As you may know, we are part of a loose organization of churches known as the 
Washington Association. Once a year or so, we get together for an activity, worship, lecture, or just a business meeting.
Washington Association. Once a year or so, we get together for an activity, worship, lecture, or just a business meeting.This year our meeting will be on Sunday, March 18, at 1 pm in our sanctuary.
The actual business part of our meeting will be neither complicated nor long — this is mostly an opportunity for us to gather as a different configuration of the church from our usual and enjoy a moment of prayer and conversation.
The cool part of our gathering this year, is that after our brief business meeting, we will introduce our guest, Harwood Union High School philosophy and civics teacher, Ms. Kathy Caldwell. We have invited her for her experience with a kind of discussion group called Socrates Cafe. Kathy will be joined by a student of hers, Seth Davidson, to help facilitate.
A Socrates Café is an opportunity to have real, back-and-forth, respectful dialogue about timeless and timely questions that all human beings deal with in their lives. Rather than being a debate or even a discussion, a Socrates Café is a dialogue where participants are encouraged to listen to each other and to learn from one another. This form of discourse — and its focus on the search for knowledge — comes from Socrates, who observed that, “Wisdom Begins in Wonder.” These gatherings are open to all members of the community, regardless of age, experience or background.
Socrates Cafes are based on the work of Christopher Phillips’ ideas in his first book, Socrates Café. This idea, that people learn more when they question, came out of Phillips’ frustration back in the mid 1990’s with the growing polarization and intolerance of our society. He began these gatherings by inviting anyone who wanted to engage in a quest to gain a better understanding of human nature and of the questions that animated the times. Today, these open-invitation meetings at cafes and other public places continue and are based on a driving question. The focus of the dialogue at our Spring Meeting at the Waterbury Congregational Church on March 18 will be around our UCC tagline, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey you are welcome here.” The specific question for the Socrates Cafe is : What does welcome mean? Is everyone welcome at your church? What about fundamentalists? Are there boundaries to your welcome? Is this a wishy-washy motto, leading to pluralism or does it challenge us to be clear with our convictions?
The Cafe will begin after our gathering prayers and business meeting (around 1:30) and will conclude at 3:00 PM. Everybody is welcome! No matter your role in your church, no matter your educational background, no matter your religious background, please join us.
