Calendar of upcoming events:

Sunday, 9/16
   First day of RE classes!
Friday, 9/21-Sunday, 9/23
   UUCCSM camp weekend at de Benneville
Sunday, 9/23
   Multi-age Social Justice Sunday
Sunday, 9/30
   Youth Programs brunch for youth in grades 8-12 and their families, hosted by the Youth Programs
   Subcommittee of the Lifespan RE Committee.  Held between the services from 10:15-11:00
Sunday, 10/28
   Day of the Dead Multigenerational service

Volunteer Opportunities:

VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED IN CHILDREN’S RE - The first day of RE classes is September 16th, and we still have just a few volunteer spots open that need to be filled!  Would you enjoy spending 1-2 Sundays per month with our vibrant young UUs?  We have a few spots left for assistants, whose role is to show up once a month on their designated Sundays to help out during class time.  We have need of volunteers in the following areas:

ASSISTANTS:
9:00 or 11:00 Nursery – Sign up to assist nursery staff 1x per month.  Several assistants still needed.
9:00 or 11:00 Preschool Class – Sign up to assist preschool staff 1x per month. Several assistants still needed.

K-1st Grade Class – 11:00 – Uses an adaptation of the “Spirit Play” story-based program model.  Class includes sharing of the week’s story with a basket of small objects that provide a visual focus for the story, discussion time, and a class activity to build on the theme of the story. One assistant still needed.

This Year’s RE Programs for Children & Youth:
 

Children’s RE Classes

Nursery Care: 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-Kindergarten: “Chalice Children” encourages young children to learn how to play and work cooperatively, appreciate how we are all alike yet different, and celebrate the different religions and cultures of the world.

1st-3rd Grade: “Spirit Seekers” shares core stories of our faith with children as they 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.  The class includes stories each week that fit with our monthly theme, followed by a special class activity to help children go deeper in their exploration of the themes and our UU values.

4th-5th Grade: 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.  “The UUniverse Story” 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 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-7th Grade:  “Compass Points” is a curriculum which guides adolescents on a yearlong spiritual journey with opportunities to explore their identities, their beliefs, their Unitarian Universalist faith, their relationships with others and their connections to the world.  The Goals of Compass Points are:
· To help participants sort out their feelings about themselves and their world  and to help them discover what they believe about life's big questions
· To help youth think independently, assume responsibility, make decisions, explore values and adopt the practice of radical hospitality
· To guide participants in acquiring enough background in Unitarian Universalist history, polity and theology that they can know and express what it means to be a Unitarian Universalists
· To help them understand that religious liberty is a hard-won legacy that continues to need protection

Youth Programs
8th Grade (9:00 only): “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 20th, when the youth will present religious credo statements before the congregation in a worship service of their own design.

9th-12th Grade (9:00 only): “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 UU’s 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.

 

This Week in RE:

·         Preschool-Kindergarten: “Welcome to Chalice Children” This week our preschool class will take part in an introduction to this year’s Chalice Children curriculum, with some special getting-to-know-you activities and stories.  Meets in the NW room of the cottage.

·         1st-2nd Grade (Spirit Seekers):  “The Magic of Patience” This week our 1st-2nd graders will start the year out with a story about patience and being good friends to people even when they act in ways we don’t like.  Meets in the SE room of the cottage.

·         3rd-5th Grade:  “Breaking the Ice with Burning Questions” For our first week in our upper elementary class, we’ll have some activities designed to help us get to know one another, and we’ll introduce our UUniverse Story curriculum for this year.  Meets in the mural room at the end of the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

·         6th-7th Grade (Compass Points): “Orienting to Compass Points”  This week we’ll start to build our community and will learn how to use a compass as we launch our brand new Compass Points curriculum. Meets in Room 3, the third room down the hallway upstairs above Forbes Hall.

·         8th Grade (Coming of Age) – 9:00 only:  An introduction to the Coming of Age program and to one another.  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 week YRUU will do our annual brainstorm of topics for discussion as well as ideas for worship and social justice during the year.  Make sure to come so you can take part in making decisions about what we’ll focus on this year!  Meets in Room 1, the first room at the top of the stairs above Forbes Hall.

Announcements:

NEW Pick-Up Procedures:  Children through Grade 5 must be picked up from class by their parents.  Class time lasts until 15 minutes after the hour (10:15/12:15), in order to allow for a full hour of class time, and so parents have time to grab a cup of coffee before coming to collect their children.  Please be prompt; RE teachers deserve to take part in coffee hour, too!

NEW Allergy Information:  If your child has any food allergies (or allergies to other materials that they would possibly come into contact with in a church school setting) PLEASE make sure that we know about them!  We do provide snacks in our RE classes, so it is very important information for us to have.  There is a spot on our RE registration form for this information, but if there is allergy information for your child that you did not include on the form, or if you have not yet turned in a registration form, please email me right away with the information.  I am creating allergy alert lists for all of our classes this week.

RE Registration & Parent Commitment Form for 2012-13:  Every child and youth who participates in our RE classes needs to have a registration form and parent commitment form filled out and signed each year.  The registration form helps us make sure we have current contact information for your family as well as information about your children’s needs, your dreams for their experience in our RE program, and the areas in which you’d like to help support our church’s educational ministry.  The parent commitment form asks for parents of children in our RE program to help out as volunteers during the year to ensure that our program is fully supported and of the highest quality we can make it.  We’ll have plenty of blank forms at the LRE table in the courtyard before and after the services on Sunday mornings in September, and they are also posted on the UUSM website at http://uusm.org/sundays-and-services/lifespan-RE/registration-permission.... Please bring yours on Sunday, or stop by the table to fill them out.  It is very helpful for us to have our registrations right away, so we can begin to build our class rosters and update our church records for this year.

