UUMUAC (Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council) 3rd Wednesday Versper Services are held online, starting at 7 PM Central Time (8 PM Eastern/6 PM Mountain/5 PM Pacific).
August 20, 2025
“Dignity”
Dan Kenney
Our celebrant is retired DeKalb, Illinois high school teacher Dan Kenney. He will be exploring Tim Shriver’s Dignity Index and Dignity Pledge – an instrument for healing America’s divisions. Dan is a long-time member of the UU Congregation of DeKalb, and the founder of DeKalb County Community Gardens (now “Rooted for Good”), which began as a backyard effort to grow a few vegetables, and now feeds thousands of DeKalbans with weekly free food distributions. Dan is a regular contributor to WNIJ Public Radio’s “Perspectives” series.
UUMUAC 3rd Wednesday Vesper service September 17, 2025
“Church of the Free Spirit”
Dr. Matthew Shear
What shall we call a true liberal religion? I contend that labels from past centuries will not do in our time. In this service I will explore concepts I’ve come to believe are essential to a workable intersection of liberalism with religion and society.
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.