Climate Consciousness – Aug. 2025 Monthly Service

2025 Aug 19 | Worship Service, Worship Services

August’s worship service will explore our relationship with the environment and climate change as a moral and spiritual imperative.

Gail Sandlin will lead the August NAUA Service. She will explore our relationship with the environment and climate change as a moral and spiritual imperative. We, in the NAUA, rely on pillars of science, justice, and faith to guide us in our lives. Gail will explore how concern for a healthy environment is both fundamental for our future and inherent in our religion, building her talk around the theme of “Climate Consciousness.”

Climate Consciousness is a way of being, perceiving and responding that is shaped by spiritual insight and ethical commitment.  This service will provide a brief overview of the key elements and spiritual practices of Climate Consciousness revealed by spiritual teachers such as Richard Rohr, Matthew Fox, Thomas Berry, Thich Nhat Hanh, Dali Lama, Aldo Leopold and Rumi.

July 19, 2025 Service -Yin and Yang

2025 Jul 21 | News, Worship Service, Worship Services

“As the Yin and Yang symbol illustrates, there is a piece of each in the other, teaching us the importance of empathy and understanding.” The July Service will be conducted by NAUA’s worship team. The theme will be “Yin and Yang: How is it possible to have opposites come together, and if they are together, are they that much different?”

June 21, 2025 – Two Views on the Nature of Nature by Dr. Gary Nelson

2025 Jun 21 | News, Worship Service, Worship Services

The June Sunday Service brings together the scientific view of nature, along with the mystical and spiritual view, with a sermon by Dr. Gary Nelson. Dr. Nelson’s training in electrical engineering and applied mathematics encouraged views of the cosmos as mindless, meaningless matter in motion. However, his great-grandmother was Native American, and he grew up with a grandmother who was a trance medium who introduced him to a spirit guide that was a helper.

His path to a PhD was unconventional. He built and operated two “beatnik “ coffee houses, did a stint in the USAF as a computer repairman and then attended college. He has been a student of spirituality since childhood. This presentation incorporates his interests in Vipassana Buddhism and the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.

Todd Eklof at May 3rd Saturday Service

2025 May 20 | News, Worship Services

Todd Eklof, NAUA President, will discuss the NAUA’s past, present and future, then invite participants to reflect on his message and share their own thoughts.

Todd Eklof, NAUA President, will be the main speaker for May’s service. He will discuss where we are, where we have come from, and where we might go. This will be a chance to reflect on our course and offer your thoughts to the community. In addition, with our annual Summit only a few months away, participants will be invited to share their priorities and suggestions as we plan, prepare, and move forward.

A Vision for Liberal Religion

2025 May 19 | NAUA Academy, News

Ralph Waldo Emerson decried the Unitarianism of his day as “corpse-cold” and urged the religion to evolve with new understandings of the contemporary world. Those understandings are still with us today, but our Living Tradition asks us to continue evolving with the times. Dr. Matthew Shear will share with us a positive view of what a liberal religion for the 21st century could look like.

Dr. Matthew Shear is a 1980 graduate of the New England College of Optometry, and completed a post-graduate program from the Baltimore Academy for Behavioral Optometry in 2002. He has also trained as a peer counselor, eventually teaching the technique to others. His particular interest is in the effects of misperception on our understanding of ourselves and the world, and how that affects our behaviors. This focus eventually led him from clinical practice to becoming a religious professional. He began preaching lay led services in 2007, and in 2018 was engaged by Channing Church in Rockland, MA as their full time Preacher, where he served for two years. A former Board member of UUMUAC, he is still an occasional preacher of their 3rd Wednesday Vesper services and elsewhere.