TITLES OF SERMONS, PRESENTATIONS, OR WORKSHOPS
(detailed descriptions & publicity templates)
For Sunday services, only one of us presents a short sermon form of these topics. For 2-hour follow-up workshops, Michael usually offers an adult program by himself. In the rare event that both of us are free to be at your church or fellowship on a Sunday morning, Michael will give the "sermon" and Connie is happy to be invited to offer a (free) R.E. program concurrently for kids.
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Connie's SERMON titles: Click for DESCRIPTION of / PUBLICITY for each program
Passing It Forward - New sermon for 2013.
Failing Our Youth: A Call to Religious Liberals - based on an essay
(cowritten with Michael Dowd) published on Metanexus, December 2012
Evolution Now AUDIO of Connie's 2008 sermon at UU Hendersonville NC
Stone-Age Instincts / Supernormal Allurements - AUDIO of Connie's 2009 sermon at UU Whidbey Island / VIDEO of her 2009 UU summer camp theme
The Dark Side of Bible Stories — in Religious Education? - new title
Celebrating Evolution -
AUDIO of Connie's 2006 sermon at Second Unitarian of Omaha
Death Through Deep-Time Eyes - AUDIO of Connie's 2006 sermon at UU Hartford CT (Click for Order of Service suggestions for Death sermon)
We Are Stardust! INTERGENERATIONAL SERVICE (Click here for Order of Service for intergenerational Stardust service)
♦ DESCRIPTION of / PUBLICITY for each program
Michael's SERMON titles: Click for DESCRIPTION of / PUBLICITY for each program
NEWEST SERMON choice of titles: ♦ "Evidence As Modern-Day Scripture"
♦ "God Rebukes Religion: Repent of Twin Idolatries"
♦ "God's Back, Prophets Too: The Sacred Side of Science"
♦ "The Gospel According to Science"
SERMON ON CLIMATE CHANGE choice of titles: ♦ "Ecology Is the New Theology" (audio of sermon at UU Santa Fe 2013) ♦ "Science, Religion, and Generational Justice"
♦ "God Rebukes Religious Right: Repent Or Face Hell and High Water" (audio at Jefferson UU, Golden CO 2013)
A Story Big Enough to Include Us All AUDIO of Michael's 2011 sermon at UU Ft. Myers FL
Stone-Age Instincts / Space-Age Temptations
Thank God for the New Atheists! (alt title: The New Atheists As God's Prophets?) AUDIO of 2010 sermon at UU Ludington MI
♦ DESCRIPTION of / PUBLICITY for each program
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SELECTING A SPEAKER: We each usually speak in different churches on the same Sunday. We prefer to determine which of us speaks where, based on (1) driving considerations (only Michael drives our large van, so Connie has to be dropped off first), and (2) Connie prefers small to mid-size congregations, whereas Michael is happy to present in large venues. Note: Only Connie does intergenerational services.
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Connie or Michael "STORIES FOR ALL AGES"
for Sunday Services (6 to 8 minutes)
We Are Made of Stardust - Michael or Connie - (how atoms were formed within stars)
Animals in Your Brain - (to accompany Connie's sermon, "Your Brain's Creation Story")
Who's proud to be related to a reptile?" - (Michael, or to accompany Connie's sermon, "Evolution Now")
Connie's "RELIGIOUS EXPLORATION LESSONS FOR KIDS and TEENS"
concurrently in classrooms as guest teacher (if both Connie and Michael are available to come to your church)
Your Brain's Creation Story (different versions for TEENS and elementary)
Ancestor's Tale (age 4 and up) WATCH Connie present this: right
We Are Made of Stardust (elementary age) Click for DESCRIPTIONS of all 3 of these children's programs.
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Michael Dowd's evening program is a dynamic oral, music, and multimedia presentation. He brings his own high-lumen, digital projector with him, as well as a large screen and extension cord. The only equipment he needs from the host facility is a handheld or clip-on microphone and one or two long tables for setting up resources for sale.
