Family Information for Sunday, March 31, 2013

Hello Friends and Families of Westside!

What a beautiful spring weekend! And we have great things planned for our time together tomorrow at Westside. 

THIS WEEK, EASTER SUNDAY:

Installation -- I am being installed as your Director of Religious Exploration tomorrow morning! In this ceremony, we will join in covenant with one another for the benefit of our children and youth. I look forward to solidifying that agreement with you!

Children’s Chapel – Once we sing the children out, they will all go to the social hall together, where I will lead them in a children’s worship. We’ll talk about Easter traditions, and we’ll have a chocolate communion.

We’ll also decorate spring bags for Nickelsville. When the kids divide into younger and older groups for egg hunts, the older group will also be hunting for toiletry items that we will put into the spring bags. I will deliver these tomorrow after church to the Nickelsville community. (Families are welcome to join me – I have one family coming.)

NURSERY AND STORY TIME – These will both be open tomorrow for your little ones!

YOUTH GROUP – Will meet with Shelby and Cole from 7:00-8:30!

UPDATES:

·      The middle school group had a fantastic Fun Night social last night! We had a great turnout, ate pizza, played games, and got wired on sugar. Or is that just regular middle school energy? Ask your middle schooler about the milk carton project for the White Center Food Bank!

·      In April we will have Children’s Chapels on the 14^th and 21^st (spring break weekends for Seattle Public Schools).

·      Our K-5 classes are starting a social action project with Heifer International, and our middle school class is developing their own social justice project (thus the White Center Food Bank connection).

·      In May I will work with all of our classes to grow our awareness of our partnership church in Transylvania, culminating in an exchange of videos between us. We are working with East Shore Unitarian for this.

·      June 2^nd is our last day of RE classes for this year, and June 9^th is RE Celebration Sunday – all of our children and youth will participate in this service. June 16^th is the first Sunday of our summer program.

·      Our youth have formed a new Youth Adult Committee (YAC), which will meet soon to continue to grow plans for upcoming projects and trips.

See you tomorrow!

Betsy

Taking It Home for Sunday, March 24th

Spirit Play (4-5 year olds):

This week's story is called "Hey Little Ant", and it is based on our Seventh, Violet colored Promise: to value our home, Earth, that we share with all living things. With this story, our children will consider how we treat the living things around us, even those as small as ants.

Wondering Questions:

I wonder which part of this story is the most important?

I wonder which part you like the best?

I wonder where you are in this story?

I wonder how the boy would feel if he were the ant and the ant were the boy?

I wonder if the ant should get squished?

I wonder if the ant should go free?

I wonder what the boy will decide to do?

I wonder what you would do?

I wonder who you are in this story?

I wonder if you ever felt like the ant?

I wonder if you have ever done something just because your friends wanted you to do it?

I wonder if you have ever done something and then wished you hadn’t?

I wonder if one ant is all that important to the world?

I wonder if one of any species is all that important to the world?

I wonder if there are other promises that would go with this story?

General Promise Questions:

I wonder if you have ever made a promise?

I wonder which promise you like the best?

I wonder how it feels when we keep a promise?

I wonder what happens when we keep a promise?

I wonder if it is easy or hard to keep a promise?

I wonder what happens when a promise is broken?

I wonder what here is most important?

I wonder how it feels to be on this rainbow path?

Grades K-2: Wonderful Welcome

Taking It Home, Session 9: The Gift of Mutual Caring

 We know from science that nothing in the universe exists as an isolated or independent entity. – Margaret Wheatley, American author and management consultant

IN TODAY’S SESSION… The children learned about how animals are trained to help people with disabilities. They learned that animals’ potential to be useful to humans speaks to a deeper, seventh Principle connection that can exist beyond the feeding and shelter of pets. The children made biscuits to take to (or raise money for) an animal shelter and heard a story, Leila Raises a Puppy, about a family that raised a puppy and prepared it for training to be a guide dog. 

