Calendar of upcoming events:

Sunday, 12/16
            Mandatory Parent Orientation (Part 2) for 8th-9th Grade O.W.L., 12:30-3:30
            Youth Leadership Team meets, 11:15-12:15
Saturday, 12/22
            Friendly Beasts Pageant Rehearsal
Sunday, 12/23
            Winter Holiday Pageant
            UUniverse Story Star Part – details to come soon!
Sunday, 12/24
            Christmas Eve Services, 6 & 8 pm
Sunday, 12/30
            One service at 11:00, all invited to attend service (nursery & preschool open only, no other RE classes)
Sundays, 1/6 & 1/13
            Guest at Your Table boxes collected
Sunday, 1/13
            8th-9th grade OWL begins

Volunteer Opportunities:

Pageant Helpers Needed:  Would you like to help us put on our Winter Holiday Pageant on December 23rd?  We’re doing a brand new Solstice & Christmas pageant this year.  There are lots of ways to help!

Stage Managers/Prop Runners:  These helpers are needed during the pageant itself (for both services if possible) as well as for a run-through rehearsal with the narrators on Saturday the 22nd from 10:30-noon.  You’d be supplied with a special script that tells you just when to throw costumes on the volunteers we send out to you, and when to send them on stage to play their parts.

Wise People/Camels (Toddlers and Parents):  Sign up now to be this year’s Wise People and Camels!  We have wonderful costumes which magically transform parents into camels, and toddlers (riding on their parents’ shoulders) into the Three Wise Men.  If you have a child in the nursery who is old enough to ride on your shoulders, and would like to participate in one or both services, please let me know asap!

If you would like to be part of our team of helpers, contact Catherine (310-829-5436 x105 or Catherine@uusm.org) to volunteer.  Let’s make this a pageant to remember!

This Week in RE:

·         Preschool-Kindergarten: “Candles for Winter Holidays” This week our preschool class continues its exploration of winter holidays from different traditions with stories and crafts for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.  Meets in the NW room of the cottage.

·         1st-2nd Grade (Spirit Seekers):  “Saint Nicholas” This Sunday we’ll hear the legend of Saint Nicholas, whose generosity to a needy family gave rise over the years to our celebration of Santa Claus as the bringer of holiday gifts to children. Meets in the SE room of the cottage.

·         3rd-5th Grade:  “We Are All Star Stuff” This week we’ll continue with the final week of a unit which explores the building blocks of all that exists and celebrates the connection between our own bodies and the rest of the universe.  Be on the lookout for an invitation coming soon to participate in a special star-gazing party on December 23rd, hosted by the UUniverse Story teaching team!  Meets in the mural room at the end of the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

·         6th-7th Grade (Compass Points): “Wise Guys” This week we’ll explore some wise sayings from sages from a number of religious traditions, building an understanding that many of the great sages from history had some things in common and affirming that as Unitarian Universalists, we are oour own source of authority.  Meets in Room 3, the third room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

·         8th Grade (Coming of Age) – 9:00 only:  This Sunday in Coming of Age we’ll discuss celebrations and “What Brings Me Joy.”  Activities include the creation of our very own brand new holiday, complete with rituals, special foods, symbols and more!  Meets in Room 2, the second room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

·         9th-12th Grade (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists) – 9:00 only: This Sunday the YRUU group will talk about their involvement with the church – when did you begin coming, what does it mean to you, what would you like to change?  We’ll also do some follow-up about the carwash campaign we last discussed in November, and will play some games together.   11:00 only: The Youth Leadership Team will meet to share the final results of the “big trip” vote and talk about next steps. Meets in Room 1, the first room at the top of the stairs above Forbes Hall.

Announcements: 

NEW In the Wake of Tragedy: We are grieving with the families in Connecticut who suffered losses from the tragic violence of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Many of us may struggle with despair at how such a thing can happen.  Our children and youth are going to notice, whether we tell them directly about the tragedy or not, by our energy, emotions, and expressions. Here are four links to websites with suggestions for talking to kids about violence against kids, talking about violence and tragedy with children, and some words from Mr. Rogers about limiting tv exposure during tragedy and reminding ourselves and our children that there are always helpers in moments of tragedy working to help as many as they can.

