Budgeting season means we’re looking ahead to next year’s RE programs and we’re dreaming big! A piece of our plan for the coming year involves a banner for each age group, on which they will write a word or phrase for what they learn each week, and we can enjoy watching the banner fill with new ideas and knowledge over the course of the year. If you have the skills and time to contribute to this dream, I would love to hear from you. I will supply the materials for willing quilters to piece together. If you can offer this gift of time to the RE program, call or email Skyla King-Christison for more information!
Do you trip over your words when someone asks you about your religion? Do you find it hard to articulate what UUs believe when you’re feeling on the spot? Well, struggle no more, my friend! There’s a workshop for that!
Join Skyla for a 3-part workshop to help you clarify your thoughts on what UUism means to you. By the end of our time together, you’ll have a short, meaningful elevator speech in your pocket for the next time someone says, “You’re a Unitarian Universalist? What does that even mean?”
April 8, 15, and 22nd from 6-7 PM in the social hall.
It feels like spring has sprung and lots of fresh energy is popping up in Religious Exploration. Get your calendars ready, so you don’t miss any of the fun!
UPCOMING EVENTS for FAMILIES
3/9 Family Breakfast, 8:45-9:45, pre-register HERE by 3/5
3/20 Parent Peer Support Group, 6:30-8PM
4/6 Seeds of Generosity Pitch Party, noon in the Foyer, pre-register HERE by 3/12
UPCOMING EVENTS for YOUTH
3/2, 3/16 OWL workshops
3/14-16 Youth Coast Retreat, pre-register HERE by 3/2
4/6 Youth Service at Heartland Humane 9:45 to noon, pre-register HERE by 3/28
More information about our events can be found below, and info for all events can be found at uucorvallis.org by clicking “News” in the menu bar and then selecting “RE Council” from the drop down menu.
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I genuinely hope that all of our families will choose to participate in this very cool program made possible by an endowment from the Bob Ozretich Memorial Fund. Children, youth, and families in any combination (teams, pairs, solo, whole family) will make a Shark-Tank style pitch for how they would spend $100 to generously benefit our local community, and then all partiers will vote on a winner, who will receive $100 cash to give in alignment with their pitch. Everyone who pitches will be entered into a drawing to win $50 in cash to give in a manner of their choosing, and everyone who attends will get a pizza and cake lunch in the social hall after the winners are announced. Please consider helping your child work on a pitch to make either as individuals or as a family, and then register each pitch they plan to make HERE so we know how much food to buy. You do not have to make pitch to participate. Still use the registration link but indicate you will not be “pitching.”
In preparation for this event, Russ Karrow will be sharing with the children and youth during RE on March 2nd about his experience with the local Power of 100 program that does a larger scale version of our Seeds of Generosity program.
We have the funds to offer three rounds of this pitch-party style giving program, so those who don’t win have two more chances, which we hope will foster the qualities of resilience and persistence in all who participate. Winners will be asked to share an account of their giving to inspire others to participate.
On February 28th, the youth worked collaboratively to design this year’s Earth Month t-shirt. I will be putting in orders for shirt for all youth on March 5th, so please email me your youth’s t-shirt size preference. I will make an effort to order for everyone, and if I don’t hear back from you, I will make a guess at sizing for your youth and err on the larger side.
On April 6th, youth should be dropped off at the Heartland Humane Society at 9:45 for a brief chalice lighting and service project. We will likely be doing some combination of cleaning, feeding, sorting donations of food, folding laundry, etc., and will end with socializing time, AKA playing with the pets! Youth will be delivered back to the Fellowship around 12:15. Please pre-register for this service project HERE by March 23rd.
It’s that time of year again! The youth will be heading to the beautiful Wavecatcher Beach House right on the beach in Waldport for 2 nights of community building and worship. Youth will cook together, play together, and write their own worship service collaboratively before being delivered back to the Fellowship as the service lets out (or as close to it as can be managed) on Sunday morning.
