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!

Unitarian Universalist Identity

Each year a theme is selected to guide programming for children and youth in the Religious Education program on Sunday mornings. This year's theme is Unitarian Universalist Identity. In focusing and reflecting on what it means to be a UU in the world, volunteer teachers will help children and youth learn from their religious heritage, discern their own values and ideals and find out where they fit and how to articulate their own thoughts about the big questions of life.

The following curriculum are being used this year for our PK-6th grade classes:

Questers (4th-6th grades): Toolbox of Faith (link: http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/toolboxfaith/index.shtml)
Explorers (1st-3rd grades): Picture Book UU (link: http://www.uure.com/PBUU.html)
Maiasaurs (PK-K): Friendship Finders (link: http://thecaringtree.net/friendship_finders)

For more information, ideas and activity suggestions about how you can learn more about your family's Unitarian Universalist Identity at home, check out the Church of the Larger Fellowship's website on UU Identity and RE here: http://clf.uua.org/re/qtr_uuidentity.html

Parenting through grief

By Michelle Richards, on September 7th, 2010

Death has touched our family again, for the fifth time in five years. You would think that we would be getting rather acclimated to the grieving process after having gone through so many losses in such a short time, but it is never easy.

Candle (©tweetyclaw/iStockPhoto)

This time there doesn’t seem to be as much soul-searching by my teenage daughter to understand why bad things happen; not as there was when, at age ten, her best friend was killed in a tragic accident. Now, after the death of her beloved but aging grandmother, she suffers from an abundance of guilt (for not spending more time with her) and struggles with biting her tongue when well-intended people speak of a theology which doesn’t match hers. Meanwhile, my eight-year-old son struggles with his own sense of mortality and—even worse, perhaps—mine. He is aware that his father was present when his mother took her last breath, which, unfortunately, is an all-too-acute reminder that his own mother will one day face death as well.
Parenting in times of intense grief is never easy, especially when we are in the midst of experiencing our own feelings of regret, anger, and sorrow. As Unitarian Universalist parents, many of us yearn for comforting words to say to our children because it tears us up inside to see them suffering. However, sometimes there are no words which can bring comfort from the grief. In times like these, our loving presence and support can offer them what they need. We can reassure them that we will be there for them when they need to talk, to vent, or even rant a bit.
As for dealing with the well-meaning words offered by others, I can help Shannon to recognize that while their words may not offer comfort through the ideas they express, it can be possible to find some support in why they are being expressed. I learned this important lesson from a very good friend of mine, also a Unitarian Universalist parent. After her daughter’s death, she heard many comments about angels and being with God, yet instead of feeling resentment over these words, she chose to “translate” these words into something which did offer her support.
Recognizing that people expressing such thoughts are well intentioned can help us embrace their concern for us, even when they share words that don’t fit our own personal theology. The reality is that most people really don’t know what to say, even as they struggle with the need to show they care. Embracing this care and concern expressed by well-meaning people can offer us some solace, even if their words do not.
I don’t pretend to know what happens after we die, and perhaps I will never know the answers the Great Mystery holds. However, I do know that if my in-laws are reunited together in some ethereal place like heaven, rejoined with some sort of greater cosmic consciousness, or are souls waiting to be reborn into a new existence, they’re probably arguing with each other over how long the green beans should be cooked in the pressure cooker. Unless, of course, they’re able to find themselves as part of a foursome playing Pinochle in the Great Beyond, and then I hope they have the winning hand.
Resources: “Talking about Death,” by Betsy Hill Williams (Connections, Church of the Larger Fellowship)

From http://blogs.uuworld.org/parenting/?h3