Hooray!!! It’s the beginning of our church year. Here’s what we have to look forward to in religious education.
We will begin a new ritual of carrying the chalice flame from upstairs to downstairs each Sunday. This flame will then light the chalice in each classroom.
- In the nursery, we will begin an early childhood ministry program that will include a chalice lighting, body prayer, and story time.
- We will continue with Spirit Play for our preschool to 1st graders, helping children find the religious language and story to live into their own answers to existential questions utilizing a Montessori approach.
- For our 2nd-3rd graders we will be utilizing the UUA curriculum Moral Tales, which “attempts to provide children with the spiritual and ethical tools they will need to make choices and take actions reflective of their Unitarian Universalist beliefs and values.”
- MakerSpace will be offered again this year for our 4th-6th graders. They will make their UU principles come to life by looking at pollinators in their bee hotel, learning about democracy and the UUSC, and creating their own project.
- Our 7th and 8th graders will be engaged in Our Wholes Lives for the first half of the year then transitioning to a Neighboring Faiths program, which introduces youth to the faith traditions and practices of other religious groups in our community.
- Youth group will be engaged in the web of youth ministry by participating in social action projects, small group ministry discussions, and youth cons.
Also, look for our new traveling chalice program and keep an eye out for details on Coffee, Conversation & More. I am excited.
May we all find spiritually meaningful ways to engage our faith as we begin this new year. Blessed Be.
Carol Zimmerman, Director of Religious Education