Recently in RE

 Here’s what we’ve been doing in Religious Education lately:

Sunday, Feb. 12

Beatrix Potter (approximately ages 3-6, preschool through first grade): We’re using some lessons from the UUA curriculum, “We Are Many, We Are One,” about how every person is important, about the value of friendship, about cooperation and valuing differences. Last week we talked about how “Cooperation Means Helping Each Other.”

Christopher Reeve (approximately ages 7-12, grades 2 – 5): We’re learning about World Religions using the curriculum “A World of New Friends” from the Shawnee Mission UU Church. We’ve explored Hinduism and Buddhism, and last week we began to learn about Islam, including the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and Eid al-Fitr, the celebration at the end of Ramadan.

Susan B. Anthony  (approximately ages 13-18, middle school and high school): We’re exploring the spiritual foundation of our service work, and worked on planning collections to benefit an animal shelter, including a field trip. We’re also planning to lead a Chapel Service in March. We began to watch the film “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which exemplifies many Unitarian Universalist principles, especially “the inherent worth and dignity of every person.”

Sunday, Feb. 5

We gathered all ages of RE children and youth together and made treats for Safe Harbor — 3 pumpkin pies, 2 pans of brownies, and 6 dozen Valentine sugar cookies. Some members of our congregation are making and serving dinner to our houseless neighbors on Friday, Feb. 10, and our kids are providing dessert and Valentine cards.

Sunday, Jan. 29

Beatrix Potter: We explored how “We Can Be Angry Without Hurting Others,” a lessos from the UUA curriculum, “We Are Many, We Are One.” All of our feelings are okay, and we can express them in good ways.

Christopher Reeve: We continued to learn about Buddhism, using the curriculum “A World of New Friends” from the Shawnee Mission UU Church. We heard the story of the Buddha and practiced some meditations.

Susan B. Anthony: Some of us went to Kalamazoo for a UU Middle School Conference at People’s Church.  There were activty stations about world religions, games in small groups, worship services, and a talent show. We loved connecting with other UU teenagers. Kids in this group who are not at the conference  joined the Christopher Reeve group to learn about Buddhism and meditation.

Sunday, January 8: Chapel Service about the Flaming Chalice

For Chapel Service, the young folk come directly into the RE space and have their own worship service, with all kids participating.  Readings, songs, and activities are geared specially for them. Chapel helps children and youth to learn to value their own religious experiences and develop their own religious voices. We use the word “worship” in its ancient sense of  “worthiness.”  A worship service is a time to focus on that which we hold worthy, that which we feel is sacred.

This week, our Chapel Service focused on the symbol of Unitarian Universalism: the Flaming Chalice. We talked about what a symbol is, and what the two parts of our symbol mean (the chalice and the flame). Then we heard the history of the flaming chalice, and made our own chalices from clay.

Sunday, January 1: Janus and the New Year

We learned about the Roman god Janus, who had two faces to look backward and forward, and who watched over gates, doorways, and new beginnings. Janus also gave us the name of the month of January!

In this multigenerational Christmas morning service, we heard stories and memories about Christmas from literature and from our elders, and we sang traditional carols.

Sunday, December 18: Making Treats for Safe Harbor

We made desserts for our houseless neighbors: brownies, Rice Krispies treats with red and green sprinkles, and peppermint cookies. Our teens and young adults served the treats with the dinner that they cooked and served to the houseless through the Safe Harbor Program.

Sunday, December 11: Pageant!

“Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” told the Christmas Nativity story with a Unitarian Universalist interpretation.

On Sunday, Oct. 16, UUCGT saw the world premiere of this video, in which the children and youth of our Religious Education program took a stand supporting Traverse City’s Anti-Discrimination Ordinance.

Sunday, October 30: Día de los Muertos

We learned about the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, and made an altar with pictures of our ancestors, tissue paper flowers, and calacas (skeletons) made of marshmallows!

Sunday, October 23: Compassionate Cookies

We talked about what it would be like to be homeless, or to have no money to buy food. The kids acknowledged that if they want a cookie, they can get one at home or at the grocery store or bakery. We baked pumpkin cookies to share with the people in need who come to the community lunch that our congregation provides every Tuesday.

Sunday, October 16  Standing on the Side of Love

We spent this Sunday in the sanctuary with the entire congregation, singing and hearing stories about equality for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. We listened to a representative of the TC Equality Yes campaign about how to support the anti-discrimination ordinance that will be on the ballot in Traverse City on Nov. 8, and we saw the video that we made in RE!

Sundays, October 2 and 9: Standing on the Side of Love

We spent these Sundays all together — finalizing our behavior covenants for the year, voting on a chalice lighting prayer to use this year, talking about what it means to welcome and value all people regardless of who they love, and learning about the Equality ordinance that will be on the Traverse City ballot in November and what we can do as a religious people to stand on the side of love.

