July Unitarian Universalist Thread - All Welcome

Welcome to the July support, community, information, conversation, and fun thread for UUs and UU curious.

Here is the link to the previous June Thread.

Come on in and say "Hi", ask a question, tell a story, or feel free to just lurk for awhile.

We are in the midst of Summer and my minister, like many UU ministers, will be on vacation during July. But being UU does not cease to matter to me because I take vacations and attend church a little less frequently. Unitarian Universalism is still an important part of my life.

Here is a quote from Rev. Barbara Pescan, who was my minister's mentor during his internship:

I found this quote on the wonderful Celestial Lands Journal Forum.

Wishing you all a month of peace, joy, love, sunshine, and enough rain to grow things!

:

Adele

Here is the page describing what my church is doing for RE this summer: UU Movers and Shakers My dd has only attended the July 5 RE so far this summer, which wasn't really part of the curriculum, so I can't give any sort of review of this program. It is all ages though.

During the year RE is divided by grade at the 10:30 a.m. service, which is the one we usually attend. RE at the 9:00 a.m. service was multi-age (first - sixth grade I believe) and my dd attended that a few times and just loved it. They did a Journey for the Planet environmentalist curriculum. I believe the curriculum was somewhat based on this book: Journey for the Planet, but the member of our church who taught the class sort of took ownership of it as a pet project. As far as I know, he taught the class all year, which I don't think would usually be feasible. They did all sorts of things from providing organic foods for coffee hours to circulating a petition requesting that the church switch to using 100% recycled paper products, to selling stationary with paper made from elephant poop!

My dd really likes almost all environment/nature-focused programs though. She enjoyed Experiences with the Web of Life, which was the third grade curriculum last Fall. And our church has formed a chapter of Kids F.A.C.E that meets as part of Wednesday night activities during the year. I don't think F.A.C.E could (or should) be an RE program on its own, but perhaps it could form a component of one.

Next year my dd will most likely be in the 4th-6th grade RE class, which will be doing Bibleodeon and Philosopher's Club. I'm not sure what the kids will be doing at the 9:00 a.m. service, but I will try to find out.

aww, thanks you two!

I love maintaining this thread, and I certainly appreciate all the "regulars" who sub and post month after month. I know I can refer people with questions about UU to this thread and they will get great responses from all of you!

And a big thanks to the people new to UU who take the time to let us know when they find a church or fellowship they love. That always makes my day! :

Welcome Back, Kristina!

That makes perfect sense not to explore churches while your dh is working on the road. It may work better to start in the Fall when most UU churches are more active anyway.

Good luck in your search and please keep us updated!

ckmannel! We're happy to have you here.

The age children start RE, like pretty much everything in UU, varies from congregation to congregation. For a time at my church formal RE started at 5 and kids younger than that just went to childcare. However, now preschoolers at my church do Chalice Children starting at age 3 or 4. There are also several other UU curricula for preschool ages.

Your service sounds fascinating! Good Luck!!