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGEHER. Talk about… How are members of your family connected with animals? Do you have a pet? What contact has your family had with animals that assist people with special needs? When has your child had opportunities to interact with farm animals?

Talk about animals that members of your family have known, and how you have loved and/or taken care of them. Identify elements of mutual caring in your relationship with specific animals. If you have a family pet, point out that when your child helps with its care, they earn the pet’s affection and loyalty.

EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try… Sit together outside your home and see how many animals you notice. Even urban areas offer opportunities to see animals in their natural habitat, such as squirrels, insects and birds of many kinds. Notice what the animals are doing. Are they searching for food? Are they playing together?

FAMILY ADVENTURE

Is there is a petting zoo in your area? Go as a family to a small-scale zoo that provides safe, direct interaction with animals. Often a petting zoo allows visitors to feed as well as touch animals.

FAMILY DISCOVERY

Part of a mutually caring relationship is to protect the other party from harm. As a family, go outdoors and practice caring for wild animal friends by leaving them alone. Talk about how wildlife is part of the environment that humans enjoy. Share your knowledge about how human actions affect wildlife. At a local pond, for example, tell your children, that feeding scraps of bread to waterfowl can actually harm them. Online, find information on encounters with animals in the wild, such as a Wildlife Safety (www.nps.gov/kefj/planyourvisit/wildlife-safety.htm) section of the National Park Service website or this information onNational Parks and Safety Tips (ezinearticles.com/?National-Parks-and-Wildlife-Safety-Tips&id=661665) from Ezine Articles.

Grades 3-5: Love Will Guide Us

Taking It Home, Session 4: Love in Our Congregation

The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life. — Jane Addams, American social activist and 1931 Nobel Peace Prize recipient

IN TODAY'S SESSION... the group learned about Jesus' life through a story, "Meet Jesus," based on passages from Christian scripture. They explored the fourth Unitarian Universalist Source, "Jewish and Christian teachings which tell us to love all other as we love ourselves," learning that Jesus preached and demonstrated the importance of taking care of everyone in a community. The children identified communities they belong to, talked about what being a community means, and worked together on human sculptures.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about... Jesus' message of love and his ability to use love to create community wherever he went. Explore the meaning of community in your own life. What communities are important to you?

EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Online, learn about Jesus and Christianity from a Unitarian Universalist perspective (www.uua.org/visitors/beliefswithin/6633.shtml) . Read five UU perspectives in the pamphlet UU Views of Jesus (www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=514) , edited by Bruce Southworth. Read resources about UU Christianity from the UU Christian Fellowship(www.uuchristian.org/R_Welcome.html) website.

The UUA Bookstore (www.uuabookstore.org/) offers Our Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism by John A. Buehrens and F. Forrest Church (Beacon Press, 1989). Highly recommended for leaders of this program, this book presents two essays focused on each of the six Sources of Unitarian Universalism. The UUA Bookstore also offers:

• Meet Jesus: The Life and Lessons of a Beloved Teacher by Lynn Tuttle Gunney (Skinner House, 2007)
• Unitarian Universalism Is a Really Long Name by Jennifer Dant and Anne Carter (Skinner House, 2008)
• What If Nobody Forgave and Other Stories by Colleen McDonald (Skinner House, 2003).

A Family Ritual. If you read to your children on a regular basis, consider adding the parables of Jesus to your repertoire. You might read:

• The Parables and Miracles of Jesus by Mary Hoffman (Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2007)
• Tomie dePaola's Book of Bible Stories, Tomie dePaola (Putnam Juvenile, 2002).

Middle School: Riddle and Mystery

ANSWERING TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

What do family members have to say about why bad things happen? Why to they think good things happen?

TRYING SOME SUPERSTITIONS

Try out some good-luck superstitions to see if they work. If you say a hopeful thought aloud, knock on a piece of wood with your knuckles so speaking your hopes aloud will not doom your chances; then say "Knock on wood." Cross your fingers when you hope for something (some people think this gesture is a way to make the sign of the Christian cross to keep the Devil away). Pick a four-leaf clover for good luck, if you can find one. Bring a frog into your house for good luck! What other superstitions have you heard? (Search on the Internet for more, if you wish.) After a few days, talk about whether your luck has improved.