Sunday, September 18 and 25: Playing and Covenanting

We spent these Sundays getting our RE year rolling, by playing some getting-to-know-you games, brainstorming ideas for our behavior covenants for the year, and voting on a chalice lighting prayer to use this year.

Sunday, September 11: Resumption Sunday

With the whole congregation, we celebrated Rev. Leisa’s first service with us, including an interactive story about a Traveller who comes to help a People who were living in darkness and fear to start a journey toward light and love.

Sunday, September 4: Nature Scavenger Hunt

We hiked the Center Road Park trail again, gathering items from the lists that we made after our previous observation hike. We gathered only things we found on the forest floor, and talked about how everything in nature has a purpose. We were pleased to see that there was very little human-made litter!

Sunday, August 28: Preparing for Nature Scavenger Hunt

We created a Nature Scavenger Hunt using the lists that we made last week during our “What’s in the Woods?” Nature Hike, and went on some mini scavenger hunts on our church grounds, looking for items such as “something yellow” and “a leaf that has been chewed.” It’s wonderful to go outside and really pay close attention to our natural surroundings!

Sunday, August 21: “What’s In the Woods?” Nature Hike

We walked together across the UUCGT parking lot down the hill to the Center Road Park trail. We hiked the trail in a spirit of close observance, with notebooks and pencils in hand, making notes of what we saw, including two squirrels chasing each other around a tree, a fallen log that had been scraped of its wood (by a bear, maybe?), lots of different fungi, towering trees and baby saplings, nests and homes where woodland animals and birds live, and plenty of insects and crawling creatures.

Sunday, August 14: Going Batty

Bats are mysterious, seemingly self-contradictory creatures (much like Unitarian Universalists). They are the only mammal capable of true flight. We’ll read the classic “Stellaluna” and learn some facts and myths about bats, then go outside and play “Bat and Moth,” a game that helps us experience echolocation.

Sunday, August 7: Rev. Kevin’s last service

Our beloved Rev. Kevin Tarsa led his last Sunday Service in the sanctuary before he embarks on his journey of intern ministry in Massachussetts. Some of our children and youth remained in the sanctuary for the whole service; others went to the RE space to make cards and gifts for Kevin. We all gathered back in the sanctuary for a moving farewell ceremony.

Sunday, July 31: Food Webbing

We talked about how everybody eats something, and something eats everybody. The food web (it’s not really a chain, like I was taught in school during the Jurassic Period) is a wonderful way to demonstrated the interconnectedness of nature! We looked at different examples of food webs, then went outside and drew our own food webs with sidewalk chalk! “It all comes down to bacteria, doesn’t it?” asked one young person.

Sunday, July 24: Micro-Hike 

We went for a “Micro-Hike,” imagining that we were as small as ants and following a 4-foot yarn “trail” through a patch of ground outside the RE rooms. We observed plants up close and watched insects carefully in their environments. We caught some insects in boxes with little magnifying lenses in them, examined them for a while, and then released them. This activity helped us to pay minute attention to the tiny details of our natural world.

Sunday, July 17: Seventh Principle Chapel

We held a Chapel Service focused on the Seventh Principle of Unitarian Universalism: Respect for the Interconnected Web of Existence of which we are a part. We lit a chalice and rang a bell, shared Joys and Concerns, said prayers for holding those joys and sorrows in our hearts, sang “The Green Grass Grew All Around” with our own additional lyrics added, experienced a guided meditation about experiencing the forest, sang “Evening Breeze,” and heard a story about Rachel Louise Carson, Unitarian author of “Silent Spring,” the book that revolutionized the use of chemicals in agriculture.

Sunday, July 10: Meet a Tree

We played “Meet a Tree,” a game that encourages us to explore trees using senses other than sight. We made rubbings of tree bark, too, and talked about how trees are part of the Interconnected Web of Existence of which we are a part!

Sunday, July 3: 

We worked in our garden, transplanting the flower seedlings that we sowed on Ostara (the Vernal Equinox).

Sunday, June 26:

We made treats and “we wish you well” cards to send to the cousins of one of our young-adult congregants. This family (three daughters age 9, 5, and 2) lost their mother unexpectedly last year, and then last weekend they lost their home and all their possessions in a house fire.

Sunday, June 19:

Chapel Service: Father’s Day! Our Children and Youth (and any interested adults) went directly to the RE space at 10:30, where we held our own worship service focused on fathers (including bio-dads, step-dads, adoptive dads, and other dad-type people). We lit a chalice, rang a bell, shared Joys and Concerns, sang, read poems and stories, heard a mini-sermon about the history of Father’s Day, and more.

The Chapel was followed by a Father’s Day RE activity, making red tissue-paper roses to honor all our father-type people, in remembrance of the red roses worn on the first Father’s Day.