Celebrating the winter holidays, UU style!

This past week, our homeschooling group put together a “Winter Holidays Around the World” celebration at Neshoba. We had stations set up around the room for various holidays, representing Winter Solstice/Yule, Hanukkah, St. Nicholas Day, Chinese New Year, Haji/Eid Al Adha, and Christmas. Families took time explaining how and why they celebrate their holidays. We offered traditional food treats, activities and games to play. We told stories and looked at artifacts. We celebrated our differences and our similarities. I noticed over and over again that we all rejoice in journeys completed, new beginnings, and the miracle of light. Of all the holiday events I’ve attended this season, this one was most meaningful for my children and I. We celebrated the inherent worth and dignity of all people.

A few days later, a friend of mine asked me how we, as Unitarian Universalists, can properly celebrate the holiday season. It seems sort of confusing sometimes to figure out what works for us. Is it ok to celebrate Christmas? Are we stealing ideas away from other faith traditions? What activities can we do with our kids? The beauty of being Unitarian Universalists is that we are free to search for what is true and right for us. Our 6 Sources offer a very real variety of choices for celebration. So, choose to celebrate whatever speaks to you.

Christmas celebrates the birth of a glorious child. We can learn much from the stories and teachings of Jesus. His life exemplified our UU Principles. Religious educator Sophia Lyon Fahs said years ago, “Each night a child is born is a holy night.” Let Christmas be a time to celebrate the miraculous birth of every person. What actions can you take to celebrate Christmas? Why not find a way to help a family in need? Serve at the soup kitchen downtown or bring blankets to shelters. At dinner time, light your family chalice and drop some coins in your Guest at Your Table box. Read about the good works of the UUSC that your donations are helping to accomplish. Share family stories. Talk about the day your child was born. How did you feel at that moment? Let your Christmas tree be a history of your family. Collect ornaments from travels or make new ornaments each year together. In our family, the kids collect ornament that reminded them of something special they did that year. For example, my son has a soccer ball ornament for when he learned to play. And my daughter has an artist palette ornament for when she found a passion for painting. When we get ready to decorate our tree, we play cheesy Christmas songs. And as we pull each ornament out of the box, we talk about all the memories associated with them. It’s a wonderful Christmas celebration.

At the homeschool Winter Holidays celebration I mentioned above, our family hosted the Winter Solstice/Yule table. Yule, which means “wheel” in Old Norse, celebrates the Winter Solstice and the return of the Sun. The days will be getting longer! We shared stories that I had collected about the Holly and Oak Kings and about Mother Winter. We talked about the history and traditions of “decking the halls” with evergreens. We brought a yule log to show the children. We decorated Little Debbie Swiss Rolls with cinnamon hots and green frosting, so that each person had a mini yule log treat to eat. We walked an evergreen spiral labyrinth as a way to reflect upon the year and to make resolutions for the upcoming one. We lit candles and brought the light out of the labyrinth, to welcome back the light of the Sun. Celebrating the winter solstice honors our earth centered traditions. Does this kind of celebration speak to you?

Winter holiday celebrations offer each of us time to connect with family and loved ones, to share stories, to serve others, and to reflect upon our year. Ultimately, it is up to you to choose how and what to celebrate. The options are endless.

Blessed Be,
Sarah

This week in RE:
The Pre-K Class will be learning about Christmas, with a lesson in love. The class will be making cards for loved ones. They will read the book The Night Tree by Eve Bunting.
The Elementary and Youth Classes will celebrate the Winter Solstice. Miss Merilynn will be sharing her famous Wassail with everyone.

A quick reminder: There will be no RE classes on Dec. 25th and January 1st. Have a very merry holiday!

Everything we do is faith development!

“EVERYTHING we do is faith development. ALL we teach is Unitarian Universalism. Our CONGREGATION is the curriculum.” ~Connie Goodbread, acting UUA Mid-South Executive Director and religious educator

Attending my first RE conference almost 2 years ago, I learned the above words. They had a profound impact on my view of religious education. I realized that our faith is one where action and service are the core expression of our identity. A “RE program” is simply a systematic way or structure that intentionally sets time aside to develop the “how-to”. Faith development happens all the time at Neshoba. When we teach or attend a class, when we serve on a committee, when we speak the affirmation of covenant in the worship service, when we give a hug or ask someone how they’re doing-that is the curriculum of Unitarian Universalism.

