RE News Archive
From Our DRE: What's Our Message?
This month, following March’s theme of “Brokenness,” we move into a time of reflection on “Renewal.” This schedule mirrors the themes of Passover and Easter, but also resonates with spring celebrations in many religious as well as secular traditions around the world. I wonder, as parts of our world wake up from the deep freeze of the wintertime (which I know can feel very remote, especially this year, here in sunny Los Angeles), what in your own life is ready to be shaken loose so as to make way for new growth?
April is a time of renewal in our church as well. This is when the Lifespan RE Committee and I kick our program planning for the next year into high gear, exploring new programs to offer as well as ways to tweak our current offerings to make them even better than they already are. And as we do this work, I’ve been thinking a lot about the core message of our Unitarian Universalist faith. What is it that we have to offer the world that is worth all of the time and passion and commitment given to our community by so many members and friends? Or put more concretely: if all of the people who walked in our doors this week walked away with just one message from their time at UU Santa Monica, what would you want it to be?
Last fall, our UU Santa Monica board came up with a mission statement with one possible answer to this question: our congregation is a place where we are called to “Love Generously, Seek Truth, and Serve the World.”
The overall program arc of our RE classes for children and youth is carefully crafted to help young people in our programs learn how to fulfill this mission. Here’s what the “one thing” (or two or three things, I confess) might be for each of our class levels:
• Preschool — I am loved and so is everyone else; it’s important to be kind.
• K to second grade — Our UU Principles and wisdom from many sources can help guide me as I think about how to be a good person; I can help make the world a better place.
• Third to fifth grades — Church is a place where we ask questions about the world and about life and work together to come up with answers; I know that I am connected with every person, every plant and every star, and I am part of all that exists and all that ever has existed.
• Sixth to seventh grades — All varieties of religious expression have something to teach us and it is important to learn about different faiths and what they have in common with UUism, as well as their differences; I can search for what resonates with me.
• Eighth grade — I am of age to claim my identity as a UU; I can think about and articulate my beliefs and values (though they will continue to develop throughout my life), and our church community will celebrate them with me.
• Ninth to twelfth grades — Being UU means being in authentic community, and the way we live in the world and the way we treat one another matters. I have a lot to give to our faith and to the world.
If every child and youth in our church left our programs having learned just these things, then I’d consider us wildly successful. I think we’re doing a good job at this already; here’s to continuing to do it ever better in the time to come!
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Children and Youth RE Programs
This month in the RE program, preschoolers will learn about the Easter and Passover traditions, then move into a celebration of friendship and helping one another. Participants in the kindergarten to second grade Spirit Seekers class will continue this year’s focus on sacred stories from the world’s religions with stories from Buddhism. Upper elementary children in the UUniverse Story program, after time spent last month learning about our solar system, will come closer to home as we explore early Earth, including lots of hands-on activities to help participants learn about our home planet. Middle-schoolers in the sixth to seventh grade will explore Christianity this month, including a visit to a Catholic church. This month in Coming of Age, youth will be getting down to the nitty-gritty of crafting their credo statements and the Coming of Age service coming up in May. Our YRUU youth will be represented by five youth and one advisor at the UU-United Nations Office Spring Seminar in New York City this month, focused on International Criminal Justice, while the group also continues raising awareness and funds to send nearly a dozen youth to the UU Association’s General Assembly in Portland, OR, this June.
Successful Workshop for LRE Sunday School Teachers
As part of the LRE Committee’s on-going effort to support the wonderful volunteer Sunday School teachers who work with our kindergarten through fifth graders, we offered a workshop titled “New Strategies for Working with Wiggly or Distracted Children” on Saturday morning, February 28. Facilitated by UU Santa Monica’s very own pediatric occupational therapist, church member Kim Santiago-Kalmanson, and committee members JoAn Peters and Sabina Mayo-Smith, participants learned how all of us — adults and children — have strategies we use to keep our bodies and minds both in sync and ready for the tasks at hand. Among other strategies, participants learned to use various movement exercises, and “fidgets” made of balloons filled with substances like dried beans and cornmeal, and socks filled with rice, to help everyone in a classroom (including the teacher!) find that calm, alert sweet spot for learning.
Thanks to the information presented, teachers now have some more classroom tools to help continue to provide a classroom community where everyone can happily participate.
— Sabina Mayo-Smith
YRUU to Embark on Trips to New York City and Portland, Oregon
UU Santa Monica’s Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) are preparing to embark on two trips in the next few months: UU United Nations Office (UU-UNO) 2015 Intergenerational Spring Seminar in New York City and General Assembly in Portland, Oregon.
UU-United Nations Office 2015 Intergenerational Spring Seminar takes place April 8 to 12.
The theme of this year’s seminar is the international criminal justice system. Issues that will be covered include:
• The death penalty/capital punishment
• Criminal justice systems
• The New Jim Crow
• Disability rights
• School-to-prison pipeline
• Mental health
• Mass incarceration
• Immigration detention
• Canadian justice or lack thereof for indigenous women
• Victims of crime (domestic abuse, sex trafficking, refugees, political prisoners)
• Human trafficking
• Positive examples of restorative justice
Paice Van Ooyen became our UU-UNO Youth Envoy last year when she attended the seminar. Paice will be joined this year by Maddy Gordon, Alden Fossett, Jake Brunell, Mari Nunan, and YRUU advisor Liza Cranis.
A larger group of youth will be attending General Assembly June 24 to 28 in Portland, OR. General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).
Attendees worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process.
The group is quite excited about both trips. Even with parents paying what they can, the cost of flying, registering, and lodging youth at both events is prohibitive. YRUU have been holding fund-raising events from a hot chocolate sale to a recent babysitting event on Valentine’s Day. And there are more events to come. Please support YRUU in this endeavor. These trips not only are educational and informative, but they allow our church youth to make connections with other UU youth and adults from other congregations, further strengthening their bond with our congregation and religion.
You can make donations to the YRUU Travel Fund by check, cash, or credit card. Any questions can be directed to Liza Cranis
— Liza Cranis YRUU Advisor and LRE Youth Subcommittee
Adult RE
Understanding the Bible: A Contemporary UU Exploration
Coming in April — an expanded version of the class and book discussion offered by Adult Programs in 2013, facilitated by James Witker.
UUs sometimes have a tenuous relationship with our Judeo-Christian heritage and its main source material, but the Bible remains both the most important text in western civilization and a powerful icon in modern American culture. The Rev. John Buehrens, former president of the UUA, argues in his book, “Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers and Religious Liberals,” that the progressiveminded should not cede interpretation of “The Good Book” to literalists and fundamentalists and their political ends. Rather, we should seek to better understand it as a human text, with all its contradictions, complexity, and richness. From the publisher: “This warm, straightforward guide invites readers to rediscover our culture’s central religious text and makes accessible some of the best contemporary historical, political, and feminist readings of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.” We will use Buehrens’ volume as our main guide, and consider his (controversial, perhaps) thesis that, taken as a whole, the Biblical narrative is one that can be read as counter-oppressive. In addition, we will utilize selections from other authors and thinkers in the world of Biblical scholarship, images from art history, and clips from popular cinema that can help us understand what the Bible stories have meant to people through time. Finally, we will consider responses to the Biblical tradition from different sources such as New Atheism, Progressive Christianity, and Religious Naturalism that may help inform our understanding. As before, we will emphasize the importance of our own backgrounds and the goal of spiritual/personal growth as we approach this difficult topic.
Dates/Times TBD. Sign up at the RE Table and contact James Witker with questions.
— James Witker
Let’s find the courage to break out of our protective shells
This month, as I reflect on our ministry theme of BROKENNESS, I think of physical as well as spiritual wounds. Some of you will remember that a few years ago I broke my ankle. I was overjoyed when I was finally out of the cast, but I was a bit startled to realize then how much of my recovery still lay ahead — my bones were no longer broken, but that was the quick part. What took a great deal more time and effort was stretching the tendons that had gotten used to working in one way — staying very still, not moving much — and it was a hard thing to retrain them to move around and stretch and bend. My tendons didn’t particularly want to stretch beyond the place that they had gotten used to while I was in the cast. It was very uncomfortable and it often didn’t feel good to do that work. But I knew that the discomfort of that stretching was good for me, was what I needed.
Our spirituality is similar to our physicality in this way, I think. I find that the ways in which I am most rigid, most in need of stretching out and moving beyond, are in the protections I’ve built around places in myself that are tender, perhaps because they have been wounded in the past. And I work hard at this job of protecting places that maybe don’t really need protecting any longer.
