Speaking Aug. 13, 2023

Rev. Matt Deen, our guest speaker, offers a Christian critique of conservation. The Bible’s Book of Daniel recounts Nebuchadnezzar’s wilderness trials. For our speaker, that story suggests a fresh approach to what it means to be human and the nature of our relationships with all living things.

Sunday services start at 11 a.m., but join us early for coffee and conversation. Visitors and guests are always welcome at our progressive Fellowship. Services also include music, readings, meditation and optional opportunities to share your thoughts. And we’re done by noon.

Rev. Deen is pastor of Newfane Congregational Church in Newfane, Vermont, where he lives with his spouse, Ella, and a temperamental cat named Mimi. But Matt grew up in the Chattahoochee Valley. He says his first spiritual teacher was his mother, a children’s minister in the Pentecostal Church.

Matt graduated from Columbus State University in 2010 (English literature) and moved to New York City, where he worked as a fundraiser for nonprofits. Then he changed careers and graduated Union Theological Seminary in 2020.

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion with roots in Christianity, but today it draws inspiration from many sources. Our Fellowship members, for example, subscribe to a number of religious, philosophical and ethical traditions. We are Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Wiccan’s atheists, agnostics, humanists and more. Our informal motto: “Deeds before creeds.”

Topics: The Seventh Principle of UU