January 2, 2005

Rev. Nina D. Grey
Margaret Huyck
The Sabbatical Committee
Worship Associate: Kennie James

A New Year: New Beginnings

In our New Year service we announce the beginning of sabbatical time with a community worship celebration, followed by a Bon Voyage luncheon.

Rev. Nina Grey, Margaret Huyck, the Sabbatical Committee, and Kennie James, our Worship Associate will lead us in marking this moment of transition. We will wish Nina well as she begins her sabbatical adventures, and we will honor those lay members who will offer us leadership in the months to come! Rev. Grey will speak with our young people at the beginning of the service about the meaning of sabbatical time. There will be a time of ritual, of letting go and beginning anew.

January 9, 2005

Speaker: Rev. Nan Hobart

Water into Wine: Claiming Life’s Passion

Nan Hobart, a native Chicagoan, was an active member of First Church in the seventies and early eighties and a student at Meadville Lombard. For two years she served as religious educator at First Church. She went on to become the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boulder and most recently served as co-minister of the First Unitarian Church of Denver with her husband, James Hobart. In 2001, after 18 years away from Hyde Park, she returned and serves as Chaplain and Director of Admissions and Vocation at Meadville Lombard.

January 16, 2005

Speaker: Dr. Melissa Harris-Lacewell

We Knew Him By His Fruit

This talk explores the life and work of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. through an examination of the Christian concept of the fruit of the spirit.

Melissa V. Harris-Lacewell is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago. She specializes in the study of African American political attitudes. Prof. Harris-Lacewell's first book, Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought (Princeton 2004), specifies how African Americans develop political ideologies through interaction with one another in the black “counterpublic.” Her substantive research interests include the study of African American political thought, black religious ideas and practice, and American public opinion and political behavior.

Prof. Harris-Lacewell is at work on a new book: For Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Got Too Tough. It is an examination of the connections between issues of shame, sadness, and strength in African American women' s politics. Melissa Harris-Lacewell is a member of First Church.

January 23, 2005

Speaker: Rev. Dr. Lee Barker

Making Peace in a Warring World

Rev. Dr. Lee Barker, the President of Meadville Lombard Theological School, is a life-long Unitarian Universalist. He received an M.A. from the University of Chicago in 1976, a D.Min. from Meadville Lombard in 1978 and an honorary degree (DD) from the school in 2001. Lee returned to Meadville Lombard after twenty-five years in the parish ministry. He held pulpits in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and, most recently, served as senior minister of Neighborhood Church in Pasadena, California.

Prior to his presidency, he held a variety of leadership roles in Unitarian Universalist theological education. He and his wife Kristina have one daughter, Ava. Lee and Kris are members of our congregation and Ava attends the church nursery.

January 30, 2005

Speaker: Dr. Susan C. Scrimshaw

The Meaning of Friendship

The pen-pal program Mystery Friends has brought together people of different generations. Some of these friendships will last a long time, and this leads to a reflection on what being a friend really is. This will be a multigenerational service and followed by an all-church potluck lunch.

Susan C. Scrimshaw, PhD is a medical anthropologist, and Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Raised in Guatemala, she self identifies as a multicultural person. Her work focuses on removing health disparities in US Latino and African American communities and in improving health in many countries around the world. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has won many awards for her work, including a gold medal as a "Hero of Public Health" presented by President Vicente Fox of Mexico, and the Margaret Mead Award. She has spoken in pulpits in Unitarian Churches ranging from Santa Monica, California to New Hampshire, is a member of the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. She is a member of our church, chairs the Worship and Music Committee, and sings in the choir.