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We Encourage Children
The church is excited to annouce that Margaret Dietz has become our new Director of Religious Education.
Together with Margaret, let us live up to the first core value in our covenant statement, "We encourage children," and help our delightful UU kids grow up to be good and faithful stewards of the universe we inhabit and share.
To contact Margaret with questions regarding Children and Youth Religious Education, please e-mail her at dre@uumuk.org.
Children attend their Religious Education Class during the Sunday Service. Children stay for about the first 15 minutes of the service, participate in a short story time called, Time for all Ages, sing a song with the congregation, and then leave to go to their class. Their RE classes take place every Sunday through June. Children's RE takes a 'vacation' for the summer and resumes in September.
Children's Fundraising
During the winter the children held several fundraising events. They sold necklaces at the Medieval Festival and held several waffle breakfast fundraisers, which the congregation deliciously enjoyed!
They will be donating the money they raised to the Red Cross for Haiti Disaster Relief, to Kiva, to Heifer International, and the Smile Train. Each organization will receive $84.79! Great job to our children!
Youth Group: Spirituality in the GREEN
Youth from 7th to 12th grade meet twice monthly following a Sunday Service, from September through May.
This year the youth will work with the Green Committee regarding the connection of Ecology and how these issues combine with social justice and compassion. In February they began a project to support the President's call for getting the country off fossil fuels within the next decade. this group has been called the "Young Energy Warriors" of our congregation!
Our Goals
The goal of our religious education program is to teach Unitarian Universalist Principles and Practices. We use many avenues to achieve this goal. Studying world religion and biblical scriptures enhances our ability to look at what others believe and then relate those teachings to what we believe.
What does 'spiritual' mean?
'Spiritual' is a word likely to mean something different to each person, in part because it reflects a very personal experience. At the core of many definitions is the sense of connection in some way to something much larger than the self. Here's one way to think of it (from UU & Me). Imagine you are walking along an ocean beach in the middle of summer. You feel the warm sand as it touches your feet, and smell the salt in the air-you can even taste it. When you look up, all you can see ahead of you is miles and miles of water. You hear a seagull passing overhead and the sounds of your friends laughing in the waves. You can feel that you are using all your senses: touch, sight, smell, hearing, and taste. Or you may find spiritual connection through prayer, meditation, music, art, or countless other media.
Life Span Faith Development
UU`s believe in the lifelong search for truth and meaning. We have a number of opportunities for adults to gather in small groups to continue learning, sharing and enriching each others lives with their spiritual stories.
Children and Mass Media
The websites below help parents make more informed choices regarding mass media and children:
www.chinaberry.com/
www.lionlamb.org/
www.parents-choice.org/
Remember ...
Love is the spirit of this church
And service is its law
to dwell together in peace
To seek the truth in love
To help one another
This is our great covenant
One book, Two Website Recommendations
Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv is a book about how today Nature is something for us to watch, to consume, to wear, and to ignore. Television ads depict a four-wheel-drive SUV racing along a breathtakingly beautiful mountain stream - while in the backseat two children watch a movie on a flip-down screen, oblivious to the landscape and water beyond the windows.
Two web sites for families
www.screentime.org/
This site gives ideas on how to devote more time to re-connecting our lives to the "real" rather than the "virtual". The Center for SCREEN-TIME Awareness, a nonprofit grassroots organization encourages people to take control of the electronic media and technology in their lives.
www.greenhour.org is the website for the National Wildlife Federation which is rich in family-friendly content.
Then log off and return to Nature, as Richard Louv says, "... not only because ethics and justice demands it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health and the health of the Earth depends on it."
Mukwonago, Wisconsin
At the Peace Camp, the children made chalk drawings.
