Newsletter for December, 2016
From Our Minister:
Our Minister Announces She Will Resign; June 4 Will Be Her Last Day in the Pulpit
Supporting One Another in Our Ministerial Transition
On November 4, the church office mailed and emailed a letter to our members and friends announcing my decision to step down from service as your minister at the close of the church year. Since then, many in our community have expressed sadness and support for me and for the church. I want to say again that while this decision was not easy for me to make, I strongly believe it is the right one for me and my family, and for the congregation.
I welcome the chance to meet with you to offer caring pastoral support in this time, and invite you to also reach out to your board of directors with any questions you have about the church’s upcoming ministerial transition. I can be reached at minister@uusm.org; our board president, Ron Crane, and board members can be contacted at their individual addresses. I also encourage you to attend a Listening Circle hosted by our Right Relations Task Force. Listening Circles are a chance for you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences of life together in our church, and listen to the experiences and perspectives of others, as you respond to questions offered by a trained facilitator. Please contact Margot Page and Vilma Ortiz, co-chairs of our Right Relations Task Force, at rightrelations@uusm.org, to sign up for an upcoming Listening Circle.
Finally, for those seeking additional, one-on-one support, church member and chaplain Michael Eselun is on call during this time for additional pastoral care.
-- Rev. Rebecca
The text of the letter mailed November 4:
It is with a full heart that I announce I will be resigning from my position as settled minister of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica at the end of the church year. My last Sunday in the pulpit will be June 4, 2017.
Since I accepted your call to ministry in 2010, I have been inspired by this congregation’s commitment to living out its values and putting its faith into action. My life is richer because of you, and it has been an honor to walk together with you in times of sorrow and celebration, in service to our congregation, our faith, and the greater community in Santa Monica and Los Angeles.
At the same time, this ministry has not been without challenges. Over the past year it has become clear to me that our congregation and leaders have multiple visions for the kind of church we would like to be, and the kind of future we want to build together. The Right Relations process we have begun in good faith is a powerful foundation for the work that is still to come, which will help the congregation deepen in understanding of one another’s perspectives, identify core values, articulate its mission and vision, improve clarity in roles and governance structures, and continue a transformative shift in culture that will make possible a more vibrant future. After deep personal reflection, consultation with trusted colleagues, and with the loving support of my family, I have decided that for this vital work at UUCCSM to go forward, it is best that my ministry with you come to an end.
The board of directors has accepted notice of my decision on behalf of the congregation and supports my decision, and we have planned for a compassionate leave-taking that will allow me to serve as your minister through the close of the church year. With support from our Association, the Board will be preparing to hire a temporary minister with the skills to guide and support the congregation after my departure. There will be time for this process to unfold in the spring.
Over these next months, we will have a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of my time with you, while not denying the challenges we have faced together. During the spring, I will be participating in the UU ministry search process. Regardless of the outcome of my search, I will not be continuing at UUCCSM.
All are invited to a Ministerial Transitions Workshop with the Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kwong of our UUA Congregational Life Staff, at 12:30 pm Sunday, November 6, to learn more about the congregation’s next steps, and to be with one another in this time of transition. [Please reach out to me and to the congregational leaders listed above to learn more about the congregation’s next steps, and to be with one another in this time of transition.]
With love,
Rev. Rebecca
The Morning After Election Day
Dear ones,
As I write, we are still reeling from a long and difficult election season that culminated when we elected Donald Trump as our next President. Please keep holding one another close in these difficult days, and remember we are long haul people. As Unitarian Universalists, we stand with one another and with all those who feel most fearful and threatened in the wake of this election; wherever there is a struggle for dignity, freedom, truth, and love, we will be there — we are there. The words of Catholic poet and activist Rose Marie Berger, written on November 9, spoke to me:
A Riff on Martin Niemöller and Matthew 25
For the morning after Donald J. Trump was elected president of the United States of America
BY ROSE MARIE BERGER AND JP KEENAN
First they came for the Muslims and Jews, and I said “I’m with them,”
even though I wasn’t a Muslim or a Jew.
