Adult Religious Education

Adult Religious Education in the local congregation offers unique opportunities for people to come together in programs designed [to help adults learn and grow religiously]. The coming together itself is of importance in building the religious community.

"To teach," says Parker Palmer in To Know As We Are Known: Education As a Spiritual Journey, "is to create a space in which the community of truth is practiced"...This community is "a rich and complex network of relationships in which we must both speak and listen, make claims on others, and make ourselves accountable."

And so may it be...

These are words of wisdom from longtime Professional Religious Educator, Betty Jo Middleton in her guide, First Steps: Planning for Adult Religious Education.

As we begin to take steps towards creating programs and opportunities for adults at all stages of life in our community, the very first step is in learning from the congregation more about what is wanted and needed. What topics interest you? What are you eager to learn about? What do you have to teach ot

hers? Who would you like to learn from? When is a good time to make space for Religious Education in your life?

Answering these questions and more is a cinch in our globally networked society! To lend your voice to the discussion, you can take our Religious Education survey by clicking here. For a few minutes of your time, you can influence our programming for the better for months and years to come. If you have questions or to share additional information, please don't hesitate to contact Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Becky Brooks here.

Keep tabs on this blog for other opportunities to be involved in Religious Education at First Unitarian, as a teacher, a student, a planner or all three!

The Paradoxical Commandments

by Dr. Kent M. Keith


People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

http://paradoxicalcommandments.com/

Summer at First Unitarian

Summer is upon us, a time when things are done a little differently at First Unitarian. Here's a quick guide to all things Summer at church:

Worship in July and August will begin at 10 am. We'll be in the Sanctuary in July and the Parish Hall in August.

Childcare is available for all kids during the service in the downstairs RE rooms. Our usual childcare provider, Kim Wolf, will be there to supervise. We have books, board games and art supplies, though no structured activities. If your children plan to attend and would like to bring toys or a game, they should feel free as long as they are willing to share with any other children who attend. Unlike services during the regular church year, there will not be a time when children are sung to classes. Please take your children to childcare before the service instead.

If your children are not interested in attending childcare, they are certainly welcome to attend service with you. Worship services, however, are not specifically designed with children in mind and boredom may creep in. A children's corner with books and coloring pages is available in the back corner of the worship space and there are fiddle toys like pipe cleaners or busy bags available for children to use in their seats. If your children remain in the sanctuary for worship and they are not used to attending whole services, you may wish to talk to them about worship behavior. All worship participants of any age are asked to use quiet voices, to refrain from moving about the sanctuary more than necessary and to be respectful of their fellow congregants.

Keep your eyes peeled for additional summer activities and events throughout the season by reading Happenings, our email newsletter, checking the church's website: www.firstunitarian.net and this blog.

Worship will resume its usual time of 11 am starting Sept. 6

Our annual Homecoming Service and Water Communion will be on Sept. 13

Religious Education Classes for Children and Youth will resume on Sept. 21

Have a great Summer!

Help the Animals!

From the Explorer's class:

This Sunday, The Explorers will be wrapping up their efforts to help save a variety of earth's creatures including Chinchillas, Dogs, Cats, Wolves, Tigers and Panamanian Golden Frogs. Thanks to many of you for stopping by
the Religious Education table during coffee service to sign petitions and offer monetary donations. This will be the final week to bring in donated items (gently used okay) for BARCS (supporting cats and dogs) and Small Angels Rescue (supporting chinchillas).

Click here for the BARCS wish list.

Click here for the Small Angels Rescue wish list.

In celebration of Summer Solstace, the Explorers will be making their own
pocket sundials in class this Sunday.

Coming of Age Service 2009

Our biennial Coming of Age program concluded last Sunday with a glorious celebration as the youth who had completed the program led worship for the entire First Unitarian Church community. In addition to leading our regular worship rituals such as chalice lighting, hymn singing and a "time for all ages," each youth shared a Faith Statement as a snapshot of their beliefs as they are right now. The minister, mentors and parents all shared blessings for the youth and the Coming of Age adult leaders led a Declaration of Coming of Age at the end of the service.

To listen to audio portions of this service, please visit the concluding posts of our Coming of Age blog here.

Congratulations to all the Coming of Age youth!

