UU History Online Renaissance Module Session 2 “Reformers” WELCOME! UU History Online Renaissance Module Session 2 “Reformers”

Session 2 – “Reformers” Gathering 5 Opening Reading & Chalice Lighting Sharing 10 Timeline – Reformers Opening Discussion 20 Break Lifting Up Voices from the Margins Going Deeper - Reformers 30 Closing

This session will be recorded. We will begin recording now. Reminder! This session will be recorded. We will begin recording now.

Opening Reading The Oversoul by Ralph Waldo Emerson Let us learn the revelation of all nature and thought; that the Highest dwells within us, that the sources of nature are in our own minds. As there is no screen or ceiling between our heads and the infinite heavens, so there is no bar or wall in the soul where we, the effect, cease, and God, the cause, begin. I am constrained every moment to acknowledge a higher origin for events than the will I call mine.

There is deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is accessible to us. Every moment when the individual feels invaded by it is memorable. It comes to the lowly and simple; it comes to whosoever will put off what is foreign and proud; it comes as insight; it comes as serenity and grandeur. The soul’s health consists in the fullness of its reception.

For ever and ever the influx of this better and more universal self is new and unsearchable. Within us is the soul of the whole; the wise silence, the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal One. When it breaks through our intellect, it is genius; when it breathes through our will, it is virtue; when it flows through our affections, it is love.

Sharing Ideas from the Last Session What stirred your imagination from the reflections posted after Session 1? Have you implemented any specific ideas yet?

Opening Discussion What did you learn about Unitarianism or Universalism from your reading for this session? What interested or intrigued you?

Timeline – Reformers http://interactivetimeline.com/2797/uu-history-timeline-reformers/

Opening Discussion Among the reformers whose work is highlighted in this set of readings, who most inspires you?

Lifting Up Voices from the Margins What do you notice about this list? Whose voices are represented? Whose are missing? Is the selection of readings and hymns representative of our history, based on your reading? If you were to re-create the hymnbook, what changes would you make, if any, to the list?

What are the drawbacks to this approach? Going Deeper What are the benefits to teaching history through stories of famous UU? What are the drawbacks to this approach?

Closing Words by Theodore Parker Be ours a religion which, like Sunshine, goes everywhere; Its temple, all space; Its creed, all truth; Its ritual, works of love; Its profession of faith, divine living.