Questions about conscientious objection, what it is, and what role it plays in Unitarian Universalism are bubbling up more often as the world feels increasingly destabilized. In an effort to address this interest and support our families during uncertain times, a small team has formed to offer resources. Our aim with these offerings is not to convince anyone that Unitarian Universalism has a definitive stance on military service (it does not!) but to help parents and young people collectively explore how their deeply held values and religious beliefs may inform their decisions in the future, and what steps they can take now to safeguard their right to choose should the time ever come when they are compelled into service.
The first 2 offerings in this series are open to any interested adults, with parents strongly encouraged to attend. The film contains graphic footage from war zones and is not suitable for young children. The presentation and Q&A does not contain graphic images or descriptions, but the very reality of having to register for selective service is one that many find disturbing, so please monitor your own and your child’s readiness for those conversations when making decisions about attendance. And finally, the third offering is a workshop to assist youth and their parents in the practical steps of documentation. This session is ONLY open to parents and/or youth who have the written consent of a parent to participate.
If you have any questions or are interested in joining the CO Awareness Team of the RE Council, please contact Skyla King-Christison at dre@uucorvallis.org.
Join veteran professional puppeteer, Linda Zittel, for 5 days of using puppetry and folktales to explore our shared values. Children will create puppets, props and sets, learn performance skills, and put on an original puppet show at the end of the week.
Camp is for children in grades K-5. Space is limited.
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.
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.