Flower Communion, Sun. June 7

The First Unitarian Church of Baltimore will celebrate the annual tradition of Flower Communion this Sunday, June 7 during worship at 11:00 am. Our service will be intergenerational and all children are welcome to participate in worship alongside the youth and adults. No RE classes will be offered during the service, but childcare will be available.

In addition to this meaningful ritual, we will also celebrate some of the joys of our community, including recognizing new members, installing the new Board of Trustees, and recognizing with deep gratitude the service of Religious Education volunteers.

Unitarian Universalist Congregations all over the world celebrate Flower Communion in the late Spring or early Summer. Flower Communion is a ritual created by Norbert Čapek (pronounced CHAH-pek), the founder of the Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia. In Čapek's congregation in Prague, there were many members who had left Catholicism and the ritual of wine-and-bread communion behind. Still, the idea of communion, of coming together and sharing, is a powerful one and Čapek sought a way to create a ritual that would offer a sense of communion that would fit with his congregation. He created the ritual of Flower Communion, where each congregant would bring a flower to worship and would leave with a flower brought by another. In this simple ceremony, we acknowledge the beauty and power of what we bring to community, while benefitting from the beauty and power we gain from community.

After fleeing the war in Europe, Dr. Čapek's wife, Rev. Maja Čapek brought the Flower Communion ritual to the United States in 1940. Sadly Norbert Čapek did not escape Europe and was captured by the Germans in World War II and sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where he was killed. Before he died, he wrote this prayer:

It is worthwhile to live and fight courageously for sacred ideals.

Oh blow ye evil winds into my body's fire; my soul you'll never unravel.

Even though disappointed a thousand times or fallen in the fight and everything would worthless seem,

I have lived amidst eternity.

Be grateful, my soul,

My life was worth living.

Each year, as we leave a flower and take another, let us remember the value of all life, grateful for what we have and all that is precious in the landscape of our days.

To learn more about Flower Communion, click here.

Becoming a friendly family church toward our vision of a family friendly church.

by Karla Peterson

How can my children and I get more involved and more connected in the church? There are lots of ways. Some of these suggestions are things that I have done, but others are drawn from memories of the church I grew up in or suggestions I have heard from people who have attended other UU churches. Contact Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Becky Brooks, to find out how to get plugged-in to any of these opportunities.

Things you could do that are already in place:

Stay for coffee hour once in while

Help your child find some books they have outgrown and donate them to the book store

Have your child browse at the bookstore and buy a few books (they’re cheap!)

Help greet people and give out the order of worship

Sign up to light the chalice as a family

Take the monthly church tour as a family

Cook for Our Daily Bread (5^th Saturdays of the month)

Donate something to the auction (a service, an event, something you can make)

Special services to look forward to and participate in:

Participate in Springfest and Winterfest

Participate in Water and Flower communion (first and last service of the church year)

Participate in the Day of the Dead Service (around Halloween)

Come to the Winter Solstice celebration

Come to one or more summer services (such as the First Fruits service)

Eating your way through the church calendar:

(All of these events need volunteers to help with set up and clean up)

Come early for the pancake breakfast before the first service of the church year

Stay for the luncheon before the Cabaret and then go to the Cabaret

Come to the Halloween party

Stay for the luncheon before the Holiday Sale and then browse the tables

Come to Christmas Eve pot luck and services

Participate in the Mystery Buddies program and come to the potluck

Attend the church auction and dinner

Participate in your Neighborhood Circle (many are potluck style)

Things that you could request:

Ask for a special family friendly church tour

Ask for a special family friendly tour of the organ (it is so cool!)

Suggest a family friendly event for your neighborhood circle

Help with grounds keeping

Ask Jeffrey what he needs help with

Things that would be more work, but would be fabulous:

Host a family friendly “40-something” event (covenant group for those beyond the young people events)

Start a new covenant group with other parents your kid’s age

Work with the auction crew to create a kids auction to be held the same time or a different time

Start a tradition of going out together for lunch after church with other families

Things you could do outside of church:

Come out for a protest, lobby day, or vigil

Visit someone who is sick or in the hospital

Send get well cards, a note of condolence or congratulations to people listed in “Happenings”

Cook for someone who is hurt or just had a baby

Invite a person or family you want to get to know better over for dinner

Sing some of your favorite hymns at home for lullabies

Light a chalice at home for dinner and share what you are grateful for

Visit other churches when you travel and bring back good ideas

Did I miss something? Leave a comment to share your ideas for families to get connected to each other and the church as a whole.