Sometimes, we do experience real hurt and pain and brokenness. There are times in all of our lives when what we need, fundamentally, is respite and care. The cast on my ankle was necessary — we need to build a hardness around the tender places when we are hurt, to give ourselves a chance to mend the broken places. And church is also a place to come to find that sort of spiritual rest and care and safety when it is what we need.
But once the walls we build around our broken places have served their purpose, sometimes we find it difficult to move beyond them. And it is at that point that church should be a place where we are encouraged and inspired and maybe even pushed a little bit to venture beyond the walls we have built for ourselves. Wholehearted living, full healing, comes when we are willing to show the places where we have been broken. They are what make us beautiful, and human, and whole.
And so this month, I invite you to look for the places in your own life where, by building protections around old hurts, you have hardened and are not growing. Your mission is to do the hard, personal, religious work of deepening… what is keeping you from embracing life fully, from living with deep meaning and purpose and joy? What is the work that needs doing so you can be truly open and alive? These are not things that have quick or easy answers. And no one can tell you what the work before you is — only you can know that. But look for that work, and find ways to break yourself open so that you can grow in spirit and become more and more the person you most aspire to be. Join me at church where we come for some tools and provisions and some company in that work, and to be reminded that living a meaningful life isn’t supposed to be easy.
May we all find the courage to break out of our protective shells, to lift our scars and cracks to the light, and say, holy, holy. They shine, friends.
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Children and Youth RE Programs
This month in the UU Santa Monica RE program, preschoolers will explore and celebrate the wonderful world around them, with sessions on snow and rainbows and dreams and shadows. Participants in the Kindergarten to second grade Spirit Seekers class will continue this year’s focus on sacred stories from the world’s religions with stories from Hinduism. Over the course of the month in our third to fifth grade UUniverse Story class we will take part in a three-week unit called “Our Cosmic Neighborhood,” which explores our own solar system, giving participants a sense of scale. Middle-schoolers in the sixth to seventh grade Interfaith Quest class will visit the Islamic Center of Southern California and will explore Judaism. This month in Coming of Age, youth will wrap up their exploration of some of the “big questions” of faith, and will move into crafting their credo statements and the Coming of Age service coming up in May. Coming up this month for tenth through twelfth graders is the launch of the Our Whole Lives class with parent orientations on March 15 and 22, and the first day of class for the youth March 29. And our YRUU youth will be planning this year’s Youth Sunday service on which they will present to the congregation at both services on Sunday, March 22. Don’t miss it!
Adult RE
NEW PROGRAM
Poetry Workshop —
Rima Snyder will be leading this brand new 7-week class, scheduled to begin on March 16. This in-depth class will meet on Monday evenings at 7 p.m., and will explore the following topics:
• introduction and overview, including discussion of what a poem is, goals of the workshop, and looking at examples of poems.
• the theme of “beauty” in poetry • observing nature and writing your own poem
• poetry about faith and spiritual journeys • poetry about connection with other people and cultures
• poetry as a form of social justice work • poems about death and transformation Participation is limited to 8 people.
Sign up at the RE table in Forbes Hall. This will be an exciting workshop, with lots of participation from the class.
ONGOING PROGRAMS
Fundamentals of Marxism. This class meets every other Thursday evening in Forbes Hall. See Rick Rhoads for details, reading material, and the date for the next class session. Lively discussion of Marxism and how this philosophy impacts our liberal thinking in today’s world. Visit the RE Table for more details.
Mindfulness Meditation, facilitated by Bill Blake. This 9-week class began on Thursday, February 19, in the Cottage. For more information, visit the RE table or contact Bill at (310) 578-7203.
Wednesday night writers Emmy Cresciman leads Wednesday night writers, every other Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Forbes Hall. Come anytime. All writers (including just for fun) are welcome.
The fourth Sunday of the month is Patio Chat, led by Leon Henderson-MacLennan. The topic is the UU theme for the month, which is Brokenness for March. Contact Leon or Natalie Kahn for details.
For all of these and other events, please visit the RE table after each service.
Quotes about Brokenness
Bettye Barclay has provided this list of quotes about our ministerial theme for March. Daily quotes also appear in the weekly electronic announcements.
Week 1. The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. — Ernest Hemingway
Week 2. Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again. — Dag Hammarskjold
Week 3. Much of life is like a mosaic; it is created out of brokenness. Have you ever wondered why we cut a ribbon to inaugurate a new building or smash a bottle over the bow of a new ship, or cut the cake at a wedding? It is an age-old understanding that new life is formed out of brokenness. — Rev. Marlin Lavanhar
Week 4. It is in knowing that others have survived being broken that we gain the courage and the strength to tackle our own brokenness. It is from knowing that everyone has been or will be broken in life — that everyone has a bag to fill with brokenness — that we begin to befriend what we can learn from our own brokenness. — Rev. Tamara Lebak
Week 5. No one would wish adversity on anyone, but it does seem to be what connects us, what makes us real, human. It is when we hit bottom that we can push off and rise above our original circumstance to a place even higher and greater. From crisis comes renewal, from adversity comes strength, from brokenness comes healing and growth and wisdom. — Kate Starr
From Our DRE
One of the things I love most passionately about our Unitarian Universalist faith is that we are a people who intentionally choose to be in community with others who do not hold common theological beliefs. We come to UU churches not to be part of a circle of the theologically like-minded, but to be among a diverse group of folks all choosing to “walk together” in our effort to live our lives in alignment with that which each of us holds most dear — whatever that may be. There are other places I could go to find a community of folks who are all agnostic, or who are all “small-c Christian,” or who are all interested in learning more about Buddhist practices of meditation and mindfulness. There are other diverse communities of faith, without question, but this is the one that I’ve found that comes closest to meeting my ideal of a community explicitly organized around valuing theological pluralism, where people are willing to do what is often uncomfortable: to talk not only about what we have in common but also our differences, while committing passionately to the idea that ALL of us belong here.
We do have a choice, friends, when it comes to words like “God.” We can choose to let vocabulary separate us, or we can choose to recognize that underneath the words we are often talking about the same values and truths. And even when we’re not — when we have for-real differences — perhaps that engagement with difference is where the greatest opportunity lies for clarifying and deepening our own beliefs. But that is only true if we are willing to deeply listen to others rather than listening only in order to refute or challenge. Here are some things that I believe:
• That any belief or faith that leads a person to live with joy, kindness, compassion, and personal integrity is good and true (“All my stories are true, and some of them really happened.”).
• That self-righteousness and feeling better than somebody else are universally detrimental to true faith and integrity. One’s own worth is not inversely proportionate to the worth of others.
• That I am but one piece of a larger whole, a single self which contains all that exists, much like a drop of water which is thrown into the air by a wave but will soon rejoin the ocean. Individuality, while also true, is a temporary symptom of owning a body.
• That I’m not sure that I would characterize that Oneness as a God/Universal Consciousness/Spirit of Life to which feelings or wishes could be attributed, but even so I prefer to live as though there were one who approves of questions, sincere doubt, and searching, who has a great sense of humor and appreciation for the absurd, and who wishes for all life to flourish and grow in peace and understanding.
• That every thing we do is a choice, and that every choice we make changes the world.
This is a starting point for my invitation to you this month: will you join me in the conversation? And will you accept — and maybe even enjoy — hearing some religious language that doesn’t speak directly to your heart some of the time because it does speak to someone’s heart, and because you’ll hear your own chosen language some of the time, too? Tell me what it is that you value so highly that it informs the way you aspire to live your life every single day. Perhaps it is something you call God. Or Good or Love or Truth. Perhaps it’s the awe you feel when you are in nature. Or the peace that you experience when you meditate. Whatever it is, I’m eager to hear about it.
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Children and Youth
This month in the UU Santa Monica RE program, preschoolers will celebrate love for Valentine’s Day, and will begin to explore the larger world around them, focusing on the moon and the stars this month. Participants in the Kindergarten- to 2nd grade Spirit Seekers class will continue this year’s focus on sacred stories from the world’s religions with stories from the Islamic and Hindu traditions. Over the course of the month in our 3rd to 5th grade UUniverse Story class we will explore the building blocks of all that exists and celebrate the connection between our own bodies and the rest of the universe. Middle-schoolers in the 6th to 7th grade Interfaith Quest class will conclude this study of Islam and begin exploring Judaism. Youth in our 8th grade Coming of Age program will continue exploring the “big questions” of life this month, including death and afterlife, determining what is of “ultimate worth,” exploring the values that inform our relationships with others, and probing the depth of their own identities as human beings and Unitarian Universalists.
