January 7, 2012
Date:
Saturday, January 7, 2012
January 7, 2012
Calendar of upcoming events:
Saturday, 1/7
Mandatory parent/child orientation for 5th-6th grade O.W.L.
COA/YRUU Event night – Ice Skating! Details to come soon
Sunday, 1/8
Guest At Your Table Boxes Collected this Sunday in the service!
Neighboring Faiths trip to Venice Buddhist Temple
Sunday, 1/15
Guest At Your Table Boxes Collected this Sunday
Neighboring Faiths trip to Ocean Park Meditation Center
Sunday, 1/22
RE Faith in Acton Sunday – trip to Turning Point shelter for K-5th grades
First day of class for 5th-6th grade O.W.L.
This Week in RE:
PRESCHOOL (Ages 3-5 at 9:00 & 11:00): “We Must Care for the Earth and its Plants and Animals” This week our preschool class will learn about ways they can help take care of the earth and the plants and animals that share it with us. Meets in the NW room of the cottage.
SPIRIT PLAY: (K-1st at 9:00) “Cosmic Creation” This week we’ll begin our next trimester focus – exploring the interconnected web of all existence – with a story about the very beginnings of the universe. (K-2nd at 11:00) “Sources Introduction” Now that we’ve explored all seven of our UU principles, we’ll move on to examine the Six Sources of our faith tradition. This week’s lesson is an introduction to the Sources. Meets in the SE room of the cottage.
THEME WORKSHOPS (2nd-3rd at 9:00 only): “Wisdom Workshop” This week we’ll begin our exploration of January’s theme of WISDOM with special activities to engage participants in thinking about the wisdom that they have already gained through their own experiences, as well as the wisdom the others have to share. Meets in the NE room of the cottage (formerly known as “the couch room”).
UUNIVERSE STORY (4th-5th at 9:00/3rd-5th at 11:00): “Diving into the Deep End” This week in the UUniverse Story program, we’ll engage in activities to help participants gain an appreciation for the vast time (and, to a certain extent, distance) scales involved in the concept of Deep Time and to give a perspective of where our species sits on the grandest of time and size scales.. Meets in the mural room at the end of the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.
NEIGHBORING FAITHS (6th-7th at 9:00 & 11:00): “Buddhism Field Trip” This week our Neighboring Faiths classes will continue their study of Buddhism with a field trip to the Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. The group will leave from the UUCCSM front courtyard at 8:45 am and expects to return at 11:30 am.
COMING OF AGE (8th at 9:00 only): This Sunday in Coming of Age we’ll begin to explore concepts of God, and will use a variety of art materials to illustrate our religious beliefs. Meets in Room 2, the second room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.
YRUU (9th-12th alternates 9:00/11:00): Meets during the 9:00 service only this week. This week YRUU youth and advisors will talk about New Year’s Resolutions. Have you ever made an unusual resolution? Have you ever followed through on a resolution? Are they even worth making? Meets in Room 1, the first room at the top of the stairs above Forbes Hall.
Announcements:
· NEW Snack Signups for RE Classes: Parents of each RE class will be contacted soon to request that you sign up to bring snack for your child’s class. Snack is a highly valued part of the RE experience – just ask your kids – and we need your help to provide the supplies. If each parents signs up just a few times per year, we can cover all of our classes without placing the burden of bringing snack on the volunteer teachers who are already donating so much of their time to make our RE program happen. Sign ups will be available at the Lifespan RE table on Sundays during coffee hour – please stop by to sign up, to save us some time making phone calls.
· NEW Guest at Your Table Boxes Collected this Week: Some of you have already brought your Guest at Your Table boxes back to the church, but if you haven’t yet, this Sunday is the time! We’ll collect them in the service, so bring them on in. Money raised through the GAYT program is given to the UU Service Committee to help people in need all over the world.
· NEW Elementary RE Field Trip on Sunday, 1/22: Children in our elementary RE program are invited to take part in our second Faith in Action field trip for the 2011-12 year, a visit to the Turning Point transitional housing shelter for a tour and to prepare lunches for the residents. Be aware: we will make one full-morning trip, leaving after the story in the first service at 9:20 am, and returning at 11:30. If you would like for your child to participate in the trip, please make sure to come to the first service, or meet us in the cottage at 9:20 for the walk to the shelter, located about four blocks from UUCCSM at 1446 16th street. There will be alternate activities offered during each service for children who choose not to participate in the trip. Note: Volunteers are needed to accompany us on the trip, and families will be invited to contribute ingredients for sack lunches. A separate email with information about what is needed will be sent out next week to K-5th parents.
