From the Desk of the DRE

In the RE teacher orientation on September 10, we spent some time talking aboutwhat it means to create a radically welcoming classroom: a classroom where everyteacher, every child, every person in the room feels deeply committed to creatinga welcoming, supportive place for all who enter. A subset of the conversationcentered around ways we create an intentionally welcoming environment for childrenwith special needs, which is important in its own right. But the larger questionis the one that most tickles my fancy. I sense that if we did this well, theother would fall into place as a matter of course. So how do we create a classroom(a program, a church, a world

RE Shining Star: Stanley Johnson

StanleyJohnston, this month's RE star, has taught a variety of ages in the RE programat 9 a.m., including an innovative seventh grade class which captured the kids'interest by exploring spiritual messages from a popular TV show, "The Simpsons."Stanley is also a longtime member of the Our Whole Lives (OWL) sexuality educationteam and was one of the teachers in our first OWL class for eighth and ninthgraders. The kids continued to meet for many months after the curriculum wasfinished, simply because they felt the group experience was so valuable. Stanleyis one of those people who genuinely loves our kids and seems to find and nurturetheir best selves. For the gentle, kind, and warm man he is, we honor him thismonth.

From theDesk of the DRE

Summer is so close-I can almost feel the warm summer breezes, the hot summersun beating down on me. But wait: There is still so much to think about beforesummer really arrives. The RE Council and I have been busy planning our programfor next fall. And we have a question for all of you: Have you had a chanceto explore the UU principles lately?

It just so happens that kids in RE will be exploring the fourth and fifth UUPrinciples next year-the "Free and Responsible Search for Truth and Meaning"and "The Right of Conscience and the Use of the Democratic Process." We alsowill offer, for the second year, the "Neighboring Faiths" comparative religionscurriculum for 6th and 7th grades, "Coming of Age" for 8th grade, and our seniorhigh YRUU youth group at 11 a.m., as well as a new addition to our youth program,a contemporary issues-based class offered at 9 a.m.

There is no better way to learn and live your UU principles than by learningwith and teaching our youth and children. Presenting stories to them and listeningto their efforts to interpret and understand can be a wonderful way to explorethese issues and concepts for yourself. Without teachers, interesting curriculumis of no value. Over the next few weeks, we will be searching for more "RE ShiningStars" to help us create a vibrant RE program next year with our children andyouth.

Think about how sad a place UUCCSM would be without our enthusiastic kids.Consider the wonderful energy there is in an intergenerational community (amodel that is increasingly rare). Feel the warm arms of a child wrapped aroundyou in a hug.

And we need you. To fully staff our fabulous programs, we're looking for morethan 50 members of our congregation to volunteer to teach for one to two Sundaysper month, for the months of September to December and February to April. Teacherswill have a break in January and May when we offer our new month-long "intensive"programs; namely, Social Justice in January and the Arts in May.

Think about it. Think about teaching RE. Then visit the RE table in ForbesHall during coffee hour on Sundays this month to hear about our program in moredetail and let us know how you'd like to be involved. I look forward to hearingyour thoughts.

- Catherine Farmer

RE Starfor June: Celia Goetz

What makes a good RE teacher? Age and experience, you say? Five years ago,Celia Goetz was an eighth grader. That year, she and her brother, Noel, bothvolunteered to assist in the 11 a.m. kindergarten/ first grade class. Faithfullybringing juice and snacks and helping out with class activities, Celia and Noelbecame role models of youth participation in our church.

The following year, Celia and Noel became fullfledged members of the RE team,planning and leading their own lessons. As Noel grew busier in high school,Celia teamed up with her mother, Gretchen, and moved to the pre-school class.Celia's smile, warmth, and nurturing ways have provided a welcoming first experiencefor the three-and-four-year-old RE children. Sad to say, Celia is graduatingsoon from Santa Monica High School and is heading off to UC Berkeley. We wishher well but will miss her quiet and stable presence in RE.

Congratulations and good luck, Celia!

From the Desk of the DRE

In UU circles, "ritual" sometimes seems as if it has become a bad word. Butit doesn't need to be. I think that we, as Unitarian Universalists, have tendedto associate ritual with dogma, and have lost something in the process of lettinggo of old ways and other faiths.

In my extended family, when we gather for meals, we always pause for a prayerbefore we eat. And though the theology in the prayer sometimes makes me squirm,I have always appreciated the practice of being mindful, in community, whenwe eat together. In some UU families, this means holding hands and sharing somethingthat each person is thankful for that day. Or having a short meditation overwords that remind us of the many people who made the meal possible. Lately I'menamored with the idea of lighting a chalice at the table, and saying somethinglike "May the food we eat help us build up strength to change the world."

In RE classes, we like to bookend our lessons with classroom rituals that helpus focus on our UU principles: light a chalice, say our covenant or sing a song,check in with one another and share something good that happened or somethingthat illustrated one of the principles in our lives this week.

At the end of class time, we share a snack together, and a closing such asa "pass the squeeze" circle, or a reminder to take what we've learned out intothe world with us. But for all that we do in our hour on Sunday mornings, howmuch stronger is our kids' RE experience when it mirrors what is happening athome?