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Adult RE
Mindfulness Meditation facilitated by Bill Blake. This spring’s class emphasizes mindfulness, which is full presence with our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and surroundings. Mindfulness generates greater moment-bymoment aliveness.
This class will also stress inquiry meditation resolving personal issues. In addition, we’ll practice meditations facilitating our life’s “growing up” and “waking up” journeys. Growing up is becoming more sensitive, caring, functional, and happy. Waking up (spiritual enlightenment) is knowing What you are. This realization releases us from suffering caused by negative thoughts and attitudes embedded in us during childhood and then influencing our entire lives.
Participants are given homework assignments. They are expected to do the weekly homework of a short, simple meditation and write a short description of their experiences to share with the class when we meet again. Someone missing a class can easily catch up.
Eight to 10 meditations will be presented. When the class is over, a participant understands the purpose and nature of meditation and thus, having also mastered a “toolkit” of meditations, can design his or her own meditation regime.
This 9-week class starts on Thursday, February 19, at 7 p.m. in the Cottage, SE Room. Each session will be approximately 2.5 hours. For more information, visit the RE table or contact Bill Blake.
Wednesday Night Writers. Every other Wednesday, in Forbes Hall, this is a welcoming space for all writers. No sign-up required; just show up.
Patio Chat. Join us Sunday, February 22 on the patio for a lively, thoughtful monthly UU Santa Monica Ministry Theme discussion with Leon Henderson-MacLennan and Natalie Kahn. February’s topic is God.
New Programs. A new year brings new program offerings from Adult RE. In addition to ongoing programs, such as Wednesday Night Writers, Patio Chats, and Bluestockings, we have some very intriguing courses in place for the next few months, including an introduction to the fundamentals of Marxism, interfaith visits, and more (see article on Mindfulness Meditation facilitated by Bill Blake on this page). Back by popular demand, a possible seminar series of discussions coming your way this spring by our own Ernie Pipes. Stay tuned!
New Tools. Our Adult RE Committee has also been hard at work in recent months creating exciting new tools and resources for programming, including a new Course Proposal Packet. As always, if you have suggestions or ideas for programming, please don’t hesitate to speak with someone on the Adult RE committee, or stop by the LRE table in Forbes Hall after Sunday Services.
— Natalie Kahn
Save March 8 for the Blessing of the Animals
Sunday, March 8 ,at 9 and 11 a.m., will be UU Santa Monica’s first-ever BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS, in which we celebrate the joy our animal companions bring to our lives. In doing so, we affirm our 7th Principle, respect for the interdepent web of all existence of which we are a part. Details of the event will appear in the March newsletter.
Winter LRE Stories
“Pageant, Pajamas and Pancakes, Oh My!”
On the morning of December 20, the Children’s Subcommittee hosted a pancake breakfast in Forbes Hall for UU Santa Monica families with children in our preschool and elementary school programs. Participants came in pajamas and enjoyed a pancake breakfast and the company of other families. YRUU volunteers helped out by supervising the two bounce houses set up in the courtyard. The breakfast was a great prelude to the dress rehearsal for the friendly beasts pageant. After the mice, doves, dogs, donkeys, and cows sang their hearts out, families continued to socialize and get to know each other. Thanks to the good reviews, this promises to become an annual event.
Winter Fun at Camp de Benneville Pines
Seventeen degrees, high winds and 6” of snow — a wild way to spend New Year’s? Now add a campful of UU high school students, interesting workshops, rap groups, a movie marathon and a New Year’s Dance, and what do you get? “Camp Teen MUUvie” senior high school winter camp at Camp de Benneville Pines. Four members of our YRUU high school group spent five days over the winter break meeting, mixing and hanging out with other UU high school students from southern California, Nevada and Arizona. They came home to Los Angeles with new friends to text, great memories, and an excitement for the 2015 General Assembly in Portland, OR!
— Sabina Mayo-Smith
Quotes About God
Bettye Barclay has provided this list of thoughts about our ministerial theme for February written by members and friends of UU Santa Monica. Also listed are some of the 99 names or attributes by which Muslims describe God. See the 99 names at http://sufism.org/foundations/ninetynine-names
Al-Batin – The Hidden One. “To me, god is the action of experiencing a part of the ultimate reality — that which is beyond rationality — within our own lives. I think of god as more of a verb than a noun.” — Eric Huang
Al-Fattah – The Opener. “I believe that our existence is a miraculous blessing and that we are all part of the cosmic dance. Our human condition is one of basic goodness, despite the pain, suffering, and cruelty that exist. Death is the end of individual ego consciousness but not the end of the eternal divine spirit that resides in each of us.”— Rima Snyder
Ash-Shakur – The Rewarder of Thankfulness. “Recently I had an “epiphany” of sorts about my negative reactions to all the theistic words and ideas in use at UU Santa Monica. It was that we have an opportunity to be way-showers in the world by building peace and understanding amongst ourselves, celebrating what we have in common instead of focusing on our differences. If we can’t do it here at UU Santa Monica, how can we have hope for our world? May our congregation know that we have so much more in common to celebrate together instead of focusing on our belief or non-belief in God.“ — Margot Page
Az-Zahir – The Manifest One. “I think in terms of Nature rather than God.”— Ellen Levy
Ash-Shahid – The Witness. “To me, God is the wonder we feel at a new discovery; the connection during an invigorating conversation; the inspiration of the creative spark; the warmth of a loving embrace. We may all call it different things, but I think that’s just semantics. God is in those moments; God is those moments.” — Laura Matthews
Al-Badi – The Originator. “GOD has been so anthropomorphized in our Western culture, it is easier to describe what GOD is not for me — the Great Parent and Magic Genie “out there” fighting my battles, distributing my justice, granting my wishes. GOD, for me, cannot not be described. To use a word or an image or a sensation instantly makes it me, and GOD is not me. Yet, GOD is me.” — Rhonda Peacock
Al-Wajid – The Finder. “I believe God exists — He’s one of our most powerful innovations.” — Bob Dietz
Ar-Razzaq – The Sustainer. “I love reading about God, the Mystery, that has been present in thought and experience with people for many thousands of years, and I value my own experiences of this Mystery — experiences which pale when put into words. I believe we are eternal souls, at one with the Mystery we call God. I think it is this indwelling God which causes us to question and to try to remember our Oneness in the duality of this world.” — Bettye Barclay
From Our DRE:
Where does Religious Education happen? What is the Religious Exploration program at UU Santa Monica all about, anyway? We’re now halfway through our church year and it’s almost time for us to start planning for the next one. Because of this, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what RE is. But I wonder what we might learn about RE if we also think about where it happens.
The easy response is that religious education happens on Sunday morning in our classrooms. It happens when we gather together in groups to learn about our faith and its history and about the world’s religions, and it happens when we ask our young people to think for themselves and to find meaning in the world and in their lives. It happens when we lead our kids in creating caring communities right there in their classrooms, and it happens on RE Faith in Action Sundays when we work together to make the world a better place.
But is that the end of the story? Does religious education stop when we leave the church grounds? Is one hour a week (assuming perfect attendance) enough to give our young people a grounding in what it means to be UU, to teach them to think for themselves, model kindness and compassion toward others, and take action to make the world a better place? Of course not. Rev. Phil Lund created a list of “7 Tools for Building a UU Home” that gives some wonderful suggestions for engaging our UU values throughout the week, not just on Sundays when your family comes to church. These tools include:
1. Bedtime ritual
• Read UU stories
• Comment on UU values in other stories
• Share joys and sorrows
• Participate in a UU prayer/reflection ritual (my suggestion: T-H-I-S prayer – one thing you’re Thankful for, one thing you Hope will happen, one thing you’re sorry about and would like to Improve, and one person to Send loving thoughts to)
2. Caring Conversations
• Make time for conversations about what really matters
• Tell your family members what you believe
• Just be present
3. Celebrating Holidays
• Match the holiday with your UU values
• Answer these questions: Why is this holiday important for a UU? Which of our 6 Sources does this holiday stem from?