·         http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/youthdevelopment/components/7414-05.html
·         http://www.nasponline.org/resources/handouts/revisedPDFs/talkingviolence.pdf
·         http://blogs.uuworld.org/parenting/2011/03/28/talking-with-children-about-horrific-news/
·         http://fci.org/new-site/par-tragic-events.html

Please join me in lighting a candle, saying a prayer, or taking a moment of silence today for the loss of these precious young lives, the pain their families are suffering and will continue to suffer in the days to come.  Then, please join me in a moment of prayer or silence in reflection for what we have, the safety of our children, the access to love and compassion we each hold within. 

Friendly Beasts Update: A dress rehearsal for all Beasts (pre-K – 5th graders) will occur Saturday, Dec. 22, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary.  We’ll need parent/teacher help in supervising/entertaining/feeding kids on Pageant day, Dec. 23.  Arrival time on the 23rd is 8:15 a.m. For more info, contact Kris Langabeer.

Common Ground Donation Tally:  Our hygiene kit and donation project last month was a huge success!  Thank you to all who donated items for our collection, all of our Preschool-5th graders and YRUU youth who participated in the project.  They did a GREAT job – they created 127 hygiene kits to give to homeless teens served by Common Ground!  And we also have many “warm things” donated including nearly 50 jackets and sweaters and more than 100 pairs of socks.  WOW!  We’ll be needing some help next week to deliver all of the donations to Common Ground; we’re waiting to hear from them when they’d like us to come, but it will likely be during the day on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.  Be on the lookout for a call for help – we need several vehicles to transport everything!

Sr. High Youth Camp at de Benneville Pines – Registration Still Open:  Youth are encouraged to head to Camp de Benneville Pines this winter for a camp experience like no other!

·         Sr. High Camp is Dec. 27-Jen. 2, and the theme for this year is “Camp ApUUcalypse.”  Live like you're dying at Camp ApUUcalypse, a winter weekend of survival and growth!  Master the art of zombie fighting. Finish off your bucket list. Come for new friends, laughter and an awesome UU experience! And even if the world does end, then what could be a better send-off than a weekend with our fabulous district-wide youth community? All the traditional workshops will be available during the week, as well as new activities, so we will have fun up until the moment of doom!  For registration online and more info, visit http://www.uucamp.org/camps/2013/PSWD/srhigh_winter/SrHWinter2013.html.

RE Books Wish List on Amazon:  Another arm of the “master wish list” for the RE program, is an Amazon Wishlist of books and supplies that will be useful in RE classes this year or that will be valuable resources for teachers & families in our church.  We do have some money earmarked for purchases, but we are running on a tight RE budget, and donations are happily accepted.  If you’d like to help out by donating 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 or other supplies our way – they are so appreciated!

UU Everyday (resources and ideas for practicing your UU values at home):

Chalice Lighting Words of the Week (December’s Theme – FAITH):

December 16:
Reminded that we are part and participants of the universe, let us be encouraged to strive toward faithfulness to the best in ourselves, in others, and in all of creation.
-- Norman V. Naylor, adapted

For the 2012-13 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, and in December our theme is FAITH.  The chalice lightings shared here will be used in all of our RE classes, and I hope that your family will also share it at home during the 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 Reinforce this month’s theme of FAITH:

The Four Things Children Really Want for Christmas: (from Unplug the Christmas Machine by Jo Robinson & Jean Coppock Staeheli)

o   Many parents find it a challenge to create a simple, value-centered Christmas in the midst of all the commercial pressure.  But the task is made much easier when parents keep in mind the four things that children really want for Christmas.  While children may be quick to tell their parents that what they want is designer clothes, the latest electronic gear, and brand-name toys, underneath these predictable requests is an unspoken plea for four, more basic requirements:

1.      A relaxed and loving time with the family.
2.      Realistic expectations about gifts.
3.      An evenly paced holiday season.
4.      Reliable family traditions.
o   Exercise: Helping Children Enjoy Christmas

1.      Of all the needs of children at Christmas, enjoyable time with their families is most important.  Think back to last December.  Excluding Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, did you spent more, about the same, or less, happy, relaxed time with your children in December, compared to other months?

