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RE Program Registration for Children and Youth

Fall is upon us and our first day of Religious Education classes is just around the corner, on September 18. This year's theme is "UUs in the World," with a focus on service projects and learning together. We will be welcoming children and youth to the following classes:

Nursery (infants and toddlers)
Sprouts (2 years-old - PreKindergarten)
Explorers (Kindergarten-1st grade)
Questers (2nd grade-5th grade)
Jr. Youth Group (6th grade-8th grade)
Sr. Youth Group (9th grade-12th grade)

Our Religious Education committee has a goal of 100% registration by the end of September, so please register your children and youth at your earliest convenience! Registration is a vital part of communicating with families, ensuring the safety of kids in the program, and presenting an accurate picture of our RE program to the Board and the wider denomination. There are two ways to register. You can click here to register online or download a copy to print here and mail or bring it to church with you. We will also be hosting on-site registration for families after classes on Sept. 18.

To find out more about our programs, download our RE Program Brochure here.

See you in church!

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All Ages Game Night & Potluck Dinner, Sat. May 7, 6:00 pm

Enoch Pratt Parish Hall will be the place to be for family-friendly fun Saturday, May 7. We'll gather for a potluck dinner and board and other games starting at 6:00 pm.

Bring your favorite board game* and a potluck dish to share. (*Shorter games —ie not Monopoly, Risk, etc. — will allow for more people to try more games)

All ages are welcome!

SAVE THE DATE!

Please join us on June 5 to celebrate and recognize the dedication and loving hard work of all this year's Religious Education Volunteers. Details will follow soon.

Youth Group Benefit Concert

For the third consecutive year, First Unitarian's Youth Group is hosting a Spring benefit concert. This year's recipient will be BARCS (Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter).

Join us May 14 from 7-9 pm to hear young musicians and donate to a worthy cause.

Sources Supper, Sat. April 30, 6:00 pm

Sources Supper is a ritual meal that connects us to our religious roots by telling the stories of our Unitarian and Universalist founders, and asking us to imagine how their stories inspire our own.

By sharing a “pot luck” meal and offering our thoughts to each other, we hope to grow in our religious affections and identity. This event is most appropriate for adults, youth and older children and is inspired by Unity Unitarian's Sources Supper: A Celebration of Our Unitarian Universalist Heritage.

Sign up online or contact Director of Lifespan RE, Becky Brooks to let us know you’re coming. We'll enjoy an evening of music and candlelight and spirit. All are welcome!

Mystery Buddies Breakfast

Our Mystery Buddies participants enjoyed another great year of clue exchanges and learning more about their buddies. We gathered for a potluck breakfast on March 27 and much fun was had by all!

First U's Got Talent!

You won't want to miss our Multi-Generational Talent Show this Sunday, Feb. 6 after church!

Come cheer on our tots, tweens and teens as they grace our Parish Hall with a whole host of entertainments. We'll have singing and dancing, acting and comedy — you name it!

We'll have finger foods available to nibble on after the service as the show gets underway. Join in the fun!

First Unitarian Church Playgroup Meets February 26

The First Unitarian Church Playgroup for infants and toddlers will meet Saturday, Feb. 26 at 9:30 am. We will meet for an hour of play and conversation in the first floor classrooms. All children four and under are welcome, as are their older siblings. Bring a favorite toy to share if you like and anything to make your little ones more comfortable.

Parents, come play and hang out with your kids and other First U parents this Saturday! Snacks are still needed! If you plan to come and would like to bring a snack or if you have any questions, contact Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Becky Brooks.

See you at church!

Mystery Buddies on the Horizon!

Each year when February rolls around, it's time to start thinking about Mystery Buddies. If you've ever been a mystery buddy, you know how much fun it can be. 

It goes like this: Throughout February, children and adults choose a code name and sign up to be matched into Mystery Buddy pairs. At the end of February, pairs of one adult and one child are made and code names are announced. 

Though each buddy knows the code name of their buddy, and a few starter facts, their identity will be a mystery. Every week in March, clues like notes and homemade gifts are exchanged as each participant tries to guess each other's identity. 