• Create rituals for the holiday that mirror what is done at UU Santa Monica
• Attend UU holidays
4. Congregational Participation
• If a family is engaged, the congregation will be an important part of a family’s emotional support system
• Look for opportunities to connect your family with others of all ages
5. Family Meal and Grace
• Light a chalice
• Speak joys and sorrows
• Say grace
6. Family Service:
• Volunteer — families can “Do Good Together”
• Look for service projects for the whole family, within the church as well as in the community
7. Symbols of our Faith:
• Adorn your home with symbols of Unitarian Universalism
• 7 Principles and 6 Sources in art
• Create an altar using UU symbols or those from the sources of your childhood faith
• Display RE class projects
Why Come To Church? Children who come to church regularly:
• Make friends they look forward to seeing on Sunday
• Know their teachers and develop a valuable relationship with them.
• Understand the theme of the curricula
• Are familiar with and “at home” in the church
• Naturally memorize the repeated words and songs in worship.
• Know and look forward to the cycles of events and rituals of the church year
• Develop a sense of belonging; know names of many people of all ages
• Develop a sense of stewardship about the church and feel fulfilled when they have helped
• Feel a sense of ownership of their religion, their church and the RE program
Adults who come to church regularly experience similar satisfaction, too!
Children who drop in once a month or less do not experience the richness of the community. It becomes another “thing to do” rather than an integral part of family and spiritual life. Busy lives need spiritual practice that binds the family and community in shared experience. What are my responsibilities as a parent in my child’s religious education? You are your child’s primary religious educator. Share your religious beliefs with your child. (If you’re not sure what they are, consider participating in UU Santa Monica’s Adult RE programs and classes related to personal and spiritual growth, such as “Building Your Own Theology.”) Let your child know why you chose this church and what it means to you. Talk about how you act on your beliefs about such topics as fairness, tolerance, and caring for the earth, and provide your child with frequent opportunities to act on his or her own beliefs.
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Children's RE
This month in the UU Santa Monica RE program, preschoolers will explore ways we can help ourselves and each other when we’re feeling sad, or need some extra care, and will begin to learn about special rites of passage in our church community, such as weddings and baby dedications. Participants in the Kindergarten to 2nd grade Spirit Seekers class will continue this year’s focus on sacred stories from the world’s religions with stories from the Islamic tradition. Over the course of the month in our 3rd to 5th grade UUniverse Story class, we will explore the history of our current best theory about the origin of the Universe, the Big Bang: what was thought before, how the Big Bang idea was developed, how it was tested, how scientists stumbled on the “smoking gun” evidence, and how it was ultimately accepted. Middle-schoolers in the 6th to 7th grade Interfaith Quest class will also be learning about Islam this month, with an introduction to the faith as well as a field trip to experience a worship service and to meet with youth their own age. Youth in our 8th grade Coming of Age program will continue exploring the “big questions” of life this month, including exploring spirituality through film as well as sessions on concepts of God and theist/agnostic/atheist perspectives on faith. A big thanks goes out this month to all UU Santa Monica members for your generous contributions to our RE Faith in Action project in November; RE participants compiled 82 hygiene kits for donation to OPCC’s ShWashLock facility, which provides showers, washers and lockers for homeless members of our Santa Monica community.
Adult RE
A new year brings new program offerings from Adult RE. In addition to ongoing programs, such as Wednesday Night Writers, Patio Chats, and Bluestockings, we have some very intriguing courses in place for the next few months, including an introduction to the fundamentals of Marxism, meditation workshops, interfaith visits, and more.
At the time of this writing, specific dates and times for several programs were still to be determined (TBD). please look to upcoming announcements, and visit the LRE table in Forbes Hall after Sunday services for the latest information.
Our Adult RE committee has also been hard at work in recent months, creating exciting new tools and resources for programming, including a new Course Proposal Packet. As always, if you have suggestions or ideas for programming, please don’t hesitate to speak with someone on the Adult RE committee, or stop by the LRE table in Forbes Hall after Sunday services.
— Karen Hsu Patterson
NEW PROGRAMS
Fundamentals of Marxism
Marxists led the Russian and Chinese Revolutions. They’ve also been a major part of the leadership of most struggles for social justice in the 20th century. In the U.S., that includes the trade union movement, particularly the drive to organize industrial unions in the 1930s; the civil rights movement; the fight for unemployment benefits and Social Security; the women’s liberation movement; and, of course, the movement against the Vietnam War and other unjust wars. So is Marxism fundamentally revolutionary or reformist? Does it fight for “a fair day’s wages” or “abolition of the wage system”? And why did the Soviet Union/Russia and China return to capitalism? Is “the 99%” a Marxist notion? What does Marxism say about “political economy” and “state power”? And what the heck is “dialectical materialism”? This seminar will take up these and other questions. We’ll meet once a week for six weeks, at a time or times to be determined by polling those who sign up.
— Rick Rhoads
Meditation Workshops and Groups
Bettye Barclay will facilitate a weekly meditation group based on Centering Meditation, for people who want to begin, develop, or deepen a meditation practice. This method of meditation is a powerful way to experience deep renewing silence. This course will meet for six sessions in Cottage SE starting on January 6.
Bill Blake will facilitate another meditation course, The Way to Go: Meditation. This eight week course will explore a variety of meditation practices and benefits, enabling participants to create their own meditation toolkits. (Dates/times TBD.)
Interfaith Visit: Bahá’í Faith. In the spirit of religious exploration and understanding, we continue our series of interfaith visits. We are planning a visit to the Los Angeles Bahá’í Center (date/ time TBD). The Bahá’í faith is a monotheistic religion emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. All are welcome to join in this
interfaith visit.
ONGOING PROGRAMS
Wednesday Night Writers: A welcoming space for all writers, regardless of prior writing experience or expertise. Join us January 14 and January 28, at 7 p.m. in Forbes Hall for writing, helpful critiques, and moral support. No signups required — just show up!
Patio Chat: Join us Sunday, January 25, 10:10 a.m. on the Patio, for lively, thoughtful monthly UU Santa Monica Ministry Theme discussion with Leon Henderson- MacLennan and Natalie Kahn. January’s topic is Blessing.
Bluestockings: A Feminist Salon. Join us January 25, 5 p.m. in Forbes Hall, for a potluck supper and feminist discussion. We will discuss the book “How to Be a Woman” by Caitlin Moran. All are welcome. Contact: Karen Hsu Patterson
New Tools And Resources: Course Proposal Packet
As a part of its efforts to bring high- quality programming to our community, the Adult Programs Committee is excited to share its new Lifespan Religious Exploration Course Proposal Packet (v 1.0.1)! T
The goal of this packet is to be your one-stop-shop for all your course proposal needs, and it explores:\
- How to set learning goals for workshops, and establish a vision for your program.
- Our new UU Santa Monica Leadership Covenant, located at bit.ly/uusmlrecovenant — The covenant is a helpful reminder that course facilitators act as representatives of the LRE Committee and of UU Santa Monica as a whole.
- Our new LRE Course Proposal Form, located at bit.ly/uusmlreproposal — The new form helps to clarify your goals and vision for the workshop, and has the environmental benefit of being pa per-free.
This exciting packet of information is a living document, and if you have any questions, corrections, or suggestions for edits, you can always reach out to our friendly neighborhood Director of Religious Education,
Catherine Farmer Loya, at catherine@uusm.org
— Eric Huang
From Our DRE:
As December arrives, we move into a holiday season punctuated by great contrasts: the days are shorter and colder, but we draw warmth from the
community we build together with our families, with our friends, and in our congregation. Sometimes it seems like the overarching theme of the holiday season is excess — overfull bellies, overspending, over indulgence of many varieties. But there is also great need in these times. I think of those who are struggling to get by: those in need of love, those in need of shelter, and those in need of hope that things will get better.
Once when I was in a time of anxiety and struggle in my youth, a good friend told me a fable about the sun that still shines, even behind the clouds on the very darkest of days. This month, our congregational ministry theme is HOPE, and I am reminded of that fable. In the stores and on the radio, popular
culture tells us that December is a time of joy and merriment, and in many ways it is, but the shadow side of the holiday season is that it can be an especially hard and lonely time for those who have lost loved ones or are far away from them. The ancient winter holidays of many religious traditions recognized the turning of the year at midwinter as a time to acknowledge the darkness, but to celebrate the returning of light and warmth as an offering of hope; the light returns for everyone and there is hope yet for each one of us. In my own life, the winter solstice is a day tinged with sorrow, as that is when we lost my grandfather six years ago. This year is the first time the 21st rolls around again to a Sunday, so I anticipate this year’s Festival of Lights pageant will feel even more poignant to me than usual.