Then they came for the immigrants, and I said “I’m with them,”
even though I wasn’t an immigrant.
They came for the Black Lives Matter activists and the
LGBTQ folks, and even though I was white and straight, I said
“I’m with them.”
When they came for the hungry and for those who hunger for
change and hunger for righteousness, I said “I’m with them.”
I’m with the thirsty and the thirsty earth gasping for rain. I’m with
the stranger, the refugee, all those who scale walls for freedom.
I’m with the naked, those stripped of human dignity, those without
decent work, without the cloth of human compassion.
I’m with the sick, the disabled, the addicted, and all those
dependent on the kindness of strangers.
I’m with the prisoners, the journalists, the detained, the deported,
and the deplorables.
When they came for those, I said, “I’m with them.”
I AM with them. I’m with us.
Much heart,
Rev. Rebecca
Rev. Rebecca
From Our President:
A Time for Unitarian Universalist Principles
The presidential election results have left us with a plethora of questions and disbeliefs. I see profound anxiety, grief, and fear in our community and in the world at large.
It behooves us to speak our Principles to the world. It behooves us to practice those Principles with ourselves and with the world to provide impetus to what we believe is a way to grow a better world.
Our Social Actions of the past are called forth again for defense of what we thought had been accomplished. It is in our actions that we will find community and in turn respite from the anxiety, grief, and fear.
For example: Stop looking to the Right Relations process as a vehicle for getting others to change. Start now in living Right Relations yourself. In each of our personal actions of Right Relations, change will occur.
For example: Give your time, money, and skill to programs of the church. We need to stop jockeying for power and control and get busy with the practice of joint effort.
In times when the larger world is in disequilibrium and we feel impotent, there is a temptation to increase our focus on smaller organizations in which we can feel we have the possibility of being heard and influencing others toward our view of change. We’ve been doing this and it doesn’t work.
I challenge all of us to return to living our principles and working together to make the world a better place. Especially now.
— Ron Crane
Featured Articles:
What Is Conflict Transformation?
LEARNINGS FROM YOUR RIGHT RELATIONS TASK FORCE
“Conflict is natural; neither positive nor negative, it just is. It’s not whether you have conflict in your life. It’s what you do with that conflict that makes a difference. Conflict is not a contest. Winning and losing are goals for games, not conflicts. Resolving conflict is rarely about who is right. It is about acknowledgment and appreciation of differences. Conflict begins within. As we unhitch the burden of belief systems and heighten our perceptions, we love more fully and freely.”
—Thomas Crum, The Magic of Conflict
“Certainly conflict and power plays go on in church, but because intimacy is threated by these realities, we cover them in hopes of maintaining a façade of peace.”
—Parker J. Palmer
Most of us avoid conflict because we have so little experience in seeing conflict resolved in ways that are collaborative or life affirming. We often use war metaphors when referring to conflict: “We shot down his ideas.” “She dropped a bomb on us.” “I won.” Most references to conflict use a win/lose paradigm. Families and social structures are often based on a hierarchical power structure where decisions are made from the top down. Many of our experiences with “resolving conflict” involve authority figures such as judges, teachers, or parents telling us how to resolve conflicts. It is no wonder that most people view conflict negatively and avoid it if possible.
Many of us have discovered, through long and sometimes painful experiences, that conflict avoidance doesn’t serve us well. However, since we learned how to respond to conflict as children, our conflict resolution responses have been generally set as a pattern for life. It takes training to undo old patterns.
The Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica has experienced the negative impact of avoiding conflict until confronting conflict became unavoidable. The differences that created the conflict rarely just go away. Usually the lack of resolution or transformation simply creates increasing resentment, distance, and pain. Avoiding or reacting to conflict can even exacerbate conflict or lead to split. The recent news of our minister’s resignation may amplify anger and tension in our community if not handled within a space of right relations and conflict transformation.
The basic premise of modern conflict transformation theory and practice is to empower people to handle their own conflicts by the use of collaborative negotiation skills or through the use of a third party facilitator to help guide parties in negotiating solutions to their conflict. When individuals are taught and encouraged to resolve their own conflicts, there is a high probability of long lasting resolution and reconciliation between the parties. Conflict transformation, at its highest level, can result in healing the relationship between individuals involved in the conflict and healing the individuals’ own internal wounds.
