AE Lunchitarians

This is a recurring virtual meeting every Wednesday from noon - 1:30 PM.

Thoreau Lunchitarians discuss books, or other matters arising

Check your email for topic details and the Zoom link!

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

November 30, 9:45 am  “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail”

Using the play The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, we will explore conscience and the sacred act of resistance. Drawing on UU principles of inherent worth, justice, and the free search for truth, we'll reflect on how saying “no” to injustice can be an expression of both faith and compassion. Amanda Ayles in the pulpit.

Join us in-person for our weekly gathering.

During in-person worship service, Religious Education is offered for children 5 and over.

Interested in joining this service in person? Get in Touch!

November 9, 11 am    “Overcoming Anxiety: Making Room for Grace & Gratitude?” 
As progressive social trends and assumptions have been reversed over the past year, many of us have experienced increasing anxiety about the future of our country . With the holiday season approaching, how can we maintain hope in the face of such adversity? Our Emeritus Minister, Rev. Dan King, returns to our pulpit to offer reflections and observations for our consideration.

Join us in-person for our weekly gathering.

During in-person worship service, Religious Education is offered for children 5 and over. You are invited to join us for hospitality after the service.

Interested in joining this service in person? Get in Touch!

November 9, 9:45 am   “Music as a spiritual language across cultures.”

Ryan Donohue will introduce the discussion on this fascinating topic

Adult Discussion Group will be meeting in person @ 9:45 AM in Thoreau’s Clark Cabin except on the third Sunday of each month when we will meet in the Sanctuary @ 11 AM.

The AC and HEPA filter will be running to keep Clark Cabin & the Sanctuary as safe as possible.

For those that prefer: We will provide ZOOM via the OWL system when we meet in the cabin & our Moderator Tamara will recognize your hand up and add you to the queue.

Thoreauvians and friends will be notified each week (tuucannounce@groups.io) of our ADG topic, time and zoom login.
Please keep an eye out for our notices.

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

AE Lunchitarians

This is a recurring virtual meeting every Wednesday from noon - 1:30 PM.

Thoreau Lunchitarians discuss books, or other matters arising

Check your email for topic details and the Zoom link!

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

The Briar Club: A Thrilling and Powerful Story of Female Friendships and Secrets 

by Kate Quinn 

“Quinn evocatively balances the outward cheerfulness of the 1950s with historical observations exploring racism, misogyny, homophobia and political persecution in this sharply drawn, gripping novel.” - People Magazine

The New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code returns with a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman’s daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears the house apart, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: who is the true enemy in their midst?

Capturing the paranoia of the McCarthy era and evoking the changing roles for women in postwar America, The Briar Club is an intimate and thrilling novel of secrets and loyalty put to the test.

Books are selected by the members of the Women’s Book Club

Reoccurring monthly on the First Monday, starting at 1:00 PM; we meet in members’ homes.

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

November 2,  11 am   "Letting Go of Fear”

Fear can be a great self-defense mechanism; but, it can kill us. Rev. Daniel O’Connell is in the pulpit

Join us in-person for our weekly gathering.

During in-person worship service, Religious Education is offered for children 5 and over. You are invited to join us for hospitality after the service.

Interested in joining this service in person? Get in Touch!

November 2, 9:45 am   “Near death experiences and Deathbed Visions ”

Dr. Christopher Kerr a Hospice Physician noted: “pre-death dreams and visions among my dying patients made me realize how significant a phenomenon this was, both at a clinical and a human level “. Dr Kerr has been at the bedsides of thousands of patients who, in the face of death, speak of love, meaning, and grace. They reveal that there is often hope beyond cure as they transition from a focus on treatment to notions of personal meaning. Pre-death dreams and visions are manifestations of a time of integration and coming into oneself. These are powerful and stirring experiences that occur in the last days or hours of life and that constitute moments of genuine insight and vivid re-centering for patients. They often mark a clear transition from distress to acceptance, a sense of tranquility and wholeness for the dying. Patients consistently describe them as “more real than real,” and they are each as unique as the individual having them.“Death is but a Dream” by Christopher Kerr MD.  Presented by Tamara Veneruso RN

Adult Discussion Group will be meeting in person @ 9:45 AM in Thoreau’s Clark Cabin except on the third Sunday of each month when we will meet in the Sanctuary @ 11 AM.

The AC and HEPA filter will be running to keep Clark Cabin & the Sanctuary as safe as possible.

For those that prefer: We will provide ZOOM via the OWL system when we meet in the cabin & our Moderator Tamara will recognize your hand up and add you to the queue.

Thoreauvians and friends will be notified each week (tuucannounce@groups.io) of our ADG topic, time and zoom login.
Please keep an eye out for our notices.

