The Teaching Touch

Farewell

2009-06-21T18:32:00.002-04:00

As you know by now, I am taking my leave of you in a few weeks. I will be going to General Assembly, taking personal vacation time out west and returning here in mid July to tidy up the office and clean out the files and generally finish up the odds and ends. You'll be in good hands. I promise. For the time being, you will have a curriculum consultant working with your curriculum committee on content and a Sunday morning go to person - either volunteer or paid. The search for a consulting or interim Religious Educator is on and I have no doubt that you will attract a top notch candidate. All will be well.

As I said last Sunday, everything and everyone has their place. Birds have their nests and the sky and animals have their burrows and their lairs. For a while this was "our" place, but "my" place is somewhere else now and this is again "your" place. I hope you will care for each other well within it. Many blessings and many thanks to all of you for making my time here so rich.

Thinking outside the box.

2009-06-01T12:12:00.005-04:00

Quote du jour: "Broadly stated, a quantum superposition is the combination of all the possible states of a system (for example, the possible positions of a subatomic particle). The Copenhagen interpretation implies that the superposition undergoes collapse into a definite state only at the exact moment of quantum measurement." ~ Anonymous

(This is for Bonnie as a thank you for all those hours of singing!)

There's a very famous theoretical experiment in quantum physics. In it (the experiment is known as Schrodinger's Box) a cat is described as inhabiting a sealed box with a random explosive device. The device may or may not have discharged and the cat may or may not be alive. You don't know the outcome until you open the box. And in opening the box you may influence the outcome, causing the device to discharge. I read this one years ago and it still makes my head hurt to consider it. It's a kind of magic where we shape reality. That two possibilities exist until the moment when one is measured and defined.

In a more recent reading, I came across the notion of our human mortality as that kind of a box. And God, may or may not exist outside the box. The belief in the presence or absence of God is one which holds open the possibilities of both until we *know*in absolute terms if God waits for us outside the box. Does your head hurt yet?

Most religions hold space for belief. Belief in one god or many, belief in a cosmology which can explain the ills and woes of the world, belief in an afterlife and belief in the part of us that is undying and immortal. Religions offer comfort in the belief that we and those we love can transcend death and/or return to another embodied existence. There are other systems of belief, although one may be hard pressed to call them religions - I think they are, whatever label they use. Belief in a rational order to the universe, belief in an evolutionary trajectory that is guided by adaptive selection and a certain amount of luck. Belief in a time to live and a time to die. Those are very appealing beliefs, they have a certainty to them.

I find absolutes to be rather comfortable. My head doesn't hurt as much when I consider them. But in Unitarian Universalism we also hold room for disbelief, for uncertainty, for the possibility that in Schrodinger's box, the cat is both alive and dead until you open the box. We hold space for the possibility that outside my box, there is a God, and that outside yours there is not. I like that. I like the idea that my belief in God does not make you wrong or that your belief in no God does not make me wrong. I like the idea that as Unitarian Universalists it's all equally possible or equally impossible. I like the idea that whatever waits outside our respective boxes, it will be very familiar to each of us, because we taken this whole lifetime to become acquainted with it's nature and possiblity.

Now I'm going to go take an aspirin.

When Perfectly Lovely People Go Crazy

2009-05-15T09:30:00.001-04:00

Quote du jour: Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. ~William James

Is it me? Is it spring? Is it the fact that we're overbooked, overextended, overcharged, overwrought? After all, not much has materially changed in the world. The economy still stinks, climate change is still making itself known, and nations are still at war with themselves or with each other. I'm honestly not sure why the dour moods, but perfectly lovely people are going. crazy these days. I made the mistake of asking one perfectly lovely man "how are you doing". He told me. In. No. Uncertain. Terms. He's stable, he's healthy, he's just really cranky. And a little crazy these days. Maybe it's allergies?

I asked another perfectly lovely person, "What do you think?" And she told me. In. No. Uncertain. Terms. She's prosperous, she's healthy, her ideas and opinions are considered helpful, and she was really cranky. REALLY cranky.

And then there are the kids. You'd think they had been imbibing an endless supply of sugared drinks and are now undergoing a heinous withdrawal. School is ending soon. They. Should. Be. Happy.

I don't get it. I used to be surrounded by charming, quirky types. Now I'm surrounded by dementors.

What's the solution? Well, since I am not prepared to renounce all human interaction, it's time to turn the dial on my sense of humor to high and use a variety of other means to keep myself sane and in relationship without needing to fix anything or doing damage to hard won trust. And tell myself that the pollen will diminish and the perfectly lovely people will cycle out of this phase and back to their perfectly lovely selves. And laugh. At myself. At our human foibles. Often.

After all, it's just common sense. . . dancing.

The Year Winds Down

2009-05-06T12:55:00.003-04:00

Quote du jour: A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We're winding up the church year, with the grand finale of RE Sunday (more about that in this weeks calendar notes)on the 17th, but before we heave a sign of relief and check the box next to "church year 2008-2009" I had to share the above quote from dear old RWE. What we worship, we become. Wow. So simple and so true. If we worship a narrow parochial point of view, then we become narrow and parochial. I suspect he was not speaking of theology though, but rather how we spend our time, our energy, and ultimately our lives. I'm not talking about the variety of human experience we either need to attend to - like FOOD and LAUNDRY - or wish to experience, but rather what we WORSHIP.

Some people worship a perfect body to the extremes of plastic surgery and starvation. There are people who worship their various illnesses, defined by what's wrong with them, leaving out a whole lot of what's right with them. There are people who worship their childrens athletic potential. They parent for it, program around it, and eventually reduce their child to a single dimension rather than the complex messy human s/he might be. There are people who move from desiring and acquiring object after object, becoming a closed system of consumption, working, spending, working. (They are about the dullest conversationalists I can think of.) And as we watch the global situation unfold while feeding our appetite for shoot em up movies and bloodied video games, is it any wonder that we have increasing wars and violence?

It's not all bad though. Becoming what you worship can be a great thing. Do we worship, REALLY worship the planet we live on? Or the potential of every human being? Or the mystery of life? If I could become what I worship - I'd love to become a more environmentally active person, or a tireless advocate for leveling the planetary playing field, or a voice for the sacred.

So by now you may be wondering where I'm going with this and what, if anything it has to do with RE Sunday. Fair enough. I paraphrase Ralph Waldo What we attend to, whether anyone knows it or not, is what we are becoming. Only you know your motivations for attending church and involving yourself in the teaching ministry here. Only you know what annoys you about church and what you find transcendent. And yes, both aspects can exist in the same heart at the same time. But at the end of the year, take a few minutes and think back on our time together. Think back on the teaching ministry you've been part of. And among those memories, some will be of snowstorms and frustrations (oops that's mine) and some will be of cute kids and earnest adolescents and silly songs and profound insights. We could worship the snowstorms, disappointments and inconveniences and make those our church memories or we could worship the sunnier moments and bask in them all summer long.

So in closing, because I'm putting together a worship service on this year in Religious Education for RE Sunday, I am asking you all to respond to the question "What did I learn at church this year?". The question is for all kids and teaching adults. You can respond in the comments section or by emailing me privately. It's anonymous. No attributions will be made and yet, everyone will learn what you learned. See you in church!

Coincidence?

2009-04-29T13:53:00.006-04:00

Quote du jour: "Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see all the levers and pulleys" ~ Emma Bull

I refuse to title this post "My Vacation" because it always seems like a boast. "Ha, ha, I went on vacation someplace fabulous and had a fabulous time". Although I did go on vacation "someplace fabulous" and there were moments of "fabulous time", temper those words with the knowledge that I spent two days holed up in the MiddleofNowhere, Colorado while several feet of snow piled up around us, the major east-west highway (our route) remained closed, and that I just happened to be all alone in the subterranean geothermal caves when the power went out. AND that there are rattlesnakes in the desert and bears in the back country.

The last morning of my travels, as I prepared to leave a campground in the MiddleofNowhere, Colorado II, I went on 7AM walkabout looking for someone to pass along unused propane and food to. (All those leftovers that weren't going to get used - not worth paying the extra air freight on, but criminal to throw away) So there I was in the Mancos State Park with my trusty cup of coffee, offering our leftovers to some of the few other campers - there was still snow on the ground - in the park. One of the campers, a woman, peered closely at me - what little was visible under hat and upturned collar. "Is that a Ferry Beach mug?" she asked Are you a Ferry Beacher?" It was indeed a Ferry Beach mug. And I was indeed a Ferry Beacher. And she, her spouse and children were Ferry Beachers, also visiting Mesa Verde, also from New England. She's someone I know from the Mass Bay District. That's some coincidence considering that this was low season in Colorado and that no one in their right mind would go camping in April less than a week after a record breaking snowfall.

Is it really a coincidence? Or are there levers and pulleys at work in our world?

I don’t believe in pre-destination, I gave that up a long time ago, but I wonder about unseen forces of attraction that draw people together. I wonder about the drift toward one pole or another, I wonder about the 100th monkey syndrome. I wonder about those perfect moments that find each of us. I don’t know exactly what they might look like, but I think there are levers and pulleys at work. Maybe one of those levers looks like a seagull logo and another one looks like a chalice. We talk about church growth and church welcome and all the reasons we can think of for engaging fully in growth and welcome. I’ve got another one. When a new family shows up, or a new kid appears on Sunday morning, perhaps, just maybe, something unseen is at work. Perhaps the levers and pulleys look just like the face you see in the mirror every day.

Churchiness and Accelerating Change

2009-04-14T11:29:00.003-04:00

Quote du jour: If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less.
~ General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff US Army

We are nearing the end of the regular RE year and a year of experimenting with all sorts of new configurations. We've collaborated with another church in the middle school group, extended the Coming of Age year to include all high schoolers, hired a professional pre-school teacher and implemented a trail of Rotation Workshop for the primary ages. It does seem like of lot of changes. Good. One of my ongoing frustrations with UU land is that we tend to stick with things for a long time. Perhaps into the time of irrelevance.

Even our most groundbreaking curriculum, Our Whole Lives, was written before facebook, texting and twitter. We risk irrelevence if we do not attend to the realities of the world our children inhabit or speak to them in the ways they most understand. And yet, because there are many things about church which are timeless, we risk losing the inherent 'churchiness' (I've been watching Colbert) of church if we reach for the 'hook' of technology at the expense of human community.

Church inhabits a constant tension between the contemporary and the ageless. And it's not new to our time, of course. Much of our religious thought and tradition have come from radical change, and resistance to the old order rules, whoever or whatever the old order was. What is new to our time is the rate of acceleration. We do not creep along in increments of weeks, months and years, but leap exponentially from one technological advance to the next. And our culture and our kids do likewise. Ten years ago at the Rochester General Assembly, I remember making a stink about assuming everyone had the wherewithawl to own a computer and communicate electronically. Today, even people who consider themselves poor have cell phones, and the most modest households have a computer. Communication technology has become that significant. If these technologies have become so ubiquitous in the past decade, what will the next decade bring? Many of the current ideas around accelating change and collapsing singularities sound like science fiction AND - as I remember it - the science fiction of my childhood could not begin to envision the reality of my adult years.

Technology begats technology at a faster and faster pace, and if we are to serve our own, as well as our children's needs, we cannot take ten years to develop a comprehensive religious education program. We must continually evaluate and shift, rewrite, reprogram, seek out new resources, and acquire the tools kids need to deal with the moral, ethical and social demands of the new technolgies they (and we) continually encounter. At the same time, we can never lose sight of the religious grounding of our Unitarian Universalist beliefs. There is a timeless wisdom in our history, our practices and our theolgies of reason, inquiry, experience and inclusion. Striking a balance between the two is the work of faith development in the current millenium. I have often said and it bears repeating, that balance is momentary. Once we acquire it, something shifts and we must reach for balance again. Thats the cost of living in dynamic interesting, changing times. It's hard work and these days, it's some of the most important work the church can do. These words from Alfred North Whitehead put it succiently, The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. Let our work be that art.

Long Time, No See

2009-04-07T11:29:00.004-04:00

Quote du jour: When you meet up with a disagreeable person, never allow yourself to be upset. Say to yourself, if a dowdy like that can stand himself all his life, surely I can stand him for a few minutes. ~ Unknown

I've been absent from blogging for several weeks and now have wrapped my head back around thinking and writing. (I was thinking and writing, but most of it was nonsense, and considering the already low height of the bar, not worthy of the link)

I spent a few days last week at a pastoral care conference/training. When ever I go to one of these things, I find that along with the formal and explicit program content, the other attendees contribute equal or greater content. What people offer up for solutions, the situations they describe, and yes, the personality traits that drive me up a tree - all content. One of the reasons I took up knitting (and this does not apply to all meetings) was as a way of mitigating the frustrations of (often) pointless or endless meetings I attended in my volunteer and work lives. Whatever happened or didn't happen in a meeting was easier to take if I came home with a sock.