It is the goal of the Right Relations Task Force to provide opportunities for members, staff, and ministers of our congregation to experience conflict as opportunity — the opportunity to understand each other, the opportunity for healing, the opportunity for growth. We are working with the community so that we can develop the skills to respond to and transform conflict.
We encourage you to participate in one or more of the upcoming Listening Circles on Congregational Life.* You can visit the Right Relations Task Force (RRTF) table in Forbes Hall every Sunday to learn more about how to get involved and about other upcoming events as they are scheduled. Please also check uusm.org , where there is now an area at the Members tab devoted to Right Relations work.
If you would like to talk over some aspect of your church life that concerns you, the RRTF members are available to support you as you determine next steps. The vehicle for this work is called “Note to RRTF” which can be picked up at the Sunday tables or found on the website.
We want to hear everyone who would like to share, so please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
*You can participate in the Listening Circles, which will be held from 9 am to 12 pm on Saturday, December 3 and Saturday, December 10. Listening Circles are a chance for you to share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences around the recent issues that have been occurring in our church community, and listen to the experiences and perspectives of others, as you respond to questions offered by a facilitator. All members of our church are important to our community and we want to provide an affirming space for everyone to have the opportunity to voice their viewpoints. Members of our RRTF will facilitate the Listening Circles and are working to provide you with a safe, respectful, and welcoming space to let us know your perspectives on this topic. Our hope is that this will offer you the experience of having your unique perspective listened to by fellow members of the congregation, and for all participants to begin to live into our Right Relations practice together. Please sign up at the RRTF table which is in Forbes Hall every Sunday, or by emailing the RRTF at rightrelations@uusm.org . Child care will be provided for all Listening Circles.
“Peace is not the absence of tension; it is the presence of right relationship. Conflict will never simply ‘go away,’ until leaders create a backdrop against which peace and conflict can coexist creatively and constructively. Right relationship happens when we are able to create an environment where there is a high level of trust, respect, inclusivity, listening free exchange of ideas, and non-attachment to personal agendas. When a community can do this, then it will ultimately resolve most of its own conflicts in ways that could never be ‘managed’ or even predicted.”
— Jeff Walberg, UU Lay-person
A Few Words about AAHS
AAHS (Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists and Secularists/Skeptics) is a popular monthly discussion group in our congregation that is five years old this Fall. We continue to be a welcoming space in which to identify as non-believers and to explore topics relevant to non-theism. But in light of ongoing congregational conflict that is related, at least in part, to tensions over theological differences in our church community, we want to say a few words about our purpose and what goes on at our meetings.
AAHS meetings are a place to vigorously discuss ideas and to engage in intellectual conversation. Many of us are passionate about the search for truth and why it matters to our lives and our world. However, while we may debate ideas, beliefs, and the politics related to them, AAHS meetings are not a place to criticize or belittle anyone for differences of opinion or theology. We prize freethinking, but we reject divisiveness. We aim always to be respectful of differences and diversity.
AAHS does not exist for the purpose of excluding anyone or being an atheists-only club at UU Santa Monica. We benefit from a diverse array of viewpoints. Our meetings, though they focus on topics relevant to a humanist/naturalist/skeptical worldview, are regularly attended by church members, friends, and newcomers identifying as atheists, theists, deists, agnostics, and everything in between. Everyone is welcome.
In AAHS we are glad, from time to time, to discuss the legacy of the Humanist philosophy as distinctly Unitarian in origin. The Rev. John Dietrich of the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis started calling his reason, compassion, and social justice-oriented theology “Humanist” in 1916, exactly 100 years ago. The early Unitarian Humanists helped to start an international movement that has continued to this day. With other entities such as the UU Humanist Association (huumanists.org), we carry on this legacy by promoting the importance of atheist and Humanist voices and influences within Unitarian Universalism and in the world at large.
