The Road to Magyarszovát, January 7, 2018

Join four members of the BUF touring choir and friends as they detail adventures of their June 2017 pilgrimage to the BUF partner church in Magyarszovát, Transylvania, through photos, story, music, and other souvenirs. 

The region of Transylvania is known for the scenery of its Carpathian landscape and its rich and abundant history and multicultural convergence of Romanians, Hungarians, Saxons and Roma. It is a region rich in myth and misty medieval sites. Romania's greatest and best-preserved castles, fortresses, and fortified churches are to be found here. Modern-day Transylvania is home to some of the most developed cities in Romania, but also villages where people still live as they did a hundred years ago. There are many small villages still centered around their community churches, still depending upon the bounty of their livestock and land for their survival.

BUF Sunday Forum: End Child Abuse with Brigid Collins, December 17, 2017

Andrea Harrison of Brigid Collins Family Care and Support Center will update us on the work of Brigid Collins, which has served Whatcom County for 27 years. Each year, we help more than 3,000 families in our Whatcom community who are at-risk or have been victims of child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect. Our Stewards of Children program is an evidence-based prevention education program that has armed more than 6,000 residents of Whatcom County with the skills to prevent child sexual abuse and how to spot and respond to child abuse when it does occur. Our goal is to educate 10,000 Whatcom County residents by 2020, and in this Forum we will share how we plan to do this. Andrea Harrison, MSW, is the Development & Outreach Manager/Stewards of Children Facilitator at Brigid Collins.

Bringing Hope to Nepal: One Woman, One Child at a Time, December 10, 2017

Nicole Strachan, a Seattle volunteer with the Friends of the Women’s Protection Center Nepal, will speak on the tragic stories behind the creation of the Center. “If a person has had to experience human trafficking, they have known a life worse than death itself. Sometimes they try to escape. When they do, they are punished, and this can be unimaginable to anyone with a conscience.”  Women’s Protection Center (WPC Nepal) supports various awareness programs in the rural villages with the partnership of the local community to raise awareness and prevent girl trafficking. 

Engaging White Supremacy: Is dialogue possible?, December 2, 2017

The Five Races of Mankind (1911)

9:15 am. Alan Friedlob, David Curley and Lauralee Carbone have collaborated to present this forum focusing on the psychological and social realities of white supremacy in America today. They will show excerpts from BLINK, an award winning film made in 2000 that is especially relevant after Charlottesville.  It focuses on the personal journey of Greg Withrow, once a charismatic rising star in the white supremacist movement who dramatically turned his back on the ideologies of hate. 

After showing the film excerpts, our conversation will turn to what we have seen, heard, and felt in the context of the Unitarian Universalist principles and our daily lives. Is dialogue possible and what would such engagement look like? What do we hope for from dialogue, and why?    

No Adult Sunday Forum on November 26, 2017

Poetry, Music and Social Change, November 19, 2017

9:15 am. In his song Ebb and Flow, JP Falcon Grady sings: “Another day comes shining for you and me. To see Mt. Baker smiling over the Salish Sea. Come look at the islands, we’ve got an orca’s view. So much to see here. So much to do.” Come to the Sunday forum on Nov. 19^th  at 9:15 a.m. to hear poet Betty Scott and JP Falcon Grady as they offer a rocking hour of music and poetry. We’ll talk, we’ll sing, we’ll play with words, and experience how collaborations can expand our conversations in an ever-changing social and physical environment.

JP Falcon Grady is a self taught acoustic guitarist, singer, songwriter and a proud member of the Blackfeet Nation. He performs originals and covers all over the Pacific Northwest, Montana, Hawaii and British Columbia as both a solo artist and with the J.P. Falcon Band. His original songs and ballads tell stories that beg to be told and include celebrating biodiversity and Mother Earth.

Betty Scott is a poet and essayist who enjoys collaborating with JP Falcon Grady. She is writing a third collection of poems and a book of essays. Her collection Central Heating: Poems that Celebrate Love, Loss and Planet Earth will be published in 2018 by Cave Moon Press. Currently, she and JP provide an open mic for music with poetry on Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 9:00 at Greene’s Corner, 2208 James Street.

The Fundamentals of Hinduism, November 12, 2017

At 9;15 am, Debu Majumdar will share with us the Fundamentals of Hinduism—what it really is. Unitarians will be interested in knowing the basic ideas of Hinduism, as it has a common theme with them.

"Hinduism is incomprehensible to non-Indians," Debu says. It has a deep, basic philosophy, but that is usually unspoken; non-Indians only see the gods and goddesses that ordinary Hindus worship. Most of the Hindus do not dwell with the Hindu philosophy or cosmology. Often, the religion leaves the adherents to find their own kind of god to worship or no god at all. That way it is the freest religion, but hard to understand when you see the different ways the Indians worship—from worshiping idols to snakes or just through meditation. Come and hear Debu explain some of the mysteries of this ancient religion.

Schelangen and the Lummi Youth Canoe Family, 11/5/2017, 9:15am

The youth of the Lummi Nation learn their schelangen by the examples and careful teachings of the elders, and through the experiences that grow out of those teachings. Canoes have been a means of survival in the long history of the Lummi Nation. In that context, what does the annual Stommish Water Festival mean to these youth?

Take advantage of this opportunity to hear from and about the Lummi Youth Canoe Family. What are they striving for? What do they have to teach us? Join presenter Rebecca Kinley, Youth Leadership Manager, for this fascinating and informative Sunday Forum session in the BUF Conference Room. 

Whatcom Conservation District, October 29, 2017

Aneka Sweeney, Outreach and Education Coordinator, will introduce the impact and efforts of the Whatcom Conservation District (WCD), a local division of state government with a mission to assist landowners and farmers with their conservation choices.  Since 1946, WCD has been inspiring stewardship through a natural resource conservation program of leadership, partnership, and technical, educational and financial assistance to foster a healthy, sustainable relationship between people and the environment.