Religious Growth Blog

On January 20, children and youth attended an Ingathering. I began our meeting with a story about hearts.

A person's heart is sometimes described with adjectives such as, "She has a heart of gold" or "He has a great heart".

I spoke with the children and youth about how we have the power to choose our actions and shape our own hearts.

We proceeded to create valentines which, for the third year in a row, will be sent to folks who are on the Pastoral Care list.

Beyond making cards for people on holidays, we have chances every day to make a difference in someone's life.

Practicing random acts of kindness enhances our own lives as well as the lives of those around us.

Around this time two years ago I awoke to find that my car had been smashed by a tree branch. When I looked outside my window I saw my car covered entirely by a giant branch.

My neighbors, who I had interacted with only a handful of times, saw me examining my car and immediately began to help. They gathered saws, gloves and rope and proceeded to spend the next hour helping me free my car.

I have kept this in mind the last few years and I try to take the opportunity when I can to 'pay it forward'.

I have let numerous people go in front of me in the grocery line, I have given bonus tips to servers at restaurants, and I offered food to a man who was in need among other actions. We can make the world a better place by doing as much good as we can.

Have you ever been on the receiving end of a random act of kindness? Do you remember how you felt?

When was the last time that you did something kind for someone else without expecting anything in return?

During Camp Wednesdays this month I will be offering the opportunity for people to write a postcard to a stranger. Please consider joining us.

Every day we can choose actions which shape our hearts...what kind of heart do you wish to have?

This December the Religious Growth and Learning program was busy working with the Pastoral Care committee to pass out cookies and cards. I am in awe of the thoughtfulness and kindness expressed by the children and youth in their writing. Explaining to the young people who the recipients of these cards are going to be proves to be a bit complex. I have tended to express that we are making cards to give to our ‘church friends’ whom we may not know, but are a part of our community. These friends may have had a big life event happen this year. There is also the element that the children and youth do not know which holidays, if any, that these friends celebrate. The cards which the children make always bring a smile when I read them. Here are a few examples of what they came up with:

“Dear whoever you are, I don’t know what holiday you celebrate but I am wishing you a happy winter. Your friend at the UU church”

“Let the sun shine in your heart! Love, Your friend at the Unitarian church”

“You know what?! You are awesome! I’m giving you this ornament to put it wherever…a tree, your necklace, your shirt, Anything cuz I love you!”

“I hope you enjoy whatever holiday you worship!! You are loved”

“With the right shoes you can do anything. Except fly. You can’t fly with shoes. But that’s not the point of this card. Happy holidays” 

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this project a success! Also a huge amount of gratitude and appreciation for all who were a part of the Souuper Supper event and special services this last month.

I wish you all a great new year ahead. Here’s to a terrific 2013. 

In October I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the Liberal Religious Educator’s conference in Richmond, Virginia. It was amazing to collaborate with my fellow colleagues. The theme of the conference this year was that of ‘History’. The speakers and workshops were phenomenal and I walked away full of inspiration and ideas.

We are so fortunate to have a published book about the history of our church written by Margaret Seymour. Many churches do not know much about their history let alone have a record of their development. However, over the course of this conference, I realized that although we have a book about our church history, we do not have many visual elements in our building which help show newcomers or children how our church has evolved over the years. As we dream big about our new building, I am hoping that we might be able to think of ways which we can visually show elements of our history to our members and visitors. My thoughts have ranged from including a time-line in our hallways, to having a display of pictures of our church staff over the years, as well as the possibility of archiving.

I have been interested in history for a long time. Some of you already know that my Baccalaureate degree is in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Social Sciences which includes history. Two of the authors which stood out to me the most during my college education are James Loewen and Howard Zinn. Both authors write about questioning history and how it is presented to students, particularly in text books. I felt as though a light bulb went on over my head when I first considered the notion that history is often presented in a way which does not give students the ‘full story’ but rather a perspective of a story. We see this even in our own UU history and curriculum for students.

When is it that we learn the ‘full story’? When do children and youth learn the ‘truth’ about Thanksgiving for example? Do you remember a time when you had an ‘A-Ha!’ moment in your own education as it relates to history? I invite you to consider ways in which history is taught and think of a new perspective which you could offer to someone either in your own family or perhaps in our church community. As we learn and grow may we consider our history and make changes to improve the future for us and the generations which follow.

Happy Winter Holidays! 

Welcome to a new year of  Religious Growth and Learning (RGL) at the Unitarian Church of Lincoln!

The theme for our curriculum this year is 'Peace and Social Justice'. Our Sunday School classes operate on a three-year rotating cycle with the other two themes being, 'World Religions' and 'Unitarian Universalist Identity'. The lesson plans for the year will give students the opportunity to explore the meaning of peace and justice as it applies to their lives and the world around them. You may notice a few changes this year in our program, please feel free to always contact me with questions or concerns. 

We are now offering multiple ways for you to gain information about what is going on in the RGL program. Last month we had three successful orientations/chat sessions for teachers, assistants, as well as one for parents and guardians. We have an up-to-date RGL parent/guardian e-mail list, an RGL facebook group page which is open for anyone in the church to see upcoming events and updated information as well as a message board in the RGL Hallway across from the Library. If you come to church on a Sunday wondering what the plan for children and youth might be for that day you can easily see on the message board above the RGL table in the gallery space whether that Sunday is a day for classes, an Ingathering (large group activities), or an Inter-generational service. You can also check our church website in the 'Children and Youth' section where you can find links to lots of information including calendars and schedules for each classroom.

Parents and guardians, please be sure to register children and youth who are in preschool-high school for our Sunday School program. You can find the link to our registration form on our website in the ‘Children and Youth’ section.

This is going to be a great year at the church. I look forward to seeing you on Sundays!