Because, face it - some meetings are glorious and productive and some are not. We can't have glorious and productive all the time, but at the very least I think we should strive for relational. If you are asking (as I think you must be by now) what this has to do with a teaching blog - think about the different experiences you've had. Some days, everyone is on. They are eager, attentive, thoughtful, full participants and you leave thinking "I'm so glad I did this".

And then there are the other days. The days when someone is off. Or everyone is off. Including you. You can't avoid it. Everyone has an off day, so sooner or later it's going to be your turn. Or your class's turn. And then there are the poor souls to whom every day is an off day. I watched a few in action last week swinging between the extremes of 'offness' in adults. Most of the extremes took the form of variations on the "look at me" theme, although there were a couple of "don't look at me" moments. Kids do this too. Their vocabulary is a less polished for most of it, but they either push for attention or push to be left alone. Both of those reactions in a classroom are ways of asking to be 'seen'. If you can remember that, it goes a long way to help you address "off" behaviors in a neutral, non-punnitive fashion and maintain caring relationships. Kids aren't always easy. Neither are adults. And there are some folks seem to pride themselves on being difficult. But look at it from their point of view. Poor things. They're stuck with the selves forever. We get to go home. And until then, we can knit.

(Need knitting lessons? See me!)

What should we do on Sunday morning?

2009-03-11T12:55:00.005-04:00

Quote du jour: Thought flows in terms of stories - stories about events, stories about people, and stories about intentions and achievements. The best teachers are the best story tellers. We learn in the form of stories. ~ Frank Smith

The curriculum committee and I are busy working on the selection of core narratives (stories - but core narratives sounds so much more 'official') for next year's primary grades Rotation Workshop. We have developed a sequence and scope for the year, and on the surface it looks like a framework much as we have in secular education. But it's not. The questions we ask as we develop program content and lesson sets are as church centered as the answers to them.

What do we need from our church? What do we wish to have for our children? In answering those questions, I developed three core assumptions about the content of Sunday morning programs. First and foremost we must create community. And for the kids, that's not a one shot deal, but a weekly practice. Every time a group gathers, with even one new face, or one missing face – it's a new community to be built in that day! As adult leaders, we should consider ourselves leaders and guides, as we help children find ways to form relationships, see and be seen, develop awareness of the social contract and practice being with each other in whole and supportive ways.

Secondly, we learn to live as Unitarian Universalists. We don't have enough time with our children on Sunday morning to create religious scholars. What we do have time for is to recognize and guide people who can practice inclusion, accountability, compassion and a healthy curiosity about their world.

And thirdly, we must offer ways to make meaning. Few of us can find meaning in the pages of a book until we have the life experiences that make those pages relevant. We can create those life experiences with worship, with story, with service to others, and with encounters with the mystery (that some people call god and others understand differently). For our children, although I think it vital to include the religious questions of the faiths and the world they encounter every day, it is equally vital to help children become aware of their ability to ask their own questions, in ways that are responsive, not reactive. Notice I say very little about 'curriculum'. The curriculum we use is a tool, something to mine for wisdom, refer to for integrative and group activities, a structure for your morning, AND it is no wiser than your own good instincts about what it means for a child to be religious. What you can give a child - matters.

In just about every teaching workshop or orientation I've led, I've told the following story. Years ago I walked into a Sunday morning religious education room. The leader was valiantly struggling through a lesson on the 'inherent worth and dignity of each individual' while two kids were escalating a war of words into physical violence and the rest of the group sat uncomfortably observing this interaction. The leader told me later, that she 'had' to get through the lesson. As gently as I could, I asked, "and in that room, with two children practicing violence on each other and the other children silenced. ..what do you think the lesson was?"

What's it for?

2009-03-05T10:30:00.003-05:00

Quote du jour: We hurry through our meals to go to work and hurry through our work in order to "recreate" ourselves in the evenings and on weekends and vacations and then we hurry, with greatest possible speed and noise and violence, through our recreation--for what?
�Wendell Berry

I was speaking with a colleague about loss. The big losses of siblings and parents as we who are lucky enough to have them at middle age begin to experience. It certainly puts the question asked by Wendell Berry in perspective. What is it for? If I were to ask this question of myself every time I took on a new project or commitment - and re-read the quote as I did so - what would my answers be?

I have noticed that in the past few years, much of my personal life has been about divesting. (Although I did acquire a new spouse last summer) Launching the kids, readying the house for downsizing, letting go of old dreams and hopes that no longer fit. Work is taking on that frame as well. As the church grapples with the realities of the economic downturn and the consequences to the endowment income, we are earnestly asking the question - what's it for?

But church isn't the only place where one might reflect on our relationship with time, money and effort. Years ago, I wrote a sociology paper on the Black Friday phenomena. To do so, I rose early and went off to Walmart where I observed and interviewed a number of shoppers. At one point, I saw a sleepy, overheated, cranky pre-schooler being roundly scolded by their parent. "If you don't stop crying, Santa isn't going to come to our house. Santa won't bring you anything at all." As you might guess, those threats had the effect of magnifying the waterworks. What was THAT for? Bringing joy into a child's life? Christmas spirit? Not so much. But church isn't the only place where one might reflect on our relationship with time, money and effort. And yet, the parent involved started with the best of motives - to manifest love - which ended up corrupted by the cultural messages about money, consumption and tangibles. What's it for?

My mood has always been an indicator of balance or lack there of in my life. If I'm so stressed that I snap at my family or am rude to perfect strangers on the phone, then something is seriously out of whack.

It seems like the whole world is talking about how to reconcile reality with wish. Each of us will have a different answer to that question and each family has it's own values around time, energy and money. I'm not going to tell you how to use those things, but rather invite you to consider your values first and let the richness of possibilities become apparent.

(and here are some links that may be of use in that process)

Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community. http://www.uujec.org
Seventh Principle Project. http://www.uuaspp.org
Kids' Money. http://pages.prodigy.com/kidsmoney/index.htm
National Center for Financial Education, Children and Money. http://www.ncfe.org/index.htm
Take Back Your Time. http://www.simpleliving.net/timeday/
The Simple Living Network. http://www.simpleliving.net/
The Simplicity Forum. http://www.simpleliving.net/simplicityforum/default.asp
Free Our Time. http://www.shalomctr.org/freeourtime/
Time for a Four Hour Day. http://www.iww.org/projects/4-Hours/
Work to Live. http://www.worktolive.info/

Wisdom from the World. . .At the Local Starbucks

2009-02-23T12:06:00.004-05:00

"There is a subtle difference between a mission and a promise. A mission is something you strive to accomplish - a promise is something you are compelled to keep. One is individual, the other is shared. When a mission and a promise are one and the same... that's when mountains are moved and races are won." ~ Hala Moddelmog (President and CEO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure)

Local and Starbucks? Not really. I usually patronize the little guy, the small locally owned business. Not the mega concerns chewing up the unique and unrepeatable small town shops. Like. . . ah . . .Starbucks.

But there I was with my 25 dollar gift card and a raging thirst for French Roast Sumatran blend. (Need you ask? Caffeinated of course.) And I found something very cool. A homily on a Starbucks paper coffee cup. It's my quote du jour, what they, in the land of Starbucks, refer to as "The Way I See It"

Mx. Moddelmog makes a very good point. Sometime in the eighties, the notion of institutional and personal mission statements became Very Important Transformational Work in our society, but somewhere along the way, we lost the sense of promises that guide our mission and vision. The words have become an end in themselves. "We now have a mission statement." Check. Next. Or when we use our mission and vision statements as another way of setting church goals, it feels more like a to do list, something we 'should' do, rather than something we are called to do as a living manifestation of our faith in the world.

As I pondered my coffee cup, I considered all the mission statements I've been part of writing - and realized that I no longer even remember most of them. But the promises I've made, now those are memorable. Not the social promises that I REALLY meant at the time, but the promises that seem to be linked to my DNA itself. The ones that make a difference to me, that failure to attend to cause me sleepless nights. I have never even named most of them, but they're there and I know they're there because I constantly work to fulfill them, understanding that big promises demand more than a one-off effort.

The promise to give the world another advocate for peace. The promise to create sanctuary for plants, animals and people on the land I steward. The promise to give every child I encounter, a welcoming place in the church. The promises to my beloveds - that I will be there for and with them - whatever life may bring our way. The promise to make my life count.

I wonder what our individual and congregational lives would be like, if instead of visioning 'processes' and mission writing 'work', we made promises to ourselves and to each other. What races could we win? What obstacles could we overcome?

Let's Put on a Show!

2009-02-12T16:34:00.004-05:00

Quote du jour: The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to life. ~ Oscar Wilde

Do you remember (and lest you think I'm THAT old - on cable classic movie channels in RERUNS) those Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland movies where the kids put on a 'show' to save the day, raise the money, bring the community together, forge understanding and sing and dance? Those ones? I do. I remember singing with my sisters as a child, performing for family and friends and church. I remember the magic of harmonizing, or making after dinner clean up a scene from a musical. I remember my teen years of aspiration, although I never got out of the chorus until my big break as a witch in the Wizard of Oz. (Not THE witch, rather a lesser light in the stage production. Looking back, I'm sure I got the role for my funky sock wardrobe rather than my star qualities. It saved on costuming expenses.) I remember recapturing the sweetness of our childhoods, as my sisters and I sang at each others weddings.

And then years later, I found myself bringing my own children into the magic of making music together. I no longer craved the spotlight, but what I had been longing for; an opportunity to come together with others and create something with very little more than our bodies and voices. To make magic that transcends speech, to sing, to tell a story to and with each other. In short, to put on a show. I was fortunate enough to live in a town where one of the churches put on an interfaith/intergenerational musical production every year. The musicals had some uplifting message, were (so rare these days) engaging for the whole family, and were an extension of the ministry of that church - to bring people together in fellowship.

We are doing that this spring at UUCGL. Bringing people of all beliefs, all generations, and diverse talents together in fellowship. Putting on a show. For no other reasons than our desire to tell a story to and with each other. The story (The musical is called 'Children of Eden') is an old one, as old as Adam and Eve - and coincidentally ABOUT Adam and Eve, and the generations until Noah and the Ark. It's a lot of story to tell, and a fair amount of work, but an extraordinarily rich opportunity to be with each other in ways that are not quite work and not quite play. Productions are like that - a little village that comes together with the tasks of singing and dancing and acting and painting sets and devising costumes and putting out publicity and where everyone from the production divas to the littlest 'animals' on the ark is an integral and indespensible part of the whole.

We are inviting you to think about moving into our springtime village. And bring the kids. Auditions are still open for leads, or you may join the chorus without auditioning. If you don't want to sing, you can be part of the village in other ways, with artistic talent, marketing savvy, or instrumental contributions. It's an opportunity for the staff to work together across program areas, and I hope it will be an opportunity for you, your families or for others you do not yet know; to connect with the song in each heart and to the longing for community.

What Makes a Good Teacher?

2009-02-04T08:26:00.007-05:00

The groundhog - another name for rodent of unusual size - saw his shadow and bit the mayor of New York City. Perhaps the groundhog, like so many of us, cannot imagine six more weeks more of THIS winter. So onto more cheerful things.

Sally Patton is a Unitarian Universalist with a profound ministry. She has spent the past decade educating congregations and individuals in inclusion ministries for and with persons with special needs. She has designed a training "Involve" which I and another member of the Religious Education committee participated in. I have taken Sally's words for this blog post, because she answers the question "what makes a good teacher" beautifully. So hence a longish 'quote du jour'

Quote du jour: . . .The first is the development of self-efficacy and our perception of ourselves and the second is how we form and maintain attitudes. The first one seems obvious. The findings show that those areas in which we have achieved some mastery get reinforced into the image we have of ourselves. Those areas in which we have little experience and hence little reinforcement contributes to an image we hold for ourselves that we are incompetent in those areas even though we may have the skills. So if we believe we are good teachers, it is because we have achieved some success as a teacher. What often happens in our churches is that we have parents who have never taught formally or who have never felt they have been in any type of teaching role, so they have no experience to draw upon which says that they will be good teachers. Therefore they use the only model they can find which is the teachers they had in school. Most likely their teachers relied heavily on a lecture method of teaching which does not work in our RE programs. In addition, a child with a label whose behavior is different than what the teacher is comfortable with can totally wreck a first teaching experience. . .