· NEW Unsupervised Children: Parents, please remember that you are responsible for your children at all times when they are not in RE classes. Even though our church is a safe and loving place, it is not a good idea for children to roam the grounds without their parents. Staff and volunteers are not responsible for supervising children when they are not in our RE classes or official childcare. Also, please remember that children through grade 5 must be picked up by their parents at the end of RE time (10:15 or 12:15). This is one part of our church’s safety policy, and is especially important as our younger RE classes are now held in a separate building from the sanctuary and social hall.
· RE Wish List: I am currently developing a “master wish list” for the RE program, which includes general and lesson-specific RE supply needs for this year’s classes. While the RE operating budget does have some money for supplies, this year’s budget is very tight and donations are happily accepted. The list so far includes:
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RE Furniture
- Kid-size bean bag chair (we’d like to install a reading corner in the Spirit Play classroom)
- Roll-up-able rug, medium-sized
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General Supplies:
- Drawing paper
- Candle lighters
- Chart markers
- Flip chart paper (post-it or standard)
- Pipe cleaners
- Colored poster board pieces
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Backup snack supply
- Cheddar Bunnies (like goldfish crackers but with fewer preservatives, additives)
- Graham crackers, goldfish crackers okay as alternative
- Granola bars, rice cakes, other non-sugary dry good snacks
- Dried fruit (apricots, raisins, apple rings, banana chips, etc.)
- RE Books Wish List on Amazon: Another arm of the “master wish list” for the RE program, is an Amazon Wishlist of books that will be used in RE lessons for this year’s program or that will be valuable resources for teachers & families in our church. We do have some money budgeted for book purchases, but we are running on a tight RE budget since the congregation’s budget cutback a couple of years ago, and donations are happily accepted. If you’d like to help out by donating a book or two to the program, check out the Amazon list at http://tinyurl.com/rewishlist. (Used books in “good” condition are just fine!) THANK YOU to the members who have already sent books our way – they are so appreciated!
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RE Furniture
UU Everyday (resources and ideas for practicing your UU values at home):
Chalice Lighting Words of the Week (January’s Theme – WISDOM):
January 8:
Let us sing the magic of creation by which we build the world of our soul and teach its wisdom to others, young and old.
-- Susan L. Van Dreser
For the 2011-12 church year we’re trying out a new way of living as one lifespan religious community: congregation-wide ministry themes. Each month we’ll explore a new theme. The chalice lighting shared here will be used on Sunday in all of our RE classes, and I hope that your family will also share it at home during the following week. I’m tickled by the idea of all of our UUCCSM families sharing a reflection in common each week as we go about our daily lives.
At-Home Activities to Explore our Congregational Theme for January - WISDOM
· The Letter Shower for a Teen: (from How to Bury a Goldfish by Virginia Lang & Louise Nayer) The teenage years are ones of transition from childhood to adulthood. Have you ever seen a young adult holding a favorite stuffed animal while waiting to go to a rock concert? The night before Sarah started high school she crawled into bed with me for a few minutes. We both knew what was going on and just held each other. At our UU congregation, Sarah took part in a coming-of-age ceremony, but we wanted to do something at home, too. We decided to create a book of letters from those who love her as well as a work of art that she could treasure. –L.N (Catherine’s Note: This would also be a lovely project for a birthday or other special milestone for a child or youth of any age – even a very young child who can’t appreciate it now would have something to treasure in the future.)
o What You Need: Letters from relatives and adult friends of your child. A scrapbook with a decorative and personalized cover. Important pictures that represent different stages in your child’s life. A work of art that speaks to the experience of transition.
o What You Do: Ask relatives and friends to write a letter to your child when she turns thirteen. Tell them the letter needs to be sent by a particular date. They could write to the child about her strengths, her courage, her talents, and how they trust that she will become a wonderful adult. Remember the special moments of childhood and offer words of wisdom, without preaching. Whatever you write, write it from the heart. Collect the letters in a scrapbook, interspersing them with pictures representing milestone events in your child’s life. Have a special dinner with some of the most important people in your child’s life. Light candles, bring out a cake, and present the book. Bring a positive perspective to the newfound freedom and independence that your child has begun to experience. Along with the book, give her a painting that best expresses the transitional nature of the teenage years. She will most likely want to hang it up in her room. If that is not the case, let her choose where she wants to display it.