Talk about what superstitions are, what they mean to you. Did you ever believe in the power of superstitions? What do you think makes superstitions survive?

REFLECT ON YOUR BELIEFS

People say, "Misery loves company." Is that true? Get together with some other people and talk about bad things that have happened to you. Does it feel good to do that? Do you still feel better a few hours later? Together talk about good things that have happened or are happening to you. Does that feel different? Better?

SHARED SEARCH

Does your family have stories about very good things or very bad things that have happened to individuals? Which stories are told most often? Have you appreciated the good things and overcome the bad ones? If not, what more can you do? Was there a time when somebody had what seemed like bad luck but it turned into good luck?

PHOTO CHALLENGE

Photograph the results of somebody's good action. Share the photograph with others and ask why they think the good thing happened.

FAMILY FAITH IN ACTION

Find out about cooperative games to play at your next family gathering. Cooperative games are non-competitive. Nobody wins, so nobody loses. The Learning For Life (www.learning-for-life.org/exploring/resources/99-720/x08.pdf) website describes some cooperative games. Other sites include Creative Kids at Home (www.creativekidsathome.com/games/cooperative_games/) and Peace First(www.peacefirst.org/site/) .

High School: Our Name is Earl

"Cost Dad the Election"

Sometimes it is difficult to remember that our parents are still people. As Unitarian Universalists, we must treat them with the same respect and kindness that we promise to give to every human being. Our Seven Principles are a covenant of behavior that has no exceptions. Even though our relationships with our parents are often very emotional, we still have to treat them with dignity and respect and remember that they are learning as well. As we are on our paths to be adults, our parents are on a path to be parents. We must accept

each other where we are and lovingly encourage each other to growth (Principle Three). In the episode, Earl's father doesn't seem to respect Earl as an individual or accept where he is on his path. Likewise, Earl doesn't necessarily accept where his father is on HIS path. At the end, however, they come to an understanding. Earl's father understands that Earl was trying to do the right thing and bails him out. Earl understands that bailing him out of jail is his father's way of recognizing his hard work on his list. While their relationship isn't perfect, they chose to accept one another and see the good that IS there. 

Family Information for Sunday, March 24th

Hello Friends and Families of Westside!

Happy spring – it looks like we’re in for some beautiful sunshine this week! And we have great spring activities in store for our WSUU children and youth.

·      See below for our plans for tomorrow and Easter Sunday the following week. K-2 families – if your child has an allergy to dogs, please let me know. We will have a short visit with a puppy tomorrow!

·      Tomorrow we will have a group of youth and mentors visiting our service from the University Unitarian Church.

·      In April we will have Children’s Chapels on the 14^th and 21^st (spring break weekends for Seattle Public Schools).

·      Our K-5 classes are starting a social action project with Heifer International, and our middle school class is developing their own social justice project.

·      In May I will work with all of our classes to grow our awareness of our partnership church in Transylvania, culminating in an exchange of videos between us. We are working with East Shore Unitarian for this.

·      June 2^nd is our last day of RE classes for this year, and June 9^th is RE Celebration Sunday – all of our children and youth will participate in this service. June 16^th is the first Sunday of our summer program.

·      Our youth have formed a new Youth Adult Committee (YAC), which will meet soon to continue to grow plans for upcoming projects and trips.

To talk with your child or youth about what they learned in RE, check out our blog at www.wsuureligiousexploration.blogspot.com.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1.    MIDDLE SCHOOL: Join us for a Fun Night social event next Friday, March 29^th, from 6:30-8:30pm in the social hall for pizza, games, and henna painting!

2.    STORY TELLING WORKSHOP INCLUDING YOUTH: Our Story Telling Workshop is tomorrow after the service from 12:30 to 2:30 in the Fireside Room. I have contacted those who said they were interested. All are still invited to join in! Lunch snacks will be served.