Many hands play a part in faith development at Neshoba and I am so grateful to be a part of this community. Our Sunday school for children alone takes over 30 volunteers to operate each semester. Each Sunday, 8 people teach, assist, monitor, and care for our youngest Neshobans. I once heard someone say, if you want to learn what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist, you should teach a RE class. Truer words could not be spoken. Our actions, examples, and service are faith development.

On December 11th, I’d like for you to join me during the worship service to learn more about faith development. This lay-led worship will illustrate how service is our prayer at Neshoba. Talking about Neshoba’s recent Heifer field trip and fundraising experience, faith in action will be explored. We will also give thanks for the many volunteers in Neshoba’s RE program. Come be inspired to enrich your own faith development and identity as a Unitarian Universalist.

In faith,
Sarah

Chalica, a celebration of UU identity

A few years ago, I learned about the unofficial Unitarian Universalist celebration of Chalica. The idea originally came from a Facebook event invitation to celebrate our UU identity. But it quickly grew into a movement that sparked lots of discussion and discernment. Chalica is seven days long and starts the first Monday in December. Each day is dedicated to one of our UU principles. A chalice is lit each day and gifts, action, or volunteering that expresses that day’s Principle are given and received.

Some may say, “Shouldn’t we live our principles daily, 365 days a year?” And I would agree. However, the point of the Chalica holiday is to spend a special amount of time focusing specifically on each principle and what it means to be Unitarian Univesralist. In a busy holiday season, I feel that Chalica can remind us of the important things in life. It can bring family together to take action, to spend quality time with one another, to honor our UU identity and our history. So often we UUs are busy exclaiming what we are not. We do pretty well learning about other faiths, and welcoming everyone in our doors. But what does it really mean to be a UU? Celebrate Chalica, reflect on our principles. Recognize that we are an amazing faith tradition worthy of celebration.

To find out more about this celebration, “like” the Facebook page: Chalica!

How can you celebrate Chalica? Here are some ideas, courtesy of www.uuidenity.com:

Monday: We light our chalice for the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
- Give gift(s) to honour those you do not understand / agree with / like. Examples:
- a thank-you card celebrating differences
- words of forgiveness / apology
- a peace offering such as inviting someone to diner
- help someone in need

Tuesday: We light our chalice for justice, equity and compassion in human relations.
- Give gift(s) to honour those in your local community that are less fortunate.
Examples:
- spend time in a soup kitchen
- donate clothes to a worthy organization
- display kindness and care to those around you
- take part in a political demonstration at city hall

Wednesday: We light our chalice for acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.
- Give gift(s) to honour fellow Unitarians and their spiritual journey.
Examples:
- a chalice / book / hymnal
- extend words of peace or forgiveness to a fellow Unitarian with whom you may have hurt / not understood in the past
- offer / take part in an event at your church / with your congregation
- church potluck

Thursday: We light our chalice for a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
- Give gift(s) to honour another tradition, to honour education
Examples:
- offer / take part in an event that celebrates another religion / tradition
- teach someone something you know and love
- learn something new from someone else
- give a book / read a book

Friday: We light our chalice for the right of conscious and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.
- Give gift(s) to honour democracy
Examples:
- help a political party
- write your government
- help a committee at church
- host a dinner / party to celebrate democracy

Saturday: We light our chalice for the goal of world peace, liberty and justice for all.
- Give gift(s) to honour our global community
Examples:
- volunteer with an organization that has global influence
- write a letter for amnesty international
- help your social justice committee hold a fundraiser
- donate to a cause such as UUSC Guest At Your Table or UNICEF, Doctors without Borders, etc.

Sunday: We light our chalice for respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
- Give gift(s) to our earth and/or its creatures
Examples:
- start a compost
- recycle bottles and cans and donate the money to an environmental / animal aid society
- rescue an animal from a shelter
- hold an outdoor worship service (dress warm/bonfire)

Nurture a spirit of gratitude

This Sunday at Neshoba Church, we celebrate the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s (UUSC) program called Guest At Your Table. Guest At Your Table helps nurture a spirit of gratitude and “justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.” This is an excellent program that brings understanding and awareness of UUSC’s human-rights work.

How can you participate in this program? You will receive a take home a box which pictures people that the UUSC have worked with recently. These people are your “guests,” and you are asked to share your blessings with them. Put your box on your dining room table. Before each meal, take time to learn about your guests by reading the Stories of Hope booklet that you will receive with your box. Then have a moment of family gratitude. Let each family member speak about something for which they are grateful. After each person speaks, drop some coins in your box, so that you can share your gratitude with others. Pay it forward!