We as a church community are here for one another through the joyful times and through our sorrows. We celebrate and mourn together, and provide a safe place in which we can share our truest selves. We are a family, we members and friends of UU Santa Monica, and this month is a time for remembering that bond. May we be joyful as the days grow shorter and we approach the nadir of the year on the Winter Solstice: the return of light and warmth is near. And if we cannot be joyful, may we find peace.
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Pageant Friendly Beasts Update
Our friendly beasts, preschoolers through 5th graders, will continue their rehearsals of “The Friendly Beasts Song” this month for the holiday pageant, which occurs December 21 at both services. Below is the rehearsal schedule:
• December 7 — Preschoolers to grade 5 during RE (costume fitting after RE in the Cottage)
• December 14 — Group rehearsal for all at RE beginning (costume fitting after RE in the Cottage)
• December 20 — Saturday dress rehearsal in Sanctuary (9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.)
• December 21 — Pageant! (both services — please arrive at 8:15 a.m.)
We realize that pageant day is a long one for the children, so please contact me if you can help by:
Supervising the children and providing crafts and games between the services and during most
of the second service, when they’ll be in the cottage until they sing, or
Bringing food for between the services (small sandwiches, bagels, cream cheese, muffins, crackers, cheese, cut vegetables and fruit, water, juice, etc.).
Ideally, we would like all children to sing at both services on pageant Sunday, but if your child can sing at only one service, please let me know.
Here’s to another great pageant!
— Kris Langabeer
Children’s RE
This month in the children’s RE program, preschoolers will explore several different winter holidays from various religious traditions. Kindergarten to 2nd graders will continue their exploration of sacred stories from many religious traditions with a focus on the Christian stories about Jesus’ birth and some of the parables that he used as teaching stories. Third to fifth graders in the UUniverse Story program will take part in a special project measuring the speed of light with chocolate bars and a microwave oven, and then will take a little side
trip into the world of illusions and self-deception as an introduction to critical thinking and skepticism, especially as it is applied to our sensory perceptions. Sixth to seventh graders in the Interfaith Quest class will begin their world religions focus with an introductory exploration of varieties of Christian faith, while our 8th grade Coming of Age class jumps into considering some of life’s “big questions” about suffering and meaning, and will also
spend a Sunday thinking about the role of rituals and holidays in religious life, and designing a new holiday of their own creation. And on December 21 members of our preschool and elementary RE classes will once again take the stage as Friendly Beasts during our Festival of Lights Winter Holiday Pageant.
Adult RE
by Karen Hsu Patterson
Look for new programs, workshops, and interfaith visits coming soon in 2015. As we approach the winter holiday season, here are some recurring programs offered for your enjoyment in December.
As always, if you have suggestions or ideas for what you’d like to see in Adult RE programming, please don’t hesitate to speak with someone on the LRE committee, or come and visit us at the LRE Table after Sunday morning services in Forbes Hall.
Bluestockings: A Feminist Salon
Bluestockings invites church members and friends to join them on fourth Sundays for a potluck supper followed by discussion. As the fourth Sunday in December occurs shortly after Christmas, our next meeting date and discussion topic is to be determined, but please keep an eye out for updates in weekly announcements and order of service.
Our Bluestockings salon is inspired by The Blue Stocking Society of England, an informal women’s social and educational movement. It was founded as a women’s literary discussion group, a revolutionary step away from traditional, non-intellectual women’s activities. The women involved in this group usually had more education and fewer children than most other English women of the time.
Talk of politics was prohibited but literature and the arts were the main discussion topics. Educated men were invited to the meetings.
An equal gender mix most often attends local Bluestockings meetings. For more information contact Karen Hsu Patterson.
Wednesday Night Writers
A welcoming space for all writers, regardless of prior writing experience or expertise. Join us December 10 at 7 p.m. in Forbes Hall for writing, helpful critiques, and moral support. Unlock your creativity! No sign-ups required — just show up!
Patio Chat
Join Leon Henderson- MacLennan and Natalie Kahn on the patio on Sunday, December 28, at 12:10 a.m., for a
lively, thoughtful discussion of UU Santa Monica’s monthly ministry theme of hope. The discussion follows the single service that day at 11 a.m.
New Year Retreat: Let Our Lives Speak
On this day-long retreat on Saturday, January 10, we will welcome the new year by considering anew how we might “let our lives speak” in calling us to wholeness, meaning, and purpose. Sometimes what we call “retreats” wind up being forums, workshops, or meetings. This will be an honest-togoodness retreat. Our unstructured, self-directed day together will include time and space for reflection, silence, meditation, movement, prayer, journaling, and other practices of the heart. The gardens and chapel of Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino will be open to us. Rev. Rebecca will lead a brief opening worship and closing worship time. We will share a simple lunch.
Please wear comfortable clothing and bring personally meaningful texts, journals and pens, yoga mats, and anything else that might add to your day to help you ground yourself and to reflect on how your life speaks.
A fee of $35 covers lunch and the rental of the comfortable facilities at Holy Spirit Retreat Center. If this fee creates a barrier to your participation, please contact Rev. Rebecca (minister@uusm.org). Sign up at the Lifespan RE table in Forbes between services, or contact Rhonda Peacock by January 4.
— Rhonda Peacock
Ministry Theme for December is HOPE
Bettye Barclay has provided this list of weekly thoughts about our ministerial theme for December.
Week 1. Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality. — Jonas Salk
Week 2. Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. — Joseph Addison
Week 3. Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness. — Desmond Tutu
Week 4. The human heart has hidden treasures, in secret kept, in silence sealed / the thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures, whose charms were broken if revealed. — Charlotte Brontë
Week 5. Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering “it will be happier….” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson
From Our DRE:
This month, as Thanksgiving and the winter holidays approach, we turn to our November ministry theme of Sanctuary. It’s a word we hear pretty often at UU Santa Monica, but usually we use it as a concrete noun, a place identifier for the room where we gather in worship on Sunday mornings. I’d like to invite you to spend some time thinking this month about where you and your family find sanctuary in your lives.
In the Middle Ages, fugitives could not be pursued into churches by secular authorities, and they were offered immunity from arrest while in the literal sanctuary of the church building. I find this image compelling — the idea of the sanctuary of a church as safe place to come to, where you can leave your burdens outside for awhile, taking some time for refuge and renewal. They will wait for your return; this is not the place to walk away from the cares of your life. But it is a good place to take a break, a good place to come to for inspiration and the gathering of energy for taking them up again as you go back out into the world.
Perhaps our UU Santa Monica community is indeed a place of sanctuary for you; I hope that it can be for all who
come to us as seekers. But it is my hope, too, that you will find places of sanctuary in the other spaces of your life. When you are at home, do you set aside a time in your day for rest or contemplation? Or do you feel busy, busy, busy for every moment of every day? I confess that I tend toward the latter — I have found that opening up this space for rest has to be a very deliberate practice, or weeks and weeks will slip right by before I realize I’ve been running myself ragged again.
As my son moves into toddlerhood, I am beginning to think too about the patterns of living I want to establish for him, and providing a home that feels peaceful, and that provides sanctuary from the many stresses of life out in the world, is high on my priority list. Parents, what do you do with your children to help them learn the ebb and flow of balanced living?
When you are in need of sanctuary, as we all are at times, may you find it within the walls of our UU Santa Monica community, in your home, and wherever you go.
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Children and Youth RE Programs
This month in the children’s RE program, preschoolers will explore ways to be in community together, including how we help one another, and celebrating Thanksgiving together.
Kindergarten to 2nd graders will continue this year’s focus on sacred stories from the world’s religions by focusing on stories from our Jewish and Christian heritage, including the story of David and Goliath, as well as stories about the life and teachings of Jesus. Our 3rd to 5th graders in the UUniverse Story program will continue learning about the natural world and “how we know what we know” by exploring the nature of visible light by modeling the wave properties of light, splitting the visible spectrum of light with prisms, and building our very own spectroscopes, which we’ll use to examine the varying spectrums created by different light sources.
November also marks the annual return of a UU Santa Monica holiday tradition — Friendly Beasts song rehearsals in class each week, as we prepare for our Winter Holiday pageant in December!
