Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103

Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2009:34

President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet

Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)

The Free Thinker

Newsletter of the Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, WV

DECEMBER 23, 2009

SUSPENSIONS

10:00 a.m. WORSHIP Services will be suspended on Dec., 27th, Jan 3rd, and Jan 10th.

The Free Thinker will be suspended for Dec. 30 and Jan. 6th.

EVENTS FOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27 2009

11:00 A.M. PROGRAM with the U. U. Fellowship:

The Reverend Jack Wilkinson will discuss the merger of Unitarianism and

Universalism and their respective historic postures which led to that result.

Universalism began with the School of Alexandria in the 2nd and 3rd centuries with

friendly relations between liberal Christians and Pagans. Unitarianism began in the

16th century with Michael Servetus. Both movements from their beginnings rejected

the Christian Doctrine of Vicarious Atonement, and both embraced freedom of

expression. Like the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers they just naturally flowed together.

FUTURE PROGRAMS (PROGRAMS ARE HELD AT 11:00 AM)

Note: Worship Services with The Rev. Jack Wilkinson will be held every Sunday at 10:00 A.M.

January 3rd: Open Discussion

January 10th: Jaqueline Muth reviewing War Is A Racket by General Smedley

Butler.

January 17th: “Autobiography” with Jim Maphet

January 24th: "The Art and Religion of Mustang Bhutan"

January 31st: "Open Discussion"

February 7th: "Open Discussion"

February 14th: Mike Mitchell will speak

February 21st: "Autobiography" with Randy Miller

February 28th: Bill Patton will give us Episode 100 in the History of Religion in

America

March 7: "Open Discussion:

CUUPS meets Thursdays 6:00 to 8:00 PM and Tri‐State Meditation Group will be

meeting in April.

Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103

Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2009:34

President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet

Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)

RETROSPECTIVE OF LAST SUNDAY'S OPEN DISCUSSION

From the title "Un‐Christmas" I was fearing something mean‐spirited, but it

turned out to a TV series that was familiar to me but of which I had not seen this

particular episode. The female vicar of an English village church boldly stages a

Nativity that mixes Matthew and Luke together using as actors doddering old

vestrymen and ditzy Ladies Aid types. The kicker is that the woman playing Mary is

pregnant herself, so that in a life copying art turn of events the surrogate Mary gives

actual; birth on stage before an audience dazzled by such bold theatrical realism. Then

with sophisticated nods they witnessed a modernistic twist of plot, when the

infanticide‐fomenting King Herod assisted in the delivery, while the Angel of the Lord,

played by the vicar, who had just trumpeted the ensuing birth, bent down beside

Herod the Deliverer and said something like, "Oh, bugger! Here comes its head!"

Meanwhile the three wise men carry on like Larry, Moe and Curley. What could be

more life‐affirming than all that?

As Unitarian minister Sophia Lyon Fahs once said, "Every night a child is born is a

holy night."

LIGHT FROM JACK'S LANTERN

Last Sunday I was told the night before that the presenter would not be there

and that the President probably would not be there. But the weather changed and the

people not expected arrived but with few others. Serge and Christy brought hot

tomalis consisting of turkey and polenta, and Claire brought the film (already

reviewed). I was feeling under the weather ‐ my energy level was as low as it's ever

been, and I was happy to get back home to rest.

That day signaled something to me: the time is coming for me to lay down my

burdens and focus on just a few of my abiding projects. I shall give this some reflection

over my two‐week vacation in Texas, but I may well decide to shuck off the Worship

Service and the Free Thinker. If that’s what I decide to do, I will of course remain a

loyal member of the fellowship, with all that entails.

QUOTE

"The sensation of the mystical…is the source of all true science. He to whom this

emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good

as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the

highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty….this knowledge, this feeling, is at the

center of true religion." Albert Einstein