Unitarian Universalist Programs
(short descriptions)
by Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd
![]() |
1. "EVOLUTION NOW"
♦ 15 to 25 minute Sunday sermon for adults: Highly recommended for 2009
♦ preceded by Connie's 5-minute children's story, "Who's proud to be related to a reptile?" (with puppets)
♦ versions of this sermon presented in autumn 2008 can be accessed in AUDIO (UU Hendersonville) OR PDF (Cedar Lane UU)
|
Suggested description for PUBLICITY for SUNDAY SERMON:
The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his landmark book on evolution, On the Origin of Species. Science writer Connie Barlow, a popular UU speaker, is a leader in the growing movement that celebrates the evolutionary journey as our common "creation story." Connie shares how artful presentations of our evolutionary heritage can breathe new life into UU religious education programs for adults, youth, and children. Connie Barlow and her husband, Rev. Michael Dowd, have presented programs at more than 300 UU churches and fellowships during 7 years of living entirely on the road. Their "evolutionary evangelism" is a featured article in the spring 2006 issue of UU World. Connie's website: www.TheGreatStory.org
![]() |
![]() |
2. "YOUR BRAIN'S CREATION STORY"
Alternative title: "Ancestors Within: Your Brain's Creation Story"
♦ 15 to 25 minute Sunday sermon for adults and youth
♦ preceded by Connie's 5-minute children's story, "Animals in Your Brain" (with puppets)
♦ you can listen to an an AUDIO of this sermon, delivered August 2009 at the UU Congregation of Whidbey Island, WA
|
In spring of 2007, Connie began including this material as one facet of her "Awakening to the Universe Story" sermon. Congregational response was so appreciative that she is now offering it as a complete sermon in itself. She has found that while the "We Are Made of Stardust" theme is well received by all ages (especially children!), and that while her "Death Through Deep-Time Eyes" sermon is hugely appreciated by people in their middle and elder years, the lessons drawn from Evolutionary Brain Science and Evolutionary Psychology can be transformative for YOUTH and adults especially those struggling with relationship problems or substance abuse in their own lives or in the lives of loved ones. Note: For the 5-minute children's story, Connie uses hand puppets. (Click HERE for stories of what makes this program so powerfully received.)
The core of the message is that the human brain is exquisite evidence against "intelligent design". Our brain is not freshly designed to serve the human condition: rather, it is an amalgam of the brain components that served our ancient ancestors our ancient ancestors who evolved in settings strikingly different from what we face today. Through science and story, Connie shows how an understanding of our evolved brain can provide guidance for improving our lives and relationships, while opening the door for authentic compassion when we and others do go astray. She presents the stunning new discoveries of neurobiology and evolutionary psychology in memorable and playful ways. The "ancestors within" our brains thus include our Lizard Legacy the brain stem and cerebellum that scientists refer to as the "reptilian" components of our brain. Our early mammalian ancestors then bequeathed to us our emotional brain, which Connie delights in calling our Furry Li'l Mammal. Next came our rational brain, the neocortex, or Monkey Mind. Most recently our ancestors acquired an ability to (sometimes) resist the demands of our lower instincts. Situated in our prefrontal cortex, this locus of purpose and commitment, which is absolutely vital for modern life, is our Higher Porpoise.
Suggested description for publicity for SUNDAY SERMON:
Unitarian Universalists, as freethinkers, have long appreciated the scientific endeavor for what it can tell us about the vast Universe and the depths of prehistory. The young sciences of Evolutionary Psychology and Evolutionary Brain Science are now beginning to offer practical tools that can assist us in leading fulfilled, on-purpose lives and that can call forth compassion when we and others fail to live up to our commitments and ideals. Indeed, these sciences teach that "inherited proclivities," which served our pre-human ancestors, are at the root of our most challenging personal issues today: relationship troubles and our tendencies to use food and other substances in unhealthy ways. Connie Barlow and her husband, Rev. Michael Dowd, have presented programs at more than 300 UU churches and fellowships. Their "evolutionary evangelism" is a featured article in the spring 2006 issue of UU World. Their website: www.TheGreatStory.org
![]() |
3. "CELEBRATING EVOLUTION"
♦ 15 to 25 minute sermon
♦ preceded by Connie's 5-minute children's story, "We Are Made of Stardust!"
♦ Listen to AUDIO of Connie's 2006 sermon at Second Unitarian of Omaha
(You may choose an alternative title for the same program: "Awakening to the Universe Story".)
|
This is a flexible sermon title that allows Connie to speak about whatever components of the 14 billion year Story of the Universe, told as sacred story, that she is most excited about in the moment. The title also matches that of Connie's 2-disk DVD set.
Suggested description for publicity for SUNDAY SERMON:
Science writer Connie Barlow, a popular UU speaker, is a leader in the growing movement that celebrates mainstream science as our common "cosmic creation story." Building upon Carl Sagan's legacy, Connie shares how artful presentations of our evolutionary heritage can breathe new life into UU religious education programs for adults, youth, and children. Connie Barlow and her husband, Rev. Michael Dowd, have presented programs at more than 300 UU churches and fellowships. Their "evolutionary evangelism" is a featured article in the spring 2006 issue of UU World. Connie's website: www.TheGreatStory.org
![]() |
4. "DEATH THROUGH DEEP-TIME EYES: An Evolutionary Celebration"
♦ 20 to 25 minute Sunday sermon or 2-hr evening workshop
♦ preceded by Connie's 5-minute children's story, "We Are Made of Stardust!"
♦ Listen to AUDIO of Connie's 2006 sermon at Unitarian Society of Hartford, CT, or read "Even the Heavens are Not Immortal: An Alluring Vision of Death", which is an interview of Connie on this theme, published in the Sept 2005 issue of What Is Enlightenment? magazine.
(You may choose an alternative title for this program: "Death in the Heavens for Life on Earth".)
|
This is one of Connie's current favorite programs, as it celebrates how understandings drawn from a range of sciences (astrophysics, evolutionary biology, embryology, cell biology, ecology, geology) can transform our view of death. Setting aside our UU differences in beliefs about what happens to spirit/soul/consciousness after death, Connie offers a celebration of the material fact of death that we all can share a sense that death is natural and generative at all levels of reality. Both the 25-minute sermon and the 2-hour workshop on this theme employ a traditional hymn, with words rewritten by Connie, as the structure for presenting the science. The program concludes with the congregation/audience joining Connie in singing the verses. Recommended hymns from the UU hymnal to accompany this sermon are #6 and #331. If your Sunday service includes a 5-minute children's story, Connie loves to tell the "We Are Stardust" story to kids, with an emphasis on how all the atoms in our bodies are recycled stardust, made available to us by ancestral stars who gave their atoms back to the universe when those stars died. Click here to view an illustrated description of the core content of the long version of this program.
SUGGESTED HYMNS/SONGS: These from the UU hymnal work well: #6 "Just As Long As I have Breath"; #331 "Life Is the Greatest Gift of All"
#163 "For the Earth forever Turning". I also would like to use one or both of the two sets of song lyrics I wrote to standard hymn melodies. You can view the lyrics, listen to audio, and learn about musical arrangement at the websites for each song:
STORY FOR ALL AGES: If the children will attend the first part of the service, I will be happy to do a Story for All Ages for them. Title it "We are made of stardust!", and it gently brings in the notion that death is a vital element of the universe: without the death of ancestor stars, there would have been no atoms for planets and life to come into existence.