In addition to just being fun, the Mystery Buddy program is also one of the rare opportunities adults have to meet children as individuals. Teachers meet a child as one of many in a class. Neighbors and congregants typically meet a child as so-and-so's daugher or the brother of so-and-so. Though these children may certainly become known as individuals eventually, the opportunity to begin in such a context is rare. And, speaking as one who has this privilege more than most, it is precious. While it is true that the child sitting in the pew in front of you may well become your doctor one day, or your mechanic, or the person who rents an apartment to your grandchild, the magic of church—of our intergenerational community—is that that child is also a person sitting in church, just like you. Mystery Buddies is a fun way to find out who that kid is, what do they care about? What do they like to do? Who are they? And, meanwhile, who are you? 

Stop by the RE table at coffee hour any Sunday in February to sign up to be Mystery Buddy. Sign-up forms are also available for downloading here.  Anyone under the age of 18 can be a "younger" buddy and anyone over 12 can be an "older" buddy (youth can choose). Each buddy will choose a code name and decorate a mailbag to receive notes from their Mystery Buddy. Pairs will exchange clues about their identity each week in March. The whole program will conclude with a potluck breakfast on March 27 where identities are revealed. It's truly fun for all ages, I hope you'll join in! 

First U Playgroup meets Saturday, Jan. 8

The inaugural meeting of our First Unitarian Church Playgroup for infants and toddlers will be this Saturday, Jan. 8 at 9:30 am. We will meet for an hour of play and conversation in the first floor classrooms (Note: please enter through the front of the church on Franklin Street!) All children four and under are welcome, as are their older siblings. Bring a favorite toy to share if you like and anything to make your little ones more comfortable.

Parents, come play and hang out with your kids and other First U parents this Saturday! Snacks are still needed! If you plan to come and would like to bring a snack or if you have any questions, contact Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Becky Brooks.

See you at church!

"Rise Up and Call her Name" Adult Religious Education course begins Jan. 22

Rise Up and Call Her Name: A Woman-honoring Journey into Global Earth-based Spiritualities, by Elizabeth Fisher

This Adult Religious Education Class will led by Dorothy Critcher and Janice Zimmerman Saturday mornings, Jan. 22 - Mar. 5 (9:30 am to 12:00 noon.)

Rise Up and Call Her Name provides a unique format for learning about goddesses from a variety of traditions.

This course is for the person looking to regain the “whole” of humankind’s spiritual roots. It presents aspects common to many cultural traditions around the globe which are not frequently highlighted. These important roots include honoring the earth, revering the sacred feminine and valuing women.

Sessions will include creative ritual, chants and songs, artistic adventures, group dialogues, journal writing, storytelling, dancing, meditations and mask making. The curriculum also includes sensitively narrated ten-minute video segments of dramatically filmed images of women-honoring sacred art, both ancient and contemporary.

You can register for this class online or contact Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Becky Brooks if you have any questions.

Every Day

This is a reprint of the Director of Lifespan Religious Education's column from the January issue of The Beacon newsletter

Almost ten years ago I began to write in a journal. I decided I was going to try to write every single day. I failed. About eight years ago I decided to try again. I failed. About six years ago I decided to try again and this time, for whatever reason, something clicked and *nearly* every day since, I carved out a small, precious bit of time to write in my journal. But then something changed. There is no entry in my journal for the day our twins were born. There is no entry for the day after. No entries for the days of recovery in the hospital. No entries for the eight days our son was in the NICU. No joyful entry when all five of us were home at last. No "milestones of the first month" entry, no entries detailing the insanity of sleep deprivation or the ecstasy of first smiles. The spiritual practice of journalling that I had built up over years is broken. Like a once-prized roadster on blocks in the front yard, it sits waiting for me to patch it up and turn the engine over to see if I can still coax it to life. There is, and always will be, something more pressing, more exciting, more fun or more important to do than to sit down and write in my journal. But as the babies settle into something resembling a schedule (gasp!) I am remembering the pull of having a practice.

But to create (or re-create) a practice, we must change. Not only do I have to remember how helpful the practice of journaling was, not only do I have to muscle that chunk of time into the schedule of my life, I have to write. In order to return to journaling every day, I have to journal every day. Simple? Yes. Easy? No. When we make time in our lives to contain something we desire it doesn't stop the rest of our lives from continuing to crash back in. In my days of thwarted attempts to try journalling again I've done laundry instead, shopped for baby clothes online, caught up with email for work and made myself some very nice sandwiches. I wrote successfully today. I wrote for thirty minutes, uninterrupted, and it was lovely. But unless I do it tomorrow too, it's not a practice. And what I want, even more than a record of my day or a way to process the day's thoughts, is a practice.

