Resonant Reading (Wednesday) - Lonesome Valley
2025-10-22 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Resonant Reading (Wednesday) - Lonesome Valley An exploration of ideas, feelings, and our life experiences, using a different short reading as our springboard each time. The sessions are on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome to come twice a week or once in a while.

The participants over the years have found that the approach we take, and the respectful, affectionate community of inquirers in which we read and converse, are as important as the reading itself. While many small groups begin with a check-in, with a session only an hour long, Resonant Reading jumps right in to the conversation. Those who are frequently in the group get to know each other very well this way, and those who are new will soon find they are among friends.

Facilitators use a light hand, posting the reading in the chat and calling on whoever's Zoom hand is up. Suggestions for readings* come from group members, who also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.

The reading for this session:

Lonesome Valley

You gotta walk that lonesome valley,
You gotta walk it by yourself,
Nobody here can walk it for you,
You gotta walk it by yourself.

Some people say that John was a Baptist,
Some folks say he was a Jew,
But your holy scripture tells you
That he was a preacher too.

Daniel was a Bible hero,
Was a prophet brave and true,
In a den of hungry lions
Proved what faith can do for you.

There's a road that leads to glory
Through a valley far away,
Nobody else can walk it for you,
They can only point the way.

Mamma and daddy loves you dearly,
Sister does and brother, too,
They may beg you to go with them,
But they cannot go for you.

I'm gonna walk that lonesome valley,
I'm gonna walk it by myself,
Don't want to nobody to walk it for me,
I'm gonna walk it by myself.

—Woody Guthrie

How to join:

Join this class from your Web browser: https://zoom.us/j/96865808923, passcode [REDACTED]
Join this class using the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by phone: 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
Join this class by one-tap on mobile phones: 6699006833,,96865808923# (San Jose)
Phoning in, but not in the Bay Area? Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/abL8clvIYT

This is the Zoom link for Wednesdays. For the Zoom link for Saturday, go to Calendar and click on a Saturday session.

Questions? Drop an e-mail to resonant-reading+owner@uucpa.org.

*This activity was formerly called "Sacred Text Reading." That proved misleading--for one thing, more often than not our sources are secular--but it's worth describing the qualities of a sacred text, which we still look for in the readings we choose. It is any reading that helps us to:

connect to something of supreme importance to us
feel more connected to other beings or to the universe
feel more intensely alive
align our lives with our values,
perceive or feel more deeply
be more fully and authentically ourselves.