Neshoba will conclude the GAYT program on January 15. Please convert the donations you have given your guests into a check, then return it in the Guest at Your Table box to the church office. The funds raised through this program support the UUSC human-rights work in the United States and around the world!

I’ll share some more information about the UUSC and the Guest At Your Table Program over the coming weeks. So stay tuned.

Let our hearts be filled with generosity and may we put our faith in action by sharing our blessings with others.

Namaste,
Sarah

This week in RE, the Pre-K class will develop respect and appreciation for Native American Cultures. During this season of giving, they will also think about the many things for which to give thanks.
The book recommendation for this week: Dream Wolf by Paul Goble.

The elementary class will continue their exploration of science by learning about the careers and study of some of Neshoba’s own members.
The book recommendations for this week: A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder by Walter Wick and The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole.

The youth class will examine our Unitarian Universalist principles and learn a simple way to remember them.

Next Sunday, November 27th, there will be a Thanksgiving multigenerational worship service. There will be no RE classes. I’ll update my blog after the Thanksgiving Holidays.

It’s all in the process!

This past weekend, I had the honor of attending my first Renaissance Module training in Atlanta on the topic of Administration of a Religious Education program. The Renaissance Modules are intensive professional development opportunities offered by the UUA for religious educators. There are currently 9 modules offered (with a 10th one in the works on adult RE). Each module covers a different aspect of the faith work that religious educators are called to do-topics include multiculturism, philosophy, curriculum planning, worship for all ages, teacher development, youth ministry, UU history and UU identity.

The training this weekend was a whirlwind session of 15 hours from Friday night through Sunday afternoon. I learned many ideas, received forms and best practice guidelines, and developed relationships with religious educator colleagues from across the south. I had the opportunity to delve further into our Unitarian Univesralist faith. One of the best experiences for me during the weekend was the consultation process of working in a small group of colleagues to problem solve or explore ideas. We were given strict time limits and process guidelines to follow. At first, I thought the limits would negatively affect what I or my colleagues had to say. How could we possibly relate a situation, brainstorm, and then form an action plan in just 14 minutes? But guess what? It worked! Through this process we learned how to clarify succinctly our words, how to listen, and how to offer real plans of action.

Our facilitators lead us through many activities this weekend, but their point always came back to “process”. It is the WAY we do things that makes all the difference. I look forward to sharing these processes (and all the information I learned) with our congregation. I thank Neshoba Church for sponsoring my attendance at this Renaissance Module. I appreciate the opportunity to develop my profession, to give greater meaning to our program, and to help put our faith in action.

Bright Blessings,
Sarah

Here are this Sunday’s Children and Youth RE programs:

The Pre-K class will learn that both boys and girls can do anything! They will explore and be empowered to experiment with various non-gender biased roles. The children will have the opportunity to explore their own identity. Parents, if you have any dress up clothes or pretend “tools”, could you please send them in on Sunday? Such items may include: doctor’s smock, chef hat and apron, worker safety vest or construction hat, play doctor kit, shop tools, etc.

The pre-k book recommendation for this week:
Bellybuttons Are Navels by Mark Schoen

It’s a Take-Apart Party for the elementary class this week. The children will have the opportunity to explore and investigate the inner workings of some small machines. If you have an old or obsolete phone, computer keyboard, camera, tape recorder, etc. that you’d like to take-apart to study, please bring it Sunday. All the items will be discarded after the class. The class will also learn about Tim Berners-Lee, a Unitarian Universalist who invented the World Wide Web.

Our book recommendation for the elementary class this week:
The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed: A Book about Computers by Nancy Wright.

Its a Simpsons Sunday for the Youth class. The topic is the Power of Prayer. We will explore what prayer means for Unitarian Universalists and how and when that takes place in our lives. We will watch the episode: “Bart gets an F”.

Celebrating Our Inquisitive Spirit

One of the things I love best about being a Unitarian Universalist is the inquisitive nature of our faith. Our 4th principle affirms and promotes a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. In our faith, we come together to learn new things-to explore a variety of religions, to ponder scientific theory, to experience rituals and customs that may be new to us. There is no shortage of opportunity for the inquiring person at Neshoba Church. Questions are welcome here. Being free to explore new things helps us to clarify who we are. At times, this may be a scary venture. It would be easy to have all the answers handed to us. But that would get boring, I’m afraid.