Middle-schoolers in the Interfaith Quest class will continue our first-quarter focus on a deep exploration of our own Unitarian Universalist faith, using it to build a framework for how we’ll learn about other religious traditions later in the year, and developing our own “elevator speeches” for explaining our UU faith to people of other faith traditions. And in our 8th grade Coming of Age class, youth will consider the role of spirituality in their lives and how they live our UU religion, will be introduced to a number of contemplative spiritual practices, and will begin exploring life’s “big questions” with a session on “Good and Evil.” This month in YRUU, youth will rotate as facilitators for group discussion on a variety of topics relevant to living our UU values in the world. The 8th to 9th grade Our Whole Lives sexuality education program launches with the first class session on November 9. And youth in grades 8 to12 are invited to a “pseudo-lock in” movie night on Friday, November 14, in Forbes Hall from 7:30 to midnight — don’t miss it!
Adult RE
Bluestockings: A Feminist Salon
Bluestockings invites church members and friends to join it on fourth Sundays for a potluck supper followed by discussion. Our next meeting is Sunday, November 23, at 5 pm, in Forbes Hall. We will be discussing the book “How to Be a Woman,” by Caitlin Moran. Our Bluestockings salon is inspired by The Blue Stocking Society of England, an informal women’s social and educational movement. It was founded as a women’s literary discussion group, a revolutionary step away from traditional, non-intellectual women’s activities. The women involved in this group usually had more education and fewer children than most other English women of the time. Talk of politics was prohibited but literature and the arts were of main discussion. Educated men were invited to the meetings.
Local Bluestockings meeting are most often attended by an equal gender mix. For more information contact Karen Hsu Patterson.
Wednesday Night Writers
A welcoming space for all writers, regardless of prior writing experience or expertise. Join us November 12 and November 26, at 7 p.m., in Forbes Hall for writing, helpful critiques, and moral support. Unlock your creativity! No sign-ups required — just show up!
Interfaith Visit — Hare Krishna
You are invited to join us for an interfaith visit to the Hare Krishna community in Culver City on Sunday, November 16, at 4 p.m. Our visit will include a tour of the community and museum, and an exploration of the Hare Krishna faith tradition. Sign up online at http://bit.ly/UUSMLREHareKrishna or in Forbes Hall at the LRE Table after Sunday services. Stay tuned for more details!
The Global Interfaith Movement
Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions was “created to cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world.” For the first time in over 20 years, the Parliament of the World’s Religions is convening in the United States! This transformational event brings together thousands of interfaith leaders and activists from over 80 countries, representing more than 50 faiths and spiritual traditions.
Previous speakers have included Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Thich Nhat Hanh. This incredible event is scheduled for October 15 to 19, 2015, in Salt Lake City, UT. Would you be interested in joining a group from UU Santa Monica to be a part of the oldest, largest, and most inclusive gathering of people of all faiths and traditions? Super-Saver registration pricing ends soon — save $325 when you register before November 30, 2014. Please visit www.parliamentofreligions.org for more information, and stay tuned for more from the Adult
Programs RE subcommittee.
Patio Chat
Join us Sunday, November 23, at 10:10 a.m. on the Patio, for lively, thoughtful monthly UU Santa Monica Ministry Theme Discussion with Leon Henderson-MacLennan and Natalie Kahn. November’s topic is Sanctuary.
2014 Friendly Beasts
Once again, our preschool-through elementary-aged children will sing “The Friendly Beasts” song at our holiday pageant on Sunday, December 21, at both services. As in years past, all involved children will sing the first and last verses of the song. Small groups of children will sing the middle five verses, dressed in a costume appropriate to the animals speaking in that verse (brown donkeys, red and white cows, dogs, doves, or mice).
Our preschoolers sing the mice verse, and the older children pick which of the other animals they want to be.
We have costumes for our Beasts from previous years. Older kids who don’t want to dress as an animal but do want to sing are welcome to be shepherds.
Religious Exploration teachers and parents, please note: I will lead Sunday rehearsals (about 10 minutes long) that occur in the RE classrooms during both services. Below is the rehearsal schedule, including a dress rehearsal Saturday morning, December 20.
November 9 - Preschoolers to grade 5: 10 minutes each classroom
November 16 - Preschoolers to grade 5: 10 minutes each classroom
November 23 - Group rehearsal for all as RE begins
November 30 - Preschoolers to grade 5: 10 minutes each classroom
December 7 - Preschoolers to grade 5: 10 minutes each classroom
December 14 - Group rehearsal for all as RE begins
December 20 - Saturday dress rehearsal in sanctuary from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
December 21 - Pageant! (both services)
Call or email me with questions. I look forward to working with your friendly beasts once again this year!
— Kris Langabeer
Adult RE
Adult Programs invites you to join us for the conclusion of our “Long Strange Trip” film screenings about the history of Unitarians and Universalists. There is no admission charge for this event.
Part 6: Unitarian Universalism:
Wednesday, October 15 at 7 p.m. in Forbes Hall
This film tells the story of the century-long “courtship” between Unitarianism and Universalism as a classic love story. It details how they “courted” each other, sought out other partners, and finally consummated the merger. It discusses how Humanism helped bring the two movements closer together, and the role that Liberal Religious Education, especially Sophia Lyon Fahs, had on laying the groundwork for the merger. It then follows Unitarian Universalism through the 50 years of its existence and ends with some personal comments on what the future might hold. More information about the series can be found at uufilms.com
BLUESTOCKINGS a Feminist Salon for all genders
Sunday, October 26, Forbes Hall, 5 to 7 p.m.
“The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd, traces more than three decades in the lives of a wealthy Charleston debutante who longs to break free from the strictures of her household and pursue a meaningful life, and the urban slave, Handful, who is placed in her charge as a child before finding courage and a sense of self. All welcome, please read book before you come.
Potluck supper at 5 p.m., followed by book discussion. For more info, contact Karen Hsu Patterson
Children’s RE
This month in the children’s RE program, preschoolers will explore symbols and images of Unitarian Universalism
and our very own UU Santa Monica community.
Kindergarten-2nd graders will jump into this year’s theme of sacred stories from the world’s religions by focusing on stories from our Jewish and Christian heritage, including learning about Noah and Moses.
Our 3rd-5th graders in the UUniverse Story program will discuss the purpose of religion and science, will learn about science as the best method we have developed yet to understand the natural world around us, and will begin to create timelines that help us place ourselves within the history of the universe, and build an understanding of how events in our own lives relate to other people, history, and events from as far back as the beginning of time.
Middle-schoolers in the Interfaith Quest class will set off on their year-long journey by taking a look at our own Unitarian Universalist faith, using it to build a framework for how we’ll learn about other religious traditions later in the year, and developing our own “elevator speeches” for explaining our UU faith to people of other faith traditions.
And in our 8th grade Coming of Age class, youth will explore UU history and then will begin thinking about the concept and practice of personal spirituality.
— Liza Cranis
PATIO CHAT
Sunday, October 26
10:10 a.m.-10:55 a.m. in the Courtyard.
Join us for a lively, thoughtful discussion of our monthly ministry theme. Info: Leon Henderson-MacLennan
From Our DRE
Welcome to the 2014-15 program year! I am so excited about what is to come this year for all of us here at UUSM. We have wonderful Sunday morning RE programs planned for children and youth, as well as a wide variety of adult programs coming up this fall and throughout the year. But we’re also inviting all at UUSM to join us this year as we experiment with a new “Full Week Faith” focus, aimed at equipping people of all ages to practice being Unitarian Universalist every day of the week by living meaning-full lives aligned with their own most deeply-held values.
Our congregational ministry theme for this month is LOVE. As Unitarian Universalists, we have the power to bring our message of love and hope into every interaction we have out in the world. I have thought for a long time that the most important thing we do here is help our young people learn how to be in community with others. It is easy be kind and compassionate to your best friend. It is easy to be in relationship with those we feel are like-minded, or those who we like. But what about the kid who sits behind you in class, or the person you see every day at work, who just rubs you the wrong way? How about when someone’s behavior makes it hard to love them? Or when we’ve been hurt? What then? Our faith tells us that the person we don’t like is still a person, still deserves to be treated with respect and kindness, and calls us to do the hard work of seeking to be in authentic community even when — or especially when — it is hard. That is when we are most truly living our Unitarian Universalist values. That is the hard work. Church, to me, is a place to come to in order to be reminded every week that spiritual work is not easy work, but it is good work. Church is a place where I’m given some tools and some provisions and some company, if I wish it, for doing the hard spiritual work of stretching beyond what is presently comfortable for me.