Through social media outlets, we make our meetings open to newcomers from the wider community who are looking for a place to discuss their interests in atheism, agnosticism, Humanism, etc. There are few other groups on the Westside that cater to these needs, and we are happy to welcome and include visitors seeking conversation and community. This also provides us with the opportunity to introduce them to our congregation and all it has to offer!
Did you know that disagreements about the existence of God and the use of religious language have been a common reality in Unitarian Universalism for more than a century? Ever since Unitarians and Universalists rejected creedal requirements and opened their associations up to a diversity of viewpoints, theists and non-theists alike have worried outwardly that their perspectives might be marginalized within their own congregations by those who think differently. The project of pluralism has always been a challenge. Today, we know that we still have work to do to make our congregation and movement work together in harmony. We look forward to continuing conversations.
We welcome your questions and comments at AAHS@uusm.org or at our regular AAHS table Sundays in Forbes Hall!
— James Witker and Mark Warkentin
Quotations Related to Presence
Lois Hutchinson has provided these quotations that relate to our ministry theme for December.
December 4: There are two ways to wash the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes, and the second is to wash the dishes in order to wash the dishes.
— Peter Friedrichs
December 11: Let me be there in your morning. Let me be there in your night. …. All I ask you is let me be there.
— John Rostill
December 18: Not that which we give, but what we share, For the gift without the giver is bare. — James Russell Lowell
December 25: Let’s be independent together! — Romeo Muller
And a couple of extras from your editor:
- 80% of life is showing up. — Woody Allen
- Be there or be square. — US jazz slang from as early as the 1940s
Oh, We Give Thanks!
Thanksgiving Feast - Saturday, November 19, 2016
News & Announcements:
Election Update: No on LV Wins
In our October newsletter, we reported on a forum in our Sanctuary, sponsored by Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, that urged Santa Monica voters to vote no on Ballot Measure LV. Panelists said that, by virtually precluding the possibility of building low income housing in Santa Monica, the measure violated the tenets of all major religions to “provide for the poorest among us.” Over 56% of those who cast ballots voted no on LV.
Why and How to Access the "For Members" Section of uusm.org
As a church member with an account at uusm.org, you’ll be able to access the members-only section that includes Board and Right Relations Task Force information, links to the full-color (splendid!) PDF version of this newsletter (including back editions), the most up-to-date edition of the church directory, and much more.
If you don’t already have an account, go to uusm.org and click on the “Log In” link in the top right-hand corner of every page. Then click “Create new account” and follow the instructions from there (you will provide your email address and create your own username and password). After your account is created, the webmaster will verify your church orgmember status against the most recent church directory, and then activate your account. After activation, you’ll have full access to the members section.
To make it easier to verify your membership, please use your name somewhere in your profile. If you are a new member, not yet listed in the directory, please email webmaster@uusm.org . Also, please note that warnings about password strength are advisory only and can be ignored. If you forget your password, just request a new one. More guidance can be found in the “Help” link next to the “Log In” link or by contacting our webmaster, Liz Fuller, at webmaster@uusm.org .
Are You Aware (Memory)?
Name tags and badges aren’t just for visitors. People with memory problems sometimes stop coming to church because they may have trouble recalling the names of people they know. It is embarrassing to greet someone you know and not remember their name.
You can help everyone feel comfortable by wearing your name badge or getting a name tag at the Greeters’ Table when you come to church.
You can help by talking with the Disability Support Group and others in the Church about ways to improve support for persons with disabilities in our church community, or by sharing your concerns and needs. Not sure whom to contact? Look for Mark Christiansen, Michael Young, Steve Young, or Sylvia Young.
Profiled - A documentary film by Kathleen Foster
Saturday, December 10, 7:00 p.m., in the Sanctuary
Kathleen Foster spoke at UU Santa Monica in 2009, when we screened her film, “Afghan Women: A History of Struggle.” Her 2016 documentary, “Profiled,” was released by Women Make Movies, which says, “PROFILED knits the stories of mothers of Black and Latin youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful indictment of racial profiling and police brutality, and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S.”
Stephanie Foard, a math teacher in a Brooklyn high school when she and some of her students appeared in the documentary, will participate in the discussion period following the screening.
