mindfulness- Karma

Dear UU Parents and Guardians, 


It would be lovely if you could join us for our weekly gatherings! 

Here is what is currently being offered: 
*Sunday School *
Approximately: 30 minute program geared towards K-5 but open to all ages
Sundays at 11am
Email me for the link

This summer you will find: Drag Queen Story Hour, Yoga with Maggie, and the

Pioneers Park Nature Center as well as guests from our very own UU
volunteer pool of caring adults. Each week is something different!

*Middle and HS Zoom *
Taking August off for a break and will resume in September

*Parent and Guardian Chat: *
The chance for parents and guardians to just get together and
Every other Thursday 8pm and every other Wednesday noon

 Wednesday 8/12
      Link: https://zoom.us/j/474526337     Password: lovemykids    
Thursday 8/20
      Link: https://zoom.us/j/866583131     Password: lovemykids 
 
NEW! Family Spotlight! 

In an effort for us to remember seeing faces, and to get to know one another better, I am going to spotlight one family each month in our church newsletter. 

Sign up HERE to participate

There's only a handful of spots, so grab yours while there's a chance!

This information will show up in our UU newsletter, our email to parents, and perhaps our church 'social' facebook age. If you would NOT like for us to share this spotlight in any of those places please let me know.
I'll ask for the following:

1. A photograph of your family
2. Names of everyone and ages or grade levels of your children IF you feel comfortable doing so
3. A SHORT paragraph answering some of the following questions from your family as a whole, or from some of the individual members:
     1. What is your favorite part of being in our church community?
                Example:
                                We always look forward to the Soup Supper each year!
                                 or
                                Little Suzie loves the church potlucks the best

     2. What is a favorite experience or memory or what brought you to our         church?
                Example:
                                 Timmy remembers Bruce Raymer teaching his
                                 classroom when they went outside to pick up trash
                                 around the playground and talked about our earth
                                 or
                                  Daisy remembers a Christmas Eve service when she
                                  sang Silent Night and met her friend Rosie for the first
                                  time
                                  or
                                  My wife and I brought our children to this church
                                  because I came for a meeting of the Wildlife Lovers of
                                  Lincoln and saw the rainbow flags. I looked at some of
                                  brochures Chelsea had put out about the program and
                                  it seemed like a great fit for our family


Community Art Project! 

Please color one or more of these coloring pages and then take a photo and send as a photo attachment to my email, or send to the church's address: 
Unitarian Church of Lincoln
Attn: Chelsea Krafka
6300 A Street
Lincoln, NE  68510
I can print and bring to your house if you don't have a printer

Coming of Age for High School Students:
Deadline to submit an email with interest is August 31st 
More information can be found here

New in September:
Look for emails from me which will start incorporating new themes: our connection with the services and the UUA through our Soul Matters Curriculum for families which can be done on your own time! 

*New Youtube links for this week!*

Music with Miss Molly:     https://youtu.be/QN_qiK7t8T4  
Story with Miss Heather: https://youtu.be/5V9FZ0-hP9U

Story with Ms Alexa: https://youtu.be/NE59jy9hpjQ

Chelsea's Meditation Video: https://youtu.be/0Zlf8Jc15Tc

Theme this week: 
Karma and Kindness 
Book: "Fly Free"

Author's Note from "Fly Free":

This week, the YouTube video which I created has the story, "Fly Free" by Roseanne Thong. This is what she says at the end of the book: 
"Once, while traveling through Vietnam, I saw a family pay for the release of small birds. A student named Mai described the tradition to me. "Buddhists believe in reincarnation, or the idea that we are reborn many times," she said. "Our goal is to be reborn as a higher being each time, until we reach what we call nirvana, or perfect wisdom." Mai explained that good or bad actions affect the way we are reborn. She called this karma. "When you do a good deed, good karma will return to you," said Mai. "Bad deeds will create bad karma." Karma can be thought of as a  boomerang- our thoughts and actions eventually find their way back home. Buddhists believe that the effects of Karma may come now, later in life, or in another life altogether. Another Buddhist idea is samsara, or the wheel of life, as illustrated above, with the story's characters. This ancient Buddhist and Hindu symbol represents the circle of life: birth, death, and rebirth. It also shows how past deeds circle back to affect our present and future. 

Reflection:  

I have three children ages five and under. They don't always get along. For the most part, they have a great relationship. However, there have been phases such as my middle child knocking over the oldest child's block towers. The youngest wanting to play with a toy and the middle child claiming, 'mine', or demanding, 'get him away from me!'. My middle child is going through an occasional hitting phase. I wonder how this happened?!?!? I started reading books, "Hands Are Not For Hitting!" and telling her how she is a teacher for our youngest and needs to teach him how to do the right thing. We ask her to consider how she would feel if someone hit her. As I'm typing, my 3 yr old is taking paints away from the baby and refusing to let him hold them. Teaching empathy and compassion to children is no easy task. As Unitarian Universalists, many of us either question or don't believe in the concept of Heaven or Hell. So, what is the motivation for making good choices? For many of us, it is that we believe in kindness, in trying to make the world a better place for ourselves and for other humans. However, TEACHING how to make good choices is a complicated task for parents. 

Discussion Questions

1. Do you believe in Karma, or some form of it? 
2. What do you teach your children is the motivation for doing the right thing or choosing good deeds? 
3. Have there been moments in your life that have stayed with you where you thought, "I think this is a really good (or bad) Karma moment"? How is that a teachable moment for your children?

Although it's a Hindu perspective as opposed to a Buddhist perspective, this UU sermon talks about the connection between the notion of Karma and Unitarian Universalism. 
https://www.uuman.org/pdf/UUismAHinduPerspective.pdf  


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