At the end of September Jewish people all over the world will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the High Holy Days during which people examine their lives and seek to make amends with any they have wronged in the last year. How well this aligns with our theme of love for this month. I am reminded of the refrain from a reading by UU minister Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs: “We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.” May we all, this month and throughout the year that is before us, practice forgiving ourselves and each other, and seek always to begin again in love.
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Love
Bettye Barclay has provided this list of weekly thoughts about our ministerial theme for September. Daily thoughts are published in the weekly email announcements.
— Week 1. “The first duty of love is to listen.” Paul Tillich
— Week 2. “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
— Week 3. “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
— Week 4. “Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.” George Eliot
— Week 5. “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Confucius
Adult Religious Exploration
As a new church year begins, we look forward to a multitude of Adult RE program offerings, designed to challenge, inspire, motivate, and encourage religious and spiritual discussion, learning, and exploration. Exciting things are on the way, including “Owning Your Religious Past” (see separate article by Dan Patterson), as well as “Lessons of Loss.” Keep an eye out for details in the coming months. Here are ongoing programs for the month of September.
— Karen Hsu Patterson
Owning Your Religious Past
Do you want to come to terms with how your religious perspective has changed? Do you want to sort out what to leave behind, what to bring into the present, and what to redefine? Do you want to explore who you are religiously and who you hope to become? “Owning Your Religious Past” invites you to revisit religious spaces and people from childhood in a way that promotes greater self-understanding and personal peace. Join facilitators Carrie Lauer and Dan Patterson for a five-session seminar, starting Monday, September 15 at 7 p.m. in Forbes 1. Sign up at the Lifespan RE table in Forbes Hall during coffee hour. Childcare is available on request.
— Dan Patterson
Bluestockings: A Feminist Salon
Bluestockings, a feminist salon, invites church members and friends to join them on fourth Sundays for a potluck supper followed by a discussion (topic TBD). Our next meeting is Sunday, September 28, 5 p.m., in Forbes Hall.
Our Bluestockings salon is inspired by The Blue Stocking Society of England, an informal women’s social and educational movement. It was founded as a women’s literary discussion group, a revolutionary step away from traditional, non-intellectual women’s activities. The women involved in this group usually had more education and fewer children than most other English women of the time. Talk of politics was prohibited. Literature and the arts were the main subjects of discussion. Educated men were invited to the meetings.
Local Bluestockings meeting are most often attended by an equal gender mix. For more information contact Karen Hsu Patterson.
Patio Chat
Join us on the Patio on Sunday, September 28, at 10:10 a.m. for a lively, thoughtul discussion of our monthly Ministry theme led by Natalie Kahn.
Wednesday Night Writers
A welcoming space for all writers, regardless of prior writing experience or expertise. Join us September 10 and September 24, 7 p.m., Forbes Hall for writing, helpful critiques, and moral support. Unlock your creativity! No sign-ups required — just show up!
Long, Strange Trip: A UU History:
Our six-part video and discussion series, about the history of Unitarian and Universalist thought from the beginning of the Christian era to what we know today as Unitarian Universalism, returns on Wednesday, September 17, 7 p.m., in Forbes Hall.
We will screen “Part V: Evolution.” This episode follows both Unitarianism and Universalism through the late 19th and early 20th centuries as they evolve from Christian Bible-oriented religions to our present-day non-creedal movement. Highlights of the hour-long video include:
- Discussion of influences as diverse as Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” the Civil War, feminism and suffrage, and the Social Gospel;
- The roles of Mary Livermore, Julia Ward Howe, Henry Whitney Bellows, Antoinette Brown, Olympia Brown, Celia Burleigh, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Mary White Ovington, John Haynes Holmes, and Clarence Skinner.
The screening will be followed by guided discussion.
You are welcome to bring your own brown-bag supper for pre-workshop socializing at 6 p.m. before the screening begins. Childcare is available on request. Sign up in Forbes Hall at the LRE table after Sunday services.
Programs for Children and Youth
On Ingathering Sunday, September 7, we’ll celebrate the beginning of a new church year together as one community of all ages, where “Love Reaches Out” — all will attend the service in the sanctuary. Then on the September 14, all children and youth who attend will take part in a special Social Justice project, while many of our church families are enjoying the church camp weekend at Camp de Benneville Pines. RE Classes will begin on Sunday, September 21. No matter the age of your child, we have something exciting in store this year:
Preschool: “Chalice Children” celebrates the wondrous qualities of the children themselves and expands outward to the community around them. This program helps young children learn what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist and creates a sense of connection to nature and the universe. Using a chalice theme, children learn about their religious community, engage in sharing with others, and explore a sense of belonging.
Kindergarten to 2nd Grade: “Spirit Seekers” shares core stories of our faith, focusing this year on Sacred Stories from many religious traditions, and touches also on our monthly all-church ministry themes as well as the 7 UU Principles. We’ll engage children in stories and activities to help them make meaning of their lives, grow a strong UU identity, and create a spiritual community together that honors multiple learning styles and celebrates beauty in diversity.
3rd to 5th Grade: “The UUniverse Story” How do we know what we know? All meaning stories, origin stories or creation myths, regardless of time or setting, have been a reflection of all the knowledge and technology available to its particular culture. This curriculum, developed by UUSM members Ian Dodd and Margot Page, is designed to celebrate what we know in the 21st century and to nurture a sense of awe and wonder for the world around us through a hands-on, science-based curriculum intended to give an appreciation of the incredible achievements of our species to understand the world and our place in it. Kids will engage our UU Principles, history and values as they explore the Big Bang and the origins of the Universe, the chemistry of life, the ideas of evolution and change over time, and the interconnectedness of all people from our shared ancestry with each other and every other life form on the planet.
6th to 7th Grade: “Interfaith Quest” is a brand new two-year comparative religions course that takes participants outside of our own walls to learn about the world’s religions through building relationships and doing interfaith service work with youth from a variety of religious traditions. Participants will reflect on the unique and universal aspects of religious experience, explore their own values as they relate to many other faith traditions, and increase their appreciation of religious diversity. The concept for this new course was inspired by the book “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, in the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation” by Eboo Patel. Mr. Patel’s experience taught him that when youth from faiths who share the common value of doing good work in the world come together to work cooperatively on a service project, it not only helps to break down barriers of misunderstanding, but also deepens one’s own faith through sharing it with others
8th Grade: “Coming of Age” provides opportunities for youth to learn who they are and where they are on their spiritual journey, bond with other teens, celebrate their gifts, learn about the church and how it works, and articulate their own personal beliefs within the context of our UU faith. The year culminates on Coming of Age Sunday, May 17, when the youth will present religious credo statements before the congregation in a worship service of their own design.
9th to 12th Grade: “Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU)” empowers teens, with the guidance of adult advisors, to create their own vision and mission for their program. YRUU youth will explore what it means to be young and UU, how our UU principles inform how we live our lives, and what power young UUs have to change the world. YRUU also takes part in social justice projects, organizes social gatherings, and will plan and lead a Sunday worship service for the congregation.
YRUU Summer Service Trip
For those of you who were unable to attend YRUU's service on Sunday, August 17 -- “Esperanza/Hope — Reflections on the Youth Trip to Mexico," here are Paice Van Ooyen and Jake Weiner's perspectives on the trip along with some photos.
Every Year YRUU goes on a summer trip. When we were deciding where to go on this year's trip we all wanted to do something along the lines of last year's service trip to New Orleans. We chose to go to Mexico and build houses with a group called Esperanza. When the time came we all carpooled down to the border, parked the cars and walked across the border. I found this to be a bit of an odd experience mostly because I was not really sure when we had officially entered Mexico. No one checked our passports or anything; I saw nothing that signaled that we were in a different country. I was sure we were across when we were waiting for our bus. The bus took us to the Esperanza facility (which was a nice place). The next few days required lots of physical and difficult work. The first day we built the walls of a house which involved carrying cinder blocks and pouring cement (and there were some puppies on site that kept every one smiling). The second day we poured a roof; we poured more cement and carried buckets of cement in a line through wooden beams and up stairs. This was challenging but we had lots of help from a college group that was working with Esperanza at the same time. On the third and final day of work we poured another roof. This time we (collectively with the college group) carried the buckets of cement up scaffolding and poured it. At the end of each day we had time to talk to the families that would be living in the houses. On our last day in Mexico we went to some shops by the beach and each bought some pretty cool stuff. Then we had some lunch and headed to the border. The crossing back into the U.S. was a different experience than going in to Mexico. We waited in lines for hours and at the end they checked our passports and asked some of us questions but it wasn't too bad. And we all got home safe, happy, and full of new memories to cherish.
