WellSprings Congregation Revs. Lee Paczulla & Ken Beldon

This week, Rev. Lee preaches about the Ava Duvernay documentary, "13th." She begins by talking about her family's experiences, both spoken and unspoken, which led to her growing up in the suburbs. It's important to realize that the racist ideas that allowed slavery are still operating in our politics and criminal justice system today, but she reminds us that our actions have power, even if it doesn't seem to "work" in the moment.

This week, Rev. Ken discusses the Netflix series "Dead To Me." In discussing it's themes of grief, he reveals that he has an app on his phone that reminds him about death five times a day. He talks about the five stages of grief and how complicated they are - especially now when so many Covid deaths might be the result of a rush to get back to normal.

Lay preacher Beverly Fox continues our SpiritFlix series with a message about the film Garden State. Her message explores the concept of home. What does that mean to you? Where can you find home? If you enjoyed this message and would like to support the mission of WellSprings, go to our website at http://www.wellspringsuu.org

For this week's SpiritFlix message, Rev. Lee preaches on the Netflix movie "The Willoughbys." This movie is about a group of children who are mistreated by their parents, until a person with a higher standard of care shows up in their lives. What if we all held ourselves to a higher standard of care right now? It just might save someone's life.

This week, lay preacher Josie Waldman shares the movie Troop Zero with us, and what the film meant to her, as a girl who was picked on in school. She shares some of her personal experiences and wonders what it is that makes some kids act the way they do. She asks us to consider the essential question of the movie: "What kind of world would it be if every homely, strange little girl thought she could do whatever she wanted?"

Rev. Ken continues our SpiritFlix series with the award winning documentary film, "I Am Not Your Negro." He begins his message with a story about an uncomfortable moment at a baseball game, before getting into the subject matter of the film. This unfinished memoir by James Baldwin is about his relationships with slain civil rights leaders. Now, more than ever, this film and message offer us a chance to wake up to the realities of being black in America.