Plans for Re-Entry Into the Church Building Are Underway
Check out our newsletter for more information
https://www.unitarianlincoln.org/newsletter.html

The church has a new website - and I have a BLOG! 
All the weekly emails since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 have now been uploaded for easy access. 
Monthly Soul Matters themes and the summer series on mindfulness can all be seen according to date. 
You can access the emails on our church's website here:
 https://www.unitarianlincoln.org/chelseas-blog

*Sunday School *

Approximately 30 minute program geared towards K-5, but is open to all ages
Sundays at 11am
We typically have a chalice lighting, story, guided discussion, and/or activity such as a scavenger hunt or art project to be done at home as part of these lessons.
Please email me for the link
*Middle and HS *
We are joining up with the Omaha youth groups - 
Wednesdays at 7pm
Please email me for the link
DISCORD for Middle and High School

We invite all Middle and High School students from Omaha and Lincoln to join us for discussion and community through this app.
'Would you rather' questions - Thoughts along our monthly Soul Matters themes - 'Big questions' related to UUism.
Also - a "Pet Page"!!! So much fun.
***Be aware that once joining Discord, it opens up the app to multiple pages which will need to be moderated by students themselves and their parents/guardians for security.
https://discord.gg/3NuSj6f

*Parent and Guardian Chat:*
The chance for parents and guardians to check in with me for 'open office hours'
Every other Thursday 8pm and every other Wednesday noon (I close the meeting after 15 minutes if no one checks in)

Thursday the 15th at 8pm
https://zoom.us/j/5036046295  

Wednesday the 21st at noon
Link: https://zoom.us/j/5036046295
Family Open Circle: 
Information can be found on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1081904435272577
Videos This Week: 

Chelsea's Story-
I am Human

POP! Preschool Curriculum

Attached you will find 3 worksheets to accompany the videos for this month's preschool curriculum lesson for APRIL 

Introduction
Video 1
Video 2

K-5: Soul Matters Theme: Becoming
These materials come to us from the Soul Matters Curriculum team
From the Mailbox
At Play
Bonus Resources for Parents With the theme of: Becoming
Poetry
 
Becoming
Jim Harrison
Poem found at: http://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2014/05/jim-harrison-becoming.html
We finally die from the exhaustion of becoming.
We whirl with the earth…
our soft brains ill-trained
except to watch ourselves disappear into the distance.
Still, we love to make music of this puzzle.
 
Love After Love
Derek Walcott
Poem found at: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/love-after-love/
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror...

Famous
Naomi Shihab Nye
Poem found at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47993/famous
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,  
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,  
but because it never forgot what it could do.

Having Come This Far
James Broughton
Poem found at: http://www.sharonsinger.ca/poem.php?poem_id=390
No longer do I hunt for targets
I've climbed all the summits I need to…
Now I give praise and thanks…
 
How Becoming a Mother Is Like Space Travel
Catherine Pierce
Poem found at: https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/how-becoming-a-mother-is-like-space-travel/
 
I Am Afraid of Nearly Everything
Anonymous
Full piece at https://www.uua.org/worship/words/prayer/i-am-afraid-nearly-everything
...most of all, I am afraid of what I might become:
reconciled to injustice,
resigned to fear and despair,
lulled into a life of apathy...

Dear UU Parents and Guardians,

There will be NO ONLINE SUNDAY SCHOOL APRIL 4th
(EASTER SUNDAY)

Please join us on our YouTube channel for the service at 10am where there will be a SUPER fun story that features some familiar faces of UU friends from church!

I also hope you will instead take part in our 2 Easter Egg Hunt opportunities (info below)

Paper Egg Hunt At Our Church!

HOW TO PARTICIPATE: 
1. Print this WORKSHEET and visit our church grounds.

2. Look for the signs that have Easter eggs on them and a message.
    All signs will be in the back of the church near the playground (NONE go down into the hidden garden).

3. Fill in the missing words on your worksheet by reading the posted signs.

4. Take a picture of your completed worksheet and email to me
     OR
    Take a picture of one of the signs and email to me
     OR
    Write me an email that includes the missing words. 
    Send to me by midnight on April 5th in order to...

5. Receive a MYSTERY PRIZE for participation!!!

Please be aware that Bluestem Montessori plays in our playground during the day. They most often are on the grounds M-F around 1pm and 3pm. If you are available to do the egg hunt in the morning, after 5pm, or any time on the weekends, that would be preferable in order to give them space. 

Also - if you do the egg hunt and happen to notice that one of the signs is damaged or has fallen down, please let me know so that I can return to the building to fix. 
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Join an ONLINE Easter Egg Hunt! 

Yes, Virginia, There is an Easter Bunny
 
Good news, everybody! The Easter Bunny has just emailed me. He has asked me to pass along this message to all of you...
 
Hello UU Friend!
  
