Welcome, Terry!
Please join us in welcoming our new Director of Religious Exploration, Terry Vodery. She officially joins us this Sunday, when we will be celebrating our annual Ingathering. There will be no RE classes.
The children will be selling the last of the Asian Pears after the service. Be sure to pick some up — they are delicious and healthy fruits, fresh from our own Mill Creek orchard. The proceeds will support the RE programs.
Religious Exploration Kick-Off
Our BIG Religious Exploration Kick-Off is set for Sunday, September 17. We will be constructing a giant Peace Dove that we will be flying on Sunday, September 24. This effort is to commemorate the International Day of Peace (Sept 21), and to instill a love for peace and conflict resolution in our children. Please encourage your children and their friends to come out and help us have a great start to the new church year.
Autumnal Equinox Celebration!
Don’t forget to help us bring in autumn at our next Family Fun Night on Friday evening, September 22, 6:30 PM. Come out and celebrate the arrival of fall with fellowship and a camp fire!
Monarch Update
We have had five families take monarch caterpillars home to care for them as they begin to form their chrysalis and change into a butterflies. Let us know if you are interested in fostering a monarch. You need a wire or mesh cage, and plenty of milkweed (and we have plenty in the church meadow that you can bring home). This is a pretty easy way to witness first-hand one of the great miracles of nature.
Kids and adults are encouraged to bring butterfly “treats” and leave them on the “Butterfly Altar” in the garden. Old and even rotten fruit is quite the delicacy (think mushy, overripe fruit).
OWL Sexuality Education Being Offered this Fall to Mill Creek Youth
7th, 8th and 9th graders from Mill Creek are invited to participate in the “Our Whole Lives” program beginning this September and continuing through most of the school year. This comprehensive and balanced class is led by trained teachers. We are hoping to merge our group with the program at First UU Church. This means we will have several spaces available for interested youth whose families are not members. There is no cost to our families for this program. This is a wonderful and life-changing/ life-affirming experience that we feel is so important to the well-being of our young people. The curriculum has been recently updated to include relevant information about such pertinent topics as cyber-bullying and gender orientation. There will be an orientation meeting for parents in which the entire program will be explained and questions answered. It is very important that our youth have access to factual and compassionate information about their bodies and their relationships. Jeannie and Brian Hanson and Reverend Greg are all trained “OWL” facilitators. Please ask them or contact DRE@UUSMC.org for more information.
It looks like we will be offering a year-long “Coming of Age” program for our middle-schoolers probably starting this fall. Please contract DRE@UUSMC.org if you would like additional information.
Volunteers Welcome
Members who are interested in supporting the children’s programming on Sunday mornings can sign up to help in a class. It’s a different Sunday morning experience, but one with spiritual benefits (especially if you like to laugh). We are looking for adults to volunteer to help with RE especially in late February and throughout March. Many thanks to the wonderful adults and youth who help make this program fun and meaningful for our children!
Please contact us with any questions related to Children’s RE or our Butterfly Spirituality Program (DRE@UUSMC.org).