Our principle for the rest of this church year is Principle #3: Acceptanceand encouragement to spiritual growth. Parents, as the primary religious educatorsof your kids, what can you do to reinforce this focus in your home life? I inviteyou (as well as all the rest of us who don't have children at home) to createsome rituals of your own that you enjoy. Sing a song together, create a bedtimemeditation, light a chalice and say the principles, start a family spiritualpractice, do a project in the community that engages you in acceptance of people'sdifferences. Practice mindfulness before heading out to school and work in themornings by saying together, "May I enter this day with clear thoughts, wisewords, kind heart."

My guess is that many of you already incorporate lots of meaningful ritualsinto your family lives. In that case, I invite you to think about what you dothat is distinctly UU: what can you do to help your kids feel connected, ona daily basis, to their identity as Unitarian Universalists?

-Catherine Farmer

What's it Like to Be a Teen at UUCCSM?
An Interview with Emily Hero

How long have you been coming to our church?
I started in seventh grade and I'm in the eleventh grade now at Santa MonicaHigh School. My mom started coming at first; then I joined her, then my youngersister, Madeline, started coming, too. That first year we did Neighboring Faiths,which is really great. You get to learn about different faiths and visit thechurches, mosques, and synagogues. I really like learning about different cultures.I also did Coming of Age and we then started the current YRUU group. YRUU hadn'tbeen around for a long time, but now it is really big.

What do you enjoy about the church?
This is really a community based on trust and working together. I like seeingmy friends and feeling that community. YRUU is really fun and exciting. Rightnow we are getting ready to do a worship service in April. We also have rapsessions and take on different service projects.

Is this really different from school?
Oh, yes, at school we don't get to do projects together like this. Here we canhave fun working on something, see the results, and have people enjoy it. BecauseYRUU is basically youth-run, I have worked on my leadership skills. I've learnedyou have to delegate and have everyone involved. Otherwise, you'll go crazy.Plus, the end result is better this way.

Has YRUU changed in the last four years?
We've grown a lot from the original three or four teens. Now because we aremuch larger, there are new pressures. We are doing more, like the book drivefor Sojourn House, getting to the food sort at Westside Food Bank, doing a children'sworship service and the haunted house at Halloween. We also did the Graham JarvisTalent Show last summer, which was a lot of fun, too. Hopefully, we can keepgetting better at balancing fun and activities. That is not always easy, andI think that is what we still need to work on.

-Karen Patch

Our RE Star for April

PeggyKharraz has worn many hats in our congregation - working with Dining for Dollars,signing up folks for the church's Camp de Benneville Pines weekend, just tomention a couple - but it is her service to Religious Education that has madeher this month's RE star. Peggy has been teaching RE since her own childrenwere in it a number of years ago.

This year she is teaching the 9 a.m. sixth and seventh grade class, NeighboringFaiths, in which they are learning about other faith traditions and visitingmany religious services in the local area. Because only two teachers volunteeredto teach this group, Peggy and her co-teacher, Amy Giles, teach every singleSunday. In addition, Peggy is currently a Coming of Age mentor to Jordan Paddock.

Despite her many years of teaching RE and three years of mentoring Coming ofAgers, Peggy still bubbles over with enthusiasm for the kids and the curriculum.Her warmth, smile, and genuine joy in what she does shines through to all whomeet her. For all these reasons, we honor her this month. Congratulations, Peggy.

RE Group Visits a Mosque and Learns Beliefs of Islam

On Sunday March 13, sixth andseventh graders from our Religious Education classes journeyed to downtown L.A.,across from USC and Exposition Park, to visit the Masjid Omar mosque, part oftheir continuing exploration of world religious faith traditions. This was theirsixth visit to other religious communities, having already attended Catholic,Jewish, Methodist, Quaker, and AME services.

We were met at the mosque by Daser F. Dakhil, Director, Community Developmentand External Affairs for the Omar Ibn Al Khatab Foundation, associated withthe mosque. After removing our shoes, we were lead into the expansive sanctuarythat was mostly devoid of furniture and wall decoration. The women and girls,respectful of the Muslim tradition, wore head scarves when they went into thesanctuary.

The room was filled with natural light from floor-toceiling windows on threesides and from windows that circled the dome.

Mr. Dakhil was joined in the sanctuary by a calligrapher and an Imam who workedat the mosque. These three men came from Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. Mr. Dakhildescribed the congregation for Friday noon services as a little United Nations.

As the group sat on the blue rug delineated by long yellow lines, Mr. Dakhildescribed some of the beliefs of Islam, including the belief in one God, thatthe prophet Mohammed was not divine, that Islam recognized Jesus as a prophet,and that Islam does not believe the idea of original sin as portrayed by Eveor Adam. Men and women, Mr. Dakhil said, all have part of the divine in them.While he was talking another group, including children, sat on the floor inthe middle of the sanctuary learning and reciting verses from the Quran.

The Imam demonstrated the call to prayer for the group and then when it cametime for the Muslims' time of prayer, our group moved to a comer and watchedas men lined up in front of the Imam with the women and children gathered inthe back behind a rope. The Imam, like a cantor, sang out the prayer, and themen, women, and children alternately stood and prostrated themselves beforeGod. The dome, acting as an amplifier, brought the musical voice to everyonein the sanctuary.

Later the group was led up to the roof to see the dome from the outside andto see the surrounding area from 50 feet up. We then went to the basement recreationroom and saw pictures of the religious interfaith outreach the mosque performs.While there, each person in the group had his or her name written in Arabic.Before leaving, we were treated to cookies and juice.

-Nels Hanson