In my Involve workshops I emphasize that the attitude of the teacher is the best predictor of whether or not they will be successful teachers. The psychologists say that attitudes are made up of three components: cognitive (our thoughts, beliefs and ideas about an attitude object), emotional (our feelings and emotions about an attitude object), and behavioral (our predisposition to act in a particular way based on the cognitive and emotional components). In order to change our behavior we have to change the thoughts, beliefs and emotions we have about the attitude object. Our attitudes about other people are formed and shaped by how we were brought up, culture, stereotypes, group associations to mention just a few. Our attitudes about the children we label are often formed by what the label implies about expected behavior. The labels bias us toward expecting certain types of behavior and teacher expectations have a lot to do with how children perform. For example, we expect a child labeled with ADD to be disruptive and that is what we get. There was a famous study demonstrating how teacher expectations affect children’s performance. One teacher was told they were getting a class of high achievers when they actually got a class of under achieving children. The other teacher was assigned the class of under achievers but was told she had the class of high achievers. The study showed that the children performed to the teacher’s expectations. The under achieving students performed well while the high achieving students performed poorly.

The attitude I promote is one based on seeing the world through the child’s eyes. This helps not to be so quick to judge behavior based on the pre-conceived beliefs we have about teaching, learning, and children, especially the children we label. But how do we change people’s attitudes? The psychologists say that when our behavior does not coincide with a strongly held belief we experience cognitive dissonance. In order to achieve harmony, we either change the behavior or the belief. For UU’s, most of us have strong beliefs associated with our seven principles. Therefore, working for the worth and dignity of every child who enters our churches should be a strong incentive for welcoming all children. I think what trips us up, are those labels. So even though we want to welcome all children, when it actually comes down to teaching them, we fear what the label implies and we expect the behavior the label implies. Seeing the world through the child’s eyes and seeing past the label to the whole child sounds good, but how do we actually do that? And how do we do that in one hour on a Sunday morning when the child is being disruptive? I was told a story recently of a school teacher who was assigned the “problem” child. The first thing she said to him when he started being difficult was, “It’s too late, I already love you.” I propose that being a good teacher is just that simple. We love the children no matter what.

- Sally Patton www.embracechildspirit.org

Logos

2009-01-29T14:57:00.018-05:00

Quote du jour “For me,the kindled chalice is no sweet little ritual, but a perfect invitation to live out my life in daily response to our demanding and powerful heritage.” Mark Belletini

I had a wonderful moment with the curriculum committee earlier this week, when I referred to our religious symbol as a shipping logo. That is both the simple truth and only a part of the history of our chalice. Did you know where our chalice came from? And why chalice lighting ended up in Unitarian Universalist worship? In our virtual village, gather round and hear the words of that story. . . (with thanks to Rev Freeman's history)

Once upon a time in the land of Czechoslovakia, a man named John Hus earned his way through the University of Prague by singing in the streets. Working his way through school as a busker - a time honored tradition. . . Hus graduated, and was ordained a Catholic priest. In 1401 he was appointed Rector of his school, and became the University's minister. In those early years of the fifteenth century the questioning that eventually spawned the Protestant reformation was brewing in Prague.

Hus preached in the vernacular - not Latin - but rather the language of the people who listened to his homilies. In those homilies he spoke to the realities of their lives, rather than to distant theological constructs. He declared; "If God had intended himself to be revealed through theology, we would have all been born with doctors’ degrees." To add insult to injury he was a critic of priestly corruption. As you might guess that made him very unpopular with the church and University hierarchy. And since both of those institutions were inextricably bound up with the government, Hus ran afoul of the authorities. As Hus was delivering a Sunday service, the archbishop stood up and began to read a decree of ex-communication. The congregants took John and tossed him into the street, clerical robes and all.

Any books critical of Roman Catholicism were banned, followed by a papal edict threatening to execute ALL the clergy of Prague unless Hus stopped preaching. John had taught that the communion wine and bread did not magically turn into the blood and body of Christ, but that the Eucharist was a symbolic memorial meal. He passed the chalice - traditionally only used by the celebrant - among the church goers to demonstrate the equality of worshiper and priest. To this day in Czechoslovakia, the chalice represents the liberty and equality of the common person.

John went into exile, and his former church was torn down. Some of Hus’ braver parishioners gathered stones from the structure which, years later, were built into the walls of Protestant churches. In 1414 Hus was ordered to appear before the Church Council of Constance. Upon his arrival, he was shackled, imprisoned and tried - before the council, where the verdict was a forgone conclusion - guilty. John Hus was burned at the stake for his convictions and principals.

Hundreds of years passed, and then in the year 1941 the newly formed Unitarian Service Committee was working from Portugal to assist Eastern Europeans, among them Unitarians and Jews, seeking to escape Nazi persecution. They were also distributing aid as they could.
From his headquarters in Lisbon, Rev. Charles Joy, Executive Director of the Service Committee oversaw a network of couriers and agents in this mission. Establishing trust quickly across barriers of language, nationality, and faith could determine life and death. Disguises, signs, countersigns, and midnight runs were the staples of survival in this climate.

The USC had attracted the attention of Hans Deutsch, an Austrian artist, who had been living in Paris. Deutsch was producing critical cartoons of Hitler when the Nazis invaded France. He fled, and eventually maneuvered his way into Portugal. Deutsch wrote to Charles Joy; "I am not what you may actually call a believer. But if your kind of life is the profession of your faith- as it is, I feel sure- then religion, ceasing to be magic and mysticism, becomes confession to practical philosophy and- what is more-to active, really useful social work. And this religion-with or without a heading- is one to which even a ‘godless’ fellow like myself can say wholeheartedly, Yes!"

Joy commissioned Hans to create a symbol for their papers "to make them look official, to give dignity and importance to them, and at the same time to symbolize the spirit of our work… When a document may keep a man out of jail, give him standing with governments and police, it is important that it look important."

Deutsch designed a chalice with a flame. Joy wrote his board in Boston that the "the holy oil burning in the chalice is a symbol of helpfulness and sacrifice…The fact that it remotely suggests a cross was not in his mind, but to me this also has merit. We do not limit our work to Christians. Indeed, at the present moment, our work is nine-tenths for the Jews, yet we do stem from the Christian tradition, and the cross does symbolize Christianity and its central theme of sacrificial love."

The flaming chalice logo was made into a seal for papers,a badge for agents and as a packing symbol on relief supplies. Today the original design logo is still the emblem of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. The Unitarian church never had a visual symbol for itself. The Universalists did - a circle with an off set cross. And neither church had a single defining ritual, having gone the way of many Protestant churches in regard to the trappings of 'high church'. In a grass roots kind of way, it was in Religious Education Programs where the chalice lighting emerged as a liturgical element. Some creative type decided that a chalice lighting would make a very nice beginning to a gathering of young people, the idea took hold and has become integral to most worship gatherings in our faith. (In a similar fashion, Pagans have UU's to thank for the waters of the world ritual - but that's another post)

After the 1961 merger of the two denominations, the double chalice with an offset flame was designed and became the official representation of our association. The chalice symbol continues to morph and recently the Unitarian Universalist Association adopted a centered chalice with a sunburst around it. as the new 'official' chalice. I'm not sure why - it might simply be a rebranding effort. If you google 'chalice art', you'll see chalice hearts, cupped hand 'chalices', prink triangle chalices, goddess chalices, cross chalices and on and on and on. It's still an identifying symbol of our identity, still a logo, and today it is more, ever so much more.

Word warfare

2009-01-22T13:23:00.005-05:00

Quote du jour:
"All philosophy lies in two words, "sustain" and "abstain."" Epictetus

Winter's long days appear to be taking their toll. I was at a meeting last night with a couple of community organizers and a couple of members of the congregation and at one point I and an organizer got into a quote match. Quote matches go like this: you offer one quote with attribution, then I respond with one of my own, then we repeat the exercise with brand new quotes. It is probably a lot easier with a younger memory; by the end of a short exchange my head hurt from retrieval efforts in the neuron library.

It's word warfare of the highest order. More like a tennis match. Unfortunately there's another form of word warfare - pernicious and soul destroying - and it's taking place at a school or program near you. Children are usually restrained in their physical behaviors toward each other but less so in their verbal ones. Bullying is not merely physical intimidation, but emotional and social intimidation as well. It's not comfortable to admit this fact of our children's experience. Although childhood may need protection from adult assaults on innocence and safety, we have a harder time protecting childhood from . . .children.

Addressing word warfare is not simply a matter of bullies and bullied but a matter of social norms that our children pick up in any number of venues. If you've every listened to a laugh track on a sitcom, it becomes quickly obvious that put downs get a laugh. If you've observed the deterioration of civility in public discourse, read the snark comments made about 'otherness' in online forums, watched our politicians turn policy differences into personal attacks, it's no mystery how our kids are finding role models for bullying words. Those may not be the role models we want for them, but they are the ones most often reported on and watched in our society.

My advice? As with so many other things, just say 'no'. Your kid is not a horrible awful human being because they're trying on a personna. Just say 'no'. You're not a lousy poor excuse for a parent because your child is learning about boundaries by finding where they are. Just say 'no'. And the universe will not shudder to a stop because kids make errors in judgement on their way to adulthood. Just say 'no'. * Your child will thank you. Well, maybe not, but they'll be happier and more confident. Really. So will you. Really. And so will we all.

* Teachingtolerance.org has a wonderful collection of anti bullying resources.

What are you doing on Monday?

2009-01-14T16:19:00.002-05:00

Quote du jour: Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. -Martin Luther King

I just read that the Obamas are making plans for Monday. With hours left before they move into the White House and he becomes our next president, they are joining the national day of service in honor of Martin Luther King. This is not new to the office of president; Mr. Obama's predecessors have also participated in the "day on not day off" since it was initiated in 1994. What is new is the national spot light shining on the National Day of Service, courtesy of the presidential inauguration committee.

The committee has put up a website to connect people with opportunities to serve. It's here http://www.usaservice.org/page/content/eventsearch. I hope you'll take advantage of it, or of other electronic or local networks for volunteerism. I could say all sorts of things about how the world needs everything we can give, how the best ethical education for our children comes from the doing, how barriers to community dissolve when people work on common goals. Or (stop me if you've heard this one), "Yes, we can." I could say all that, but I won't. I'll just say this, "soooooooo0 what ARE youdoing on Monday?"

Now, of course, no one day is THE day when the world reaches it's tipping point towards justice, but you gotta start somewhere. Let's start here. On Monday, the 19th of January. Take a day on with your friends. Take a day on with your colleagues. Take a day on with your family. And change the world.

Happy Festivus

2008-12-23T11:26:00.002-05:00

Quote du jour - "Shall we liken Christmas to the web in a loom? There are many weavers, who work into the pattern the experience of their lives. When one generation goes, another comes to take up the weft where it has been dropped. The pattern changes as the mind changes, yet never begins quite anew. At first, we are not sure that we discern the pattern, but at last we see that, unknown to the weavers themselves, something has taken shape before our eyes, and that they have made somethingvery beautiful, something which compels our understanding."- Earl W. Count, 4,000 Years of Christmas

So here we are, a couple of days before Christmas, night three of Hanukah, and two days past Solstice. And today we celebrate Festivus. It is the perfect expression of the quote above, a holiday built in response to tradition, history and contemporary sensibilities. www.Religioustolerance.org has this to say about Festivus.

The Roman comic poet Plautus from the 3rd century BCE originally used the term Festivus to refer to "wild celebrations attended by average citizens cutting lose on religious holidays."

Festivus is now a recently invented secular day of celebration for the entire family and friends. It is held annually on DEC-23 -- about half-way between the Winter Solstice and Christmas. It was apparently created in 1966-FEB by Daniel O'Keefe, of Chappaqua, NY. (b ~1928). O'Keefe, a former writer for Reader's Digest, says that the idea just popped into his head. It happened before any of this children were born, and was originally a celebration of the first date that he had with his wife Deborah. He developed it during the 1970s while he researched his book "Stolen Lightning" 6 which the New York Times describes as "a work of sociology that explores the ways people used cults, astrology and the paranormal as a defense against social pressures."

He recalled:
"In the background was Durkenheim's 'Elementary Forms of Religious Life' saying that religion is the unconscious projection of the group. And then the American philosopher Josiah Royce [concluded that] religion is the worship of the beloved community."

The article goes on to quote the Boston Globe's rumminations on the growing popularity of Festivus.

