Oct 20: Religious Education Newsletter

Religious Education Weekly Newsletter: October 13th, 2013

Howdy Parents,

This Week in Spirit Play the children will participate in “Flaming Chalice Lesson with People Around World Extension” Unitarian Universalism Focus

This lesson about our faith shows how we make Promises (our Principles) to our own community, but also to the people around the Earth and how these promises connect us to each other and to the Spirit of Love and Mystery that some people call God.
It highlights our Unitarian Universalist Promises:

Red—We promise to Respect All People
Orange– We promise to Offer Fair and Kind Treatment to All
Yellow– We promise to Yearn to accept and Learn about ourselves, others, and the Mystery
Green– We promise to Grow by Exploring what is true and right in life
Blue– We promise to Believe in our ideas and Act on them
Indigo– We promise to Insist on a Peaceful, Fair and Free world for all
Violet– We promise to Value our home, Earth, that we share with all living things

Some follow up questions could be:
I wonder if you have seen this anywhere else?
I wonder how big this Earth community could really be?
I wonder how it feels to be in this Earth community?
I wonder if you feel apart of our church community?
I wonder what makes you the same as these other people?
I wonder what makes you different?

This Week in Elementary the children will participate in story “The One Great Web of Life” which is a story that seeks to explain the interconnected web of life.

In the story a little boys ponders how so many different things, a pond, a tree, a rock can actually be connected.

Then a spider descends from a tree and explains using his own web how some thing affects one person can really affect us all.

The children then participate in two activities designed to echo the idea of connection. The first activity will find them free associating ideas as they toss the yarn back and forth, effectively creating a web of ideas. The second activity is a craft where the children write/draw symbols of things that greatly affect their lives, and then connect them with the help of glue and sand.

Some questions you might want to use to follow up with your child are:
I wonder how it feels to touch the earth, the sun, the water, and the seeds?
I wonder what you feel connected to?
I wonder how it feels to be a part of the Oneness of the Great Web of Life?
I wonder where the Spirit of Love and Mystery might be in this story?
I wonder if you could tell me ways you see things connected?

This week, and next week the focus of the curriculum for Teens will be Spirituality and how the word, and the emotion is viewed/used by the youth. Specifically this week the youth will learn about our offertory hymn Spirit of Life, and how it’s author Carolyn McDade started writing the song as a prayer, and then examine the words of other youth around the world about what they think spirituality is.

Some follow up questions you may want to ask you teens are:
Do you ever feel like you have spirituality? Like you don’t?
Do you ever say a prayer? To who/what?
What makes you feel spiritual?
What do you think a spirit is?