There are many programs for adults at UUCPA. This includes special classes offered by the Adult Learning Journey committee as well as ongoing group meetings and events.
Adult Learning Journey (ALJ)
formerly Adult Religious Education (ARE)
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, through the Adult Learning Journey committee, offers an array of classes, groups, and events designed to support and enhance the lifelong spiritual explorations of our adult members, friends, and visitors.
Our offerings encourage participants to open their minds and hearts to new understandings, to share their diverse experiences with one another, and to engage in compassionate action outside of the congregation.
Classes encourage the continued spiritual and ethical exploration of Unitarian Universalist values through learning about diverse faiths, philosophies, and wisdom traditions, as well as pursuing a deeper understanding of our Unitarian Universalist identity and principles. All Adult Learning Journey classes are offered at no charge.
For information on any Adult Learning Journey class, seminar or workshop, contact the church office (650-494-0541), or send an email to aljclasses@uucpa.org.
Adult Learning Journey Class Schedule
We welcome your participation in the following explorations, generally held in the Fireside room at UUCPA in hybrid fashion:
04/28/2024 at 11:45 AM
Getting to Know PRIDEnet: Accelerating LGBTQIA+ Health Research
Sunday, April 28, 2024, 11:45 AM–1:15 PM; Fireside Room (Hybrid)
This presentation will share more about PRIDEnet, a network of individuals and organizations dedicated to catalyzing LGBTQIA+ health research. We will introduce attendees to PRIDEnet’s history, our collaborating partners, and our work engaging LGBTQIA+ people around health research and infusing community input into the research process. This presentation will include insights into the two major research endeavors that PRIDEnet provides community engagement for, The PRIDE Study and the All of Us Research Program.
About the Presenter: Astrid Herrera (she/they) is Clinical Research Coordinator at PRIDEnet, based out of Stanford Medicine. Astrid works alongside other PRIDEnet clinical research coordinators to conduct enrollment and retention for the All of Us Research Program and provides participant and research dissemination support on The PRIDE Study.
Fourth Sunday Brunch Food will be available after service. Suggested contribution $2.
Childcare is available.
06/02/2024 at 11:45 AM
What You Can Learn from the Enneagram
Sunday, June 2, 2024, 11:45–1:15 p.m., Fireside Room and on Zoom
Presenter: Debbie Mytels
Do you have a friend who is always concerned about safety? Or a son who wants things to be “perfect”? Maybe a boss who is clueless about others’ needs? The Enneagram is an ancient system of nine personality types based upon observable human behavior. This class will offer one person’s insights into what you can learn from the Enneagram, a time to discuss some personality types with others, and some resources for learning more.
The Enneagram’s nine personality types are found in all cultures around the globe, so there may be a biological basis. But the Enneagram also offers opportunities for reflection, learning, and change. For example, most of us behave differently when we are stressed compared to when we are relaxed. Through this class, you’ll learn about some typical pattern changes, which can help you make behavioral choices. While a fun-loving type can be a great companion for a day trip, you may not want them to be your accountant.
Learning about the Enneagram can help you understand yourself, your family members, friends, and co-workers. Recognizing your habitual behavior patterns and those of others can assist you in finding compassion and acceptance of yourself and others—and offer insights into how you might change.
Debbie Mytels grew up in a Unitarian household and has been a member of the UU Fellowship of Redwood City for 25 years. During her 32-year career with Acterra, an environmental nonprofit in Palo Alto, she trained more than 500 volunteers in technology and behavior-change practices to help homeowners become more energy efficient through Acterra’s “Green@Home” project. She also created a leadership training program that served 140 people over six years.
Debbie began learning about the Enneagram in the 1990s. Since then, she has studied several Enneagram books and attended seminars and workshops. The Enneagram is the most significant thing she has learned in her adult life. Through this Enneagram class, she hopes you will become intrigued and want to learn more about it, too.
Childcare is available.
Next Meeting: 04/26/2024 at 2:30 PM
An eight-session deep dive into the history of the conflict that has brought us to today’s crisis. It is structured around a four-part lecture series by Dr. Hussein Ibish and Prof. David N. Myers that was co-presented by Fordham University’s Center for Jewish Studies, Center for Religion and Culture, Department of History, International Studies Program, and Middle Eastern Studies Program.
