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Services start at 10:30 a.m.
Our services are also available live via Zoom. Please send a request to [email protected] for the link.
Mar. 2, 2025
Speaker – Donna Kassewitz
Biography:
Donna is a Dolphin Ambassador, dedicated to building human-dolphin partnerships for excellent global stewardship. She is a co-founder of a large family of dolphin sanctuaries for 34+ years, co-founder of the Speak Dolphin Communication Research Project, founder of the Dolphin Ambassador Program and Dolphin Energy Medicine.
Topic: Dolphin Ambassadors: Building Human-Dolphin Partnerships for Excellent Global Stewardship
Donna will share fascinating true stories and beautiful dolphin images from her three decades of working with amazing dolphins. You’ll enjoy learning about the dolphin research breakthroughs of her Speak Dolphin science team and the healing miracles in her Dolphin Energy Medicine Retreats. Donna’s passion is to bring humans and dolphins together for meaningful partnerships co-creating a positive future for our world. (check out www.speakdolphin.com). Please plan to attend in person as the slide show will not be visible on Zoom.
Mar. 9, 2025
Erin Powers
Biography:
Erin Powers (they/them) is a religious educator and aspirant for Unitarian Universalist ministry. They find inspiration in our interconnections with the greater living world and work to build community wherever they are.
Topic: Murmurations – How We Move Together
In the midst of this deeply unsettling time, it’s difficult to know what to do next. How do we move forward when everything feels chaotic?
Sunday, Mar. 16, 2025
Speaker – The Rev. Dr. Harry Coverston
Biography:
Harry is a sixth generation Floridian and fourth generation educator. He is a recovering lawyer, a retired academic and currently serves as priest at an Episcopal parish in Winter Park. He earned a law degree from the University of Florida, a masters of divinity from the Episcopal seminary in Berkeley, CA and a Ph.D. in Religion, Law and Society from Florida State University. He has led an unorthodox life that included a summer internship in the LBJ Congressional internship program in Washington, D.C. and several years of working with the Westar Institute, the host of the Jesus Seminar whose work is referenced in today’s presentation.
Topic: God and Caesar: Religious Themes in American Politics
In theory, America is a nation-state which observes a separation of church and state, provisions that are designed to protect both the freedom to worship as one sees fit as well as the freedom from having a given form of religion imposed upon those outside its body of adherents. This has always been a highly contested aspect of our existence as a people, a conflict which is perhaps more intense today than ever before.
This discussion will focus on religious themes that have played major roles in American politics in the past several national elections. It will include a look at constructs of Messiahs and Anti-Christs (plural), the values of the Kingdom of G-d Jesus taught and the Kingdom of Caesar, and conclude with a look at the challenge to democracy that the Calvinist worldview presents.
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025
Speaker – UU Rev Phil Schulman
Biography:
Rev. Phillip Schulman graduated from UU seminary (Thomas Starr King School for the Ministry) in 1989. He has served five congregations as minister and has worked extensively in human rights and community organizing peer support communities, and non-medical alternatives in mental health. In 2017 a near fatal truck collision left him badly disabled. He has spoken about this and other subjects at NCUU.
Topic: Pilgrimage, What might it be for UU?
Sharing from extensive personal experience, Rev. Schulman will reflect on the tradition of pilgrimage shared by many religious traditions. He will ask us to consider how each of us could make pilgrimage.
Sunday, Mar. 30, 2025
Speaker – Linda Starkweather
Biography:
After a year caring for her partner Lynne Westmoreland (who is also a regular speaker here at NCUU) and who is recovering from a devastating brain infection, Linda is back in action delivering messages at UU congregations in both Western New York and Florida. Linda retired from teaching theatre and video production and is still acting, designing and directing for theatre in the Rochester, New York area. Lynne and Linda are snowbirds spending half the year in Dunnellon and half in the sweet little town of Naples, NY, famous for grape pies, wineries and historical activists like Susan B. Anthony, and Frederick Douglas.
Topic: The Wendigo and the Greed of Our Time
The Wendigo is a figure from the folklore of Indigenous peoples of North America, particularly among the Algonquin- speaking nations. It is often described as a monstrous spirit, one that can possess human beings, driving them to insatiable greed, hunger, and consumption. The Wendigo is said to be a creature that embodies excess—an unnatural craving that can never be satisfied, a force that transforms human beings into something inhuman.
This myth is not just a story from the past. It speaks to us today, warning of the dangers of unchecked greed and how it can warp our hearts and souls. And, in this moment, when billionaires amass wealth beyond imagination, enough to buy a presidency and assume unbridled power while many of us struggle to make ends meet, the Wendigo calls to us.
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