This Week in UU History: (From This Day in Unitarian Universalist History, by Frank Schulman)
January 4, 1846: Theodore Parker, a radical Unitarian theologian, was installed as the first minister of the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Society of Boston, Massachusetts. On that occasion he preached the sermon, “The True Idea of a Christian Church.”
January 5, 1835: Olympia Brown was born in Prairie Ronde, Michigan. Reared as a Universalist, she graduated from St. Lawrence University Theological School and became the first woman ordained to the ministry by a full denominational authority on June 25, 1863. She served Universalist churches in Vermont, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Illinois, and Iowa. Brow was also co-founder of the New England Women’s Suffrage Association and president of the Federal Suffrage Association. She died on October 23, 1926.
January 6, 1568: The Diet of Torda, called by Prince John Sigismund to settle disputes between the Calvinists and the Unitarians, opened in Transylvania. The minister Francis David represented the Unitarians, and the bishop Peter Melius represented the Calvinists. As a result of the debates, Sigismund converted to Unitarianism and issued the Edict of Torda, which declared official toleration for other religions. It was the first time in Western history that a ruler allowed his subjects to practice a religion different from his own.
January 6, 1811: Charles Sumner was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School and began a law practice. In 1837, Sumner toured Europe for several years to learn its languages and to study its social changes. After returning to the United States, he went back to his law practice, became a notable lecturer, and joined reform movements involved in improving education, abolishing slavery, and advocating world peace. In 1849, at an address before the American Peace Society, Sumner called for “institutions of international government, including a court and congress of nations.” Sumner became a senator from Massachusetts in 1851 and was an ardent abolitionist. He is best known for surviving a physical attack on the floor of the U.S. Senate. His assailant was a South Carolina congressman who took offense at Sumner’s strong language against slavery and the South. Sumner was a lifelong member of King’s Chapel (Unitarian) in Boston. He died on February 11, 1874.
January 7, 1800: Millard Fillmore was born in Locke, New York. He was a lawyer who served in the New York State Assembly and the U.S House of Representatives. Elected vice president of the United States in 1848, Fillmore became president on July 9, 1850, when President Zachary Taylor died, and he held that office until 1853. Fillmore signed a series of bills known as the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California into the Union as a free state, restricted the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and provided for the return of fugitive slaves. He authorized the first American mission to establish trade relations with Japan. In 1856 he ran for president as the candidate of the Native American (“Know-Nothing”) Party but was defeated. Fillmore was a member of the Unitarian Church in Buffalo, New York. He died at age 74 on March 8, 1874.
January 8, 1985: The Universalist Church of the Philippines changed its name to the “Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines.”
January 9, 1784: Sir George Savile died at age 63. He was a noted philanthropist and a member of the English Parliament for Yorkshire who worked for the civil and religious rights of Catholics and the reform of penal laws. Savile spoke publicly of his Unitarianism and worked to free Unitarians of the legal impediments to practicing their faith. At that time, Unitarians were forbidden to own their own churches or perform weddings, funerals, or baptisms.
January 12, 1737: John Hancock was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts. Raised by a wealthy uncle in Boston, Hancock graduated from Harvard University in 1754 and joined his uncle’s mercantile business, which he inherited in 1764. A leading patriot, he opposed the Stamp Act (1765) and other British commercial policies. In 1769 Hancock was elected to the Massachusetts General Court. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1780, serving as president for the first two years, and he was the first delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence. In 1780 the people of Massachusetts elected Hancock governor. He resigned in 1785, was reelected in 1787, and served again until his death. He presided over the Massachusetts convention to ratify the new Constitution in 1788. Hancock was a member of the Brattle Street Church (Unitarian) in Boston and chair of the church’s building committee in 1773. He died on October 8, 1793.
January 12, 1820: Carolina Seymour Severance, known as Caroline, was born in Canandaigua, New York. She worked all her adult life for social reform and her home was a gathering place for liberal causes. At first she held the conventional view that a woman’s role was as a wife and a mother, but she became increasingly involved with women’s rights and stressed women’s ability to shape public policy. When her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, Severance took part in the city’s reform movements. When her family moved again, to Los Angeles, California, they founded the city’s first Unitarian congregation, Unity Church. Severance championed Christian socialism, progressivism, and peace. In 1900 she became president of the Los Angeles County Woman Suffrage League. Carolina Seymour Severance died on November 10, 1914, at age 94.