RE Events

Trick or Treat Resource Fair Do-Over THIS SUNDAY! 11/2

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What a disappointment it was to miss out on our weekly dose of connection and community last Sunday. And that disappointment was compounded by the cancellation of the long-awaited Trick-or-Treat resource Fair scheduled to take place after the service. We can’t let all of the preparation (and candy!) go to waste, so we’re going to offer the resource fair, along with all of the trick-or-treating fun, after the service this Sunday, November 2nd.

I know that Halloween will have already passed, but give those costumes one more day in the sun and come as your favorite character or creature anyway. We will be having the Samhain service, followed by an evacuation drill, and then by the time you come back in to get your coffee or tea in the social hall, we’ll be ready to see your smiling face at the trick-or-treat tables in the social hall, foyer, and Rooms 6B, 6C, and 7 in the classroom wing.

Come play some games, eat some goodies, and learn what the various teams and councils of the Fellowship are up to, and ways to get involved!

Trick-or-Treat Resource Fair, 10/26

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Don’t forget to wear your costumes to the Fellowship this Sunday, and plan to attend the Trick-or-Treat Resource Fair happening directly after the service in the social hall, back deck, and patio. Many of the Fellowship’s teams and councils will be present with treats and games, as well as information about what they do and how to get involved. It will be fun for all! And who knows? You might find your new favorite activity!

Winter Sound Bath Event with Sonic Journey 11/21 @ 7:15 PM

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What: sound bath experience

When: 11/21 @ 7:15PM

Where: UUFC Social Hall

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Even in these too full, largely uncertain days, you give so much to make the Fellowship a warm and welcoming place to be. With that in mind, Religious Exploration is delighted to offer an opportunity to pause and spend an evening in deep relaxation and self-care. The talented Mark Clem of Sonic Journey will be offering a Sound Bath just for us! I especially encourage our leaders who always make time for others to take advantage of this opportunity to show up and tend to their own physical and spiritual bodies.

This experience consists of bringing what you need to lie comfortably on the Social Hall floor and settling in. Mark will then offer a short guided meditation to help us ready ourselves for an hour or so of wordless immersion in sound vibrations of all kinds. After this shared embodied experience, Mark will gently call us back into the moment, serve tea, and lead a reflection on what we experienced in our state of deep relaxation, as well as offer follow-up care tips for holding on to the heightened state of awareness and relaxation as we move back into our lives.

Because space is limited, you MUST PREREGISTER, and once the event is full, the registration form will be disabled. Additional instructions for what to bring and what to expect will be emailed to all registered participants on 11/16. Please contact Skyla (dre@uucorvallis.org) with questions.

Donations Requested for Winter Care Kits by 11/30

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The children and youth in RE will be making winter care kits for unhoused neighbors during the November 30th Children’s Chapel.

We need donations of gloves, hats, socks, and HotHands for our kits before November 30th. Please consider donating new or gently used physical items or cash to help us purchase these items for our kits. Donations can be placed in the marked box under the table outside of the RE office in Room 2.

Our goal is for every one of our 40 registered children and youth in RE to have a kit in their car ready to be handed to someone in need. Your generous donations will help us learn about and engage in community care.

Thank you in advance for supporting our RE programs!

Teams & Councils Trick or Treat Resource Fair (register by 10/15)

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“By their groups shall ye know them.” ~James Luther Adams

Let your group be known! It’s time to get registered for the 5th Annual Teams and Councils Trick or Treat event!

WHO: All UUFC teams, groups, and councils are invited to represent!

WHEN: October 26th, after the service

WHERE: Social hall, porch, and patio (under the market tents!)

DEADLINE to REGISTER: October 15th (earlier is helpful to our planning team!)

This event was born out of the RE Council’s understanding that we can only nurture a next generation of UUs when newcomers and whole families feel integrated into our wider Fellowship community enough to stay and take root here. Often, the missing first piece is simply knowing what’s available and how to join in.

