It is that time again! Unity of Berkeley will elect a new Leadership Team on February 5, after service. Please plan to attend as we need a quorum of Unity of Berkeley members to vote in a new team.

Four (4) current team members are stepping down.

According to the by-laws 4.04(d), “The two nominees receiving the largest number of votes will be elected to full two (2) year terms. The candidate receiving the next highest number of votes will be elected to the longest unexpired term, etc. All persons elected in such a manner will be considered to be fulfilling a term of office.”

Vote for:
3 2-year term openings
1 1-year term opening
2 alternates

Please make it a priority to attend this meeting and be a part of the forward motion of our community!

Below are our candidates and there bios:

DEE CLUTTS
My name is Dee Clutts, I have been a member of Unity of Berkeley, since Easter 2003. I ran my own business from 1993 to 2005, at which time I retired. Most recently have been employed as a nanny.

I have served several terms on the Unity of Berkeley Leadership Team between 2004 – 2011. I have a strong commitment to Unity of Berkeley – it has been my extended family. I do see a future for us and want to be a part of that. I can be a leader or I can take a back seat and support others. I like to think I have some wisdom, I’m flexible and most of the time can hear all sides of an issue, without judgment. I am the leader of the Unity of Berkeley Prayer Chaplains, I’m in Unitas, the Unity of Berkeley Choir, and have had home study groups at my home.

TIM MCGRAW
Tim McGraw was raised near Kansas City, Mo. and in 1997 joined Christ Unity Church in San Francisco. A Berkeley resident since 1996, he has been involved in Unity of Berkeley since 2002 and has previously served on the Leadership Team. Tim is a consultant specializing in business-to-business marketing and has been self-employed for most of his professional life.

ANNE RICHARDS
Anne Richards has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1976. She began reading the Daily Word in 1984 and joined Unity Christ Church in San Francisco in 1987 where she was on the Board of Directors was also a Lay Minister. She has also attended Unity of Richmond, Unity of Walnut Creek and Unity of Shepherdstown (WV). For 5 years Anne acted in the capacity of Lay Chaplain at VNA Home Hospice in Emeryville. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist in psychology and anthropology and has worked in behavior medicine and public health research since 1989.

DAVID OWEN
I have been a member of Unity of Berkeley for 3 years and have been attending services for nearly 5 years. My work background is in Engineering working on network planning for AT&T Mobility (previously Cingular Wireless). I have worked with AT&T Mobility for about 15 years and before that worked for Vodafone in Sydney, Australia, I moved to California in 1997.

My interests are restoring and working on cars, seeing plays at the Berkeley Rep, wine appreciation, cooking, jogging and dog walking/hiking.

I work with the sound and lighting team on setting up the sound for the regular services and special events, concerts , etc. I am willing to put in the time required for being on the Unity of Berkeley Leadership Team and to make a contribution to improving Unity of Berkeley.

I live in Berkeley with my wife Robyn and our cat Sneezy and dog Wolfie

So much of our lives are anchored in routine. And yet, new experiences create new possibilities. Join Rev. DeeAnn Weir Morency as we look at how anchoring the new in 2012 requires us to move beyond what is tried and true in our lives.

Music: Anjali

We each have abilities and gifts that we can use unconsciously or consciously, that are undeveloped or developed.  Today we are going to explore how to come from a deeper place and a higher consciousness.

Join Rev. DeeAnn Weir Morency as we look at the metaphysical meaning of Lent and how this sacred time can be a powerful anchor as we continue to live into our intentions for 2012.

The Year is still fresh and things are still erupting within us. The intuition plies us with new possibilities–it pushes us from bed and peppers us with ideas. This is part of living–to be responding to the tide of ideas and possibilities in the world. At the same time, the sense of possibility can be maddening. How do we manage the vast opportunities of a free life–and remain kind and sane? Eric will approach these themes, utilizing wisdom from the traditions of Christianity, Tantra and American pragmatic philosophy.

Protest happens at many levels. The conscience protests, the body protests, the spirit protests. We are taken over by the event, and sometimes the social body is equally taken over. I’ll explore these themes in their social, psychic and physical matrices.

Reclaiming Your Power, Creativity, Brilliance and Dreams

Why do certain situations or people affect us more intensely than others? The annoying co-worker who truly gets under your skin, an arrogant boss, or a rude stranger? Why do they continue to get to us time after time?

Each situation, person, or event that triggers us is actually a messenger, offering us rich clues as to where we are not experiencing Wholeness. They illuminate aspects of ourselves we are not willing to look at directly, that live in the shadow. When we consciously and compassionately recognize and embrace our own shadow, we heal in deep and profound ways. We liberate ourselves and unlock our greatest gifts and talents.

Using Debbie Ford’s book – The Dark Side of the Light Chasers – Reclaiming Your Power, Creativity, Brilliance, and Dreams, this 8 week experiential workshop will be a personal exploration of the shadow realm as a path towards Light and Wholeness. We will be drawing from many traditions including New Thought, Ken Wilbur’s Integral Theory, as well as Transpersonal Psychology.

About Rev. DeeAnn
Rev. DeeAnn Weir Morency is an ordained Interfaith Minister and an Agape Licensed Spiritual Practitioner. She is a dynamic teacher and facilitator with a private practice in Rockridge, CA. Her ministry includes spiritual counseling and mentoring, classes and workshops anchored in the principles of New Thought and Universal Spiritual Principles, women’s retreats, guest speaking, and as an officiant she creates personalized custom wedding ceremonies and other life rituals. Rev. DeeAnn actively practices this process of embracing shadow and is continually awed by its transformative healing power. She is deeply committed to sharing this powerful work with others.

Tad’s powerful presence and his enduring music urged us to love and peace and celebration. His transition on November 16 struck this community a blow. Please join us as we now lift up into spirit knowing and seeing that Tad’s legacy to us is alive and brilliantly singing through our lives. Knowing that death is not an end but a putting out of the lamp to welcome the dawn.

In this YouTube, Tad and the Unity House Band sing his song “Speak Peace.”

Yoga isn’t just physical. It’s a full-on practice that has expanded its skill set for 3000 years. This is barely touched on in daily classes, but in Yoga x 3, we’ll focus broadly, learning touching the unity the tradition: it’s history, philosophy and practice . . . in a 3-hour sweep.

In this training, we’ll re-engineer mind and body with new postures, breathing practices, and health secrets, while learning the philosophy and history behind yoga’s vast and varied techniques.

Students who finish this workshop will learn how yoga came to be, understand its beliefs, and learn new ways to align breath, body and mind.

From Christmas Eve to White Stone, Rev. DeeAnn Weir Morency led our community through a Triptych of Transformation. Today she will encourage us to settle into this transformation and claim the change for this brand new year to be present as we move into our own new phase.