even considering actions to take. We serve popcorn and drinks beforehand and offer time for discussion afterward. Join us!
Our next film will be SEEKING ASYLUM, an award-winning feature documentary that bears witness to the endless deterrents migrants face when petitioning for asylum in the United States. In a dismantled system that has been designed for failure, we follow one woman’s journey as she searches for protection for her and kids.
Many people view getting to the United States as the final hurdle of the migration journey, but we quickly learn that once in the U.S. the fight has just begun. During one of the most uncertain times in our country’s history, Seeking Asylum documents the challenges asylum seekers face and shows why asylum is an integral part of the American Dream that we cannot afford to lose.
Special Feature: After the one-hour documentary, we are fortunate to have representatives of Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) joining us to share the difficulties that undocumented youth face right here in Marin! They will have a short PowerPoint and offer a Q and A.
Movie Date and Time: Friday, April 19th at 6 pm. We will gather at 6 pm for popcorn and drinks. Bring a sandwich or takeout if you haven’t had time to eat.
The movie will begin at 6:30 pm. As always, we will have time for discussion afterward.
February 2024 We showed the full-length feature film from
2019, Dark Waters, with Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway and
Tim Robbins about a corporate environmental defense attorney
(Mark Ruffalo) who risks his career and his family when he
takes action against the powerful chemical corporation, which
is hiding a dark secret. Based on a True Story.
November 2023: We showed Coming Home; The Making of Little Bird. In honor of Native American Heritage Month and to recognize our new Land Acknowledgement for the Coast Miwok People, we showed this documentary about the making of the PBS series, Little Bird, that concerns the removal of indigenous children from their families in Saskatchewan. This also occurred in Northern California.
July 2023: We showed Just Mercy, a feature-length film based on the memoir by Bryan Stevenson, about his life as a Harvard-trained lawyer seeking justice in Alabama.
Conversations
A Gender Conversation Does the use of pronouns confound you? Do you wonder what all the letters LGBTQIA++ stand for? What’s the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity? Has your child told you they do not identify as a boy or a girl? Join us in Fellowship Hall on Sunday, January 21, 2024, 2:00-4:00 pm, for a safe conversation about all these topics and those that are pressing on you.
Facilitator: Lolma Olson, a friend of TransHeartline. Come with an open mind and heart. Snacks and drinks will be provided. Need Childcare? Contact Kate Hudson at asd@uumarin.org
Coming Attractions — Fall 2024
ONGO: Returning in early fall 2024 will be an offering that is both a “class” and a small group ministry in which the facilitation is shared by willing participants. The group will meet for 12 sessions weekly or biweekly and learn to practice deep listening and embody peaceful nonviolence through mindfulness meditation, forgiveness, gratitude, journaling, and Non-Violent Communication (NVC) practices. A manual provides ample guidance and support and can be ordered online. (If cost is a concern, we have a few extra copies.) Participants commit to attend ten of twelve sessions. Learn more about Ongo here.
Contact asd@uumarin.org with questions or to let us know of your interest.