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.

 

April/May Issue of the Liberal Beacon

2025 May 14 | News

Enjoy the latest issue of The Liberal Beacon, which includes the following insightful articles and book reviews:

  • “What Universities Owe the Liberal Project” by Emilie Chamlee-Wright
  • “Dumbfounded: The Need for Laughter in the Face of Adversity” by Todd Eklof
  • “An Invitation to a Reading Life” by Lynn Jinishian
  • Book Review: “The Are of Loving” by Erich Fromm, reviewed by Candace Schmidt
  • Book Review: “Reclaiming Prophetic Witness” by Paul Rasor, reviewed by Lauriston King
  • Book Review: “Love Your Enemies” by Arthur C. Brooks, reviewed by Kevin McCulloch

The Role of Faith Communities in Abolishing Nuclear Weapons

2025 May 8 | NAUA Academy, News

Discussions about nuclear weapons are often framed as security, legal, political or military issues. Yet equally important are moral and ethical perspectives, and faith communities play a critical role in bringing in such dimensions to discourses about nuclear weapons, which poses existential threats to humanity and our planet. In this talk, Anna Ikeda of Soka Gakkai International will discuss efforts of the people of faith in advancing nuclear disarmament and abolition, both at the United Nations and grassroots levels.

Feb. 11, 2025 – Boom Or Doom? Is Unleashing AI Intelligent or Wise?

2025 May 6 | NAUA Academy, News

For decades, Artificial Intelligence was one of those “maybe someday” dreams. Seemingly out of nowhere, ChatGPT exploded on the scene in early 2023. The clock is now ticking – the capabilities of A.I. are going to improve exponentially, and very quickly. As with almost every technological advancement in our lifetime, we find it easy to imagine the beneficial uses, but have distressingly little imagination about what the unintended consequences could be. This talk will mostly be based on a collection of newspaper and magazine articles that give us glimpses of reasons that we could very well regret ever opening up this Pandora’s box.

Ken has a lso provided “points to ponder” document with links to some of the issues raised in his talk

————————————————————-

Bio: In September of 2023 Ken Ing presented “Left versus Left: What’s Happening Here Ain’t Exactly Clear”, then in March of 2024 he presented “I Before We Except Overseas: Tracing The Roots Of Our Multi-Century Identity Crisis”.

Ken retired in 2019 from a career in IT and lives in the Puget Sound area in Washington State.

April 2025 Worship Service Recording

2025 Apr 22 | News, Worship Service, Worship Services

Bob Simoni was the featured speaker for the April 19th service. The title was “Life After Death.”

“Life After Death.” At its heart, religion must try to provide answers to the questions surrounding our existence. Perhaps the biggest questions of all, and ones we have all asked ourselves is “What happened before and what happens next?”. Bob Simoni explored those questions in the April service as we transitioned from Winter to Spring and experienced nature’s rebirth.

Bob Simoni is our NAUA Treasurer, board member, a long time Unitarian, and a member of the Hayward Fellowship. Bob and his wife, Sandy, live in Paso Robles, California.