Tuesday Nights

Join us online every Tuesday night at 6pm (Pacific Time) for a wonderful interactive time with our online community. We begin with a time of sharing with one another (the check in time) followed by a focused study, either on the selected Scripture or a book we read and study together. The info for connecting via Zoom is shared via an email list which you can get on by emailing Reverend Dr. Langlois, MCC UCC in the Valley’s Senior Pastor, at revpat@mccuccv.com.

The study portion of some of our Tuesday teachings are now up on our YouTube Channel as well as by clicking on the links below.

Current Series:

“Creation Spirituality: Moving from the Toxic to the Sacred”
Facilitated by Rev. Dr. Pat Langlois

Past Series:

– Cosmic Wisdom and Feminine Divine–Lost Insights for an Emerging World”
Video discussion with Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox and Rabbi Rami Shapiro
– A Revelation to Patricia: Are We Creating Heaven or Hell? facilitated by author, Dr. Patricia Wahle
– The Clobber Passages facilitated by author, Rev. Dr. Mel White
– Talking Back to the Bible, Edward G. Simmons
– Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks, Diana Butler Bass
– What is Church? And what do I believe?
– The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to be Christian, Brian McClaren
– Selected work by Fr. Richard Rohr, Facilitated by Deacon Tom Rossi
– The Cross and the Lynching Tree, Dr. James Cone
– Altars & Sacred Spaces: The importance of them and how to create them, Facilitated by Ed Wahl, Ritual Keeper for MCC UCC in the Valley
– The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are, Brené Brown

“Creation Spirituality: Moving from the Toxic to the Sacred”

Facilitated by Rev. Dr. Pat Langlois

Click here to view the series

“A Revelation to Patricia: Are We Creating Heaven or Hell?”

Facilitated by Dr. Patricia Wahle

Patricia’s book is available on Amazon.com

Week 1: Introduction to the Revelation
Week 2: The Letters
Week 3: The Four Horsemen
Week 4: The Last Three Seals
Week 5: The First 4 Trumpets
Week 6: The 3 Woes
Week 7: The Dragon and the Beasts
Week 8: The Grim Reaper and the Grapes of Wrath
Week 9: Angels Lead Us To A New Way
Week 10: Creating Heaven on Earth
Week 11: Visions of Heaven on Earth
Week 12: Conclusion

Click here to view Revelations Series

“Clobber The Passages”

Facilitated by author Rev. Dr. Mel White

Mel’s book is available on Amazon.com

Rev. White facilitated a multi-week discussion on one of his latest books, The Clobber Passages. Here is a brief description of this life changing work:

LGBTQ+ is not a sin: it’s just another of the Creator’s mysterious gifts.
For centuries, evangelicals who read the Bible literally have misused seven verses to convince the world that homosexuality is a sin and homosexuals sinners. Those verses have forced LGBTQ+ persons to live their lives under a cloud of shame and guilt. In Clobber the Passages, Mel White doesn’t bother to explain the verses again. That’s been done a thousand times. Instead, he blows away that dark cloud by celebrating the truth learned from America’s leading mental and physical health professionals. Homosexuality like heterosexuality is just another of the Creator’s mysterious gifts. White calls literalists to stop accusing LGBTQ+ people falsely and to start celebrating what they have achieved throughout history in music, science, athletics, politics, the arts, education, literature, the military, parenting, and even religion. Clobber the Passages presents LGBTQ+ people in a healthy new light and leaves that dark cloud of guilt and shame over the evangelical literalists where it belongs.

“Talking Back to the Bible” Edward G. Simmons

Edward’s book is available on Amazon.com

In a fascinating rumination, Edward G. Simmons combines a lifetime’s experiences and biblical research in a voice that is as comfortable and welcoming as if one was seated in an easy chair in his study. With his fierce intellect and honesty, Simmons layers his philosophical lessons with personal insights and the latest discoveries of science.

“Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks” Diana Butler Bass

Diana’s book is available on Amazon.com

If gratitude is good, why is it so hard to do? In Grateful, Diana Butler Bass untangles our conflicting understandings of gratitude and sets the table for a renewed practice of giving thanks. We know that gratitude is good, but many of us find it hard to sustain a meaningful life of gratefulness. Four out of five Americans report feeling gratitude on a regular basis, but those private feelings seem disconnected from larger concerns of our public lives. In Grateful, cultural observer and theologian Diana Butler Bass takes on this “gratitude gap” and offers up surprising, relevant, and powerful insights to practice gratitude.

“What is Church? And what do I believe?” Group Discussion

“The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to be Christian” Brian McClaren

Brian’s book is available on Amazon.com

Brian McLaren, a leading voice in contemporary religion, argues that— notwithstanding the dire headlines about the demise of faith and drop in church attendance—Christian faith is not dying. Rather, it is embarking on a once-in-an-era spiritual shift. For millions, the journey has already begun.

Drawing from his work as global activist, pastor, and public theologian, McLaren challenges readers to stop worrying, waiting, and indulging in nostalgia, and instead, to embrace the powerful new understandings that are reshaping the church. In The Great Spiritual Migration, he explores three profound shifts that define the change:

∙ Spiritually, growing numbers of Christians are moving away from defining themselves by lists of beliefs and toward a way of life defined by love
∙ Theologically, believers are increasingly rejecting the image of God as a violent Supreme Being and embracing the image of God as the renewing Spirit at work in our world for the common good
∙ Missionally, the faithful are identifying less with organized religion and more with organizing religion—spiritual activists dedicated to healing the planet, building peace, overcoming poverty and injustice, and collaborating with other faiths to ensure a better future for all of us.

“Selected work by Fr. Richard Rohr”

Facilitated by Deacon Tom Rossi

“The Cross and the Lynching Tree” Dr. James Cone

https://tinyurl.com/nhcxab9cThe cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk. Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst in human beings and at the same time a thirst for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning. While the lynching tree symbolized white power and black death, the cross symbolizes divine power and black life God overcoming the power of sin and death. For African Americans, the image of Jesus, hung on a tree to die, powerfully grounded their faith that God was with them, even in the suffering of the lynching era.

“Altars & Sacred Spaces: The importance of them and how to create them”
Facilitated by Ed Wahl, Ritual Keeper for MCC UCC in the Valley

“The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are” Brené Brown

A motivational and inspiring guide to wholehearted living, rather than just the average self-help book, with this groundbreaking work Brené Brown, Ph.D., bolsters the self-esteem and personal development process through her characteristic heartfelt, honest storytelling. With original research and plenty of encouragement, she explores the psychology of releasing our definitions of an “imperfect” life and embracing living authentically. Brown’s “ten guideposts” are benchmarks for authenticity that can help anyone establish a practice for a life of honest beauty—a perfectly imperfect life.

Tuesday Nite Studies