Sponsored by the UUSM Faith in Action Commission and the Westside Chapter of the ACLU of Southern California For information: fia@uusm.org
Faith in Action News:
Hotel Workers Win Election for Union Representation
Housekeepers at the Marriott Santa Monica Le Merigot hotel voted 27 to 19 November 15 to be represented by UNITE-HERE Local 11, despite two weeks of anti-union efforts by management, ownership, and an anti-union consulting firm. Our minister and members of our congregation, working with Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), were at the workers’ side throughout. (For the beginning of this campaign, see our November newsletter .)
Management scheduled a series of “captive-audience meetings,” as labor unions call them, to start November 8. Seven workers were told to come to the first meeting, at 8:30 am. Instead, the entire shift of about 20 housekeepers showed up, along with five community supporters. The workers insisted that they all go into the meeting together. The general manager at first refused, but when the workers proved adamant, he backed down. The workers, along with their supporters, poured into the conference room.
Standing room only! The consultants, two lawyers from Kentucky, had their laptops and mouths open, but it was the workers who dominated the meeting. Much back and forth, in English and Spanish. Frequent efforts by management to get the supporters to leave. We stayed.
After about 30 minutes, the voice of one of the housekeepers pierced the hubbub: “Can we go back to work?” Others echoed her cry. The manager said the meeting was not compulsory (this was news to the invited seven). Seventeen of the workers walked out; three remained.
The following day, management and their consultants started a new tactic. They’d go into a room that a housekeeper was cleaning and hold a captive-audience meeting of one captive worker. The owner of the hotel arrived from his corporate office in Kentucky and informed the workers that if only they’d put off union organizing for a few months, he’d take care of their problems, such as low wages, overwork, not getting legally required breaks and lunch periods, and disrespectful and abusive treatment by managers.
Most of the workers replied, in essence, “Where have you been for the past 15 years,” and continued organizing. One of the housekeepers told me, “The owner thinks we are a bunch of stupid Latinas, but he’s the stupid one if he thinks we can’t see through his lies.” Another added, “They tell us we’ll make less money because the union will take dues from our checks. But if they were not going to have to pay us more, why would they care? Besides, we’ve seen the paystubs of the housekeepers next door, at the Viceroy [a unionized hotel]. They make $4 an hour more than we do.”
The workers’ next battle is to negotiate a contract with management. We are likely to have many opportunities to continue to support these brave workers as they fight for higher pay and better working conditions. Our Peace & Social Justice Committee has sponsored marches on Oceanfront Walk against three killings in Venice, two by police and one by a hotel owner and his security guard. Supporting the housekeepers at Le Merigot, just up the beach from Venice, is another front in the anti-racist (and anti-sexist) struggle.
— Rick Rhoads
Green Living Committee:
Green Living Cleans the Beach and Sponsors 2nd Sunday Supper/Green Building Tour
The Green Living Committee, which sponsored November’s Second Sunday Supper, participated, along with RE classes, in another Heal the Bay Clean-up at Annenberg Beach in October. We did one in March, too. Thank you everyone for a great Clean-up on the Beach, including Lois Hutchinson, Delaney, Nalani Santiago-Kalmanson, Akiko, and Beth. We will continue our commitment of having one more Heal the Bay Beach clean-up day, in March 2017.
November’s Second Sunday Supper included a Green Building Tour hosted by the Green Committee. Participants were issued “Green Passports” and urged to visit each of four stations to collect information from Green Guides about the green building features included in our 12-year campus renovation process — and pick up part of their meal at each stop. The stations were the Cottage/Bungalow, the Courtyard Shade Structure, Forbes Hall, and the Sanctuary and Offices.
During the balmy evening, members and guests also sipped drinks and nibbled on appetizers as they exchanged stories about the history of our campus and its buildings. A slide show featured photos of our historic buildings and their restoration and green features. Green Committee members who have made energy- or water-efficiency upgrades or added solar panels to their own homes were honored. Succulent plants and LED light bulbs were given away, so that people can start saving water and energy at home right away.
