March, 2012

Youth Score a Home Run with Laser Tag and Ball Park Outings

Grab your lasers and get, set, go to Ultrazone in Sherman Oaks, the ultimate laser adventure, on Saturday, March 3. A futuristic version of Capture the Flag, this game is an adrenaline rush like never before. Watch your in box for details and don’t miss this fun-filled night out organized by parents Erika and Steven Valore with Alicia and Steven Van Ooyen.

Go Dodger Blue! Saturday, April 14, youth head out to Chavez Ravine to cheer on the home team as they take on the San Diego Padres. Advance ticket purchase is required. Please RSVP to parent volunteers, Laura and Larry Weiner, with the number of tickets you need by March 31. Admission is approximately $12 each for seats located in the top deck behind home plate.

Thanks to parent volunteers Liza Cranis, Erika and Steven Valore, a spirited group of kids enjoyed pizza, games, movies and some midnight madness of baking cookies and making sundaes, while deepening friendships during the legendary overnight lock in at the church in February.

To find out the scoop on all upcoming activities, contact Lifespan RE Youth Sub-Committee Head Teri Bond. Fun is our mission! 

Faith Like a River — Themes from Unitarian Universalist History

Faith Like a River explores the dynamic course of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist (UU) history — the people, ideas, and movements that have shaped our faith heritage. It invites participants to place themselves into our history and consider its legacies. What lessons do the stories of our history teach that can help us live more faithfully in the present? What lessons do they offer to be lived into the future? Join facilitator Catherine Farmer Loya in the mural room (of course!) for four consecutive Wednesday evenings, March 14 to April 4, for an introductory exploration of our UU religious tradition’s roots. To sign up, contact Catherine@uusm.org or visit the Lifespan RE table during coffee hour on Sundays.

Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read

The Common Read is coming — have you started reading yet? All UUCCSM members and friends are invited to join UUs from congregations all over the country this spring in reading “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” by Dr. Eboo Patel. Why take the time to read a book that someone else has chosen, though? This is one more aspect of our congregation’s new experiment with Lifespan Religious Exploration. Just as all members of our community have opportunities to engage in some way in our monthly ministry themes this year, this is another way in which members of UUCCSM can come together to “go deeper” in our faith as Unitarian Universalists and in our connections to one another.

Why, then, this book in particular? Dr. Eboo Patel’s memoir, “Acts of Faith,” has been selected as the 2011-2012 Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read. Patel is founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, an international, nonprofit, youth service leadership organization. “‘Acts of Faith,” a beautifully written story of discovery and hope, chronicles Dr. Eboo Patel’s struggle to forge his identity as a Muslim, an Indian, and an American. In the process, he developed a deep reverence for what all faiths have in common, and founded an interfaith movement to help young people to embrace their common humanity through their faith. This young social entrepreneur offers us a powerful way to deal with one of the most important issues of our time.” —President Bill Clinton

We hope that all of you will consider taking part in this special project. Check the book out from the library, buy it for your e-reader, or purchase it from the book cart or the Lifespan RE table right here at UUCCSM during coffee hours this month. Then, once we’ve all had some time to read, we’ll offer a number of opportunities in April to take part in a one-session book discussion. Sign up for one of the two sessions offered at the church, on Sunday April 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. (potluck dinner to follow), or Wednesday, April 25, from 7 to 9 p.m. Or join one of the neighborhood gatherings being hosted by UUCCSM members in their homes — details of those gatherings will be announced soon, though there will certainly be meetings in Culver City, West LA and Santa Monica, and possibly additional neighborhoods. Don’t miss out on it!

Patio Chat — Sunday, March 11

Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussion

BROKENNESS

with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

at 10:10 a.m. on the Patio

February, 2012

Wild and Crazy Times for Youth

Go-cart races, Dodger game, picnic/hike, overnight and a pool party are all featured events being planned for COA/YRUU this spring. Fun is our mission! We look forward to bringing our teens together to share good times, to have adventures, and to make some memories. On the line-up for February 4 is an overnight at the Church with pizza and movies and games. In March we’ll be Go-cart racing. April takes us out to the ball park for a Dodger match-up. May brings us back to nature for a hike and picnic. We wrap up the year with a splash at a pool party in June. Dates are subject to change. Please watch your email inboxes for more information. Thanks to parent volunteers Lara Davis del Piccolo (Clelia’s mom) and Karl Lisovsky (Angela’s dad), several youth went for a whirl on the Winter Wonderland ICE skating rink to kick off the new year on January 7. Between laps under the stars, skaters enjoyed hot cocoa and homemade brownies. To find out the latest details on all upcoming excursions, contact Lifespan RE Youth Sub-Committee Head Teri Bond. Don’t miss out.

Patio Chat -- Sunday, February 26

Monthly UUCCSM Theme Discussion

PEACE

with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

10:00 a.m. on the Patio

New Workshop Starts February 12

"BYOT 3: Ethics" will be facilitated by Bernie Silvers and Ed Field.  Bernie is an ordained Zen monk who lived at the Zen Center of L.A. for thirteen years and was president for eight years.  He has also been a UU for more than thirty years and has studied ethics extensively.  Ed has a Ph.D. in physics and has been a UU for about fifteen years.  The class invites participants to apply their believs, values, and convictions to particular ethical situations with scenarios culled from history, literature, current events, and the participants' own lives.  A text book is required and is available at our church bookstore in Forbes Hall.  Sign up at the Lifespan table on Sunday mornings.  The class will meet upstairs in Forbes Hall at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoons.

January, 2012

Patio Chat with Leon Henderson-MacLennan

Monthly UUCCSM Religious Exploration Theme Discussion 
January 22, 2012 at 10:10 a.m. — WISDOM

October, 2011

Second Sunday Supper and Games, October 9.
Games start at 4pm. Bring your own to share and teach or play one of ours, such as Oh! Hell!, Scrabble, Dominoes, Bananagrams, Pictionary. Players of all ages are welcome. DINNER starts at 6 p.m. – Bring a side dish, salad, or dessert to share. Main dish is provided. The food is always tasty and the company is beyond compare.

Movie of the Month (October 15 from 7 to 9:30 p.m.):
“After Life” (1999) from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda. At a way station somewhere between heaven and earth, the newly dead are greeted by guides. Over the next three days, they help the dead sift through their memories to find the one defining moment of their lives. The chosen moment will be re-created on film and taken with the dead when they pass on to heaven. This grave, beautifully crafted film reveals the surprising and ambiguous consequences of human recollection. What glows from the placid surface of this extraordinary film is the wonder and mystery of everyday things, the tenuous but rich beauty of merely living. “After Life” — the Japanese title is “Wonderful Life” — is only  ostensibly about death; no film of recent years has been more life affirming.

While adults watch “After Life,” films for children will be shown in the Cottage. We’ll supply the popcorn if you bring drinks to share.

Patio Chat (October 23 from 10:10 to 10:50 a.m. under the shade structure)
is a facilitated discussion on the October ministry theme, loss. All teens and adults are welcome.

Have ideas for all-church activities? Contact members of the Multi-generational Programs subcommittee – Judy Federick, Leon Henderson-MacLennan, Carol-Jean Teuffel, Larry Weiner.

— Emmy Cresciman