"Behind its popularity, devotees say, are its absence of presents, accent on idiocy, and refreshing lack of familial psychodrama. Festivus may have its own quirky rituals, they note, but none involving theology, batteries, reindeer, political correctness, or parental guilt." 12

Not suprisingly we are inventing new ways to celebrate and worship with our beloved communities. Invention and reinvention is not new. Christmas is different than it used to be - a much bigger deal. Ditto for Hanukah. And life is different, people are busier, more stretched, finances less secure and those beloved communities needs are different as well. What IS a beloved community? Our church is one, of course, but so too are our blood families and our families of choice, our close friends and colleagues. I'm sure if you gaze around your life, you can identify at least one beloved community. The key word is beloved. What draws me to Festivus is its unapologetic secular, non commercial, and playful qualities. It's a holiday centered around relationships - without the packaging. (You have to trust people to wrestle with them.)

Festivus counsels simplicity - don't spend your energy on the perfect holiday decor or the biggest pile of gifts. Rather spend your energy on the people who matter most, on the things that matter most. And Festivus doesn't suggest we ignore the religous message of Christmas, merely the commercial one. It's probably a little late to find the Ben and Jerry's Festivus flavor, but you can celebrate in other ways. Find someone you love, respect and admire. Ask them to wrestle.

So Bright Solstice, Happy Hanukah, Happy Festivus, Merry Christmas.

Bah Humbug?

2008-12-16T11:19:00.005-05:00

Quote du jour: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus."
- Francis Pharcellus Church

Link du jour: http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/index.html

Yes, Virginia (and readers) there is a Santa Claus. The urge to give generously is the best part of the holiday. Unfortunately the pressure to give generously (as in beyond your physical or financial capacity) is the worst part. I thought we had reached a new nadir when a Walmart worker was trampled to death the day after Thanksgiving. To die a senseless death is bad enough, but to die because a mob of people wanted to save 19.95 plus tax on some item is indescribably sad.

This is not a new concept. I have written and ranted about it for years. I, like most of you - parents, partners, children, siblings, extended family, co-workers, associates and friends - want the 'best' for my children and everyone else on the long list of my personal human community. It's normal. But that 'best', that impulse to generosity and giving has been taken hostage by marketing forces writ large. There's a whole lot of advertising dollars dedicated to making you believe that the quality of love is reflected in the quality, quantity and expense of the gifts you give. That's not normal. Love is not a box set. And yet, advertising and it's messages and expectations get in. We consume. We shop. We over do it.

I remember every one of my vegetarian Christmas's when I had to battle the inexplicable urge to purchase and prepare a crown roast. In retrospect, it seems I had dangerously overdosed on Martha Stewart.

I have a couple of questions for you. Take a moment and think about your favorite holiday memories. Take a moment and think about your favorite holiday gifts over the years. Which ones do you remember? Why?

Which ones do you think your children or partner, or parents or siblings or extended family or co-workers or associates or friends remember? Ask them. And if they do remember, ask them 'why'. I do not recommend this with anyone who has received a commercial fruitcake. They will probably hit you with it.

Admittedly I do not possess the best memory, but I really don't remember most of the gifts I've received over the years. Do you? So, at the risk of appearing humbugish - I suggest gifting people with stuff they don't even remember seems like a waste of resources. How about this? - buy less, consume less. And please don't replace the urge to give with exhausting yourself in other ways - do less. Remind yourself what this holiday is about. Even if you are not a Christian celebrating the anniversary of a glorious birth, there is still love, generosity and devotion. And remind yourself too, that the spirit of love, generosity and devotion doesn't have to be poured out all at once in late December. We have access to it all year long.

See you in church!

Countdown! (Story Telling Part II)

2008-12-10T13:48:00.006-05:00

To Christmas.

Really. 15 days. I'm out of denial. How about you?

quote du jour: And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~ Dr. Seuss

Last blog I wrote about ways to tell stories with children, this week I thought I'd write more about bridging from story to our children's lived experiences. Who of us doesn't remember the Grinch's shriveled tiny heart bursting it's bonds? Have you ever wondered if there was some real life Grinch who grew a MUCH bigger heart in a moment of awakened compassion? I've got a long list of public figures I'm hoping will have such a moment. . .

So when we tell a story, like the one of the Grinch or the Nativity tale, or a remembered one from our own experience, it is an opportunity to help our children make meaning out of their lives. Okay, how?

Use Senses: Children experience the world through their senses - details of what something looked like, smelled like, felt like; use senses in your storytelling. Pass around an object to inspect and touch while you tell. Even asking a child to imagine the feel of warm sand under their feet, or the smell of hay in the manger encourages their minds to examine their experiences and relate those to the story. Maybe the manger smells like the day we went to the Topsfield Fair. Or better. Or worse.

Explore Emotions: Stories about life's embarrassing moments, or about confronting fear, or about losses, tell children that it's okay to be less than perfect, normalize the experience of fear (everyone has it), and gives them permission to name loss. Stories about happy endings and redemption and hardships overcome, remind children that life can be good, forgiveness is possible and they are inherently capable human beings. Invite them into feeling their way through the story by telling with as much drama, humor, mystery, pride, love and emotion (of your own) as you can muster.

Ask Questions: Asking questions invites children to get specific about applying the story messages to their own life. Asking when they had a moment of 'getting it', or about their own birth story as they've heard it, or when they lost a friend or pet, connects story to experience. The story may offer them an alternative way to view those experiences or diminish a sense of isolation. Stopping in mid story and asking a child "what do you think will happen next? what do you think they should do? what do you think he meant?" or other relevant questions shifts the child's dynamic from audience to participant. This is true whether or not you have children raising hands and giving opinions. The silent reflection on questions asked is the same mental process. Some children freeze up if they think they will have to come up with a 'right' answer, so find ways to let them consider without being put on the spot. You can ask them to illustrate answers with art (for their eyes only) or wonder together, or journal in a personal journal. If the group has strong bonds of trust, you can create smaller more intimate groups - that can feel safer for a child in venturing an answer or illuminating an internal struggle.

Give and Ask For Examples: If the story has clear connections to the storyteller's experience, describe them. Ask the children to think of their own connections - shared with the group or not. If the concepts are abstract - try to create as concrete an example as possible for them to consider.

Apply It: If the story has an action, a process, an outcome or a message that can be applied - I remember a yellow bellied sneech 'communion' where everyone put yellow stars on each other - use it. Don't be afraid to be nerdy. Even the kids who roll their eyes will remember. Think about all the dumb things you've witnessed or taken part in - you remembered, see!

And lastly, be yourself. Caring, curious and willing. That's the most important connection of all.

How to Tell a Story (Part I)

2008-12-03T14:27:00.002-05:00

God and angels don't get paid even though theirs is some of the most important work around. Ditto for volunteers. ~Cherishe Archer

You are all volunteers whether or not you believe in God and angels. Maybe a couple of you have teaching experience, education or expertise, but most people who teach in Religious Education are giving generously of your time. You may do it because you feel drawn to this work, or because you want to give back to the community which nurtures or nurtured your own children or because you want to create our religion’s future. It’s important work, some of the most important work around. That doesn’t mean teachings and mentoring kids will flow or feel easy or natural to you. That’s okay. We can work on that.

The curriculum folks are working very hard to create program templates that make the life of a Sunday school teacher easier, and eventually it is hoped – the life of the curriculum committee members! In a recent set of feedback comments, a couple of you mentioned your concern that you weren’t natural storytellers, like me (Rebecca). The first time I told a story in public, was only 14 years ago. And I was lousy. My voice shook, my hands shook and I didn’t project my voice at all. Years later, a witness to my debut, confessed that she and a few others were taking bets on whether or not I would make it all the way through. When you hear me say, ‘it’s a practice art’, believe me, I tested the theory – I am a textbook case of rising competence. But instead of caving into my butterflies, I was fortunate enough to have a mentor say to me “that’s okay, we can work on that”.

So, those of you telling stories, here are some ways we can work on that

Beginning: You will win or lose in the first three minutes depending on who you begin (Barret - Storytelling: It's Easy). The kids you are telling to, are not automatically an audience – you have to help them become one, to focus on the story, to want to know more. I often try something weird, or really mysterious, or dramatic to get their attention.

Brevity wins points!: When you introduce the story, just spend the time you need to get attention, you don’t want to lose your story. Some of our narratives can tend towards baroque. Keep it simple. The more space children have for their own imagination, the more they’re going to invest in the story and your telling of it. As Unitarian Universalists we often feel that we need to explain everything. Sometimes you can just present a story and let children bridge it to their own experience or ideas. If they are confused about some leap of imagination, and ask you – great! – they’re engaged.

Emotions Count: In contemporary brain based learning theory and practice, new understandings of how learning occurs are changing the traditional ideas about didactic and lecture formats. People learn through emotions – they’ll listen, but they also need to feel something. And the kids won’t care unless you do. Be enthusiastic for the opportunity to share this time, and tell a story to and with your group. Model your willingness to dive into a story with your expressions, gestures, animation, emotions – happiness, sadness, seriousness, etc. (Think emoticons)

Say it! There are particular tactics used in oratory: repetition, emphasis, pauses, volume changes – just listen to some speaker who has moved you (I’m thinking our president elect) and consider what verbal and physical techniques they might be using to get their message across. (And that’s really what this is about, because no matter how great the message, if it doesn’t get across, it doesn’t matter if it’s a world changing idea or an advertisement for screwdrivers.)

Staying with it: Once you have attention, you need to keep it. Be aware of your group, if they are starting to fidget or drift, bring them back. You can use a surprising digression – toss some sentence in. For example I was walking down the street in Seattle – very crowded Saturday and overheard only one sentence of a cell phone conversation “No, well I wouldn’t treat snakebite like that” I remembered that one and I STILL want to know more. Use volunteers from your ‘audience’ or have kids participate as a group - using hand motions, making sound effects, or responding with cheer or a repetitive phrase.
Change the pace – the speed of delivery, the volume of your voice, your posture or position in the room. Get serious if you’ve been cheery or go in reverse. Use several ‘voices’ if the narrative has dialogues.

Closing: And then end with a pithy summation of the object lesson, short and sweet, you don’t want to lose them now! You can leave some loose ends hanging, and leave space for wondering – it’s how we teach our kids to think. Our stories are teaching tools – so the lesson that you wish to present should be stated in that context Don’t make this any less story-like than the story – punch it up. Make it sound like the object lesson matters – because to us, it does.

Thanks

2008-11-24T12:50:00.005-05:00

Quote du jour: In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. ~H.L. Mencken

It is the Monday before Thanksgiving and I have yet to pick up the whole foods, locally raised on grass, sunshine, love and new age music, turkey. I have children and stepchildren on their way in a day or two. I have 13 people coming for dinner on Thursday and oral surgery scheduled for Wednesday. I have yet another construction project underway in the house and oh yeah, a job to do. Am I stressed? No. Well, maybe.

But really, if I'm stressed - I'm stressed by abundance, by having a multitude of friends and family in my life, a home to love and rewire, choices about health care and choices about food. I have work that still (after all these years) holds deep and profound meaning for me along with a paycheck. Like most of the capitalist world, I have less today than a year ago, and you know what? I'm still thankful. I usually don't like to write about my personal life, because I'm wary of tipping from self-reference to self- indulgence, but I'm going to aim for relevant. Let me know how I do.

2008 started off with the critical care hospitalization of my youngest child, followed by emergency heart surgery on my partner, followed by my dad's serious illness and continuing decline and that was just the first three months of the year! I gave up keeping track by the end of March. It's been a heartbreaking year in many ways.

But even so, the year has also been one of stunning abundance in so many bullets dodged that I can't quite believe our good fortune. No one died. No one is crippled. The biopsies have been negative. No one has gone without a roof over their heads or their daily bread or the opportunity to earn it. Kids are growing up, falling in and out of love and making plans to transform the world. And one of our friends has agreed to carve the turkey. Isn't it great?

I am telling you my happy story, because, I proud Puritan that I am, often tell the hardship stories. We're New Englanders. We work hard in life. We work hard to parent. We work hard to find meaning. We work hard to stay connected, balanced and sane. And oh so often, we look past the celebration to the costs of it. The weeks of diet and deprivation or the overdrawn bank accounts. We look past the simple and obvious pleasures of our children to worry about their future, the tuition payments, their ability to find a job, their lack of competive edge in the collegiate sweepstakes. And once we get them launched - we worry about having them move back in. With the rocky economy and the geopolitical climate around the world, we worry about our income and we worry about our safety. I won't tell you not to consider these things. It is impossible to ignore them. What I am saying is "tell the happy stories too". "Enjoy the times of celebration." We must celebrate and we must tell the stories because they are something that can transform. They are somthing that casts a light into the shadows. We can give thanks for what we have now - however meagre - and for all the future possibilities that life holds.