Neelam Sharma, Executive Director of Community Services Unlimited, Inc. (CSU), attended to learn more about green building as her non-profit organization kicks off their fundraising for a green remodel of the Paul Robeson Center at Vermont and Gage. CSU operates an urban farm at Expo Park, and will be offering participatory learning opportunities for South LA residents to learn organic farming, nutrition, and how to cook vegetables and healthy foods. The building will include a cafe and store as well as community meeting rooms, outdoor gathering areas, an urban farm and the “Veggie Bus” classroom and seed library. Neelam invited church members to their Family Brunch December 4. See csuinc.org for more info.
Thank you to our Green Living UUs — Alison Kendall, Beth Brownlie, Katie Malich, Haygo Salibian, Bill Blake, Linda van Lighten, John Zinner, Nalani Santiago-Kalmanson, Linda Marten, Helen Brown, Greg Woods, Audrey Lyness, Sarah Robson, Spencer Michaelson (YRUU), Rick Teplitz, and many more — for your commitment to our Earth!
— Beth Brownlie and Alison Kendall
Splinters from the Board:
Eight Goals for the Year Established
The board and nine guests met November 8 in Forbes Hall from 6 to 7:30 pm. Because of the election, the board “elected” to start and finish early. Dinner was graciously provided by Kim Miller.
Kathleen Hogue’s installation as director of religious education will be January 22, 2017. Seven new members have joined UU Santa Monica since July for a total of 344 members. The date for our Annual Meeting is Sunday, May 21, 2017.
First on the discussion agenda was a review of the goals from the board retreat, enhanced by discussion at the October board meeting. An 8th goal was added to address the impact of Rev. Rebecca’s resignation. During the 2016/2017 year, the Board of Directors will:
Goal #1: Supporting Right Relations in our Congregation: Establish, oversee, and assess the Right Relations process. (The RRTF will take the lead on initiatives to bring our community into right relations.)
Goal #2: Assessments: Assess the minister, ministry, committees, and itself.
Goal #3: Clarifying Roles & Responsibilities: Work with stakeholders to define roles and responsibilities for staff, leaders, members and others.
Goal #4: Mission and Vision: Begin the work to inspire community ownership of our congregation’s mission and vision by publicizing current Mission and Vision statements,understanding that a congregation-wide missioning and visioning initiative will occur in the 2017/2018 timeframe.
Goal #5: Leadership Development: Explore how a combination of technical training and development of soft skills, sensibilities, and internal qualities can help develop leaders who can be effective and faithful.
Goal #6: Modeling Beloved Community: Communicate in an open and respectful manner.
Goal #7: Sexually Safe Congregation: Undergo a process to become a “sexually safe congregation.”
Goal #8: Rev. Rebecca’s Resignation: Support compassionate leave taking and transition with a focus on transparency.
The board approved the goals and decided to delay the November 13 Town Hall discussion in favor of having a table on the patio after each service that day. The congregation is invited to join the board in helping to realize its goals to create a more beloved community.
Kim Miller handed out pledge letters to the board and urged board members to be generous with their pledges and to help by attending house parties, pitching, and sending thank-you notes to members who have already pledged.
The RRTF submitted its report but acknowledged that it was written before Rev. Rebecca announced her resignation and therefore needed some updates to address the needs of the congregation during this transition period. Funding for RRTF Cranemay need to be increased pending feedback from consultant Nancy Edmundson.
Some items on the agenda were tabled to the next board meeting in order to keep to the shortened time frame. They included addressing next steps to manage conflict, Facility Development Committee update, and the Communications Team motion.
Financial support for the installation ceremony of Director of Religious Education Kathleen Hogue was discussed, with emphasis that this is a congregation-wide and not just an RE event. It is also a formal affair with her minister flying out to speak at both services as well as at the installation.
Given the work that needs to be done, the board will hold a full meeting November 29 instead of an Executive Committee meeting.
During check out, Rev. Rebecca praised the work of the Right Relations Task Force.