Pre-registration is requested HERE no later than 3/2. If cost is an obstacle, please register anyway and we’ll cover the fee. This is the most anticipated and highly bonding gathering of the year, so we want everyone to be able to participate!
We’ve had a lot of fun opportunities in RE over the past month! Weather allowed the younger children to go outside most Sundays, and a lot of our Bluey lessons included activities with balloons as we explored friendship, caretaking, and patience. Balloons are ALWAYS a hit!
Some of our youth traveled to Eugene for an overnight and participated in games, service and worship while we got to explore ways that other groups “do church.” And thanks to a generous gift from Joyce Marvel-Benoist, a small group of youth had a Splatter Party at SplatterBox in Albany and got super messy while making a piece of collaborative art for our new youth room when the classroom wing reopens. Thanks, Joyce!
I was so impressed by our very own Raya and Mirielle during the overnight trip to Eugene! These two spent a substantial amount of time in the kitchen cooking for the burrito bar dinner and washing breakfast dishes in a commercial kitchen. They also helped decorate the social hall for Valentines Day and participated in some technological troubleshooting when the movie set-up wasn’t cooperating. At every turn, they were exercising their skills in community building and service! It was a proud day for Corvallis to be represented so beautifully while visiting a neighboring congregations.
If you have any questions about what’s happening in RE, send them my way. And if, for some strange reason, you ever want to be removed from the monthly RE Newsletter list, let me know. Wishing you a joyful March!
With the return of the Our Whole Lives program (OWL) for middle school, conversations are bubbling up all around the Fellowship about how we were taught (or not taught) about relationships and our bodies. Most often they center on how we want to do better for the next generation than was done for us. While we do not have the volunteer power, at this time, to offer OWL for younger ages, parents of elementary aged children are not without resources.
I am pleased to share that beginning in January, we will have several offerings for parents as they navigate questions about changing bodies, relationships, and identities.
Free copies of It’s Perfectly Normal are available to any Fellowship family that requests one.
A limited supply of smaller resources like the Askable Parent pamphlet will be available in the library.
Beyond reading materials, now you are able to check out a set of anatomically correct dolls that are complete with pubic hair, working wombs, and other surprising details.
We want our parents to feel well supported, not just with peer groups and pastoral care, but with concrete resources that you can access as the need arises. To receive a copy of It’s Perfectly Normal, ask questions about the check out process, or share ideas about other supportive resources we should add to our library, email me at dre@uucorvallis.org or find me on a Sunday morning so we can chat.
We’ve got an addition to the Inquirers Series! The Chalice Circle team will now offer an entire session on their special format for small group ministry as the fifth session in the series. That means, if you’ve attended the whole series, you’ve got something fresh to check out!
If you’re one of our participants who has your eye on completing the series and getting your very own home chalice, don’t fret! The old sessions count toward your progress. We hope that you’ll consider attending this new offering as you are able because chalice circles are a distinctly UU way to build deep connections here at the Fellowship, and we want everyone to know how to get plugged in.
If you are interested in checking out the new session, their first offering is scheduled for December 1st at 11:45 in room 8.
The Inquirers Series is an ongoing series of sessions that you may attend in any order, as you are available. Whenever there is a 5th Sunday in a month, Skyla King-Christison will offer UU Roots, which is a deeper dive into UU History.
“Our Shared Values” with Skyla King-Christison
“Worship and the Liturgical Year” with Rev. Jill McAllilster
“Building and Grounds Tour” with John Bailey
“Overview of Lifespan Faith Development” with Dawn Dirks
“Chalice Circles” with the Chalice Team
“Overview of Justice Teams” with Karen Josephson
“Care and Support” with Sandy Piper
“Membership 101” with the Membership Team
The updated rotation flyer has been posted beside the welcome desk, but here’s a preview!