I would never romanticize poverty - it's fallacious to believe that poverty is somehow enobling or anything less than a grinding, soul crushing, circumstance. Still, look around and you will witness people with next to nothing finding occasion to laugh. You will find people who make every encounter a celebration of friendship, and every gathering a time to create music. People who spend their lives on others with absolute joy. People who make every meal a feast of the spirit if not of the palate. It isn't one moment that makes a prayer of thanksgiving but many little appreciations, over and over again.

So whether or not we sit down at groaning tables on Thursday, let us give thanks. Whether or not we pray to anthing, let us give thanks. For the meals taken with others or alone, let us give thanks. Thanks too, for the surly teenagers and the demanding toddlers. For the jobs we might lose next month. For the friends who aren't always perfect. For the beloveds who are near and far. For hope in the face of illness. For life in the face of death. For life as it is. For life as it one day might be. Let us give thanks.

Listen Up!

2008-11-19T10:25:00.002-05:00

quote du jour and a bonus

"Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, "I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that's tough. I am going to snow anyway." ~ Maya Angelou

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.” ~ Carl Reiner

I include the above quotes in honor of the quick shift to cold winter like weather. I like snow. I just don't like driving in it. Shoveling it. Or wading through it. If I can ski over it or stay inside until spring, then that works.

This weekend we will all be together (except for the very youngest) in an intergenerational worship service for the season of Thanksgiving. Please remember to fill a grocery bag with nonperishable items for the ministry of My Brother's Table in Lynn. We will be collecting contributions during the service.

As most of you know, I roam the RE classrooms on Sunday mornings and get to see a whole variety of ways adults and children engage each other. I learn a lot. It's one of the many things I love about Sunday mornings at church. This past Sunday I was speaking with a teaching team as they were reflecting on feedback they had received from their group of teenagers. What the group found remarkable, was the leaders ability to listen to the group, to not drive them to a conclusion and to hold open plenty of space for conversation between group members but not to put any one individual on the spot.

We have a lot of written materials for every age group in the church and I sometimes fear that they give RE teachers the message that you must cram a lot of didactic information into the minds of our children in an hour for approximately 28 Sundays a year. In case you wondered - not so. The material is for you to use with the group in ways that make the most sense to everyone - adults and kids - who is engaging in it. One of the ways that appear to make sense to kids is to learn, model and practice listening within the RE classroom.

How do we do that?I think about my children as toddlers. When they wanted to tell me something they took my face in the hands and made sure I was paying attention. There are many non-dialogue ways to encourage listening - rhythm, dramatic arts, poetry, music making - which I'll get to in subsequent posts. For now a couple of tips on how you and your group can listen to each other and to listen for the things that matter in our lives.

ATTENTION: Its hard to listen when multiple off topic conversations are going on. Ring a bell, turn off the lights, relight the chalice or blow it out as a group. One of my personal favorites is to have everyone close their eyes and listen to a chime fade into silence. Ask them to raise hands when the sound of the chime disappears. Do this three times and you've provided a meditation break. I have given examples of focusing games before, Zen count or One Duck - use one of these. Don't be afraid to insert them - even if it seems like a non-sequiteur- what ever you happen to be doing if you believe listening has disappeared.

QUESTIONS: Give the conversation a skeleton to fill in around. Ask questions. With younger children, show them an object or picture related to the materials you have. Ask them to give opinions about it. With older kids an open ended question feels less like a quizz. What do you think? Can you imagine. . . ? Has that ever happened to you? Or someone you know? My favorite question (from the above mentioned teaching team) What would you do differently?

SPACE: Most UU's are talkers. Big talkers. Some of our kids are too. The extroverts will jump in and answer and by the time the introverts have organized their thoughts, the rest of the group is on to something else. Have the group jot down notes for a minute or two before opening up verbal dialogue. It gives everyone a chance to sort out their thoughts. With younger kids, have them draw a response. Notice the kids who aren't talking and make sure they have opportunities to speak. Allow for silence if people are pondering. It doesn't have to be awkward to think together.

SAFETY: Make it safe to risk an opinion. That means dialogue not debate. Encourage questions of each other - as in "Why do you believe/think/feel that?" NOT as in "How could you be so dumb?" If your group has a covenant remind them of it. If not, have them come up with ground rules. Usually, but not always, it's the younger kids who need reminders not to interrupt or put down an opinion. Invite participation but don't force it by asking one kid 'what do YOU think?' if they haven't volunteered.

ENERGY: And this last is most important. If the group is restless and high energy, you may need to do something else. Don't give up on your listening plans, just defer them until the group is ready to sit with each other in quieter conversation. Play seven principle charades, or another lively communication game. Do something that doesn't involve conversation, or conversely ask everyone in the room to talk loudly all at once for 5 minutes. Time it and make them talk nonstop for the ENTIRE five minutes. Try it. And then find out what the group thought of THAT.

I am an evil genius.

see you in church

What's in it for 'we'?

2008-11-10T12:22:00.008-05:00

Quote du jour: It is doubtless true that religion has been the world's psychiatrist throughout the centuries ~ Karl Menninger

A few weeks ago I was talking to someone about ‘marketing’ church to families who already have so much going on in their lives. Church, youth groups and Sunday School are on a long list of worthy activities demanding time and attention. Although most of us 'think' that church is a good idea, sociologists actually study this stuff. I promised to write about one of the oft invoked studies I have alluded to. The link to the full study report is below. I’ll let you find the cites.

A three staged longitudinal study from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) has been recently published. The authors of the study conclude make affirmative conclusions regarding the role of religion and church attendance in the lives of our young people. There are a number of positive outcomes. Here’s one - This study determined that for early adolescents (aged 12 to 14), parental involvement in worship services even just once a week produced significant results in strengthened relationships with their parents.

But that’s not the only information. As much as the studies and reports describe what church can give our children, church can also protect them on the way to adulthood. I quote sociologist Christian Smith “studies that have included religion measures (especially church attendance and importance of religious faith) have found them to be inversely related to juvenile drug, alcohol and tobacco use, and to delinquency. . . Multiple studies also confirm that religiosity is inversely related to thoughts of suicide, attempted suicide and actual suicide among American teenagers. Religiosity also appears to act as a protective influence against suicide among youth most at risk for it. Furthermore religion is associated with lower levels of depression and hopelessness. . .”

The findings of this study affirm the positive benefits of adolescents living in religiously involved families. They enjoy stronger, more positive relationships with their parents than early adolescents whose families are not so involved. Religiously active families are also more likely to create environments where their youth feel supported and teenagers are more likely to seek help from a parent if some assistance is needed. With alienation and uncertainty awaiting our children in much of their lives, we should find ways to get them into our churches, not only for what we ‘get’ from the experience, but from what we do not.

Hmmmmm. Think about it. When you make those important decisions about time.

See you in church!

Where do we go from here?

2008-11-03T11:47:00.005-05:00

Quote du jour: Now, in order to answer the question, "Where do we go from here?" which is our theme, we must first honestly recognize where we are now. -Martin Luther King Junior

I am having a few hours of sheer unabashed celebration at the end of a very long election season. And then I begin - only begin, mind you - to answer the question "where do we go from here?" Dr. King gave some very good advice, as to how we begin. We begin in honesty. I think that rhetoric often substitutes for true and self aware honesty and I would very much like to see that change over the next months and years. I have hope that a new administration will be able to take the rhetoric of Washington and launch a true assessment of current reality, based in empircal evidence, not projection and fantasy. Where are we now? I think we need to answer that question as a nation, as a people and here in Swampscott, as a church.

As many of you may know, under the new system of church governance, I am now responsible - at the direction of Vann -for the social justice and environmental ministries of this church as well as the educational ones. In this role, I am asking in different ways and over and over again, where are we now? When I came to this church, a thirty year conversation had been taking place about "what shall we do about Lynn?" , essentially a "where do we go from here "conversation. I get the sense that the conversation has been one that puts itself solidly in the future, without assessing the capacity and potential and will of the congregation in the present. The present has become the past, and the future has become the now.

In this now, there are changes in the church. Many of them will not apply to you or to the children we teach. However, many of them will. And those changes won't take hold unless we can say with certainty that we know where we are. Who we are. And what we might be capable of. I am working with you on two significant efforts, one the change in the content and template of the religious education program and the other, what is being called the Lynn Initiative. We want to create a robust and vital Sunday experience for children and the leaders who support the ministry of Religious Education. We want to go back to Lynn in a way that makes sense to us and makes sense to the neighbors that we wish to support. That's great. We should do those things. And we should dream big. But we should know where we are now. Because if we don't place ourselves in the reality of our time, place and culture then there's a very good chance we won't know where to put our foot for the first step on the road to change - enduring change.

It's time. To know where we are. To know who we can become. To know where we can go. Step by step.

See you in church

The Democratic Process v.2008

2008-10-27T12:37:00.004-04:00

Quote du jour:

As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?--Sarah Palin

I can't help myself. As political theatre this election has been the best ever. I'm having an odd sort of watching for the train wreck kind of fun. It beats the woeful economic news. It's official. Retirement is so 90's.

Anyhow, at the risk of violating separation of church and state and ending up in court - and I should put proper blame on our Congregational and Unitarian (they preferred to be called Arians actually) forebears in Dedham* who really started the ball rolling on that one - I will not editorialize on candidates - just on elections.

*To paraphrase: let the church take care of church business and let the town/parish take care of town/parish business -SJC Dedham Decision, 1820

Today what I really want to say is that voting is religious. Helping other people vote is religious. Upholding fair and free electoral process is religious. Even if we didn't explicitly say that "we affirm and promote the use of the democratic process in our congregations and in society at large". But since we do, I can write these words in a religious education blog. We are a faith tradition that believes we all have the right and the obligation to make our wishes known. As citizens, we should do no less.

Now, I, like many other people, have had a really hard time believing my vote counted for anything in any number of elections. I clearly backed the wrong horses. And I may be doing so again this year. but I will vote as if my opinion mattered. It does. It matters to me and it matters to every politician who took advantage of voter apathy. It matters to every child who will have the the supreme court justices seated by this generation inform their future. It matters to everyone who labors under the weight of illness or poverty, or discrimination. It matters to anyone who is in the military, or national guard and reserves. It matters to our climate and our planet. In this state, it matters to all the human service agencies who depend on tax dollars and to all the people who 'inhaled'.

It matters to everyone who believes in democracy - Democracy only works when we do. And even for the backers of the wrong horse - our numbers count. Everytime we vote, we hold open space for our views, our opinions, our wishes to be considered. Everytime we vote, we offer up a prayer for our society.

So I will challenge all of you to live your faith. Vote. Encourage others to. If you have time, consider working to get out the vote; any party would be glad to have you. And when you are in church on Sunday, remind our children and youth, that whatever your vote is, it is one we make for our today and for their tomorrow.

Vote. It's your prayer made manifest.

Ministry, yours, mine and ours

2008-10-27T12:34:00.002-04:00

Quote du jour: Sometimes a poem says it all

Ministry is all that we do -- together

Ministry is all that we do -- together

Ministry is that quality of being in community that

affirms human dignity

beckons forth hidden possibilities,

invites us into deeper, more constant,reverent relationships

and carries forward our heritage of hope and liberation.

Ministry is what we do together

as we celebrate triumphs of our human spirit

Miracles of birth and life

Wonders of devotion and sacrifice.

Ministry is what we do together

with one another

in terror and torment

in grief, in misery and pain,

enabling us in the presence of death to say yes to life.

We who minister speak and live the best we know

with full knowledge

that it is never quite enough

And yet are reassured

by lostness found, fragments reunited,

wounds healed and joy shared.

Ministry is all that we do -- together.
Gordon McKeeman

See you in church!

Any Questions?

2008-10-22T10:20:00.001-04:00

Quote du jour

You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." ~ Naguib Mahfouz

Last week I wrote about THE question. This week I wanted to write more about the MANY questions (Of course last week, my big question was - WHY, oh WHY did my old-enough-to-know-better son take the dog out to visit local skunks at two in the morning - with predictable results. The only answer I could come up with was to induce me to make the dog a peroxide blonde. James, my son, DOES live in LA were dogs visit hair stylists weekly. . . For those of you who have never needed to know this - the de-skunking potion involves hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish detergent.)

