April 5: Rev. Diane Diachishin, Stories of Resilience. The great theologian Howard Thurman says, “Resilience is to watch a gathering darkness, until all light is swallowed up completely without the power to interfere or bring a halt. Then in that darkness, to continue one’s journey with one’s footsteps guided by the illumination of remembered radiance.” 

   Resilience has to do with staying the course in the midst of pain guided by a “remembered radiance.” Remembering what was good and beautiful, and holding that memory in the heart while moving forward into the future. We will share ways in which we embody our own resilience. 

 April 12: Mark Hammel, From Zionism and Israel to the Liberation of My Self 

   My talk will cover my life story against the background of Israel and Zionism as it pertains to American Jews. I will discuss my family history of Nazi victimization and how I came to see Palestine as a conjoint victim of the Jewish ethnonationalist nation state.

 April 19: Richard (Dick) Otterness: Not “Just” Friends: Emerson on Friendship

   To say we are “just friends” seems a bit dismissive.  Emerson elevates the nature and value of friendship as one of the most profound and valuable relationships in human experience.  In friendship we have a spiritual connection that celebrate the inherent worth and dignity of ourselves as well as that of others.  

April 26: Hollis Kellogg, Erik Erickson (1902-1994) was a German American psychoanalyst who made significant contributions to psychoanalysis and stages of development throughout a life span. As we learn about his stages, which are still rather accurate, we can remember our own life stages and think about where we are now. There are no hard and fast rules for these stages, but we may relate to certain stages of our own lives.