Your participation in this event meets a 2-fold need by creating a joyful and lighthearted Fellowship experience in a time when our emotional and spiritual resources are feeling particularly taxed AND you are helping folx understand who we are and how they can expand their engagement with Fellowship life when they’re ready.

This isn’t just fun! It’s the sacred work of community building and memory making.

To participate, you must:

  • Register by October 15th
  • Have volunteers to work your table (costumes highly encouraged!)
  • Have signage to demonstrate what your team does and works on (photographs highly encouraged!)
  • Have individually wrapped treats to pass out

We would LOVE but don’t require participating teams to:

  • Have table decorations
  • Have a game or activity to generate engagement
  • Have a sign-up sheet for those who would like to volunteer or be added to your group’s mailing list (please only take this step if your team has the capacity to follow up with those who sign up for more information)

If you have any questions, please reach out to Skyla for help. We would love to see every group, team, and council join in the fun!

Notice for Parents: New RE pickup plan!

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Due to the shifting nature of our Sunday morning services, several of our RE leaders have requested that we have a designated pickup time rather than trying to monitor the service progress and quickly wrap up at various times. We would like to experiment with having parents pick up their children from their RE spaces at 11:30, even if the service wraps up earlier than that. If it runs longer, you do not need to step out to pick up your children. We would simply like to have at least until 11:30 to move through our materials and enjoy each other’s company.

If you have any questions about the plan, please contact Skyla at dre@uucorvallis.org.

Inquirers Series Room Change!

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We are delighted to announce that the Inquirers Series is finally moving home to Room 7!

If you’ve been attending, you’ll be happy to know that your new space in the classroom wing will come with more comfortable and available seating, and far fewer interruptions. Why? Because Room 7 is a meeting space and not an administrative space.

If you’re wondering why our group was meeting in an office instead of a meeting space, it’s because our beautiful classroom wing was under renovation for the last 6 months and was unsafe for our purposes.

If you’re wondering what the Inquirers Series even is, I’m so glad you’re seeing this! The Inquirers Series consists of 8 regular sessions (outlined in the image below), offered 15 minutes after the Sunday service ends, and designed to help visitors and newcomers understand who we are, what we do, and how to plug into life at UUFC. It’s also an excellent space for folx who have been around for decades to jump in and reconnect with the way we describe ourselves and some of the newer ways of working in concert with others engaged in similar efforts. Whenever there’s a 5th Sunday in the month, Skyla King-Christison offers a special session called “Roots,” which is a deeper dive into our Unitarian and Universalist heritage.

Sessions can be taken in any order, and those who complete the entire series will be recognized with the gift of a lovely ceramic chalice for home or office use.

If you’re new and considering whether to become a member, the Inquirers Series is for you! If you have any questions about the series, please contact Skyla King-Christison at dre@uucorvallis.org.

See you at Inquirers Series!

Register for Fall RE!

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Parents and guardians, it’s to register your children for the new year of Sunday morning Religious Exploration!

CHILDREN WHO WERE REGISTERED AT ANY POINT LAST YEAR MUST STILL BE REGISTERED Anew BEFORE ATTENDING RE THIS YEAR.

Please read the following descriptions carefully and register each child for the appropriate space. We acknowledge that school grades are not a perfect proxy for age or development. Nonetheless, we find them useful for determining the most appropriate group for most children. If you feel your child would benefit from being in a different group than the one designated below, please reach out to the Director of Religious Exploration, Skyla King-Christison.

THE RAINBOW ROOM

This space is for new walkers through preschool. We may occasionally be able to accommodate infants if the caregiver-to-child ratio allows; however, your infant may be returned to you in the service if more children arrive and it can no longer be safely accommodated. Children in this space may be dropped off in Room 4 of the classroom wing no earlier than 9:50, and should be picked up before their guardians attend coffee hour.

Please register for the Rainbow Room HERE prior to dropping your child off.