3.    EASTER SUNDAY: Next week, March 30th, we will have an installation ceremony followed by a Children's Chapel. I will lead children from pre-school to grade 8 through a brief worship in the social hall (and our high school youth may be helping), then we'll be preparing bags to deliver to the Nickelsville community. Younger children will hunt for Easter eggs in the social hall. Our 3rd to 8th graders will hunt for some eggs and also bags of toiletries in the parking lot outside. The toiletries will then go into the paper bags they decorated. I will be taking these to Nickelsville after the service. Children/families are welcome to come if this is something you'd like to add to your Easter day. The Nickelsville folks are happy to see children, and have a short tour they can offer if we'd like. Just let me know if you'd like to join me in making this delivery!

4.    CRAFTS AND COFFEE: Join us on Friday mornings in the church library (3^rd floor) from 10-12 to visit, enjoy your coffee, and help to create crafts to be used in the RE program. Babies and children are invited!  

5.     SOCIAL HOUR SNACKS: We want to ensure that there are healthy and inviting snacks on our social hour snack table for our kids. The social hour team will be including some bars, apple slices, and graham crackers each week. If you’re shopping and you see something that would be good to include on the snack table for our kids, please pick it up and drop it off in the kitchen. Just label it “for kids.” Thank you!

THIS WEEK:

Story Time: This week our children will share a story and snack together. Please let the teachers in the class know if your child has a food allergy. Story Time class will continue every Sunday, even when there is a Children’s Chapel or a multigenerational service.

Spirit Play: This week's story is called "Hey Little Ant", and it is based on our Seventh, Violet colored Promise: to value our home, Earth, that we share with all living things. With this story, our children will consider how we treat the living things around us, even those as small as ants.

Kindergarten through Second Grade: “Wonderful Welcome”:  This week’s lesson is about the gift of mutual caring in the connections we can make with animals. While the gift is reciprocal in many ways — including responsibility, affection, and loyalty — humans have the power to name and nurture it. By exploring and affirming mutually these relationships, this session affirms our seventh Principle, the interconnectedness of all life. Our K-2 class will have a special, furry dog visitor for this lesson (for a few minutes).

Heifer International: We are also introducing a social action project for our K-2 and 3-5 classes this week. We will be working toward a donation to Heifer International to buy an animal that will help sustain a family/community in another country.

Third through Fifth Grades: “Love Will Guide Us”:  This week the class will continue to explore our fourth Unitarian Universalist Source, “Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves." They will have some adventures in exploring the Bible, and they will examine mustard seeds and the story Jesus told in the book of Matthew about mustard seeds growing as love grows. 

See the note above about the Heifer project this class will begin!

Middle School:  This week, our middle school class will continue to shape their social justice project for the spring. We were going to vote on a project, but decided to develop consensus with the group. We may take a field trip between now and June, and we'll share this project with the congregation in our June 9th RE Sunday service.

High School: “Our Name is Earl”:  This week’s lesson, “Cost Dad the Election,” is about our relationships with our parents. As Unitarian Universalists, we must treat our parents with the same respect and kindness that we promise to give to every human being. Our Seven

Principles are a covenant of behavior that has no exceptions. Even though our relationships with our parents are often very emotional, we still have to treat them with dignity and respect and remember that they are learning as well. As we are on our paths to be adults, our parents are on a path to be parents. We must accept each other where we are and lovingly encourage each other to growth (Principle Three). In the episode, Earl's father doesn't seem to respect Earl as an individual or accept where he is on his path. Likewise, Earl doesn't necessarily accept where his father is on HIS path. At the end, however, they come to an understanding. Earl's father understands that Earl was trying to do the right thing and bails him out. Earl understands that bailing him out of jail is his father's way of recognizing his hard work on his list. While their relationship isn't perfect, they chose to accept one another and see the good that IS there.

Youth Group will meet in the Social Hall from 7:00pm to 8:30pm with Shelby and Joe. Hope to see everyone there!