Developing a satisfying spiritual life requires that we regularly set aside time to grow our spiritual muscles with intention rather than always sliding through life on autopilot. Observing a sabbath is one way that we can craft a spirituality that nourishes and sustains us when times get tough. What elements go into a meaningful sabbath practice? What even is a sabbath? Let’s explore together!
Wayne Muller wrote, “We meet dozens of people, have so many conversations. We do not feel how much energy we spend on each activity, because we imagine that we will always have more energy at our disposal. This one little conversation. This one little, extra phone call. This one quick meeting….what can it cost? But it does cost. It drains yet another little drop of your life. Then, at the end of days, weeks, months, years, we collapse, we burn out. We cannot see where it happened. It happened in a thousand unconscious events, tasks and responsibilities that seemed harmless on the surface, but that each one after the other used a small portion of our precious life. And so, we are given a commandment, which is actually a gift- ‘Remember the Sabbath'”
An updated, family-focused version of his list of life-sucking small things might involve carpools, Instagram scrolling, and cleaning up dog barf before setting the table, but the reality is the same now as it was when he wrote those words. We need a Sabbath. We need it for so many reasons. Parents and children, alike.
A Sabbath is a reset and a return to the things that matter most. It does not involve productivity or tangible results, but rather centering connection with ourselves and our values rather than rushing through every minute to get the most things done. Yes, traditionally the Sabbath or Shabbat has taken place on Sundays for our Christian neighbors and Friday evening through Saturday for our Jewish friends. And maybe one of those days works best for you and your family. The spirit of a sabbath, however, can be enacted any day of the week which makes it a sustainable practice for you and your household. Ever since the Spiritual Practices workshop in Adult RE last year, I’ve been engaged in a Sabbath practice on Wednesdays, because I work every Sunday. Choose a regular day of the week, or hour of the week if it’s all you can manage, and make a sabbath plan that serves you and your family.
What should go into a sabbath plan? I’m so glad you asked!
The purpose of a sabbath plan is to assist you and your family in spending time in a different mode, intentionally engaged in practices that help you refocus on that which matters most. That’s going to look different for everyone, but here are some common elements to get you started:
~Many find it helpful to reconnect with their community during their Sabbath, so attending a service with your religious community is a common element of Sabbath.
~Appraoching the routine with a heightened level of awareness and awe is another mode of approaching Sabbath. Members of the Jewish community drop everything, light a candle, and share a family dinner on Shabbat. Sure, we eat dinner every night, but changing the lighting, speaking sacred words of prayer, and preparing a ritual food that is reserved for this special occasion all help us slow down and renew our intention as a family made up of spiritual beings.
~Reconnecting with nature is something that showed up in the vast majority of Sabbath plans that were written in our workshop last year. As Unitarian Universalists, we speak to the importance of living in harmony with our natural world, and spending time fully immersed in our beautiful Pacific Northwest forests and streams can help anchor our hearts in commitment and gratitude for the earth’s bounty.
~Schedule time for a slow spiritual practice like contemplative reading, meditation, or a slow cup of tea by the window to watch the rain and nothing else.
The possibilities are endless because it’s the quality of attention and energy given to the actions that make them worthy of your sabbath.
HOMEWORK FOR CAREGIVERS
Giving your children a rich spiritual vocabulary that includes words like the Sabbath is an easy place to begin if you’re new to this concept. You’re already coming to the Fellowship on Sundays, so ask your children what activities make them feel calm and at peace, what foods do they love that take time to prepare, what do they feel in their bodies when they get the chance to slow down, and see if you can add one thing from their answers to your existing Sunday plans each week. Or, if you’re not reliably together on Sundays, choose a different day to imbue with sacred attention. ask yourself the same questions and make sure that you design, little by little, a Sabbath plan that serves your whole family’s wellbeing.