Each time, we will watch about half of the lecture, preceding it with a recommitment to our intentions and principles, and following it with a discussion. Those discussions will turn more toward opportunities for action as the class progresses.
You are free to attend only some sessions, but as always, the more consistently you participate, the more we all gain from the shared conversation. If you anticipate missing a week, it is strongly recommended that you watch that portion of the video on your own so that you are caught up when you return.
This is emphatically not for UUCPA folks only. Anyone with a sincere commitment to an outcome that respects people’s inherent worth and dignity, and that creates peace, liberty, and justice for all, is welcome to join us.
Session 1: Friday, April 26, 2:30 – 4 pm, Room A*
We watch How Did We Get Here?: A Deep Dive into the History of Israel and Palestine Part One: 1882-1948 from 4:21 to 50:50
Session 2: Friday, May 3, 2:30 – 4 pm, Room A
We watch How Did We Get Here?: A Deep Dive into the History of Israel and Palestine Part One: 1882-1948 from 50:50 to the end.
NO SESSION MAY 10
Session 3: Friday, May 17, 2:30 – 4 pm, Room A
We watch How Did We Get Here? A Deep Dive into the History of Israel and Palestine Part II: 1948-1967 from the beginning to 43:12.
Session 4: Friday, May 24, 2:30 – 4 pm, Room A
We watch How Did We Get Here? A Deep Dive into the History of Israel and Palestine Part II: 1948-1967 from 43:12 to the end.
Session 5: Friday, May 31, 2:30 – 4 pm, Room A
We watch How Did We Get Here?: A Deep Dive into the History of Israel and Palestine, Part III: 1967-2023 from the beginning to 48:00
Session 6: Friday, June 7, 2:30 – 4 pm, Room A
We watch How Did We Get Here?: A Deep Dive into the History of Israel and Palestine, Part III: 1967-2023 from 48:00 to the end
Session 7: Friday, June 14, 2:30 – 4 pm, Room A
We watch How Did We Get Here?: A Deep Dive into Israel and Palestine, Part IV: Understanding October 7th and Its Aftermath from the beginning to 49:34
Session 8: Friday, June 21, 2:30 – 4 pm, Room A
We watch How Did We Get Here?: A Deep Dive into Israel and Palestine, Part IV: Understanding October 7th and Its Aftermath from 49:34 to the end.
The first three lectures (our first six sessions) were delivered at Fordham in 2017-2018. The speakers then returned last month to offer the fourth lecture (our last two sessions) as an in-depth perspective on the history of Israel-Palestine in light of the current moment. Dr. Hussein Ibish is a Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW). He is a weekly columnist for The National and previously served as a Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine. Prof. David N. Myers is Distinguished Professor and Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair of Jewish History at UCLA. The author and editor of many books, he directs the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy and the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate.
Facilitated by Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern
*I am working on making this a hybrid event. I will do so, and edit these entries accordingly, if I can resolve the issues that frequently make it difficult for Zoom attendees to clearly hear people in the room. –AZM
Next Meeting: 04/20/2024 at 4:00 PM Insubstantial Deity - Eiseley
A twice-weekly online sacred text reading group. We meet on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome! Please note that the Zoom room now requires a password, so please drop an e-mail to sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org to express interest.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text 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.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
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 text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. The aims of the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and traditions), spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us), and community-building (getting to know each other better).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
The Sacred Texts Reading For Saturday, April 20, 2024…
Behind nature is hidden the chaos as well as the regularities of the world.
And behind all that is evident to our senses is veiled the insubstantial deity
that only man, of all earth’s creatures, has had the power either to perceive
or to project into nature.
As scientific agnostics we may draw an imaginary line beyond which we
deny ourselves the right to pass. We may adhere to the tangible, but we
will still be forced to speak of the “unknowable” or of “final causes” even
if we proclaim such phrases barren and of no concern to science.
–Loren Eiseley (1978), The Star Thrower, p. 225.
To have check-in time, or if you are new and would like a brief orientation, arrive ten minutes early. And all are welcome to stay ten minutes after as well, for more getting-acquainted time.
How to join: First, e-mail sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org, since you will need a password. Then:
- Join this class from your Web browser: https://zoom.us/j/91019857324
- Join this class using the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 910 1985 7324
- Join this class by phone: 669 900 9128 US (San Jose), Meeting ID: 910 1985 7324
- Join this class by on-tap on mobile phones: +16699009128,,91019857324# US (San Jose)
- Phoning in, but not in the bay area? Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/abL8clvIYT
For the Wednesday Zoom link, go to the Calendar and click on a Wednesday session.
