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Monthly Theological Theme Resources

The life of a congregation is a rich community tapestry of people, programs, ministries and worship. We lift up the patterns of this tapestry at Unity Church with the threads of monthly themes woven through our worship and programming. These themes deepen our understanding of our own faith and strengthen our bonds with one another in religious community. In each new church year, following a three-year cycle, the monthly themes run from September through the following June. We explore each theme in worship and in our newsletter; in covenant groups, guided writing sessions and Wednesday evening programming; and in our community outreach ministries, our literary journal and programs, and many other opportunities.

January 2021: Authority

Newsletter Reflection
​For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. ​​

December 2020: Waiting

Newsletter Reflection
​For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. ​​

November 2020: Grace

Newsletter Reflection
​For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. ​​

October 2020: Trust

Newsletter Reflection
For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. ​

September 2020: Hospitality

Newsletter Reflection
For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. ​

July/August 2020: Journey

Newsletter Reflection
For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. ​

June 2020: Blessing

Newsletter Reflection
For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. 

May 2020: Thresholds

Newsletter Reflection
For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. 

April 2020: Integrity

Newsletter Reflection
For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. 

March 2020: Resilience

Newsletter Reflection
For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. 

February 2020: Repair

Newsletter Reflection
For further reflection on this theme, a variety of resources including books, poems, videos and audios, are listed in this month’s Chalice Circle packet and in the brochure racks at church. 
Also visit www.unityunitarian.org/uploads/6/1/0/3/6103699/repair.pdf for sermons and other resources from previous years on this theme.​

January 2020: Brokenness

Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS 
Broken Open: how difficult times can help us grow by Elizabeth Lesser
Horizon by Barry Lopez
How to Heal a Broken Wing, children’s book, by Bob Graham

POETRY 
An Atlas of the Difficult World by Adrienne Rich
“The Broken Tablets” by Rodger Kamenetz 

MOVIES 
Still Alice (2015 feature film starring Julianne Moore) 
Broken Rainbow (1985 documentary about the relocation of Navajo peoples) 

For more resources, visit the Chalice Circle packet on the theme.

December 2019: Reverence

Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS 
Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue by Paul Woodruff
What Does It Mean to be Human: Reverence for Life Reaffirmed by Responses from Around the World, ed. Frederick Franck, Janis Roze, and Richard Connolly 
Doors in the Air, a children’s book, by David Weale and Pierre Pratt 

POETRY 
Behind My Eyes by Li-Young Lee

MOVIES 
Harold and Maude (1971) 
The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma & the Silk Road Ensemble (2017)
In the Light of Reverence (clip from 2016 PBS feature: https://to.pbs.org/35aWV6e) 

November 2019: Gratitude

Newsletter Reflection

POETRY
“Thanks” by W.S. Merwin: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57937/thanks

BOOKS
The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World by Lewis Hyde 
The Thankful Book, a children’s book, by Todd Parr 

​WEBSITE
A Network for Grateful Living, founded by David Steidl-Rast, encouraging a spiritual practice of gratefulness. (gratefulness.org)

MOVIES
A Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

October 2019: Forgiveness

Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS
No Future without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu
Four Ways to Forgiveness, short stories by Ursula K. Le Guin 
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
I’m Sorry, children’s book by Sam McBratney, illustrated by Jennifer Eachus
"A Case for Reparations," article by Ta Nehisi-Coates

MOVIES
Lady Bird (2017)
The Tale of Despereaux (2008), based on the children's book by Kate DiCamillo

September 2019: Belonging

Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS
Go, Went, Gone, novel by Jenny Erpenbeck (2017)
Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny by Amartya Sen (2006)
The Golden Compass, novel by Philip Pullman (1996)
Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-pa Turner (2017)

MOVIES
Mulan, 1998 animated movie
The Point, 1971 animated movie

June 2019: Wisdom

Newsletter Reflection
​

BOOKS
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (1977)
Heart Sutra, Translation and commentary by Red Pine (2005)
Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor (2019)

MOVIE
The Mustang (2019)

May 2019: Peace

Newsletter Reflection

CHILDREN'S BOOKS
The Peace Book by Todd Parr
I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness by Susan Verde
Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter 