It's me, the Easter Bunny. I know you've probably been wondering what I’ve been doing with myself this year, since it isn’t safe for us to be meeting indoors or in large crowds. But, I promise you, I've been quite busy. I've been traveling all around the world, stopping wherever Easter is celebrated, and greeting people from afar. See me, in that picture below? 

Oh!  And, also, I've been coordinating with a number of UU congregations - including your own - to bring you a Virtual Easter Egg Hunt!
 
The UU Virtual Easter Egg Hunt 2021 will go live Saturday, April 3, 2021 at 8am - the day before Easter - and remain active throughout April. This way, you can spend the whole month exploring the UU net (did you know a UU actually invented the World Wide Web?)!

The hunt begins here: https://tinyurl.com/z1p2mwqv

Until we meet again, Hoppy Easter!
______________________________________________________________

Easter Coloring Sheets
Attached you will find printable Easter Egg coloring sheets which have CHALICES on them! 

Perhaps you have heard of 'The Great Lincoln Egg Hunt'? 
Well, now we are adding in UU Easter Eggs!

It's as easy as printing, coloring, and putting on your window. 
Adults are welcome and encouraged to decorate an egg as well! 
It would also be terrific if you wanted to take a photo of your decorated window and 
post to our Unitarian Church Social Page on Facebook, or on Twitter, or Instagram, 
using the hashtag: #uuchurchlincolnathome

And/Or post to celebrate if you see someone else's decorated window! 

(Please do not post exact addresses...although those are all accessible through our online database for members)

Easter is April 4th this year. Feel free to put these up anytime between now and then. 

If you do NOT have a printer: 
1. I am happy to drop off coloring sheets to you, just let me know OR
2. If you are signed up for our 'Sunday School in a Bag' activities, I will be including these coloring sheets in those bags in mid-March. 
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The church has a new website - and I have a BLOG! 
All the weekly emails since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 have now been uploaded for easy access. 
Monthly Soul Matters themes and the summer series on mindfulness can all be seen according to date. 
You can access the emails on our church's website here: https://www.unitarianlincoln.org/chelseas-blog
*Sunday School *
NO Sunday School this week on April 4th (Easter Sunday)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
*Middle and HS *

We are joining up with the Omaha youth groups - 

Wednesdays at 7pm

Both MS/HS meetings can be found at this link: 
https://zoom.us/my/firstuuomahareligiouseducation  

DISCORD for Middle and High School
We invite all Middle and High School students from Omaha and Lincoln to join us for discussion and community through this app.
'Would you rather' questions - Thoughts along our monthly Soul Matters themes - 'Big questions' related to UUism.
Also - a "Pet Page"!!! So much fun.
***Be aware that once joining Discord, it opens up the app to multiple pages which will need to be moderated by students themselves and their parents/guardians for security.

https://discord.gg/3NuSj6f
______________________________________________________________________________________________
*Parent and Guardian Chat:*
The chance for parents and guardians to check in with me for 'open office hours'
Every other Thursday 8pm and every other Wednesday noon (I close the meeting after 15 minutes if no one checks in)

Thursday the 18th at 8pm
https://zoom.us/j/5036046295  

Wednesday the 24th at noon
Link: https://zoom.us/j/5036046295
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Family Open Circle: 
Information can be found on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1081904435272577
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Videos This Week: 

Chelsea's Story-
Charlie the Caterpillar
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
POP! Preschool Curriculum

Attached you will find 3 worksheets to accompany the videos for this month's preschool curriculum lesson for APRIL 

Introduction
Video 1
Video 2
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
K-5: Soul Matters Theme: Becoming
These materials come to us from the Soul Matters Curriculum team

At the Table- Discussion Questions for 'Becoming'
Around the Neighborhood - Treasure Hunt for 'Becoming'
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Bonus Resources for Parents With the theme of: Becoming

Word Roots & Definitions 
The word root be comes to us from the Old English prefix be “on all sides” as beset, or bedazzled. It also includes the Proto-Indo-European PIE root bheue to be, to exist, to grow. The old English idea of cumin “to move with the purpose of reaching” extends that to growing with intention.
Source

Wise Words 
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin
 
Do not ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Howard Thurman
 
A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will come out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping, we are becoming.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real… It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time.
Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit
 
If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.
Joseph Campbell
 
If we're always looking in mirrors—made of glass or social media—and looking outward, we should not be surprised when truly new things don't want to come through us to be born.
Caitlin Breedlove
 
Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand, and make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.
William Martin
 
We find comfort among those who agree with us – growth among those who don’t.
Frank A Clark


We aspire to be a loving community uniting reason with spiritual exploration to transform ourselves and the world. 


Contact me- Chelsea Krafka: [email protected]
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--
In joyful community,

Chelsea Krafka (she/her) 
Director of Religious Growth
Unitarian Church of Lincoln, NE
402-483-2213
[email protected]

My days off are Saturdays and Mondays

I try to reserve evenings to be with my family and am more likely to respond to messages during the day Tues-Fri