Youth Programs Brunch, September 30:  Youth in Coming of Age (grade 8) and YRUU (grades 9-12) and their parents are invited to a brunch between the services on Sunday, Sept. 30th from 10:15-11:00 under the shade structure in the courtyard for an introduction to our youth programs for the year and to meet our fabulous Youth Programs committee members.  Siblings are welcome too!  We’ll share calendars for the year, talk about our monthly COA/YRUU social events (and ask for parents’ help in coordinating), and discuss the “big picture” of our congregation’s engagement with and support for our youth.

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 (September’s Theme – FORGIVENESS):
September 16:

We forgive ourselves and each other;
we begin again in love.
-- Robert Eller-Isaacs
Taken from ‘A Litany of Atonement’ #637 Singing the Living Tradition

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 September our theme is FORGIVENESS.  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 FORGIVENESS:

Are you holding on to a hurt that was done to you? Is there someone you are holding a grudge against? Think of a way of letting the “wind blow that hurt away.”

You could write the hurt into sand somewhere outdoors, and as the wind and weather slowly erase your words, work to let go of the hurt inside of you.

If you have been holding a grudge, actively work to reconcile yourself to that individual.

Explore ways that people are using forgiveness and reconciliation as a form of justice-making in the world. Some places to start might be The Fellowship of Reconciliation (http://www.forusa.org), South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (http://www.vorp.com).

Resources:
Books for Children:
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Lets be Enemies by Janice May Udry
That’s Mine, Horace by Holly Keller
My Two Uncles by Judith Vigna
Yoshi’s Feast by Kimiko Kajikawa
Zinnia and Dot by Lis Cambell Ernst
Feathers and Fools by Mem Fox

Further Reading for Adults:
·         Explore the following readings in Singing the Living Tradition published by the Unitarian Universalist Association. (Our hymnal)
o   # 438 by Clinton Lee Scott
o   #440 by Phillip Hewett
o   #461 by Reinhold Niebuhr
o   #464 by Judy Chicago
o   #477 by Vivian Pomeroy
o   #478 from the UN Envirmonmental Sabbath Program
o   #634 by Jack Riemer
o   #635 by Chaim Stern
o   #637 by Robert Eller-Isaacs
o   #666 by Thandeka
·         “Reconciliation as a Spiritual Discipline,” by Paula Cole Jones; UUWorld Magazine, February, 2004 http://www.uuworld.org/2004/02/feature1.html
·         “The Practice of Reconciliation,” by Paula Cole Jones; UUWorld Magazine, February, 2004 http://www.uuworld.org/2004/02/feature1b.html
·         Forgiveness is a Choice: A Step-By-Step Process for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope by Robert D. Enright, American Psychological Association, 2001
·         A Little Book on Forgiveness by Marilyn Sewell, Fuller Press, 2008
 

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

September 15, 1847:  President William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He served in a variety of government posts, from assistant prosecuting attorney of Hamilton County, Ohio, to superior court judge.  He went to Washington as solicitor general of the United States and then became civil governor of the Philippines, mentoring that nation toward full independence with as little attention to racial differences as he could.  He then became secretary of war before being elected president of the United States (1908-1912).  When his term was over, Taft went to Yale University, where he taught law until 1921, when he was appointed chief justice of the United States Supreme Court.  Taft also served as moderator of the American Unitarian Association and was a member of the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati.  He died on March 8, 1930.

September 15, 1853:  Women’s rights activist Antoinette Louisa Brown Blackwell was ordained as a Congregationalist minister by her church in South Butler, New York, becoming the first woman pastor in the country.  She became a Unitarian in 1854, helped found All Souls Unitarian Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and served as its first minister.  She wrote ten books on religion, philosophy and science, and was the mother of six children.  She died on November 11, 1921.  

September 16, 1661:  John Ludwig Wolzongenius died at about age 62 near Breslau, Silesia (now Poland).  He was a well-known scientist, mathematician, and Unitarian who wrote a great deal about Christianity.  When he knew he was dying, he sent for a Lutheran minister known for mathematical skill and discussed advanced mathematical problems with him.  With his reasoning power thus established, Wolzongenius declared that he wished to reconfirm his Unitarian faith.

September 17, 1775:  General George Washington appointed John Murray, an early leader of Universalism, as chaplain of the Rhode Island Regiment, over the objections of the clergy.

September 18, 1887:  This date is celebrated in the state of Meghalaya as Unitarian Day, the date on which Hajom Kissor Singh held the first Khasi Hills Unitarian Church service in Jowai, India.  One woman and two men joined Singh as the first members of the new church, which adopted a statement of faith in 1888: “We believe (1) in the unity of God; (2) in the Fatherhood and Motherhood of God; (3) in the Brotherhood of Man; (4) in Love, Union, Worship, and Faith; and (5) in Immortality.”  The Unitarian movement spread, and more than 30 churches now claim more 10,000 members in the Khasi Hills region.  This holiday is celebrated as a time of renewal and re-gathering of the community.  Beginning on this day, each family has a night when the whole congregation comes to worship in its house and share dinner.  At that time the family and house are blessed.

September 19, 1836:  The first meeting of the Transcendentalist Club took place in the home of George Ripley in Concord, Massachusetts, with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Henry Hedge, and Bronson Alcott attending.