BOOK
Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh

April 2019: Freedom

Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS
Common Sense by Thomas Paine (2018 reprint)
Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century by Barbara Ransby (2018)
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford (2015)
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (1989 reprint)

MOVIES
13th: A Documentary (2016)
Free Solo (2018)

March 2019: Surrender

Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (2007)
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan (2018)
The Dark Interval: Letters on Loss, Grief, and Transformation by Rainer Maria Rilke (2018)
The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance by Dorothee Sölle (2001)

February 2019: Paradise

Newsletter Reflection

MOVIES
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
TELEVISION
The Good Place (2016-present)
BOOKS 
Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, and the Environment by Jennifer Nordstrom (2018)
A Different Pond by Bao Phi (2017)
The Overstory by Richard Powers (2018)

January 2019: Justice

Newsletter Reflection

MOVIES
13th (2016)
Milk (2008)
RGB (2018)
Spotlight (2015)
The Hate U Give (2018)

December 2018: Wonder

​Photography can be a spiritual practice. Taking pictures with intentionality -- being open to glimpses of grace and wonder in the world -- is a spiritual practice. A recent Wellspring Wednesday asked participants to look for wonder in the everyday. These photographs spring from the daily practice of taking a moment to focus, to stop and pay attention, to notice the beauty in the world around us. Feel free to participate in the practice even if you were not at the workshop. Send your photos to kathryn@unityunitarian.org to be included in the slideshow.
Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS
The Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks (2002)
Ten Poems to Change Your Life by Roger Housden (2001)
Infinite Wonder: An Astronaut's Photographs from a Year in Space by Scott Kelly (2018)

CHILDREN'S BOOKS
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss (1957)
Wonder by R.J. Palicious (2016)
Everywhere, Wonder by Matthew Swantson (2017)

November 2018: Covenant

Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS
More Together than Alone: Discovering the Power and Spirit of Community in Our Lives and in the World by Mark Nepo (2018)

CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1985)
Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins (2015)

MOVIES
In America (2002)
The Incredibles (2004)
Another Year (2010)
​
ONLINE
Brittany Packnett, The UUA 2018 Ware Lecture: https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2018/ware

October 2018: Longing

Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS
The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History by Mircea Eliade (1954)
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)

CHILDREN'S BOOK
Zen Shorts by Jon Muth (2005)

MOVIES
Coco (2017)
The Visitor (2007)

September 2018: Faith

Newsletter Reflection

BOOKS
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (reprinted, 1995)
An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor (2010)
Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer (1999)
Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience by Sharon Salzberg (2003)

MOVIES
The Martian (2015)
Selma (2014)

ONLINE
On Being: The Meaning of Faith (2004) Anne Lamott, Sharon Salzberg, Lawrence Kushner
The links below contain a list of resources for each theme. Each document contains additional links that will direct you to the original resources.

CURRENT YEAR 2020-21

September: Hospitality
October: Trust
November: Grace
December: Waiting
​January: Authority
February: Curiosity
March: Suffering
April: Compassion
May: Transcendence
June: Awakening

2019-20

September: Belonging
October: Forgiveness
November: Gratitude
December: Reverence
​January: Brokenness
February: Repair
March: Resilience
April: Integrity
May: Thresholds
June: Blessing

Year 1 Themes

September: Unity
October: Forgiveness
November: Gratitude
December: Repair
January: Resistance
February: Prayer
March: Sin
April: Redemption
May: Blessing
June: Sabbath

Year 2 Themes

September: Vocation
October: Sacrifice
November: Pilgrimage and Pilgrims
December: Incarnation
January: Courage
February: Love
March: Brokenness
April: Transformation/Resurrection
May: Hope
June: Belonging

Year 3 Themes

September: Faith
October: Longing
November: Covenant
December: Wonder
January: Justice
February: Paradise
March: Surrender
April: Freedom
May: Peace
June: Wisdom
​
This was the last full cycle (2018-19) before the one off of 2019-20.

Year 4 Themes

September: Hospitality
October: Reverence
November: Grace
December: Waiting
January: Authority
February: God
March: Suffering
April: Compassion
May: Transcendence
June: Awakening
© Unity Church-Unitarian • 733 Portland Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55104 • 651-228-1456 • unity@unityunitarian.org • A Welcoming Congregation
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