2.      If your answer to the above question was “less,” look through the following list and check the suggestions on how to spend more time with your children that seem most feasible for you.

·         Taking extra time off from work
·         Simplifying our holiday preparations
·         Entertaining less
·         Attending fewer parties that are just for adults
·         Being more relaxed about how the house looks
·         Cutting back on outside commitments
·         Making fewer gifts
·         Watching less television
·         Traveling less
·         Seeing fewer friends and relatives
·         Other

3.      Which holiday traditions do your children seem to enjoy most?  (If you are uncertain, take some time in the next few days to talk with them.)

4.      What holiday traditions or family activities do your children have to look forward to after December 25?

5.      Choose the statement that most accurately completes this thought:  Gift giving plays the following role in our family celebration:

·         It is by far the most important tradition.
·         It is one of several important traditions.
·         It is of moderate importance.
·         It is of relatively minor importance.

6.      On a sheet of paper, write each of your children’s names and jot down a few sentences that describe each child’s attitude toward Christmas presents last year.

Possible “FAITH” Activities:

·         Discuss as a family or with friends your definition of faith and the role faith plays in your life.
·         Make a home altar with symbols that reflect your faith.
·         Encourage setting some time apart each day to take a moment to reflect on how your faith made a difference in your life that day.
·         Discuss as a family or with friends the difference your Unitarian Universalist faith makes in your life.
·         Create a poster of our Unitarian Universalist Principles, or make a frame for a copy of the Principles and sources to have in your home.
·         Keep a journal. Write down the issues you are dealing with and big questions you are pondering. Revisit your journals from time to time to see how your beliefs grow and change over time.

Resources:

Books for Children:

·         All Kinds of Beliefs: A Lift-The-Flap Book by Emma Damon, Tango Books, 2000
·         A World of Faith by Peggy Fletcher Stack and Kathleen Peterson, Signature Books, 2001
·         A Faith Like Mine, DK Publishing, 2005
·         How Do You Spell God: Answers to the Big Questions From Around the World by Rabbi Marc Gellman and Monsignor Thomas Hartman, Morrow Junior Books, New York, 1995
·         My Friends Beliefs: A Young Readers Guide to World Religions by Hiley H. Ward, Walker and Company, New York, 1988

Further Reading for Parents:

·         The Gift of Faith: Tending the Spiritual Life of Children by Jeanne Harrison Nieuwejaar, Skinner House Books, Boston, 2003.
·         Something More: Nurturing Your Child’s Spiritual Growth by Jean Grasso Fitzpatrick, Penguin Books, 1992

Further Reading for Adults:
·         Explore the following readings in Singing the Living Tradition published by the Unitarian Universalist Association. (Our hymnal)

·         #459 by William F. Schultz
·         #470 by Leonard Mason
·         #488 by Langston Hughes
·         #536 by Mary Oliver
·         #555 by Thomas Wolfe
·         #569 by Olympia Brown
·         #654 by Ralph N. Helverson
·         #668 from James 2
·         #693 by V. Emil Gudmundson

·         A Faith for All Seasons: Liberal Religion and the Crises of Life by William R. Murry, River Road Press, 1990
·         The Little Book of Big Questions: 200 Ways to Explore Your Spiritual Nature by Jonathan Robinson, Conari Press, Berkeley, 1995
·         Learning to Fly: Reflections on Fear, Trust, and the Joy of Letting Go, by Sam Keen, Broadway, 2000
·         Your Mythic Journey: Finding Meaning in Your Life Through Writing and Storytelling, by Sam Keen and Anne Valley-Fox, Tarcher, 1989
·         “My Patient’s Faith” by Cullen Ruff, UUWorld.org, Summer 2011, http://www.uuworld.org/spirit/articles/183159.shtml
·         An Examined Faith: The Social Context and Religious Commitment, by James Luther Adams, Beacon Press, 1995
·         Transforming Liberalism: The Theology of James Luther Adams, by George Kimmich Beach, Skinner House Books, 2004

This Week in UU History: (From This Day in Unitarian Universalist History, by Frank Schulman)

December 14, 1647:  The Presbyterian ministers of London, England, met at Sion College to protest the errors, heresies, and blasphemies of the time and to denounce toleration of such ideas.  They were objecting to the growing influence of Unitarian beliefs on English Presbyterians.

