Religious Education Update - Hardwired
“But I don’t want to go to church.” The sound of my voice travels across forty years, all the way from the little church in Ohio where my parents were married. I remember them reassuring me that I would have fun in Sunday School and make plenty of new friends. But a whining five year old wrapped around your knees can wear down even the best parents and soon our family stopped going to church.
Instead our Sunday routine became pancakes and syrup, a long walk in the woods and a trip to northeastern Ohio’s finest lumber and hardware store of the 1970s, Forest City.
We would climb into my dad’s Chevy and head off to Forest City in search of the perfect 2×4 or a new hammer or a pound of nails or anything from my parent’s long wish list. I was a willing partner in this adventure, collecting paint samples and Formica chips, patiently waiting for my chance to ring all the display doorbells or rearrange the plastic food in the refrigerators. My parents built one house and then another. A barn, a greenhouse, another barn. Sheet rock, power tools, mulch, mortar, paintbrushes, pansies — week after week, year after year, Sunday mornings were always pleasant, always the same, so many opportunities to build, grow and improve.
I grew up with a healthy appetite for pancakes, a love of nature and plenty of questions about the world and how I fit in. So where did I go to find the answers? At twenty-three years old with a new degree and a new job in a new city, I stood in the lumber aisle one Sunday morning at the old Hechinger’s Home Improvement Store on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, D.C., ready to build, grow and improve.
“Get your coats on kids. We’re going to church.”
What’s happening these days with our Youth Groups?
Unless you have a teenager, you might not cross paths with any of the seventy plus young people enrolled in one of TJMCs four fabulous Youth Groups. These classes meet at a time other than Sunday morning or they hold class outside the main church. Sincere thanks to Pam McIntire, Chair of the Youth Committee and the many youth advisors for providing the following updates:
The sixth and seventh graders in Neighboring Faiths have set up a Universal Shrine in their classroom at UHouse. They have studied the Seven Principles of UUism and have taken field trips to Yogaville, Congregation Beth Israel, Thomas Road Baptist Church, Ebenezer Baptist Church and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. Still to come in their curriculum: Islam, Hinduism, Atheism, Buddhism and a visit to the Monacan Indian Nation in Amherst, VA.
Eighteen eighth graders participate in the Our Whole Lives (OWL) program at TJMC. OWL helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. Accurate, age-appropriate information is provided in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. In February the OWL class had an overnight lock-in at the church, took a field trip to Planned Parenthood and participated in a candid discussion with a group of teenage parents.
The fourteen ninth grade youth participating in the Coming-of-Age (COA) program were recently paired with volunteer mentors from the TJMC congregation. The youth and their mentors will work together over the next few months to complete a series of questions, discussions and tasks contained in their COA folders. The goal is for the youth to better understand the seven UU principles and investigate their own identity as UUs. When the folders have been completed and with your generous financial support, the COA class hopes to make a pilgrimage to the Washington, D.C., area. At the conclusion of this busy year, the youth will lead a special Sunday service in the TJMC Sanctuary and most importantly, they will be eligible to join the church as a full members.
Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) group has twenty youth registered. Their curriculum focuses on spirituality, gender roles, and racial diversity issues. This is the busiest youth group of all. Although school, sports, family and thoughts of college and their future pull these young adults in so many directions, they still found time for an overnight lock-in in February.
Religious Education Registration
All families with children and youth participating in our religious education need to register at uucharlottesville.org/education. Paper forms may be found in the Social Hall on Sunday mornings and on the table in the Edgewood Lane entrance.
Save the dates in March:
3 Youth Programs Committee Meeting, 7 PM, Summit House
6 Coming-of-Age Lock-In
7 RE Classes, Stars Studio 4, week 4
12 PJs and Pancakes, 5:30 PM Social Hall
14 RE Classes, Stars Story Sunday, Stars Studio 5, week 1
21 RE Classes, Stars Studio 5, week 2
24 Children’s RE Committee Meeting,
7PM, Summit House
28 RE Classes, Stars Studio 5, week 3
AFD Classes:
March 3: First Wednesday Film Program
March 1+8+15+22+29 Tools for Spiritual Practices
March 9 UU World Magazine Discussion Group
March 19- 20 Women Weaving Wisdom Retreat
March 21 TJMC Congregational Dialogue on Race
March 3+10+17+24+31 Introduction to UU History
March 24+31 & April 7+14 Lessons From the Light
Please email Lorie Craddock at loriec@embarq.com to register.
Religious Education Contacts:
Lorie Craddock
Sabbatical Staff
293-8179 extension 3#
loriec@embarqmail.com
Robyn Fogler
Religious Education Assistant
293-8179 extension 6#