Family Information for Sunday, March 17

 Hello Friends and Families of Westside!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Read below to see the full set of activities available for our children and youth this Sunday.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1.    SOCIAL HOUR SNACKS: We want to ensure that there are healthy and inviting snacks on our social hour snack table for our kids. The social hour team will be including some bars, apple slices, and graham crackers each week. If you’re shopping and you see something that would be good to include on the snack table for our kids, please pick it up and drop it off in the kitchen. Just label it “for kids.” Thank you!

2.    CRAFTS AND COFFEE: Join us on Friday mornings in the church library (3^rd floor) from 10-12 to visit, enjoy your coffee, and help to create crafts to be used in the RE program. Babies and children are invited! Contact Stina Lane-Cummings (stina@kempf.com) or Betsy Lowry (dre@wsuu.org).

THIS WEEK:

Story Time: This week our children will share a story and snack together. Please let the teachers in the class know if your child has a food allergy.

Spirit Play: Our preschoolers will enjoy a favorite story this week – “The Carrot Seed,” followed by a discussion of “wondering questions” and creative play.  

Kindergarten through Second Grade: “Wonderful Welcome”:  This week’s lesson is about the gift of families. This session's intangible gift is sharing positive qualities such as kindness, respect and care with the people in our families. Although we do not usually get to choose them, some of our best friends can be the people we live with. The children will explore what it means to share in our families. What do we share, and how? What do we give one another that is tangible and what do we give one another that is not?

The Gift of Kindness was introduced in Session 4. Kindness is revisited in this session, along with respect and caring. The focus is on our relationships with the people we spend the most time with — the people in our families. Children will paint images of Chinese characters for words like “kindness” to hang on the walls at home.

Third through Fifth Grades: “Love Will Guide Us”:  This week the class will explore our fourth Unitarian Universalist Source, “Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves." Jesus called on his followers to live in service to those in need; this service strengthens community. Children hear a story of Jesus' life and explore the concept of community. They will have some adventures in exploring the Bible, and they will examine mustard seeds and the story Jesus told in the book of Matthew about mustard seeds growing as love grows. 

Middle School:  This week, our middle school class will work together to shape a social justice project that they will implement this spring. They will also examine the big question, “Why do bad things happen?”

Stay tuned, middle school families – your middle schooler will be invited to a social event soon, and to participate in one of two bands we are starting this spring! More information coming soon!

High School: “Our Name is Earl”:  Our high school class is meeting this week with Suki and Ed for more of our favorite characters from this humorous and endearing sitcom!

Youth Group will meet in the Social Hall from 7:00pm to 8:30pm with Shelby and Cole.

I am away at a training for Directors of Religious Education this week, but you will see Joe Nabbefeld greeting, and Julie Forkasdi and Kim Frappier will be helping with the RE program.

Have fun, and I’ll see you next week!

Betsy

THIS WEEK IN UU HISTORY

 On March 13, 1733, Joseph Priestley was born in Fieldhead, Yorkshire, England. He was educated for the Dissenting ministry and became an outstanding theologian. He wrote many books on religion, including the influential History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782), which Thomas Jefferson credited with his conversion to Unitarianism. Priestley also became a successful preacher, despite a marked and painful stutter. However, he is best known for chemistry, the hobby he took up in his mid-thirties. He took part in a group of accomplished liberal religious thinkers (called the Lunar Society because it met when the full moon promoted safe travel) who also engaged in science. Priestley is credited with a number of discoveries, including oxygen and a method of curing scurvy at sea, which was used by Captain Cook on his voyages. His inventions included anesthesia, carbonated water, a process for measuring the purity of air, and pencil erasers. Supported in these interests by his wife’s brothers, Priestley made his inventions available to the public and received no money for any of them. Priestly’s major ministries were in Leeds and Birmingham, England, and then in Philadelphia. He taught at Warrington Academy, a Unitarian school for training ministers and a predecessor of Harris Manchester College at Oxford. There he conducted many of his scientific experiements and wrote science textbooks. Extremely liberal in his politics, Priestly was forced to leave England for America in 1794 after a mob burned his home and laboratory over his support for the principles of the French Revolution. He received numerous honors during his lifetime. Priestley died on February 6, 1804.