Much of what we do in a Unitarian Universalist church is in service to seeking our own truth and meaning as individuals. Sermons are not holy writ. Nor are newsletter columns and . . . ahem. .. blogs; they are simply a set of questions, ideas and opinions about answers. The questions and answers your church staff come up with are not necessarily the questions and answers YOU come up with and the questions and answers teachers come up with aren't necessarily the questions and answers our children come up with. We are not here to tell others what truth with a capital T is, but rather to hold open the questions and offer our own personal response.

In our faith tradition we ask questions, and we frequently ask questions that have no easy answer or perhaps no answer at all. That doesn't let us off the hook for trying though.

As guides and mentors to our young people, we have a responsibility to hold space for questions and to hold space for uncertainty about answers. Years ago, I was reminded that one of the greatest gifts a teacher can give is the statement "I don't KNOW, this is what I BELIEVE". What I often observe in our liberal world is that adults so fear brainwashing kids that they avoid sharing the answers of their own heart and mind. We aren't charged with telling children what to think, but we are charged with telling children what we believe.

Of course, how we tell them is part of the message. In this political season, I've been telling lots of people what I believe, hoping that it will inspire them to THINK and draw similar conclusions. From the glazed looks I've been getting in southern New Hampshire, I'm not sure how well that's working. I've witnessed the same glazed looks on the faces of kids in the many churches I've served.

So how about this, why don't we each ask ourselves the question "What do I BELIEVE really matters?" And when we discover what things really matter, we can live those things and speak those things and work for those things, and perhaps that will teach our children best of all.

see you in church!

THE Question.

2008-10-16T11:04:00.009-04:00

Quote du jour

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

As we near the end of the first - somewhat tumultuous - month of the church Religious Education year, I’m grateful for your questions, your compassionate as well as critical eyes and most of all, your willingness to minister in this very special way to the youngest members of our faith. You’re all an inspiration to me.

So if the first question someone asks is 'Where do you go to church?" Chances are that the second question will be THE question, the one that’s really hard to answer "What do you believe in?" It's a particular challenge - for adults and for kids - to clearly and briefly describe our beliefs and practices in a non-creedal faith. A number of years ago, someone clever – not I- came up with a rainbow pneumonic to help children remember the 7 principles of Unitarian Universalism. I think you've had DRE's use it here.

Since it was unwieldy carrying around my Popsicle stick principle prompts I also committed this one to my memory. I’ve used it with rainbow bracelets made out of pony beads, with rainbow candles, or rainbow crayons or the oft planned but never executed rainbow vegetables and fruits (Apple, carrot, corn, spinach, yes, blue Peruvian potatoes, blueberries, eggplant.) But I never got further than donuts, snow peas, pop tarts. . . pop tarts. As you think ahead to future teaching moments with the children and youth of our congregation, perhaps this will come in handy.

Rainbow for Remembering

One strategy that is useful in recalling the principles is to use theacronym Roy G Biv and connect a color of the rainbow to each of the sevenprinciples.

They are assigned a color in the order in which the colors appear in the rainbow.

One - Red: Respect the importance and value of all beings

Two - Orange: Offer fair and kind treatment to all.

Three - Yellow: Yearn to learn throughout life.

Four - Green: Grow by exploring ideas and values together.

Five - Blue: Believe in your ideas and act on them

Six - Indigo: Insist on peace, freedom and justice for all

Seven - Violet: Value our interdependence with nature.

So when we encounter THE question, or our children do, we can give an answer of colorful principles, but as the quote above reminds us, let us also live these colorful principles.

See you in church!

Rebecca

No Rumminating This Week!

2008-10-07T16:24:00.004-04:00

"We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities."--Bill Maher

This is mostly calendar notes and no rumminating - I figured you'd all like a week off.

This weekend I am out of the church (I will be freezing my kiester off on retreat in the mountains) so if you have any special needs before Sunday, please contact me no later than Thursday afternoon. I return next Monday, back in the office Tuesday.

The current rotation, Our Unitarian Universalist Community is winding up this Sunday and on the 19th we will begin the next rotation -our Jewish and Christian Heritage - with a story of devotion and trust and generousity, The Book of Ruth from the Torah. I will tell the story that Sunday during the Time for All Ages in the worship service, so come and hear what our children will be hearing.

Our Whole Lives group does not meet this Sunday, the 12th, nor do they meet the 19th. They'll be back in harness on October 25th - the day after the UNICEF party. Many of our OWL participants will also be participating in the Frozen Pickles hosting and games events. I encourage those of you with younger children to come along and enjoy the fun AND the candy!

Good luck to the OWL leaders on Sunday. Sugar and hormones? Oh dear.

Coming of Age has begun as well. That group also does not meet this coming weekend - the 12th. They'll be back on the 19th.

And now for the commercial - I am trying to figure out the talent pool at church. Since I'm new here (or newish) I would love to have your thoughts on people who might be interested in work parties to produce various objects to be used in the children's program. One of the story techniques we use is to have props - giving the children a visual language as well as a auditory one as we tell, or as we lead worship. My thought is that the work parties would be short and social and we'd put together props for a story basket or perhaps create some 'religion' boxes for our liturgical lessons with the older kids. Let me know if you or anyone you know and like would be interested!

And that's it. My words of inspiration this week are very brief. In spite of the market meltdown and the profiteering, we have an excess of abundance in our lives. We have the blue sky and the painted up autumn of New England. We have the affection of our children and the support of our families. We have this church and each other. We're rich. Very rich. I intend to remember those things every time I look out the window at the hail of golden ash - and I hope you can find time to do so as well.

see you all in church.

rebecca

Happy New Year!

2008-10-01T12:43:00.002-04:00

Instead of a pithy quote, I offer up this poem for Rosh Hashanah by ---Alicia Ostriker

the birthday of adam
 the innocent earthling
and the day hagar and ishmael
 found water in the desert
in memory of whom
 mud staining our shoes
 water flowing in handfuls
we sniff the smell of living dying things
reach into our pockets
 for the bread that represents our sins, toss it in, praying . . .
release us, help us,
forgive us

the river answers
 by swallowing our crumbs
do our prayers travel upward
 do they defy gravity
 like rain splashed on the windshield
 of a car speeding through storm
in ten days we will go hungrier
 pray harder

In a little more than a week, it will be Yom Kippur and the faithful will have a chance to start again. The book of life is opened between New Year (at Rosh Hashanah) and The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). And in those intervening ten days one takes advantage of that in between to make amends if possible, ask for forgiveness, bury the hatchet or whatever needs doing to erase the sins of the past year. Some times you can’t do any of those things. Sometimes you can only feel remorse for sins committed and expiation is truly impossible. Ancient wisdom, recognizing that there is only so much good that can come out of perpetual guilt and remorse, built some time limits on it. Up until Yom Kippur people have an opportunity to make things right between them, and on Yom Kippur, a chance to make things right with G*D. Then after the day of prayer and fasting and true remorse, what is done is done, and it’s time to move on.

As the High Holy days of the Jewish faith inform our pluralistic religion of Unitarian Universalism, I am reminded of and grateful for the promise that we can let go and begin again. That is true on the micro as well as the macro scale.

Because so many of us reading this (and the writer too) work with the young, we are particularly challenged to let go and to let a child begin again. I speak from experience. We’ve all that kid – the one who can’t sit still, or bonks their neighbor on a regular basis, or talks back, or ignores you, or sticks the pipe cleaners up their nose or any other set of annoying or disruptive behaviors.

And sometimes, in spite of our best intentions, that kid gets under our skin and their bad behavior becomes a personal affront.

What to do when that happens? My advice (which I take early and often) is to chant over and over. They’re kids – if they were fully socialized they wouldn’t need teachers or parents or CHURCHES. They come to us along a whole continuum of understanding and capacity for appropriate social behaviors. I have four ‘categories’. (Even though I say I transcend labels – here I go, labeling)

Some kids have mature understanding and capacity.

Some kids have very clear understanding and limited capacity.

Some kids have limited understanding and greater capacity.

Some kids have limited understanding AND capacity.

The first group is easy. We like them. They listen, follow instructions, cooperate with peers and generally are a joy to be around.

The second group usually improve over time. If a child understands, then it’s often just a matter of coaching them in paying attention or responding to others. Sometimes it’s a special needs consideration. A lot of children with attentional issues really WANT to be attentive. They just can’t. We owe their better natures an opportunity to shine and a structure in which they can succeed.

The third group is the group that needs frequent reminders and appeal to their reasoning powers. They have the skills to work well in groups, they just don’t ‘get’ the why. As with the second group – it usually gets better over time.

The fourth group is a small percentage of our population, and yet, sadly, they often become the kids we give up on. Or the kids who go on to live out self-fulfilling prophecies. As a faith committed to the inherent worth and dignity of everyone, we owe those kids a fight – a fight for their whole and best selves. How we do that may be beyond the logistical reach of a Sunday morning program, but it is not beyond the reach of our collective wisdom and our open hearts.

If you’ve got that kid in your group, let’s talk about it. Let’s find a way to embrace the spirit of each child. Let’s find a way to start again and again. Let’s find a way to let a child have a fresh page and the opportunity to write a new story on it.

See you in church

Rebecca

I Wonder. . .

2008-09-23T10:19:00.005-04:00

Quote du jour For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad. ~Edwin Way Teale

Happy Equinox! If you were outside Sunday evening as the rains came, you could feel summer taking it's leave and autumn rolling in on a wave of chilly Canadian air. Almost overnight the trees around us have started to paint themselves with autumns hues, the birds are flying south and the acorns dropping like mad. And yet humans are pulling back together after our summer travels - to schools, to sports, to book groups and to church. So here we are.

Some of you will have encountered the 'wondering questions' in your curriculum or packets. In the last two paragraphs I'll give some ideas about how to present them and how to use them; in the next ones I'm going to muse a bit on the philosophy of wondering. (Which is code for saying if you don't want to read my musing - and I'll never know so you can't offend me - skip down and pick up some suggestions!)

I was having a conversation with some group leaders last night, and one of them underscored how necessary it is to avoid 'herding' children to conclusions. As a faith tradition of inquiry and reason we don't expect an pre-established theological conclusion and commitment from every adult who comes through these doors - nor should we from our children. As with adults the role of our covenantal faith is to hold space for a diversity of belief and to hold space for questions and for the unknown. Life is a mystery and often the job of religion is to make it less mysterious. As Unitarian Universalists we don't attempt to make life less mysterious as much as we try to make it less lonely. We worship together and we socialize together and we inhabit uncertainty together.

That sounds a little abstract and maybe (to me) just a little too bleak for our younger kids. So rather we 'wonder' together. Those of you leading children in all age groups have opportunties to ask the children and youth what they think, and the way you ask makes an enormous amount of difference to the way the child perceives the question. In the Montessori Godly Play curriculum by Jerome Berryman, the wondering with children closes every narrative. We have adopted a similar wondering opportunity here. Why? Because we bring children and ourselves to church to engage with existential questions. Who am I? What am I here for? What does it all mean? And those simple questions can be far deeper and far more layered than the topical questions on belief or non belief in particular theological constructs. Since we don't have an agreement about the existence of diety, the nature of afterlife, or the origin of the differentiated self, we all wonder. We come up with more questions, discard and test a new set of answers, or inhabit our personal answers with a certainty that does not impose itself on others. We wonder together because we understand that what each of us believes about religious truth and meaning is a part of the whole.

How DO we wonder with children? We present the questions as open - not demanding answers. To do this, I often wonder with a 'far away' look, that the children are invited into wondering. Or you can wonder to your feet as you ask the question and then sweep the room with your gaze to include the children in that wondering. What I suggest you do NOT do is to indicate with eye contact, body language or speech a need for an answer. When you ask a wondering question, ask it as a meditation. Give the words weight, and give the question time and space to sink through the layers of consciousness. Silence gives the introverts time to find the words and the extraverts time to reconsider the first words that come to mind. And wonder does not demand an answer. Sometimes the children will want to speak, sometimes they won't. Both are fine.

If the children respond out loud, let them answer without editorializing on their answers. And if they begin a dialogue with each other around the question, let them. If they ask what you think, tell them, and invite them to ask other adults in their lives. Sometimes children need others assumptions to test their own against. If they sit in silence, let the silence hang for a while. Give them time to ponder the question before asking another. Some questions may never have an answer. That doesn't mean we can't ask and wonder about them.

What questions do you have?

I wonder. ..

see you in church!