— Paice Van Ooyen
Like every object in the known universe a whole comprises many smaller units. To build a house you must first make cement and then pour the roof. However before you can pour a roof you must build walls, and before you can build walls you must have a lot of bricks. Bricks can easily be taken for granted. In fact when I first arrived at the worksite I wondered why the bricks weren’t delivered closer to the foundation of the house. Bricks like people do not serve a purpose unless they all stack up in perfect harmony.
Fortunately for me, I was able to experience every step in the process of building a house. On the first of three building days in Tijuana, our YRUU team arrived at a site where a foundation had already been built and bricks had been stacked so they were ready to be used. Endless stacks of bricks lay 30 feet away from the foundation. As individuals it could have taken the entire day to move all of the bricks and there would be a high likelihood of injury. Instead of working as individual units we worked together as a whole team and created a line where the bricks could be passed along with each individual doing their part to help the whole.
Teamwork seemed to be an overlying theme for the entire trip: everything we did from working with the college kids to pour the second story roof, to our chores on a daily basis, and even the artistry that was unsynchronized unswimming from our second annual talent show (which I hope no one will ever have the pleasure of watching).
All three days we worked while in Mexico we went to a different location and each day we poured concrete. In other words, we knew nothing else. We found out later from the college group that we were extremely lucky to do something as fun as pouring concrete as it was rare you could do something where you can actually see your progress. They hadn’t poured concrete in weeks. The first day we poured concrete into the walls we had just built. This was a grueling endless process with tons of buckets full of rocks and sand that had to be transported to people who would then hoist them into the cement machine. If you did not cleanly pour the bucket and your arm touched the walls of the mixer it would cut right through your skin instantaneously. The first day we had mixed and poured ten bags worth of cement. The next morning when we arrived at the site not only were there nearly fifty bags of cement but we would also have to transport them up stairs onto the roof. This task with the help of the college kids remarkably took only 3 hours but I can tell you for a fact that there was not one portion of my body that was not caked in cement powder and only after hours of scrubbing did my face return to its original shade of white.
Two days after our brick brigade I found out why we had to move those bricks. Bricks which look so expertly crafted are not delivered but rather made by a team of at least ten people shoveling and moving hundreds of buckets of sand, cutting open bags of cement powder, pouring buckets of water and shoveling wet cement into the brick press. It all begins with a gigantic mountain of sand, 5 hearty shovels will generally fill a bucket and each load of cement requires 5 bucketfuls transferred from the top of the mountain over a fence to the people running the cement machine (note: we learned the importance of lifting with our legs, especially when it came to lifting 40 pound buckets over a 4 foot fence).
-- Jake Weiner
“V” is for Volunteer!
If you’ve always wanted to volunteer some time in the Lifespan Religious Education (LRE) program but don’t know what to expect or don’t want to make a commitment at the moment, here is a way to try it out.
We’re currently looking for volunteers over the summer to lead and assist in the children’s classes. These classes are already planned out, with specific instructions on how to run the class and a list of materials (which will be set out for you when you arrive in the classroom.) In the case of the preschool classes, the curriculum is based on the writing of Dr. Seuss and is appropriately called, “Summer of Seuss.” Each lesson will be based on one of Dr. Seuss’ books with activities planned around the book. The other classes will have UU Principle-based lessons and activities as well.
Working in the summer program is a great way to get a sense of how the Children’s LRE classes are set up and run. It’s also a wonderful way to meet the children of our congregation.
Volunteering for these classes offers our children and youth an opportunity to build connections with other adults in our church community other than their parents and to create a better sense of fellowship.
For more information, please stop by the LRE table located next to the coffee bar in Forbes Hall.
Our helpful LRE committee member will be on hand to answer questions you might have and to assist you
in signing up for classes. Summertime slots are still available, and we are now recruiting for the fall session.
— Liza Cranis
Sabbath
Bettye Barclay has provided this list of weekly thoughts about our ministerial theme for August. These weekly thoughts are also published in the weekly email announcements.
Week 1. “Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week.” Alice Walker
Week 2. “Some keep the Sabbath going to church, I keep it staying at home, with a bobolink for a chorister, and an orchard for a dome.” Emily Dickinson
Week 3. “Most of the things we need to be most fully alive never come in busyness. They grow in rest.” Mark
Buchanan
Week 4. “The Sabbath is a weekly cathedral raised up in my dining room, in my family, in my heart.” Anita
Diament
Adult RE by Karen Hsu Patterson
BlueStockings: A Feminist Salon
Bluestockings, a feminist salon, invites church members and friends to join them on Sunday, August 24, at 5 p.m. in Forbes Hall, for a potluck supper followed by discussion of the nonfiction book “Girls to the Front” by Sara Marcus. The group has been meeting in local homes since 2011. Founded by former UU Santa Monica member Katrina Daly Thompson, who moved to Wisconsin last year, Bluestockings has members from UU Santa Monica and Neighborhood Church.
The Bluestocking Society of England was an informal women's social and educational movement. It was founded as a women's literary and discussion group, a revolutionary step away from traditional, non-intellectual women's activities. The women involved in this group usually had more education and fewer children than most other English women of the time. Talk of politics was prohibited, but literature and the arts were of main discussion. Educated men were invited to the meetings.
An equal gender mix most often attends local Bluestockings meeting. Faithful to the foundations of the first Bluestockings group in England in 1750, our group favors “informal quality of the gatherings and the emphasis of conversation over fashion” (Elizabeth Montagu 1718-1800). For more information contact Karen Hsu Patterson.
Wednesday Night Writers
A welcoming space for all writers, regardless of prior writing experience or expertise. Join us August 13 and August 27 (second and fourth Wednesdays) at 7 p.m. in Forbes Hall for writing, helpful critiques, and moral support. Unlock your creativity! No sign-ups required — just show up!
Long, Strange Trip: A UU History
Our six-part video and discussion series, about the history of Unitarian and Universalist thought from the beginning of the Christian era to what we know today as Unitarian Universalism, goes on summer hiatus until September 2014. Stay tuned for the next installment.
Patio Chat
Join us for our monthly UU Santa Monica Theme Discussion with Natalie Kahn on Sunday, August 24, at 11:10 a.m. on the Patio.
The congregational ministry theme for the month of July is IMAGINATION, and we have an invitation for you — join us in our “Principles in Action” summer program! Young people and adults are welcome to take part - what better way to engage and inspire your imagination than to spend a morning with the young people in our congregation as they put their hands and feet on our seven UU Principles this summer? We can always use an extra helping hand. Here’s what we have in store for 1st grade and up in July and August:
• July 6. Principle 3: Acceptance and Encouragement to Spiritual Growth — Spiritual Practice Sunday: Yoga
• July 13. Principle 3: Acceptance and Encouragement to Spiritual Growth — Spiritual Practice Sunday: Meditation Beads
• July 20. Principle 4: Free and Responsible Search for Truth and Meaning — Science Experiment Sunday
• July 27. Principle 4: Free and Responsible Search for Truth and Meaning — Principles Scavenger Hunt
• August 3. Principle 5: Right of Conscience and Use of the Democratic Process — Board Games Sunday (create our own or play your favorites!)
• August 10. Principle 6: World Community with Peace, Liberty and Justice for All — Tie-Dye Sunday (Camp Sunday!)
• August 17. Principle 6: World Community with Peace, Liberty and Justice for All — Service Project Sunday
• August 24. Principle 7: Interdependent Web — Potted Garden Planting
• August 31. Principle 7: Interdependent Web — Cooperative Games Day
Meanwhile, preschoolers will celebrate a “Summer of Seuss” with a different Dr. Seuss story and related craft each week. I hope to see many of you at church on Sundays this summer — let’s celebrate “being you and being UU” together!
— Catherine Farmer Loya
Imagination
Bettye Barclay has provided this list of weekly thoughts about our ministerial theme for July. Daily thoughts are published in the weekly email announcements.
Week 1. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt
Week 2. We are what we imagine ourselves to be. Kurt Vonnegut
Week 3. Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. Albert Einstein
Week 4. A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Week 5. A relationship with our imagination is a relationship with our deepest self. Pat B. Allen