From Our Director of Religious Education:

This month, the ministry theme we’ll explore together is PEACE. In services and in classrooms, people of all ages will be thinking about what peace is and how we can help bring it to our communities and to the world. Peace is a really big concept, and we often spend a lot of time thinking about peace on a grand scale: world peace, the end of wars, etc. But I’m interested, too, in thinking about what peace is on a much smaller scale — how can we build peace in our own hearts, and in our individual interactions with others?

We talk a lot about “spiritual growth” here at church, particularly when we articulate our goals for the religious education of the young people in our programs on Sunday mornings. We’re all better people when we try to be our best selves, and that best self is itself growing and changing all the time as we grow and learn more about who we are and how to be in this world. Spiritual growth means growing toward that best self — the you that is happy and healthy and enjoys being part of the world and being around other people and is excited about learning and trying new things and meeting new people. The you that’s at peace and treats everyone the way you would like them to treat you.

But it’s not always easy to know how to cultivate a peaceful self, particularly when we’re busy, or stressed, or aggravated. This certainly continues to be a growing edge in my own life. Each Sunday, elementary children in our Spirit Play classes share the “Gandhi Peace Greeting” as part of their opening ritual. The words of the greeting are a lovely reminder to me for how to cultivate a peaceful attitude toward others: I offer you friendship/I offer you love/I see your beauty/I hear your needs/I feel your feelings/My wisdom comes from a higher source/I honor that source in you/Let us work together.

I invite you to join all of us here at UUCCSM in our month of peace-seeking. Drop in for the bi-weekly Wednesday night meditation class led by Bill Blake on February 1, 15, or 29 at 7:30 p.m., or join the Peacethemed Patio Chat facilitated by Leon Henderson- MacLennan between the services on February 26. Attend services and talk to others at coffee hour about what peace means to you. And most of all, practice being at peace with yourself, and in your relationships with others you encounter this month. May each of us become beacons of peace in our homes and in our communities, not just this month but throughout our lives.

— Catherine Farmer Loya

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.

February in the Classrooms

This month in the children’s RE program, preschoolers will celebrate Valentine’s Day and will explore the many different sorts of emotions we all experience, and how to express them in ways that don’t hurt other people. Early elementary participants will learn about our seventh UU principle (the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part) with stories from science and nature, and will engage this month’s theme of PEACE. Upper elementary children will continue exploring the amazing natural world around us in their UUniverse Story class. Middle schoolers in Neighboring Faiths will learn about Taoism, including a visit to the Taoist temple in Chinatown. We’ll also offer a special peace-themed Faith in Action project on February 26 for grades K to 5 in RE.

And all families are invited to join us for a very special Second Sunday Supper on February 12 from 5 to 7 p.m.; at 5 p.m. we’ll make Valentines for our friends and families as well as church members who could use some cheer and then at 6 p.m. we’ll share a potluck dinner together. We hope to see you there!

Children’s Programs subcommittee members welcome your comments and questions

— Nicole Henderson- MacLennan, Susan Hendricks Richman, Sabina Mayo-Smith, and Kim Santiago-Kalmanson.

Help Wanted

INTERVIEWEES — Share your story on video

INTERVIEWERS — Sit down with interviewee and ask questions, guide the interview — we will train

PROJECT DESIGNERS — Work with the LRE committee to continue with the conceptualization of the project

CAMERA/SOUND RECORDISTS — Operate camera and sound equipment — we will train

PRODUCTION COORDINATORS — Set up interviews, supervise shoots

TECHNICAL CONSULTANTS/TRAINERS — Share your expertise in video production, show team members how to use equipment

VIDEO/SOUND EDITORS — Must have prior experience

ASSISTANT EDITORS — Upload and log footage

ARCHIVIST – Maintain a DVD library of interviews

SET BUILDER – Help to build an “interview booth” at church We welcome your ideas and suggestions.

Stop by the Lifespan table in Forbes or contact members of the Multi-Generational subcommittee: Judy Federick, Leon Henderson-MacLennan, Carol-Jean Teuffel, and Larry Weiner.

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.