— Patricia Wright
RE News:
FROM OUR DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Lifespan Teaching and Learning at UUSM — It’s a Spiritual Act
“Religious education, or religious learning and growth, is the lifelong process by which we come to more deeply understand who we are in the world, what our lives and actions mean, and how we are connected to the past and future of humanity. It is the ongoing process of maturing, of growing souls, of coming toward the fullness of our human potential.”
Here at UU Santa Monica, we take the lifespan approach to learning with classes, presentations, worship services, and small group ministries taking place for people of all ages, but we begin with our children, our most precious gifts. We are a cooperative program that relies on parents and other adults to teach RE classes.
“The great end in religious instruction is not to stamp our minds upon the young, but to stir up their own…not to give them a definite amount of knowledge, but to inspire a fervent love of truth…not to form an outward regularity, but to touch inward springs.”
— William Ellery Channing
Throughout the year you see proof that our Religious Education program is nurturing our children. It is evident in our pageants, services, stories, and social justice projects. Do you want to be part of growing souls and changing lives? Come teach, learn, and grow, and nurture your own soul as a Unitarian Universalist.
Where is your calling?
Nursery
Babies and toddlers are kept safe and happy with loving care. Our nursery room is a warm and welcoming place for you and your children, staffed by professional childcare providers and loving members of our church community.
Preschool 9 am
This class so far has no teachers. We are in the process of hiring a teacher and will need classroom assistants once we do.
K–2nd grade 9 am
“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 seven 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. This is a lively and fun bunch!
3rd – 5th Grades 9 am
“Spirit of Adventure” teaches UU identity without the usual arts and crafts projects. It includes activities like dissecting a computer, building cantilevered architecture using graham crackers, interviewing a sports coach, eating smoked oysters, and singing Jingle Bells in “dog language”! There are also circus arts, an animal blessing, and a popcorn sale. Bring those active busy children in and watch them be amazed!
Middle School 9 am
Teaches our UU traditions to middle schoolers and their teachers, while adding the fun with which middle schoolers connect to issues and stay enthusiastic about their church experience. Includes ideas for service projects, elements for a Coming of Age Program, and plans for social night experiences.
9th-12th Grades 9 am
“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 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.
— Kathleen Hogue, DRE,
DRE@uusm.org
DRE@uusm.org
Winter 2016 Adult RE Groups
GROUPS CONTINUING IN DECEMBER
Thursday Night Centering Meditation
We do Centering Meditation. You choose a word to say silently to yourself as you enter the silence. You can choose a word such as peace, love, or joy. There is a brief time of comments, sharing and questions. We end the evening with a guided Mindfulness meditation.
Thursdays 7 to 8:30 pm, in the Cottage.
Please contact the facilitator, Bettye Barclay, beforehand
Monday Night Monthly Meditation:
“An Enjoyable Dive into Who and What We Are”
We endeavor to answer the questions, “Who am I?” (attitudes and beliefs) and “What am I?” (essence or true nature). This class will include meditations that explore participants’ spiritual goals. The monthly group meetings will also focus on insights gained throughout the month. The class is open to everyone from beginners to experienced. No meditation experience required. Participants are encouraged to cultivate a regular meditation practice.
Monday, December 5
Forbes Room 1
7 to 9:30 pm
Facilitator: Bill Blake
Co-facilitator: Dave Watson
Friendly Beasts Pageant Update
Our friendly beasts, preschoolers through 5th graders, will continue their rehearsals of “The Friendly Beasts Song” this month for the Holiday Pageant, which will take place December 18 at both services. Here is the rehearsal schedule:
December 4: Preschoolers through grade 5 during RE (costume fitting in the Cottage after RE)
December 11: Group rehearsal for all at RE beginning (costume fitting in the Cottage after RE)
December 17: Saturday dress rehearsal in the Sanctuary (9:30 to 10:30 am) with RE Pancake Breakfast before the rehearsal and a bounce house before and after the rehearsal!
December 18: The Pageant, at both services! Please arrive by 8:15 am.
Pageant day is a long one for the children. 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).
Ideally, we would like all children to sing at both services on pageant Sunday, but if your child can sing only at one service, please let me know.
Here’s to another great pageant!
— Kris Langabeer