Rebecca

The Power of Ritual

2008-09-16T12:01:00.006-04:00

Quote du jour: “All of the arts, poetry, music, ritual, the visible arts, the theater, must singly and together create the most comprehensive art of all, a humanized society, and its masterpiece, free man" ~ Bernard Berenson

Many Unitarian Universalists get a little queasy when I bring up the subject of ritual. It is often conflated with superstition or old irrelevant (to some) forms of worship. But ritual has a power and a resonance beyond the intellect. It's why humans are drawn to create ritual in the first place. Ritual is not only found at churches. Candle lighting on a birthday cake is a ritual. A child's first haircut is often a ritual - a rite of passage as it were. Bedtime? Holiday traditions? What conscious or unconscious rituals do you have in your life already? (My family has an annual fruitcake ritual. At some point in late October I make fruitcake and throughout the fall and winter holiday season, the rest of the family mocks me with disparaging comments about fruitcake. It's an annual event, and if it didn't happen the winter holiday season would feel incomplete. )

At church, along with our tradition of inquiry and reason, we have ritual. We have ritual because we want more than an intellectual exercise. We want a community experience - the ritual of coffee hour. Or we want an affective experience of the profound - the ambiance of the worship space, the music, the silence, the prayer. Ritual connects us to each other, and to a time and a place out of ordinary time and place. At church we invite our children to experience that resonance. To experience this place as special. To experience themselves as belonging. Various groups have some rituals in place already. Our Whole Lives begins with a chalice lighting and has the question box to close out the session. Youth Group checks in and checks out. And Sunday morning, the children transition from sanctuary to religious education classrooms with a song. Right now it's "Go Now in Peace" but I have plans. BWAHAHAHA!

I'm sure by now you're wondering where I'm going with this. I do go on, rather. . .

I'm inviting you all, particularly the rotation guides to consider simple rituals for connecting the children you are with to you, to each other and to their church. The guides will all receive a carryall with clipboards/attendances, sticky name tags, a couple of markers and a

port-o-chalice. I encourage you to lay down the pattern of the day - to shape a ritual of connection. Find out who the children are, have them wear name tags that they may be known and seen and connected to the rest of us. Offer a chalice lighting that the group can share - signed, sung, or spoken and consciously end your time together with a benediction or group cheer or by blowing out the chalice together. I have a few examples of chalice lightings and benedictions below, find one you like and use it. Connect our children to this faith we would share with them. It what we're here for.

Chalice Lightings

We light this chalice to celebrate
(mime striking a match on the open palm of the opposite hand)
Unitarian Universalism
(hold up left hand, then right hand in the shape of a U)
This is the church of the flaming chalice.
(cup hands in front)
This is the church of the open mind.
(cover your face with both hands, then open them out on the word “open”
as though your hands were hinged doors)
This is the church of the helping hands.
(hold both hands out in front of you, palms up)
This is the church of the loving heart.
(hands over heart)
Where friends come to share with each other.
(join hands)

Flaming chalice, burning bright,
Now you share with us your light
May we always learn to share
With all people, everywhere.
Flaming chalice, burning bright,
Now you share with us your light

(Sung to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)

Eva Ceskava

We light this chalice for the light of truth
We light this chalice for the warmth of love.
We light this chalice for the energy of action.
MaryAnn Moore

We light this chalice to remind ourselves to treat all people
Kindly, because they are our brothers and sisters.
We light this chalice to remind ourselves to take good care
Of the earth, because it is our home.
We light this chalice to remind ourselves to live lives full
Of goodness and love, because that is how we will become
The best men and women we can be.
Source Unknown

May this light kindle within us
The warmth of compassion
The glow of love
The fire of commitment
The light of truth.
Marianne Hachten Cotter

We light our flaming chalice
To illuminate the world we seek.
In the search for truth, may we be just;
In the search for justice, may we be loving;
And, in loving, may we find peace.
Elizabeth McMaster

Benedictions/Extinguishing the Chalice

As we leave this friendly place,
Love give light to every face;
May the kindness which we learn
Light our hearts until we return.
Vincent Silliman

As we extinguish the light of our flaming chalice,
Let us remember how good it is for us to be
Together,
To play together,
To work together,
To sing together,
To laugh together,
May the light of our chalice be with us until we meet again.
Lois Ecklund

Helping hands all gathered round
In our circle peace is found
Open minds and loving hearts
Guide us as we now depart.
Helping hands all gathered round
In our circle peace is found

(Sung to the tune of “ Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)
Debra Chandler Pratt

Guiding the Elements

2008-09-08T16:14:00.004-04:00

quote du jour:

Abundant trust and good humor are signs of spiritual wisdom - Thomas Moore

This Sunday we will begin this year's new Religious Education Program, Workshop Rotation with an orientation for all children in grades K-6th. Next week, Our Whole Lives begins meeting and the week after that, Coming of Age is launched. After we leave the service, we reassemble in Parish Hall. Carol Kusinitz and I will be leading the orientation but any and all of you who will be teaching or who are just curious - come on along.

An interesting role in this new (to UUCGL) model is that of the Guides. A number of you have signed up to 'guide' and I thought I'd write a bit about the 'philosophy' of guiding. You may have heard at volunteer sign up that you won't need to do much. That is both true and not true. You will have no lessons to prepare, no supplies to purchase, no curriculum you MUST read. You will however, be taking on a ministry that asks you to be profoundly present to the children you 'guide'.

Guiding has a physical template. As a guide you will joining a group of children 'sorted' into age cohorts and assigned an element - Air for Kindergartners, Fire for first and second graders, Water for third and fourth graders and Fire for fifth and sixth graders. Each Sunday that you guide, the children will meet you by their elemental - earth, air, fire or water - banner in the Parish Hall. And you will greet them and escort them to their workshop of the day. (This information will be sent to you several weeks before your stint and will posted in the foyer that morning.) Once in the workshop, you may lead them in a chalice lighting or a gathering ritual and then hand over the leading role to the workshop leader. You are still guiding, however, by example or in some cases by gentle direction and redirection.

The religious template of guiding is equally significant. We are creating and holding space for children to encounter the existential questions of life - who am I?, why am I here? what am I meant to do?

Along with that inner work, there is the work of belonging. We should never underestimate the pull of community. Think of all the adults you know who come for the fellowship and the opportunity to be with others. That is also true for children. This is a community wholly like any other they will encounter. It is a place where adults and kids have permission and encouragement to interact in ways that are both casual and profound. It is a place where the example of adults who care for others is one of the first lessons learned. It is a place where the adults teach by example the ways to be with each other. As guides, you are encouraged to teach by example. Encourage the children to treat each other with respect, to treat the space we inhabit with respect and to ask for what they need. If we can anchor those three concepts in each child's mind and practice, we've done a fabulous job.

So let's go to work. There's a big old world that needs these children to grow into thoughtful caring adults! I'll see you in church.

Registration Forms Online!

2008-09-05T08:43:00.004-04:00

As the paper moves at ever increasing volume through our lives, I'm making at least one form a little more accessible. Family registration forms for UUCGL 2008-2009 Religious Education programs are available online at the church's website - www.uucgl.org.

Here's how to make it work - click on the right hand side 'Registration Form' navigation bar (You'll find it just beneath Religious Education) It will take you to the form which opens up in Microsoft Word. Fill it out online, save your changes to your own computer and email it to me at rebeccakm@uucgl.org! And check, done! Isn't technology grand?

Thanks for filling those out!

Coming Back

2008-08-28T10:03:00.002-04:00

Quote du jour

"Don't keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone. Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. You will be certain to find something you have never seen before" - Alexander Graham Bell

Indeed we are. As each year begins, we have a chance to chart new territory. And this year we will. We will be launching a different way of doing Religious Education at this church. It is my hope, that it will be an opportunity to experience community and 'find something you have never seen before'. I'm don't believe in change for changes' sake, but I certainly believe that complacency leads to apathy and that this sort of intentional programmatic change is an opportunity to become more engaged with our faith and with each other. It's what we're here for.

So now to business: As I wrote in this month's Times there's a gathering of both people and intention around the church these days. Vann has returned from Sabbatical and I from most of my summer adventuring. Angie and Elizabeth are ensconced behind their respective desk tops and the OBNs teachers have been sorting and washing and resettling into the nursery school. And you'll be delighted by the Chapman family's artwork in a couple of the rooms.

I had planned to be at the Republican National Convention (as a Democrat. . .) but as life goes along- family concerns and a long lasting laryngitis derailed many of my late summer plans - I am settled in here for start up at church. Please call me if you have any questions or concerns about the year ahead. Your children. Or Unitarian Universalism!

We are launching our Religious Education year with a teacher orientation for all who will be leading, guiding, or teaching any and all age groups. This takes place on Saturday, September 6th, and if you haven't received a postcard reminder from me - please note that it will be from 9:00 to 11:30 am. Come for coffee, conversation, light breakfast and inspiration! I may even break out the rubber chicken (for those who have not yet encountered an adventure training - rubber chickens are a foundational element)!

If you would like to join us but have not yet RSVP'd please leave a note in the comments so that I can have adequate materials available. You may also respond to my email or office phone - which do not appear here but are available via the church.

What Do We Tell the Children?

2008-07-28T14:26:00.001-04:00

What do we tell the children? It’s a question we ask time and time again, whenever tragedy occurs. As of this writing our congregations in Knoxville Tennessee, Tennessee Valley and Westside (of Farragut) each lost members in Sundays’ act of violence. As well as sending our love and prayers to those most closely impacted, we also care for those among us who ask “why?” When young children ask why, what they often are asking is “will it happen to me/us?” What our children need to hear most in any circumstance is that the parents, teachers and other adults in their lives, care for them and that we will do everything in our power to keep them safe.

As a community of faith our first job is to care for the most vulnerable among us, emotionally as well as physically. We should make every effort to shield children from as much graphic news and imagery as we can, but unless your family is in isolation, and your child is never in a position to overhear conversations of others or glimpse a television screen in a restaurant or other public place, or see a photograph on a magazine cover or newspaper rack, they will know ‘something’ bad has happened. Even if they don’t know what that ‘bad something’ is, the simple statement, “I love you and I will do everything I can to see that you are safe and taken care of.” can give them the assurance they need. No other details are necessary unless they ask. I also suggest that we should never underestimate the amount of information children will absorb from what is going on around them. When we acknowledge their questions, we are able to let them know that whatever comes at us in our world – our children are loved and cared for by adults. It is not an empty assurance, and it will go a long way toward building a sense of security and community in every child.

For ourselves, I invite each of us to think prayerfully of the families, members and friends of the Knoxville churches who have suffered so much. I invite each of us to remember that our faith counsels us to stand firm in the face of evil yet never lose our compassion for those who succumb to its allure. I invite each of us to consider ways in which we can create a world where respect becomes mutual, where differences are an expected part of our experience, where the rush to the quick fix and the glorification of violence are no longer acceptable, and where the most marginalized among us are able to seek help and healing.

Focus Factors

2008-04-29T14:00:00.002-04:00

Quote du jour

"The work will teach you how to do it" - Estonian proverb

I hope those of you with kids at home had a fabulous school vacation week. Even when I work, school vacation week is a break from carpools, homework angst and the rush to get dinner prepared and served before the next activity. If you were able to have some vacation time of your own with family – so much the better! And if you don’t have kids at home any more, then the abrupt appearance of spring weather and blooms was timed well! There was certainly plenty of good cheer on Sunday. And pollen. (Sniffle, sniffle, Sneeze, sneeze)

This week continues our countdown to Religious Education Sunday. If your group is not interested in a group contribution, please let me know. We have plenty of other roles to fill. Greeters, ushers, readers, etc. There’s room for all sorts of contributions and comfort levels. If I did not stop in and check in with you on Sunday, I will do so sometime this week.

This just in – Francie Fitch and I are going to dive in and offer an intergenerational performance opportunity to members of the UUCGL community. We are inviting any and everyone to sing and act in the musical “Children of Eden”. This is the book of Genesis set to music and it’s great fun as well. My own kids and I were part of an interfaith/intergenerational family theatre that produced this one year. You will enjoy it, as participant or observer. And if you can’t sing or act, there are lots of other ways to be involved. Francie will be putting our a rehearsal schedule soon. The children will be working on their parts during Sunday morning RE time, AFTER this years Religious Education program comes to an end. The show goes up in mid-late June. Stay tuned for more details.

And finally, what do you do when spring fever takes over a group of kids? Or adults for that matter! There are a number of things I do with the space itself. Turn out the lights, light a candle or two, sound a chime. There are other more interactive focusing things to do. Two of my favorites are below.

1. The leader claps their hands once and says quietly “if you can hear me, clap once.” The kids close enough to hear will do so. Immediately repeat the sequence with a double clap. Repeat again with any clap/finger snap number or combination. I usually find after two or three sequences you have the group’s attention again. This works for all ages, except the very young.