Next Meeting: 04/17/2024 at 12:00 PM The wellspring of decency - Welch
A twice-weekly online sacred text reading group. We meet on Saturdays, 4-5, and on Wednesdays, 12-1. All are wide open and you are welcome! Please note that the Zoom room now requires a password, so please drop an e-mail to sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org to express interest.
What do we mean by a sacred text? Any text 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.
As Unitarian Universalists, we find these kinds of meanings everywhere, so the text itself might be from a so-called secular source, or from a religious canon, or something in-between.
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 text. Our practice usually follows one of these versions of Lectio Divina. The aims of the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and traditions), spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us), and community-building (getting to know each other better).
The facilitator will post a version of the text in the chat for all to see. Everyone is welcome, as are your suggestions of future texts. Group members also take turns facilitating, if they want to try that role.
The Sacred Texts Reading For Wednesday, April 17, 2024…
The wellspring of decency is loving this life in which people die, people suffer, there are limits, and we make mistakes. The wellspring, then, of moral action is not utopia, not a counterfactual vision, not a declaration that the world could and should be otherwise. Rather, it is a deep affirmation of the joy, richness, and blessing that the world is. The ground of challenging exploitation, injustice, and oppression is not a vision of how the world could be or will be in the future reign of God, or after the revolution. The ground of challenging injustice is gratitude, the heartfelt desire to honor the wonder of that which is; to cherish, to celebrate, to delight in the many gifts and joys of life.
~Sweet Dreams in America: Making Ethics and Spirituality Work (page 135), Sharon D. Welch
For check-in / getting-acquainted time, and for those who are new and want a brief orientation to the practice, the room will be open ten minutes before and ten minutes after the session.
How to join: First, e-mail sacred-text-reading+owner@uucpa.org, since you will need a password. Then:
- Join this class from your Web browser: https://zoom.us/j/96865808923
- Join this class using the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
- Join this class by phone: +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 968 6580 8923
- Join this class by one-tap on mobile phones: +16699006833,,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.
Ongoing Events
2nd Friday Bridge Club – Next Meeting: 05/10/2024 at 7:00 PM
Usual schedule: From 2023-08-01 to 2024-07-31, the second Friday of the month, 7:00 PM
Brown Bag Books – Next Meeting: 05/07/2024 at 12:00 PM
Usual schedule: From 2023-09-01 to 2024-06-30, the first Tuesday of the month, 12:00 PM
Campus Workday – Next Meeting: 05/04/2024 at 9:00 AM
Usual schedule: From 2023-08-01 to 2024-07-31, the first Saturday of the month, 9:00 AM
Dismantling White Supremacy – Next Meeting: 05/14/2024 at 7:15 PM
Usual schedule: From 2024-03-01 to 2024-06-30, the second Tuesday of the month, 7:15 PM
Gardening @ UUCPA – Next Meeting: 04/22/2024 at 10:00 AM
Usual schedule: From 2023-09-01 to 2024-06-30, Monday every week, 10:00 AM
Sacred Text Reading Group (Saturday) – Next Meeting: 05/04/2024 at 4:00 PM
Usual schedule: From 2024-05-01 to 2025-06-30, Saturday every week, 4:00 PM
Sacred Text Reading Group (Wed.) – Next Meeting: 05/01/2024 at 12:00 PM
Usual schedule: From 2024-05-01 to 2025-06-30, Wednesday every week, 12:00 PM
Saturday Meditation – Next Meeting: 04/20/2024 at 9:00 AM
Usual schedule: From 2023-08-01 to 2024-07-31, Saturday every week, 9:00 AM
Sci-Fi / Fantasy Discussion Group – Next Meeting: 04/17/2024 at 7:00 PM
Usual schedule: From 2023-09-20 to 2024-09-18, the third Wednesday of the month, 7:00 PM
Spiritual Adventures In Parenting – Next Meeting: 04/21/2024 at 11:30 AM
Usual schedule: From 2023-09-01 to 2024-05-31, the third Sunday of the month, 11:30 AM
Please email childcare@uucpa.org about the availability of childcare at least two weeks prior to the event. (650-494-0541)