December 16, 1611:  Iwan Tyszkiewicz, a Socinian, was executed in the great marketplace of Warsaw, Poland, for heresy.  His tongue was cut out and one hand and one foot cut off before he was beheaded.  Tyszkiewicz’s life would have been spared had he renounced his faith.  He is considered the first martyr of Unitarianism as an organized movement.

December 16, 1953: The North American Youth movements of Unitarianism and Universalism combined to form Liberal Religious Youth.  The development of religious education curricula for both denominations began two decades earlier.  The youth thus merged eight years before their denominations.

December 17, 1824:  Thomas Starr King was born in New York City, son of Thomas Farrington King, a Universalist minister whose settlement in Charlestown, Massachusetts, allowed young Starr, as he was known, to be influenced by William Ellery Channing and Hosea Ballou 2d.  The early death of his father forced Starr King to leave school and begin working.  He soon became his father’s successor to the Universalist Church in Charlestown.  However, his eloquence and scholarship caught the attention of Boston’s Unitarians, and he was called to the pulpit of the fashionable Hollis Street Church.  After several years, King left this settlement to become a Unitarian missionary on the West Coast.  He settled as minister of the First Church in San Francisco and made evangelizing tours up and down the West Coast.  A strong abolitionist, King also used these trips to lead the fight to keep California in the Union during the Civil War.  His sermons were influential on a variety of social and religious issues and his statue represented California in the U.S. Capitol until it was replaced by vote of the California Legislature with a statue of Ronald Reagan on June 3, 2009.  The only state Senator to vote against the removal of Starr King from the U.S. Capitol’s statuary hall was Unitarian Universalist and friend of UUCCSM Debra Bowen.  Thomas Starr King died on March 4, 1864.

December 19, 1820:  The abolitionist Mary Ashton Rice Livermore was born in Boston.  As a young woman, she worked as a governess on a plantation in Virginia, where she witnessed the brutality of slavery.  In 1845, she married Daniel Livermore, a Universalist minister, and became devoted to the principles of Universalism.  Mary Livermore worked to raise money for medicine, food, and supplies for the wounded during the Civil War and helped found the Home for Aged Women and the Hospital for Women and Children in Chicago when the war was over.  She founded and served as president of the Illinois Women’s Suffrage Association and formed the American Woman Suffrage Association with Julia Ward Howe and Lucy Stone (both Unitarians).  Livermore was also active in the temperance movement.  She wrote an engaging autobiography, The Story of My Life, in 1897.  Livermore died on May 23, 1905.

December 20, 1697:  Thomas Firmin, a friend of John Biddle, died at age 65.  A Unitarian leader during most of the 17th century, he wrote Unitarian tracts and books and was generous to Unitarian causes and victims of persecution.  Although he never officially left the Church of England, Firmin did not engage in religious disputes but devoted himself to practical benevolence.  He was regarded as a great friend and benefactor of Unitarian churches and underwrote the cost of printing many Unitarian books.

December 22, 1823:  Thomas Wentworth Higginson was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  After graduating from Harvard Divinity School, he served as a Unitarian minister in Newburyport, Massachusetts, from 1847 to 1850, before becoming an independent lecturer and political activist.  He served the Free Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1852 to 1858, but left there to devote himself full-time to the abolition of slavery.  A political and theological radical, Higginson led a raid on the Boston Court House to free fugitive slave Anthony Burns and became a supporter of John Brown.  He was appointed commander of a regiment of freed slaves in South Carolina and was wounded in battle.  After he was discharged, Higginson became an influential literary critic and popular lecturer.  He then took up the cause of women’s rights.  Higginson edited the works of Emily Dickinson, and his notes of the songs and stories told by his African-American Civil War troops formed the foundation of African-American studies as a scholarly field.  He died on May 9, 1911.

December 22, 1943:  Beatrix Potter, an English Unitarian writer of children’s books, died at age 77.