2. One Duck! Have the group form a circle and say the sentence One Duck Fell in the Pond – Ker Plunk. Once they have repeated the entire sentence, you go around the circle and each person takes a word in sequence. If you start off “One”, the next person says “Duck”, the next “Fell” and so on. If a word is repeated or lost, you start from the beginning. On the second round, the word is repeated twice by each person. “One, One” “Duck, Duck”, “Fell, Fell” and so on. Start over if words get lost, spoken out of sequence or repeated only once. (Speed it up to make it even more challenging). If you’re really committed go for a three word iteration. This works for most groups, although if you have fewer than 6 people in the room, it’s not very challenging. And the smallest children may not get the concept.

3. If you have a smaller group or an older group, try a Zen Count. Without coordinating, have every one in the room take part in counting to 20. (If that seems like too much of a stretch – start by counting to 10) The rules are simple, everyone must speak before anyone repeats. You cannot go in any order and you cannot say a number at the same time as someone else. If two people start to speak at once, start again from ‘one’. This is particularly useful with a group that is having a hard time paying attention to each other.

Happy focusing!

I’ll see you in church.

How Do You Want to Remember the Year?

2008-04-16T11:40:00.009-04:00

Quote du jour

The pursuit of Excellence is gratifying and healthy
The pursuit of perfection is frustrating and neurotic
It is also a terrible waste of time - Edwin Bliss

In a few short weeks the annual RE Sunday will be upon us. During that intergenerational morning, the children and adults in the Religious Education Program are asked to create or contribute to the worship service. I’ve never been here for one of these – but what I’d like to ask you and have you think about on behalf of the group you lead is – “How do I want to remember the year? And what do I want to offer the congregation?” That could be anything (well as long as it’s legal and safe and compatible with our Unitarian Universalist Principles) or nothing at all. A chalice lighting? A song? A prayer? A homily? If you are drawing a blank, give me a call and I’ll be happy to think through the possibilities with you. But please let me know in the next week or so, as we will need to begin planning. You can post in comments, you can send me an email or you can give me a call at the church.

This weekend is the last of this years all program Sundays. Regular classroom teachers have the day free from any leadership role. I will be leading a children’s chapel for all ages, followed by a couple of integrative activities on the theme of Earth Day. If you’re around, please pop in. I seriously thought about devoting a worship service to song parodies, but I’m afraid the younger ones might take me seriously if I start singing “Spirit of Strife”. So Earth Day it is. ..

If you have not yet indicated your teaching commitment for next year, please do so soon. The holy and sacred clipboard and sign up sheet are in the foyer on Sundays with a member of the Religious Education committee to answer your questions.

I wrote in this week's Times about the collective why of teaching, but I also think it’s important to think about the individual why of teaching. We have a shared assumption in many of our churches that Religious Education is only for the young and that once the Affirmation year comes and goes, it’s over. Check. Done. But think on it some more. What about OUR religious education as adults? What about OUR faith development? When I started to feel the twinges and aches of a middle aged back – the medical advice was to ‘strengthen my core’. Building strength in that vital core is what makes us more flexible, resilient and less prone to injury and pain. If we think upon teaching as a way of strengthening our own core – by being present to humans who see the world in very different ways, by stepping outside of our own comfort zones, and by expressing in deed our stated commitment to the wellbeing of our children – it becomes faith development for the teacher as well as the child. You’re not only signing up to teach, you’re signing up for some spiritual, emotional and religious Pilates!

And lastly, in the what’s going on outside department – there are buds on the daffodils in the backyard at my house. And in the warm and sunnier pockets the buds are greening up. Forsythia is blooming and the willows are almost there. After the long winter, I hug these signs of spring closely. What signs of spring are surrounding you? What do you cherish in this season of budding?

In faith,

Rebecca

Pura Vida Mae

2008-04-09T09:24:00.005-04:00

Quote of the Day

Pura vida mae!
translation: Pure life dude!
All of the Ticos (Costa Ricans) use it and it pretty much means everything's going good....)

The birds are singing up a storm today, migration season is in full force. And I’ve seen a few timid crocus! Can the sound of lawn mowers be far behind? Last week appeared to go well – I didn’t get to see you all, the older kids and I were in the Affirmation service (which was lovely and true to form, went off beautifully – in spite of the chaos preceding it!)

So how did it go this past Sunday? Need anything? Any big a-hah’s about the morning? Please be in touch and let me know how it’s going for you this spring.

Recently, one of our perennial questions came up about when to intervene with cross talk and livelier verbal types. I have a simple rule. If I can’t hear the person who’s been recognized and invited to speak, then probably no one else can. When the cross talk is gratuitous (I remember one little guy loudly repeating ‘cow, cow’) or if it’s mean spirited, that’s when I intervene. I’m straightforward in giving a clear boundary and my reasons for it. “I can’t hear Jodi speak, so I need you to wait”. Recognize people as being on queue for speaking (over and over again). In Facilitation Land we call that ‘running the stack’. A lot of times, kids jump in because they can’t quite believe someone will let them have their turn. For younger children who need to verbalize during group time, ask them to whisper those things to themselves – as I did with our ‘cow, cow’ guy – he got acknowledged, was not silenced and the group had one less distraction. If the cross talk is of a putting down nature, be clear that in a Unitarian Universalist church we don’t do that. I think put downs and scatological humor are something of a habit with kids. Just hang out near a group of them at school. Or watch the television shows they watch! But, that’s why we have churches and people like you: to help children understand community and positive ways of interaction within it.

Lastly, and I can’t stress this often enough – the key is to begin intervention when you start to see a drift. It’s much easier to redirect the group when the behaviors are emerging. Sometimes, and don’t be afraid to pitch a conversation that seems to be getting nowhere, you need to take an energy break and lead the group in something more physical. (See me for quick and simple ‘games with meaning’ resources)

This is an overview of faciliation tips that I keep handy. It’s a good one to commit to memory and put to practice.

Guidelines for what makes a good facilitator. (Source: unknown)

Frank found four phrases fabulously fit for first-rate facilitating.

FIRM: A good facilitator is firm with time, group cohesion, ground rules, etc.

FAIR to everyone in the group. Doesn't play favorites.

FLEXIBLE: Is aware of the group's needs. Sometimes the planned out agenda needs to be strayed from. A good facilitator recognizes this and is flexible.

FUN: A good facilitator can relate to the participants of the group and doesn't talk down to a group. Humor and jokes are always appreciated.

These four characteristics are contradictory to each other but all essential. The hard part is learning the balance between the four and learning when to be firm, when to be fair, when to be flexible, and when to be fun.

Happy Facilitating and Happy Birdsongs!
Blessings,
Rebecca

March Madness

2008-03-31T10:27:00.006-04:00

Quote du jour “Democracy requires space for compromise, and compromise is best won through acknowledging the legitimate concerns of the other.”
- Daniel Yankelovich, Christian Science Monitor, 2004

I’m back to teacher blogging. I am so sorry for my absence of the last couple of weeks, as many of you know, my family has been beset my significant health concerns. Life appears to have calmed down and I’m hoping that we can look forward to less hospital ‘excitement’ in the future months.

As we begin to wind down this church year and look ahead to the next, some significant changes are being made in plans for the Religious Education Program here at UUCGL. The changes have been several years in the making. Surveys, conversations and statistical analysis all led to this iteration of programming. It is our hope that this ministry to our children and families will be one that acknowledges and honors the reality of life in this third millennium. I have copied in a letter which is being distributed throughout the congregation – a letter which specifically addresses the primary years Rotation Workshop. We are also re-visioning Affirmation for ninth graders and a rotation of Neighboring Faiths and Our Whole Lives for seventh and eighth graders, a process you’ll hear more of later. The letter is copied below the body of this blog post - but first, let me update you with a few calendar notes. This coming Sunday, April 6^th is the Affirmation Workshop’s concluding worship service. The four high school youth who have participated this year, will lead the service, sharing their music, thoughts and insights with the congregation. We invite all young people, sixth grade on up to join us in this worship morning. Mark the date, May 4^th, the Frozen Pickles middle school youth group is hosting the annual teacher appreciation lunch after fellowship hour. I hope you’ll join us for a rollicking good time. AND no one has to cook or clean up afterwards!

Dear All,

As you have heard and read elsewhere, the religious education committee is bringing a change to the model we use in our Sunday morning Religious Education program. There are a number of content and logistical changes being made, all of which are designed to minister to the needs and realities of today. One thing remains constant, and that is our commitment to empowering this community in it’s ministry to children and families.

One of the significant changes involves our primary aged children (grades K-6, inclusive). We will be participating in Workshop Rotation. This program uses a core narrative (usually a story) illustrating foundational values of our faith. With our children, we further explore that story and the values embedded within it in the workshops designed to engage children and adults in 4 different experiential and learning modalities visual/tactile arts, music/ drama, social justice and celebrations/worship. Over a four week period, all the children will experience each workshop and revisit the story. This model holds space for all our children to engage our values even with more sporadic attendance, and gives adults a number of ways to access our church’s teaching ministry.

Logistically, as we recognize that extended teaching commitments are more and more difficult for individuals to make we have created a cooperative program schedule. This shares the responsibility of our teaching ministry among all families in an equitable fashion. In short, it is our expectation that all parents will teach and it is our hope that all parishioners will do so as well.

Over the next few weeks, the religious education committee will be inviting you to choose your leadership role and dates you can volunteer. The rotations and leadership roles are as follows: If you are willing and able to provide a consistent and supportive presence to our children, we are asking you to commit to being a teaching guide for one or more four week rotations. In this role you are the able bodied assistant to the workshop leaders and will stay with the same group of children from week to week. If prefer to take the lead, ‘teaching to your passion’, we are asking you to commit to leading at least one four week workshop rotation in your choice of the four experiential areas. The workshop will be developed for you, or if you prefer to design your own workshop, you are welcome to do so. In this role, you will lead the same lesson over the course of four weeks, for the different age cohorts.

Please look over the calendar below and respond to me at any time, or to the Curriculum Committee (Carol Kusinitz, Martha Curry, Mary O’Connel and Lucy Emple) with your prefer4red role and dates before May 1. If you are a parent and have no preference, or we don’t hear from you by May 1, a leadership role and dates will be assigned to you. If you any questions in the meantime, please contact Carol Kusinitz at 781-631-4976 or chkscribe@comcast.net.

How to Post A Comment

2008-03-05T14:32:00.004-05:00

If you want to leave a comment, just click on the comments link below my name at the bottom of the original post. Click on the phrase consisting of a number and the word comments at the bottom of the original post in little tiny pale print with no underline or http. It's a link nevertheless. 0 comments. 1 comments. 2 comments. etc. Any comments?

Rebecca

Welcome Spring

2008-03-03T12:11:00.002-05:00

Welcome Spring? Well, no, not really. There's still a mountain of snow in front of the house and my back still aches from Saturday's shoveling marathon, but the birds ARE singing and the spring session of Religious Education begins this coming Sunday March 9th at 10:00 am. Everybody stand up and cheer for incipient spring!

Because some very smart people gave me some very smart feedback about maintaining user friendly archives, I am now posting the weekly teacher letters on this blog. You will receive the link to the current post in your weekly email - just click on it and come on over to blogger. I hope to streamline the process even more and get this page linked to the UUCGL website. I'll let you know when that happens. And if there's another way you prefer to have me communicate, please let me know. We can work it out.

Calendar Notes: It was wonderful to speak with those of you who made it in for Sundays' chat and bagel get together. I hope we can do it again. Let me know if you'd like to meet before or after the church morning in early April (you can do so by posting in comments) March will continue with regular small group classes on all Sundays but the 23rd - which is Easter and is an intergenerational worship morning.

On April 6th the Affirmation Workshop will lead the worship service, which might be of interest to the older kids as they see their near age peers take this role in church.

Odd Bits of Things I Want to Tell You a.k.a. Flotsam and Jetsam: Most of you are returning teachers, but let me reiterate my availability to you all. You can reach me by phone at the church, via email and frequently by dropping by (call first to make sure I'm there). When do you need to call me? When you're stuck with a lesson that has a great message and a not so great means of conveying it. When you're curious about additional information or resources. When you have a great idea. When you've had a wonderful morning. When you have behavioral issues with children or youth in your group. When you need some games with a purpose. When you're not sure what you're supposed to be doing. When you need to talk to parents and are not quite sure what to say. When you feel out of sync with your teaching partner. And when you want to talk about. . .anything!

And finally, you should all have your curriculum by now, but if you do not, please let me know and I'll see that it gets to you.

I am looking forward to the remainder of our congregational year, the returning energy of spring and to working with you all in this ministry of Religious Education

In Faith,

Rebecca