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

AE Lunchitarians

This is a recurring virtual meeting every Wednesday from noon - 1:30 PM.

Thoreau Lunchitarians discuss books, or other matters arising

Check your email for topic details and the Zoom link!

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

October 26, 11 am   “The Art of Making Mistakes”

Artie Throop is our speaker, and they will reflect on what art has taught them about mistakes, being comfortable in learning through mistakes (and enjoying the process), and accepting other’s mistakes.

Join us in-person for our weekly gathering.

During in-person worship service, Religious Education is offered for children 5 and over. You are invited to join us for hospitality after the service.

Interested in joining this service in person? Get in Touch!

October 26, 9:45 am  “Stupidity: a powerful voice in human history”

Big or small, every detail in our behavior can be explained by looking at the past, from dietary choices to how we've used stories to advance. But if progress is narrative-driven, what comes next? 

In Yuval's extended Brief But Spectacular take he speaks on humanity's superpower, the paradox of wisdom and the relationship between government and war. Led by Jim Sheridan.

Adult Discussion Group will be meeting in person @ 9:45 AM in Thoreau’s Clark Cabin except on the third Sunday of each month when we will meet in the Sanctuary @ 11 AM.

The AC and HEPA filter will be running to keep Clark Cabin & the Sanctuary as safe as possible.

For those that prefer: We will provide ZOOM via the OWL system when we meet in the cabin & our Moderator Tamara will recognize your hand up and add you to the queue.

Thoreauvians and friends will be notified each week (tuucannounce@groups.io) of our ADG topic, time and zoom login.
Please keep an eye out for our notices.

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

AE Lunchitarians

This is a recurring virtual meeting every Wednesday from noon - 1:30 PM.

Thoreau Lunchitarians discuss books, or other matters arising

Check your email for topic details and the Zoom link!

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

Please join us for the Men's monthly dinner group.

Location: Beck’s Prime 1822 Hwy 6 Sugar Land, TX 77478

Let us know to look out for you! Get in Touch.

AE Lunchitarians

This is a recurring virtual meeting every Wednesday from noon - 1:30 PM.

Thoreau Lunchitarians discuss books, or other matters arising

Check your email for topic details and the Zoom link!

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

October 12, 11 am    “The Gospel of Free Thought” 
As a denomination we promote what I’d like to call the “Gospel of Free Thought.” And we promote this with regard to both Religion and Spirituality.  I believe we should actively share this worldview with others around us. If that is proselytizing, then so be it. Let’s proselytize. Please join us as Rev. John Pepper is in the Thoreau pulpit once again to reflect on these ideas and our long-held UU belief that we not proselytize.

Join us in-person for our weekly gathering.

During in-person worship service, Religious Education is offered for children 5 and over. You are invited to join us for hospitality after the service.

Interested in joining this service in person? Get in Touch!

October 12, 9:45 am   “From Ancient Tribes to a Modern Nation: The Nation of Israel”

Ryan Donohue will introduce this discussion on the timely topic of the nation of Israel. 

The word Israel carries many layers of meaning, from biblical tribes and ancient kingdoms to a global religious identity and eventually a modern nation state. How did a people once scattered across the world maintain a sense of continuity, and what role did memory, myth, and tradition play in shaping that journey? This presentation will trace the fascinating story of Israel’s evolution, beginning with its earliest origins and leading to the creation of the modern state in 1948, while also considering why questions of belonging and land remain so deeply contested.

Adult Discussion Group will be meeting in person @ 9:45 AM in Thoreau’s Clark Cabin except on the third Sunday of each month when we will meet in the Sanctuary @ 11 AM.

The AC and HEPA filter will be running to keep Clark Cabin & the Sanctuary as safe as possible.

For those that prefer: We will provide ZOOM via the OWL system when we meet in the cabin & our Moderator Tamara will recognize your hand up and add you to the queue.

Thoreauvians and friends will be notified each week (tuucannounce@groups.io) of our ADG topic, time and zoom login.
Please keep an eye out for our notices.

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

2nd Friday Discussion Group will meet on Oct 10th at Becks Prime:
1822 SH-6 S, Sugar Land, TX  77478.  
Near the Sugar Land Whole Foods.  
Here’s the menu: https://www.becksprime.com/menu/menu.pdf  

TOPIC: Patio Ponderings 

We’ll probably lead off with the Israel/Palestine situation and the Nobel Peace Prize.  In the spirit of Halloween we may then move on to what other scary stuff is happening and why.  

Come join the October gathering of Thoreau’s Second Friday discussion group at 11 am on the shady patio at Beck’s Prime, 1822 Hwy 6, Sugar Land, TX 77478.  

All opinions and puzzlements welcome!