It might be tempting to commit a longer amount of time on a less regular basis to this practice, and retreats do have their place in the Faith Formation Toolbox, but the Sabbath works on us specifically because it’s regular. You wouldn’t go to the gym for twenty hours straight once a month and expect to develop healthy muscles. You’d expect to get a serious injury! The Sabbath is much the same. Smaller and more frequent commitments to devoting your attention to that which is most important is essential. If you’re not regularly engaging in a sabbath practice, you very well might go on a retreat and experience an unbearable amount of discomfort!
Get out a piece of paper, make a plan, and display it proudly in your home. Make sure everyone in your house participates in the plan, and then everyone can help you remember that, “Hey, Dad! It’s our sabbath day, remember?”
I’m always excited to chat with you about your family’s spiritual practices and rituals. If you need any support in owning your role as the primary religious leader of your household, I’m always just a call or text away!
Connect with other families while enjoying a chat and a warm breakfast together. Bring your friends and a breakfast item to share if you like! Or just come as you are and recharge.
A big thank you to the Pollinder Family for pulling this event together!
WHERE: Social Hall
WHEN: 2nd Sunday of the month (no breakfast September, December, or June) 8:45-9:45 AM
WHO: Anyone with children or youth who wants to connect with other families!
Registration is appreciated to help with planning how much food to make, but drop-ins are welcome.
This group for mutual support in the realm of living with neurodivergence or mental health challenges is facilitated by Anthony Acquilano.
This group is not intended to be a substitute for professional care, and participants are discouraged from attempting to provide solutions to other members’ challenges. Instead, this is a space to share experiences, feel heard, learn from the experiences of others, and share resources.
Please register here to receive an email reminder on Thursday before each gathering.
It’s that time of year again when we wrestle with what to do with the kids for Easter. As Unitarian Universalist, this can be a most complicated occasion.
For the new to UU, here’s an overview of the scene.
First, as a pluralistic congregation, we’re not universally aligned with the Christian Easter narrative, so it doesn’t always feel like our holiday to celebrate. We’re certainly a religion of Christian lineage and we’re by no means anti-Easter. It’s just…delicate. And yet, parents and children alike have expressed a desire for an Easter egg hunt every year that I’ve been on staff, and by golly, we like to give our families what they desire when we can!
We aim to be good stewards of the Earth, so there’s also the question of how to host the desired egg hunt in a way that aligns with our larger values, so without contributing more plastic eggs to the landfill. Add to that the amazing education Rachel Kohler provided around fair trade chocolate, and suddenly, even if we do have an egg hunt, what would we put in the eggs? Have I mentioned that it’s tricky? We want to live our values and host a joyous occasion at the same time!
So where have we landed? I’m so glad you asked!
We’ll be sharing the story of Ostara and the Hare in Spirit Play on Easter Sunday, and exploring some of the theories around how the Pagan and Christian cultures mingled in such a way that in modern America, we associate multicolored eggs with the Jesus story.
Then, we’ll have an egg hunt on the playground during what is usually our “work time.” We’ve found colorful wooden eggs that we can use year after year. The children can keep what’s inside, and leave the eggs for next year, as a practice in reusing to lessen our environmental impact.
It’s worth mentioning that there will be some plastic trinkets involved. Why? Because I’m not pulled toward the kind of performative environmentalism that might motivate us to send the perfectly usable trinkets we’ve inherited from previous generations to the landfill simply to look like we’re living our values. We have a fair amount of spring-related plastic items that our children will delight in, so we’re passing them out! We’re not planning on purchasing more when these are gone, but let’s give what we already own a full life before the landfill, shall we? We’ve also purchased some earth-friendly treasures to go in the eggs instead of chocolate.
TL;DR We will learn about the Pagan and Christian origins of the occasion and enjoy an informed egg hunt that aligns with our larger UU values by decentering plastics, using up what we already have, and opting out of the chocolate.
Hooray!
If you’re the parent of a Spirit Play kiddo, you are most welcome to send them to RE with their Easter baskets for the activity, and paper sacks will be provided for those who arrive basket-free.
