​Unitarian Universalist​
Fellowship of the Peninsula

Grow in Wonder — Connect in Love — Engage in Service — Inspire Generosity

Sunday Morning Forum

Spirit.  Intellect.  Community.
COVID-19 Message: In-person UUFP Sunday Services, Children's Religious Education and Sunday Morning Forum are suspended. 
​Click here for a note from the minister.
See below for info on virtual Sunday Morning Forums.
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Contact:  adultre@uufp.org.
Sunday Morning Forum began many years ago in complement to minister led worship on Sunday mornings. With our Unitarian Universalist values as both foundation and springboard, the Forum has grown into a well moderated, high quality, adult discussion group that promotes learning on a wide variety of topics. It is a classroom of people who trust each other's good intentions and value each other's diverse opinions.

Together, UUFP's pastoral and laity-led educational opportunities nourish the mind and spirit and infuse us to be Light in the world!
Join us!
Every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon*
UUFP Office Building  *  13136 Warwick Boulevard, Newport News
Parking is available in the Office and Sanctuary lots and on both sides of Youngs Mill Lane.

​*COVID-19 temporary forum logistics - Sundays, 9:30 a.m., via Zoom.
Zoom room invitations emailed & posted on the UUFP Calendar​​.
Visit Sunday Morning Forum Archive 2020, 2019 or 2017 - 2018 
​to view our library of stimulating discussions.
Upcoming and most recent Forums are highlighted below.

This Sunday: May 31, 2020
​  ​​"Learning About Santa Clause Reflects How I Think About Religion”

Presented by Gary Ott
Our goal at this Forum is to explore how we humans participate in the changing development of our beliefs, values, cultures, and religions. Our method at Forum is to explore a metaphor, how our conviction in Santa Clause changes from the time we are born until we graduate High School.  Final discussion is how we might apply our review to other issues of faith.​
Retired as the science coordinator to the Coast Guard in 2006, Gary’s specialized training and experience in large emergencies is in “risk communications,” a science-based approach for communicating effectively in situations of high stress, high concern, or controversy.   These professional skills are transferable to personal relationships, helping to better manage our own communication challenges.
​Respecting COVID guidelines, UUFP is extending invitation to our online Zoom-room forums via the emailed Weekend Reminder, UUFP Calendar and/or posts on this website. ​
Previously at the Sunday Morning Forum

​​"Food Allergies Are Isolating" - Take II

Due to widespread Zoom outages on May 17, please join us for this rescheduled Forum on 5/24/20 @ 9;30 a.m. Thanks to our gracious facilitator and participants for giving Take-II a try! (Zoom details in UUFP Calendar.)
Presented by Rachel Bevins
May 24, 2029
Food allergies can be very isolating - so much of our culture and community bonding is built around shared meals, including fundraising for worthy causes...by selling foods!  It seems as though the diagnoses of food allergies is on the rise and more and more people have begun to avoid potlucks and after-event lunches because it is just too challenging to participate. Is it possible to make community events with food more accessible? As a long time group and event organizer and a mom in a family of four (with four different sets of food sensitivities), I believe it is!
​Respecting COVID guidelines, UUFP is extending invitation to our online Zoom-room forums via the emailed Weekend Reminder, UUFP Calendar and/or posts on this website. ​

​"What will we do differently post-pandemic?
​A triage tool to guide decisions." 

Presented by Lin Chambers
May 10, 2020
Lin Chambers came across this tool on a National Science Foundation discussion board and found it resonates with a number of people.  This will be an opportunity to discuss this tool and how it can apply both to the Fellowship (next steps in the Stay/Go process) and to each of us individually.  The Zoom presentation will address the Center for Community Investment website and its pertinent information for the present-day pandemic.

​Respecting COVID guidelines, UUFP is extending invitation to our online Zoom-room forums via the emailed Weekend Reminder and/or posts on this website. 

"Reflections on a Fulbright ​in Tajikistan and Nepal"

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Presented by Rebecca Wheeler
May 3, 2020
In 2016, Rebecca served as Fulbright Scholar in Tajikistan, a Central Asian country of the former Soviet Union. Never mind that she spoke not a word of Russian or Tajik—her colleagues and students spoke English to some degree, and the people of Khujand were most friendly and curious about this sole Westerner in their midst. She also was fortunate to secure an invitation and funding to travel to Kathmandu, Nepal, where she worked with university and Nepali high school English teachers second language writing in public schools, a collaboration she continues even now.
In this forum, Rebecca shares stories and images from her daily and professional life in Tajikistan and Nepal. Come! See the Grand Bazaar of Khujand; hear of Tajik education; share images of traditional meals with students in the Tajik countryside; step around cows in the streets of Kathmandu, and witness open air Hindu ceremonies at the Temple Pashupatinath. Come, yet again, come!

​"Our Ecological Fooprint" 

Presented by The Revered Andrew C. Millard
April 19, 2020
“Our Ecological Footprint”:  Our ecological footprint is a measure of how fast we consume resources and generate waste compared to how fast the natural world can absorb our waste and generate new resources.  How do our personal choices and social systems affect the size of our footprint?  What can we do to live more sustainably and what changes to our society would help, too?
Respecting COVID guidelines, staff will send a Zoom invitation on Thursday in the Weekend Reminder so we may gather for our online forum! 
Want to learn more about the mind and spirit expanding Forum exchanges?
Visit:  SUNDAY MORNING FORUM ARCHIVE
​ 2020, 2019 or 2017 - 2018
Do you have a topic you would like to share with the group?