SPIRIT PLAY

This space is designed to meet the approximate developmental needs of beloved children in grades K through three. Children in this space begin in the service with their families, and will depart for room 6c as a group after the time for all ages. Guardians should pick them up before attending coffee hour. This group may occasionally be on the playground, through 6c, at pickup time.

Please register for Spirit Play HERE prior to their first Sunday.

SEEKER SPACE

This space is designed to meet the approximate developmental needs of beloved children in grades four through six. Children in this space begin in the service with their families, and will depart for room 9 (upstairs) as a group after the time for all ages. This group will prioritize outdoor time and project-based exploration, so please ensure that they are dress for the weather all year round. This group must be picked up before attending coffee hour.

Please register for Seeker Space HERE prior to their first Sunday.

OPEN MINDS GROUP (OMG!)

This space is designed to meet the approximate developmental needs of beloved children in grades seven through twelve. Youth in this space will be released to come join the adults in the social hall. They do not need to be checked out by guardian, but they are not permitted to linger in the classroom wing unattended. Please discuss expectations with your youth prior to their attendance.

Please register youth for OMG! HERE before their first Sunday

If you have questions about any of our Sunday morning offerings for children and youth, don’t hesitate to contact the Director of Religious Exploration, Skyla King-Christison at dre@uucorvallis.org.

And don’t forget that we have a variety of Religious Exploration offerings for adults this year, and can often provide free childcare with appropriate notice. Check it out and get the whole family engaged in RE!

Mosaic Antiracism Workshop for Adults! Register by 9/1

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Registration is requested HERE.

WHAT: A fun and connecting communal exploration of radical inclusion through the lens of race and culture.

WHEN: Monday evenings, 9/8 – 10/20 from 6:30-8PM

WHERE: Room 7 @ uufc

WHY: Because the social and political landscape is ever-evolving, there will always be more to learn about how to be inclusive, and this will never be a topic we can check off the old to-do list and call it done. In 2020, the Commission on Institutional Change’s report, “Widening the Circle of Concern” (UUA), the commission recommended that we “hold conversations across generations about issues of inclusion, with the goal of recognizing the evolution in our Living Tradition and that spiritual development needs change over time.” Let’s answer that call in Corvallis!

More details:

Each session will include the following elements:

  • Opening: chalice lighting and check-in
  • Read: audio or video of a book or an article to explore together
  • Watch: video
  • Do: craft, game, or other activity
  • Close: chalice extinguishing words and other classroom rituals to close the circle
  • Take Home: suggested activity and/or conversation starter to encourage further faith development at home

We want to see a majority of our adults engaging with this material. We want to see teams and councils putting this learning to work in all we do in every corner of Fellowship life and beyond. We want to do whatever is needed to help you engage deeply, share bravely, and welcome wildly, so if you want to be included and can’t figure out how, or if you have questions or concerns, please reach out to Skyla King-Christison at dre@uucorvallis.org .

PS Our children will be engaging with Mosaic across the year, too! Below are some pictures of our leaders of the children and youth programs getting ready for the juicy and community-building year ahead!

Please Register for the Ice Cream Social, 8/24

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Registration is requested HERE

WHAT: Free ice cream, games, and quiet tables

WHEN: Sunday, August 24th at 7PM

WHERE: Fellowship lawn

WHY: Because it’s connecting to spend time playing together!

All ages are invited to join us for a cold treat and meet ‘n’ greet on the Fellowship lawn on Sunday, August 24th at 7 PM, hosted by the RE Council and teams!

Have a casual chance to welcome Rev. Alex, find out what’s coming up in RE for adults, families, children, and youth in the year ahead. Discuss your brilliant ideas with members of the RE Council and special teams. Catch up with old friends and maybe even meet your new Fellowship bestie over a sundae bar!

We’ll have gluten-free and vegan options available, as well as board games to share.

It would be super helpful in our planning if you would REGISTER HERE, but if you forget, please do come anyway!

See you there!