It's the same with church. If you come to church occasionally, you might hear a good sermon, meet some nice people, enjoy the conversation and the coffee. And maybe that's all you want. Maybe you want a little food for your brain and a smile at coffee hour and you're a happy camper. But if you want a community, if you want a place for your children to grow into a sense of their own spirituality and explore the wisdom of the traditions of the world, if your want to be heard, if you want to listen, if you want to belong, that's work you have to do every week. Every Sunday morning First Unitarian saves a place for you. I hope to see you there.

First U's Got Talent Redux!

Because of snowmageddon last year we were forced to cancel the intergenerational talent show.  In hopes of a kinder, gentler winter we are rescheduling for Sunday, February 6 after the service at 1 p.m..  There will be lunch for purchase.

Start planning now for your contribution! Search out a talented young person and form a team; show off your family's gifts - you have the dark nights of January to practice.  All acts must include one or more children, and wacky prizes will be awarded in three categories:  child/children/youth, family (children performing with related adult(s)), and children/adult (children performing with unrelated adult(s)).  Michael Preston will direct. Sign up at the Welcome Table in Enoch Pratt Parish Hall after services or contact Michael.

Don't want to show off?  Just plan to attend and cheer on our talented tots, tweens, teens!

Family Singing Night, Saturday, Dec. 4, 5-7 pm

Bring a potluck dish to share, your singing voice and your whole family to our First Unitarian Family Singing Night on Saturday, Dec. 4 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. We'll be singing holiday songs and carols and enjoying a great meal together. Rev. David will lead the singing and Becky Brooks will lead the listening! All are welcome. Join in the holiday fun!

Contact Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Becky Brooks, if you have questions.

Values Exercises Adult Religious Education Class begins Tuesday, Oct. 19

No matter where we are in our lives we come up against questions that challenge our values, a life-challenging decision, where to move, what to do in retirement, what to do next. 

This class will feature a series of exercises: some fun, some soul searching, some public, some private help us to find or reset where we really are with our values; not just what we think we believe.

We will meet Tuesday evenings, Oct. 19-Nov. 30, 7-9 pm in the downstairs classrooms of the First Unitarian Church (no class on Nov. 2).

Register online here or sign up in person at the RE table after church on Sunday. Registration closes Oct. 17. For more information, contact Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Becky Brooks.

The class will be led by church member, Suzanne Lebovit. Suzanne’s interest in developing and clarifying her values began when her youth minister, James Reeb, was killed in Selma, Alabama in 1965. Her youth group rallied to finish the Selma to Montgomery march for him, helping to develop her values and serving as a lesson on how instant decisions can be so meaningful and historical. For the last 20 years Suzanne has worked as a public health advisor, currently at the Baltimore City jail.

Save the Date! For our annual Halloween Party

This year's Halloween Party for All Ages at First Unitarian Church will be Friday, Oct. 29, from 6-8 pm in Pratt Hall. Join us for pizza dinner, costume fun and plenty of great activities.
See you there for a spooktacular good time!!

Voices of a Liberal Faith

Unitarian Universalism on Twitter

Are you on twitter? Check out some of your fellow UUs:

TapestryUU (http://twitter.com/TapestryUU)
Peter Morales (http://twitter.com/uuprez)
Adrian Hilliard (http://twitter.com/UUXMNR)
Andrea Lerner (http://twitter.com/andrealerner)
Rev. Naomi King (http://twitter.com/revnaomi)
Peter Bowden (http://twitter.com/uuplanet)
Rev. Marilyn Sewell (http://twitter.com/marilynsewell)
Rev. Debra Haffner (http://twitter.com/revdebra)
Kari Kopnick (http://twitter.com/hi_its_kari)
SUUSI (http://twitter.com/suusi)
Church of the Younger Fellowship (http://twitter.com/CYFGA)
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia (http://twitter.com/philauu)
Beacon Press Books (http://twitter.com/BeaconPressBks)
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (http://twitter.com/UUSC)
UU World (http://twitter.com/UUWorld)

Are you on twitter? Leave your handle in the comments!