OMD Summer Institute

July 12-19, 2008
Kenyon College, Gambier, OH

2009 Theme Speaker: Thandeka, professor at Meadville Lombard Seminary. In addition to teaching at Meadville Lombard Theological School, Thandeka is President of the Center for Community Values (www.the-ccv.org), and an affiliated minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockford, Illinois. She is the author of The Embodied Self: Friedrich Schleiermacher's Solution to Kant's Problem of the Empirical Self, and Learning to Be White: Race, Money and God in America. Her current research focuses on the nature, structure, and meaning of human affection and empathy in religious communities.

Coming Soon: Registration for SI 2009

These are uncertain times, and for some of us even scary times.  FDR’s famous statement, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” is now apropos for another generation of Americans. I can think of no better way of addressing our fears and uncertainties than attending Summer Institute 2009 and helping to celebrate SI’s 30th anniversary.

Just being a part of such a large UU Community is soothing to the soul in and of itself. We begin each day with whole community, intergenerational, family worship. This year our morning worship will be led by Rev. Dr. Susan Ritchie, minister at North UU Congregation in Lewis Center, Ohio. I guarantee this will be a meaningful experience for the whole family.

Meeting new friends and sharing your life’s “joys and concerns” with others who care can be therapeutic and cathartic. Meal times are excellent opportunities for meeting new friends. This year we will be enjoying a brand new, state of the art, dining facility located in the renovated, beautiful Peirce-Dempsey. This building will also house our pub and non-alcohol canteen in the evenings. Both venues feature music provided by some of our very talented SI musicians and both experiences are opportunities for building relationships.

There will be many outstanding workshops offered this year. They range from physically active to intellectually stimulating, from musical to spiritual and from entertaining to educational. You are bound to find something that can give you a boost through your life’s journey. 

SI is billed as an intergenerational institute. It is truly amazing to see infants and toddlers as well as meet people in their eighties. Although there are many activities for all ages, there is a separate program for children each morning. The theme speaker and the morning workshops are for adults. The youth are involved in their own programming as are the young adults. Afternoons and evenings provide both intergenerational and age specific activities.

Come and be a part of a larger UU community. Take a break from the barrage of daily bad economic news. It will be money well spent. Where else could you take a family for a week, house them, feed them, entertain them, and provide them with opportunities for spiritual growth and making lifelong friends for what it costs to attend SI.

John Rodeheffer, Chair  2009 Summer Institute

Summer Institute is a week long institute with programming for adults, young adults, youth and children, and is a family-friendly camp. To learn more about Summer Institute and its programs, please visit the OMD Summer Institute website at www.omdsi.org.

If you would like to make a donation to the Melanie Pescan Memorial Scholarship Fund for Summer Institute, please click here.