I read a great book a number of years ago called, The Socrates Cafe by Christopher Phillips. The author explains in his book how he would gather with folks to ask questions, using the Socratic Method, to explore the meaning of life. The experience was illuminating for Philips. And since publishing the book, actual “Socrates Cafes” have sprung up in various cites to continue the inquisitive conversations. These kinds of conversations can and do happen at Neshoba Church and they serve the basis for our calls to action.

Asking questions serve to challenge us, to help us know ourselves, and illuminate ideas to make the world a better place. In our RE classes, we explore and celebrate our inquisitive spirit. Here’s how our classes live our 4th Principle this week:

The Youth class will ponder Biblical references that are frequently spoken or seen in our culture, specifically the “Swords into Plowshares” quote that is posted in the plaza in front of the UN building.

The elementary class will begin an exploration of science this week with a celebration of the inventive spirit. They will create a Rube Goldberg and learn about Unitarian Alexander Graham Bell.

The Elementary book recommendation for this week is:
Alexander Graham Bell: An Inventive Life by Elizabeth MacCleod

The Pre-K Class will be learning about differences and how that makes the world an interesting place. One difference to explore is the way we look. No two people look exactly the same. This Sunday, we’d like each pre-K child to bring in a magazine picture of a person to help us talk about differences.

The Pre-K book recommendation this week is:
Chester’s Way by Kevin Henkes

In faith,

Sarah

October Happenings in RE at Neshoba

Your faithful DRE is taking a vacation later this week. In an effort to keep you up to date with the happenings at Neshoba, I’m posting the class topics for the remainder of October. I hope you have a Fangtastic month!
Bright Blessings,
Sarah

October 16th
The Pre-K class will continue their exploration of trees and do some guided exercises.
The book recommendation for this week is: The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry.

The Elementary class will celebrate Stone Soup Sunday by cooking up their own stone soup. Our goal this week is to help each other learn how to do something new.
The book recommendation for this week is Stone Soup by Marcia Brown.

Our Youth class will learn about the meaning and history of our UU symbol the flaming chalice. They will have an opportunity to articulate what the chalice means to them.

October 23rd

The Youth class will examine Heresy Sunday. The class will learn some UU history about Michael Servetus. Our goal is to understand that the freedom to choose beliefs was not allowed for a long time. And some people died for their beliefs.

The Elementary kids will cook up some fun this week by learning about famous Unitarian Fannie Farmer. From our UU sources, we heed the guidance of reason and the results of science. Fannie Farmer was a cooking specialist who introduced the concept of standard measurements for recipes.
This week’s elementary class book recommendations:
Fannie in the Kitchen by Deborah Hopkinson
Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham
June 29, 1999 by David Weisner

The Pre-K class will wish the moon a, “Happy Birthday” by learning about the Southeast Asian mid-autumn festival. The children will become more aware and appreciative of the moon as one of nature’s gift. And they will experience a connection with the people of Southeast Asia and all the people of the world by celebrating the moon, something we all share.
This week’s pre-k kids book recommendations:
Happy Birthday, Moon by Fred Asch
The Turtle and the Moon by Charles Turner

October 30th
Everyone is invited to come to Neshoba in their favorite costume this Sunday. Deb Walker will tell the Story for All Ages and lead a parade in the sanctuary. Merilynn Rowan and the elementary class will be setting up an altar for Dia de los Muertos in the RE hallway. All Neshobans are invited to bring a picture of a loved one (may be a pet) that has passed on to place on the altar in remembrance.

The Pre-K class will learn that you can’t judge a book by its cover or a person by the way they look. They will also have a Halloween celebration, and discover that “monster can be nice”.
The book recommendations for the Pre-K kids this week:
Beware the Dragons! By Sarah Wilson
Big Al by Andrew Clements

The Elementary class will learn about Dia de los Muertos and think about the meaning of life and death. The children will learn that we are a part of the independent web of life. The children will investigate the customs and celebrations of this Latin American holiday.
The book recommendations for the elementary class:
Calavera Abecedario; A Day of the Dead Alphabet Book by Jeanette Winter
Pablo Remembers by George Ancona

The Youth class examine the hymn This Little Light of Mine, which reminds us to keep working for justice. The youth will join in on the Halloween fun by lighting up a pumpkin and taking up a collection for UNICEF.