Unitarian Universalism is a non-creedal belief with a spiritual center. We ground our
teachings in the Seven Principles and in the Six Sources of our inspiration. While we
do not have a creed, we do use these Principles as a guideline for living our lives.

Our church school reflects these values. We offer a four-year rotation theme for the
entire church school: 1) UU Identity, 2) Our Six Sources of Inspiration,
3) World Religions and 4) Social Justice.

Each class explores the theme with curriculum at their own age level.
For the June (7th & 8th grades) and Senior (9th-12th grades) youth groups, we offer Our Whole Lives (OWL), a sexuality education program and a Coming of Age Program on an every other year basis. The end result is that our young people graduate from our program with a good understanding of our own UU beliefs as well as the beliefs of other religions.
The Social Justice theme is also an excellent way for young people to find out what a 'living' religion ours is. Of course, through the year, many of our classes take part in social action projects, not just as a part of a curriculum.

Our children also have time for their own worship. On the second Sunday of each month,
the DE has a Children's Chapel for pre-k through 5th grade. Generally this worship mirrors the theme the minister is doing for that Sunday.

One of the goals of the Religious Education is to integrate the church school with the congregation. To that end, each class takes turns throughout the year presenting some of what they have learned to the congregation during a Sunday Service. They also use the 'art wall' in the back of the church to display their projects.

As Gaia Brown states in her pamphlet UU Religious Education and Your Child,
"Parents seeking a religious education program are often looking for a community of
shared values in which to raise their children. These values are the most important
things we teach, but we also give children building blocks with which to form their own beliefs."

We like to think our program here exemplifies this.

Religious Education - From the Top of the Stairs
Four of our youth group spent the St. Patrick's Day weekend at a youth "con" in Ithaca, along with some young people from the Buffalo youth group. It's great that the two groups are doing more activities together.

You also may have bought some candy bars from our youth. The candy sale is one of several fund raisers they will hold to pay the way for some of them to go to General Assembly in Florida this June. Coming up soon will be a car wash on a Sunday morning during service. Watch for details. I urge you all to take advantage of any of these fund raisers.

Tim and I are instituting a new system to have more supervision for the children after the service is out and WE NEED YOU TO HELP. MAKING CHILDREN MORE SAFE AND COMFORTABLE IS A CONGREGATIONAL RESPON-SIBILITY. Signing up for one of these jobs is a great way to get involved with the kids without much hassle. Here's how it works:

There are three separate jobs to do, and I'll have sign-up sheets in the Emerson Room for each of them.

1)This one is already started. I need two people each Sunday – one to be a "floorwalker" – to sit in back of the service and let me know by walkie-talkie if the service is running late and also to patrol the first floor rooms during coffee hour for "stray" children. The second person will meet the kids in the Emerson Room (especially important if the service is running late) and supervise them.

2) Children's games and activities will be set up in the living room (in addition to the kids' snack tables in the Emerson Room). I need an adult to "be there" so the (most likely) older kids will have a place to "hang out".

3) I need a third adult to be on the second floor R.E. wing to monitor the kids who want to hang out up there.

By providing our children with specific spaces to be with their friends, we can hopefully eliminate the problem of unsupervised kids wandering around the building while still making this church a "home" to them.

FAMILY FUN NIGHT– SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, April 5. Sponsored by the RE committee but you don't have to have children to come. Everyone is welcome.

On to more secular subjects! Our Youth Group has really connected with the youth at the Downtown Church: The two church youth groups will have a sleepover here on February 23-24. ALSO - Our youth group is sponsoring a District - wide Leadership Development conference on March 28-30. This conference is designed to train youth in developing leadership skills and put them to use in their respective youth groups. More details later.

I don't know about you, but I'm REALLY ready for spring. Anne Hibbert, Director

Chalice Lighters, led by Scott Harrigan and Hella Jacob. This is a self-discovery and religious identity program for UU youth open to interested children in the 4th grade and up. Each participant will gain a thorough understanding of the Seven Principles by doing exercises and activities at home with a parent and then meeting to exchange opinions once a month as a group duringSpecial RE Sundays. The Chalice Lighter program will culminate in a special recognition ceremony on May 18, 2008.

*If you did not come to the parent orientation session on 9/16 and are interested in this program, please contact us to let us know.*

The Chalice Lighter program begins on 9/23 with a brief get-to-know introductory meeting after regular RE (11:30-12:00) in the Bullfinch room. Snack will be provided for participating children at that time in the Bullfinch room, so please go directly after your regular RE class.
From October through May, we will have seven meetings which are held on the Special RE Sundays while younger children attend children's chapel.
These dates are: 10/14 (1st Principle), 11/11 (2nd Pr.), 1/13 (3rd Pr.), 2/10 (4th Pr.), 3/9 (5th Pr.), 4/13 (6th Pr.) 5/11 (7th Pr.). On 5/17, there will be a rehearsal in the afternoon, and the Chalice Lighter ceremony will be Sunday morning.
Interested families need to sign up for this program in advance. There is also a one-time fee to cover costs and materials.
- Scott & Hella

Looking for more current information?
Our newsletter has been divided into two parts for quicker viewing. Part 1 will contain all church faith-related activities, including sermons, messages from the minister and religious instruction. Part 2 will contain all other activities of church life.