WEEKLY INSPIRATION:

"Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the attendant of truth. Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery. A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief. Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false. Let no one fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it; for doubt is the testing of belief. The truth stands boldly and unafraid; it is not shaken by the testing."


- Robert T. Weston

Family Information for Sunday, March 10th

Hello Friends and Families of Westside!

This week we are having a multigenerational service with Nick Page, who will fill us with music! Our children’s choir will sing, and all children and youth are invited to stay in the sanctuary with parents to enjoy the service.

Our Nursery (6 weeks to 2 years) will be open, and our Story Time class (2-3 year olds) will be open. If your 4 or young 5 year old feels too exuberant for the service, you can always take them downstairs to the Story Time room. We also have a baby room (“cry room”) upstairs above the sanctuary (in the back of the church).

Youth Group will meet from 7-8:30 in the social hall with Shelby and Suki this Sunday. I’ve received many positive comments about the amazing service they led last week!

REMINDER:

Daylight Saving Time starts today…DON’T FORGET TO SPRING FORWARD YOUR CLOCK ONE HOUR ON SATURDAY EVENING!)

ANNOUNCEMENT:

CRAFTS AND COFFEE: Join us on Friday mornings in the church library (3^rd floor) from 10-12 to visit, enjoy your coffee, and help to create crafts to be used in the RE program. Babies and children are invited as well as all adults, any age! Contact Stina Lane-Cummings (stina@kempf.com) or Betsy Lowry (dre@wsuu.org), or just show up.

NICK PAGE:

“Somebody Sang for Me: A Multigenerational Service” Nick Page

Nick Page is a Boston based composer, song leader, conductor, and author. He has led songs at many UU General Assemblies and UU congregations as well as at synagogues and other places of worship. He was the director of the Emmy Award winning Chicago Children’s Choir. Since 1990, he has been the artistic director of Boston’s Mystic Chorale, a chorus that often invites their audiences to sing along. Why? Because Nick believes that we are all amazing, capable of great beauty and compassion. Nick has over eighty published choral works and is the author of three books including his SING WITH US SONGBOOK. In 2008 Nick directed his NURSERY RHYME CANTATA at Carnegie Hall and his COMIC BOOK OPERA premiered at Lincoln Center in 2011. More info at: www.nickmusic.com .

“Nick Page embraces the whole world in his soul and in his music. He is a skillful, passionate, and respectful interpreter of world music who backs up his work with knowledge and context. As composer, teacher, and songleader, Nick inspires people through song like few others, empowering them in the process.” Emily Ellsworth, Glen Ellen Children’s Choir.

I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday!

Best,

Betsy

Taking It Home for Sunday, March 3, 2013

Spirit Play (4-5 year olds)

This week's story is called "The Anteater and the Fox", and it is based in our Second Promise, Our Orange Promise: Offer Fair and Kind Treatment to all. This story is about a fox who invites an anteater to have tea. The anteater isn't the best guest, and the fox must figure out how to treat him. 

Our wondering questions for this week are:

I wonder if you have ever seen any of this before?
I wonder which part of this story is the most important?
I wonder which part you like the best?
I wonder where you are in this story?
I wonder if there is a part of the story that we could leave out and still have a story?
I wonder if Fox will invite Anteater back to his house for tea?I wonder if Anteater understands why he does not get invited to places?I wonder if Fox should have told Anteater what he was doing wrong during his visit?I wonder if you have ever been invited to someone's house?I wonder if you have ever made a mess and didn't clean up after yourself?I wonder if you care if other children make a mess at your house and don't clean up?I wonder if your parent cares if other children make a mess at your house and don't clean up?I wonder what lesson this story teaches us about being a friend? I wonder if this lesson reminds you of any of our other Unitarian Universalist Promises? 

Grades K-2: Wonderful Welcome

Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

IN TODAY'S SESSION...