Reoccurring monthly on the Second Friday.

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

AE Lunchitarians

This is a recurring virtual meeting every Wednesday from noon - 1:30 PM.

Thoreau Lunchitarians discuss books, or other matters arising

Check your email for topic details and the Zoom link!

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

Book: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

A New York Times Bestseller

Soon to be a Netflix Film

A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

“Remarkably Bright Creatures is a beautiful examination of how loneliness can be transformed, cracked open, with the slightest touch from another living thing.” -- Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here

For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

Books are selected by the members of the Women’s Book Club

Reoccurring monthly on the First Monday, starting at 1:00 PM; we meet in members’ homes.

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

October 5, 11 am   "UU Response to Authoritarians:  With Justice Our Guide?"

In the Unitarian Universalist faith tradition, seeking social justice is an imperative founded on our tenets of universal dignity and love as central principles. When we learn of patterns of repeated intentional injustice, it can be difficult to avoid despair, even with the models of 20th century civil rights leaders like MLK and John Lewis. In today's service, our Emeritus Minister, Rev. Dan returns to share reflections on justice and practical reminders of how persistent commitment and organization can overcome the obstacles we encounter.

Join us in-person for our weekly gathering.

During in-person worship service, Religious Education is offered for children 5 and over. You are invited to join us for hospitality after the service.

Interested in joining this service in person? Get in Touch!

October 5, 9:45 am   “World Sight Day”

Bill Johnson will be our guest speaker on understanding and interacting with the blind.  

Adult Discussion Group will be meeting in person @ 9:45 AM in Thoreau’s Clark Cabin except on the third Sunday of each month when we will meet in the Sanctuary @ 11 AM.

The AC and HEPA filter will be running to keep Clark Cabin & the Sanctuary as safe as possible.

For those that prefer: We will provide ZOOM via the OWL system when we meet in the cabin & our Moderator Tamara will recognize your hand up and add you to the queue.

Thoreauvians and friends will be notified each week (tuucannounce@groups.io) of our ADG topic, time and zoom login.
Please keep an eye out for our notices.

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

AE Lunchitarians

This is a recurring virtual meeting every Wednesday from noon - 1:30 PM.

Thoreau Lunchitarians discuss books, or other matters arising

Check your email for topic details and the Zoom link!

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

September 28, 11 am   “What to Say When You Don’t Know What to Say”

Too often uncomfortable situations such as a sudden death, chronic illness, or inappropriate remarks, leave us with no words, tripped up responses, or defensive outbursts. Is there a better way to respond?  Lindi Kohn, who has been on both ends of not knowing what to say, will be in the pulpit to talk about what she has learned.

Join us in-person for our weekly gathering.

During in-person worship service, Religious Education is offered for children 5 and over, and a nursery is available. You are invited to join us for hospitality after the service.

Interested in joining this service in person? Get in Touch!

September 28, 9:45 am  “History of the world in 18 minutes ”

Jim Sheridan will lead this discussion on the “History of the world in 18 minutes”. Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline.

Adult Discussion Group will be meeting in person @ 9:45 AM in Thoreau’s Clark Cabin except on the third Sunday of each month when we will meet in the Sanctuary @ 11 AM.

The AC and HEPA filter will be running to keep Clark Cabin & the Sanctuary as safe as possible.

For those that prefer: We will provide ZOOM via the OWL system when we meet in the cabin & our Moderator Tamara will recognize your hand up and add you to the queue.

Thoreauvians and friends will be notified each week (tuucannounce@groups.io) of our ADG topic, time and zoom login.
Please keep an eye out for our notices.

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

AE Lunchitarians

This is a recurring virtual meeting every Wednesday from noon - 1:30 PM.

Thoreau Lunchitarians discuss books, or other matters arising

Check your email for topic details and the Zoom link!

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

Please join us for the Men's monthly dinner group.

Location: Beck’s Prime 1822 Hwy 6 Sugar Land, TX 77478

Let us know to look out for you! Get in Touch.

AE Lunchitarians

This is a recurring virtual meeting every Wednesday from noon - 1:30 PM.

Thoreau Lunchitarians discuss books, or other matters arising

Check your email for topic details and the Zoom link!

Interested in joining this discussion? Get in Touch!

September 14, 11 am    “Make Believe’

Some things we resist, we might learn to accept (a family members annoying but non-destructive habit). Other things that we accept, we might learn to resist (social injustice). Rev. Daniel O’Connell is back in the Thoreau pulpit to ask “what can we learn something from how children ‘pretend.’”

Join us in-person for our weekly gathering.

During in-person worship service, Religious Education is offered for children 5 and over, and a nursery is available. You are invited to join us for hospitality after the service.

Interested in joining this service in person? Get in Touch!