FREE ONLINE VIEWING
(Requires high-speed internet connection.) |
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♦ PUBLICITY PHOTOS
♦ TEMPLATES FOR PUBLICITY FLIERS
♦ CONTACT US
Rev. Michael Dowd applies "stardust" (glitter) during an Intergenerational
"We Are Stardust!" service at the Peterborough NH UU Church;
Connie Barlow describes how the chemical elements now in our bodies
were created inside ancestral stars.
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LEFT: Michael Dowd in 2011 leading the 5-minute "Story for All Ages" at Sunday morning service of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Venice, Florida. The kids with the puppets are assisting with the story, "Who's Proud to Be Related to an Iguana?"
IF BOTH OF US ARE AVAILABLE TO COME TO YOUR CHURCH SUNDAY MORNING, we suggest that Michael do the guest sermon and Connie be invited to serve as guest teacher in an R.E. class. Upper elementary is her favorite, but lower elementary or middle school are also possible. Please check our ITINERARY to see if we are double-booked on Sunday morning at another church, or whether both of us will be coming to your Sunday service. For any classroom R.E. program, please know that Connie needs to talk with the teacher or R.E. Director in advance of its being scheduled. Another possibility is to schedule Connie to do her hour-long "River of Life" program for families after Sunday lunch at the church. (This has worked very well in several UU churches.)
Please visit the webpage description of Connie's R.E. programs for KIDS.
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The Great Story is the 14 billion year narrative of cosmos, Earth, life, and humanity, which draws upon the discoveries of the full range of sciences. Told
in meaningful and dramatic ways, The Great Story becomes our collective sacred story, inspiring
individuals from a wide range of religious and secular worldviews. Also known
as the Epic of Evolution, this perspective was the topic of Connie Barlow's cover story of the Nov/Dec 1998 issue of UU World.
Connie and Michael have been working with UU members to link this widespread movement to the science, humanist, pagan,
and liberal theistic diversity of our UU heritage. The spiritual and psychological
benefits that flow naturally from living within an awareness of this story
are experienced as Great News by a growing number of people the world over
and draw each of us to participate in, what celebrated cultural historian
and geologian Thomas Berry calls, "The Great Work" — the work of ensuring
a just, healthy, beautiful, and sustainably life-giving world for future generations
of all species.
Until the spring
of 2002, when they embarked on an itinerant ministry of teaching and preaching
the Great News of the Great Story, Michael and Connie were members of the
First Unitarian Society of Rockland County (New York). They are now members of the UUA Church of the Larger Fellowship.
Scheduling
Presentations
Michael and Connie are passionate about these topics and will present them wherever there
is interest.
For GUEST SERMONS/MESSAGES at Sunday morning congregational services, we gratefully accept whatever compensation a congregation typically offers guest ministers or speakers.
For church SUMMER CAMPS, DISTRICT MEETINGS, AND OTHER GATHERINGS, we are happy to negotiate fees that will work for your group.
We try to schedule appearances on a region-by-region basis to minimize transportation time, costs, and energy. Because our ministry also depends on earnings from selling our books and DVDs, we will appreciate access to one or two LONG TABLES in your lobby or Fellowship Hall for setting up our wares.
Please know that we generally book Connie into one UU church on a Sunday morning and Michael into a different church in the same vicinity, so we do not appear together, except for longer church retreats and trainings. In addition, Michael presents a FREE multimedia evening talk for each of the two churches on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday immediately following the Sunday service. We carry our own portable screen and high-lumen digital projector to use for the evening follow-up program, so the only thing you need to provide is an adequate room and voice amplification. Because book and DVD sales following the presentation are usually substantial (we make the table self-serve, so no assistance is required for that either), we suggest you publicize the event as FREE (or donations) and consider it as an opportunity to attract newcomers from the wider community.
Depending on whether we are also presenting for other organizations in your town or city, we may ask you to locate HOME HOSPITALITY for us for the night preceding a morning service and (sometimes) through the morning following the evening workshop. Click here for a handy list of information on our HOME HOSPITALITY needs. We intend this list to supply prospective hosts with all the information they need to feel comfortable in extending us an invitation.
To learn more
about our work and the impact we are having, click on About
Us and What Others Say.
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