The children learned about the intangible gift of helping. Although helping is intangible, the results of help are tangible. The children made a Helping Hands Wreath constructed of their traced hands — a metaphor for hands linked together to help others.

The opportunity to help presents itself daily in concrete ways such as helping to clean the house. However, this session focused on helping people whom we will never meet, people who live very different lives from our own. The organization, Heifer International, empowers people by giving them farm animals to raise. Before receiving an animal, each family agrees to pass on the offspring to other families in need, thereby passing along the gift of helping.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about...

how you contribute to organizations that help others. This can include contributions made through your congregation. Often congregations collectively sponsor organizations such as Heifer or Habitat for Humanity. Talk about why you have chosen to help. How does it feel to know that people you may never meet can improve their lives with your help?

EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try...

forgoing birthday gifts from one another so that family members can instead contribute money to a charitable organization. Point out that the birthday gift you receive is the gift of helping. 

Grades 3-5: Love Will Guide Us

Science and religion are two windows that people look through, trying to understand the big universe outside, trying to understand why we are here. The two windows give different views, but both look out at the same universe. Both views are one-sided, neither is complete. Both leave out essential features of the real world. And both are worthy of respect. — Freeman Dyson, physics professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, in a speech accepting the 2000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion

IN TODAY'S SESSION... The children explored our fifth Unitarian Universalist Source, "the use of reason and the discoveries of science." They heard a story about how a 19th-century discovery of dinosaur bones in New Jersey helped prove the earth is older than claimed in the Bible. The group talked about how reason is a way we listen to what others say; pay attention to what we ourselves see, hear, and feel; and combine what we find to try to figure out what is true.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about... theology vs. science. Is there really a conflict between the notions of evolution and Divine Creation? Affirm for your children that Unitarian Universalism affirms science. The wisdom we gain using reason and learning from scientific discoveries is one Sources of Unitarian Universalist faith.

There are wonderful natural history museums around the country. If possible, go as a family (as opposed to a school field trip). Seek out displays that highlight evolution; pay close attention to birds and shells. Look for a timeline to help you show your children that evolution is a slow process that takes a very long time.

EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER.

Family Discovery. Read about Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow, Unitarian Universalists who travel the country talking about the spirituality of evolution. Explore Michael Dowd and his publications further on his Thank God for Evolution website.

Books about evolution for children include:

The Tree of Life: The Wonders of Evolution by Ellen Jackson, illustrated by Judeanne Winter Wiley (Prometheus Books, 2004), the story children heard in our session today. Jackson's approach to evolution has a spiritual quality, as do the wonderful illustrations.

Life on Earth: The Evolution by Steve Jenkins (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2002).

Born with a Bang: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story by Jennifer Morgan (Dawn Publications, 2002).

 
Middle School

Our middle school youth are choosing a social justice project to develop and implement. We will vote this week on project ideas from the categories of human rights, poverty, environment, health, and global crises. We discussed two kinds of projects -- service or advocacy oriented. A significant focus for this next step is learning to come to consensus, even when very different ideas are coming to the table. Our votes will leave us with the top two projects of interest, and then the group will need to come to consensus about which one to implement for this first project, and how. 

Some considerations for consensus building:

1. Listen for understanding.
2. Support one another's learning.
3. If you wonder, ask.
4. Speak your truth, knowing it is only part of the truth.
5. Be mindful of your airtime. Be equitable.
6. Keep it safe enough to encourage risk taking.

You might ask your middle school youth questions like these:

• How do you know when you're listening for understanding? What does it look like, sounds like, and feel like?

• How do you support someone else's learning? Why is this important? How does this relate to our UU principles?

• What does it mean to "speak your truth?" Does consensus building really work if someone feels strongly about something, but doesn't share that?

• Think of a time when you felt really comfortable in a group. Did you feel comfortable enough to take risks, like sharing an idea that was different from everyone else? Or like asking for help?

• What do you think needs to happen for your to feel that comfortable in the middle school class? How can you help to make that happen?