UUFSMA: “Groundhog Days: A Meditation”

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Online Service

“Groundhog Days: A Meditation”
Speaker: Reverend James Ishmael Ford

Sunday, February 6, 2022
10:30 am

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040 
Password: 294513

By Joseph Plummer

UUFSMA Board Secretary

In Canada and the United States, every 2nd of February is a big day—for weather forecasters and groundhogs. Groundhogs are expected to stick their heads out of their burrows, and, in the groundhog’s shadow, forecasters pretend to measure winter’s remaining duration.

Such mercurial forecasts gleaned from marmot shadows may remind you of the vagaries of the Covid-19 pandemic. For two years we’ve seen peaks and valleys of infection, illness, and death as well as fallible forecasts of the plague ending.

Like the celebrated groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, this Sunday’s UUFSMA Guest Minister the Reverend James Ishmael Ford can’t accurately forecast the end of winter or the pandemic. However, whether we face more wintery storms of infection or the imminent clearing of Covid’s clouds, Rev. Ford has found lessons in spiritual traditions that can help us make our way to the end of this foul disease, and they will highlight his talk.

Rev. Ford is a retired Unitarian Universalist minister who served as a parish minister for twenty-five years in Wisconsin, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, where he remains minister-emeritus of the First Unitarian Church of Providence, RI. He also serves as a consulting minister with the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles and lives with his spouse Jan, a retired librarian, in Long Beach, California.

Rev. Ford is also a longtime student and teacher of Zen Buddhism and lived in Buddhist monasteries in California as a young man. He was ordained a Zen priest, spent twenty years studying meditation with a Zen master, and was eventually designated a Zen teacher. He is guiding teacher for the Empty Moon Zen network.

The author of five books on Zen history and spirituality, Rev. Ford’s most recent publication is “An Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons,” published by Wisdom Publications.

To participate in our online Sunday Service, visit www.uufsma.org and click on the Zoom Service button on the home page. If requested, enter password: 294513. Sign-in from anywhere Sunday mornings between 10:15-10:25 am CST. Because of the sudden surge of the omicron variant of the corona virus, in-person services by reservation at the Aldea Hotel are being suspended until further notice.

Our Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. UUFSMA donates at least fifty percent of its income to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page Donate button. Now more than ever, your support is essential. Enjoy previous services at https://www.youtube.com/. Enter UUFSMA in the search box.

Our fellowship was born in 1987 when a small group of expatriate religious liberals came together to meet as Unitarian Universalists in San Miguel de Allende. The fellowship has been active and thriving ever since. Every UU church has it’s own flavor, and we are no exception. We are a combination of expats and visitors, each actively engaged and contributing to this wonderful Mexican community we love. Because there is a coming, going, and returning aspect, our spiritual community is extremely fluid.  There is a magic in San Miguel which draws us in and binds us together—both as members of the church and of the larger community. Our programming is led by visiting ministers, community leaders, and church members, so the variety is lively. We have opportunities to meet as UU’s each week at discussion groups, breakfasts, luncheons, and in various other ways. Depending on the season, attendance fluctuates between 40 and 140. Our primary focus is on funding social action within the surrounding community. We love good music, good discussion, good food, and having visitors. We invite you to join us any Sunday morning.

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