New Curriculum in Religious Education Classes

The BUF Community Worship Service on Sunday, January 29, marked the official end of our fall theme of "Welcoming."  Some classes will have a new curriculum focus.

The Spirit Play Class will continue to work with stories that demonstrate our Seven Principles, and the Sources of our faith.  

The Primary Elementary Class (and the Elementary Class at 9:15) will utilize a curriculum called, "Moral Tales" which can be found at http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/tales/index.shtml.  This curriculum helps children develop a "moral compass" to guide them in their interactions with self and others.  

The Intermediate Class will use a curriculum called, "Love Connects Us" which can be found at http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/loveconnects/index.shtml and focuses on interconnection and social action.  

The Middle School Class will continue their movie and discussion sessions with a curriculum called, "The Gospel According to the Simpsons" for a review of this curriculum see http://www.umph.org/resources/publications/review.asp?review_id=9.   

Be on the lookout for new class pamphlets that give information about the various topics your children will be learning about each Sunday.

What's Happening in Religious Education?

Greetings BUF Parents and Other Interested Folk,

It is time for an update on Religious Education events and activities at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship!  Read on to learn more about the following:

• OWL Sleepover (11/18-11/19)
• BUF Community Worship (all ages, 11/20)
• BUF Community (multigenerational) Choir Rehearsals (for Christmas Pageant, 11/20, 12/4, 12/11)
• Social Action Sunday (one service at 10:30, 11/27)
• Who Are We Now: High School Age Youth Visioning Event and Sleepover (12/2-12/3)
• Children's Chapel (12/4)
• First Wednesday Movie Night (12/7)
• Posada (12/9)
• Holiday Craft Night with Bellingham Coop School (12/14)
• BUF Community Worship: The Last Straw (one service at 10:30, 12/18)
• illUUminations and Solstice Celebration (12/21)
• Christmas Eve Service (12/24)
• Christmas Brunch (12/25)
• Children's Chapel (one service at 10:30, 1/1)

Please also note:  Community Night Dinner and Wednesday night programing is canceled on 11/23 and 12/28.

OWL Sleepover

Friday night, 11/18, 6:00 p.m. to Saturday, 12:00 noon

Our Whole Lives is an ongoing sex education class.  The overnight is for this year's OWL participants in grades 7-8. 

BUF Community Worship

Sunday, 11/20, 9:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.

This Sunday is an all ages service-- which means that everyone stays in the sanctuary for the entire service.  There is still childcare available for children ages 1-4 in the ChildSpace room but other RE programing is canceled.  Doug and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving by telling the Legend of the Corn God and we will invite guests to our table and share a harvest communion of corn bread and cranberry juice.  

BUF Community Choir

Rehearsals will be on the following Sunday mornings between the regular services, from 10:30-11:15 a.m., 11/20, 12/4, 12/11.

All voices are welcome to take part in this multigenerational choir!  If you can't make rehearsal this week but want to join in for the next two-- it's fine...!  All children and youth are encouraged to participate in the choir and the Christmas Pageant, The Last Straw, on December 18.  Rehearsals will be held upstairs in the flex room and will be led by the wonderful and talented Beth Beyers!

Social Action Sunday

Sunday, 11/27, 10:30 a.m.

Religious Education Teachers get the day off on this holiday weekend and this year the children and youth who come to church will be making cookies for Coffee Hour and Dog Biscuits for the Humane Society!  

Who Are We Now: High School Age Youth Visioning Event and Sleepover 

For Youth: Friday, 12/2 at 5:30 p.m. to Saturday 12/3 at 12:00 noon

For Parents and other leaders:  Saturday, 12/3, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 a.m.

High school age youth are invited to spend the night at BUF to participate in a traditional/annual service project and then parents and other BUF leaders will participate with them in a visioning workshop on Saturday morning to determine the role of youth in our congregation and how best to meet the spiritual needs of this important group of people. 

Children's Chapel 

Sunday, 12/4, 9:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.
Children in grades K-5 are invited to begin their worship experience upstairs in the Flex Room rather than the usual practice of beginning in the Sanctuary.  We will have a brief worship service that will include our covenant, music, milestones and pondering on the theme of generosity.  We will also have a special collection for the Whatcom County Humane Society-- it would be great if children could bring a portion of their allowance or money they can find in your couch cushions... so it is authentic giving for them (you are welcome to pitch some in as well if you like!).  Children will then go to their religious education classes as usual.  We will offer Children's Chapel monthly on the first Sunday of each month for the rest of this church year.  
First Wednesday Movie Night

Wednesday, December 7, 7:00 p.m.

We will watch a movie about the Christmas Truce that happened between English and German soldiers during World War 1.  It is a moving story about the desire for peace during a time of war.  It is rated G.

Posada

Friday, December 9, 5:30 p.m.

Join us for a most beloved BUF tradition!  We will share a Mexican meal in the Flex Room at 5:30, then hear the story of Mary and Joseph's journey looking for an Inn.  We will then wander the neighborhood with Mary on a pony and a singing Joseph by her side.  We encounter cruel innkeepers but sing merrily in any case.  We make our way back to BUF for Pinatas, cookies and cider.  This is a wonderful tradition-- all members and friends of all ages are encouraged to participate!

Family/Holiday Craft Night with Bellingham Coop School

Wednesday, December 14, 7:00 p.m. (after community night dinner)

BUF and BCS will join together for a family craft night!  We will be supplying various tables with holiday craft materials and children and adults are welcome to make their way around from station to station. 

BUF Community Worship: The Last Straw

One service only, Sunday, December 18, 10:30 a.m.

This year's pageant will be a story about a curmudgeon of a camel who is compelled to make a long journey to Bethlehem.  He is helped along the way by several animal companions who help him view his journey in new ways.  All children and youth are invited to participate by singing in the BUF Community Choir and or playing the part of some character in the story. 

illUUminations and Solstice Celebration

Wednesday, December 21, 6:00 p.m.(during and after community night dinner)

The holiday season is often referred to as a festival of lights-- many traditions celebrate the return of the light with candles, logs, stars and other forms of light. Unitarian Universalists celebrate the light of our chalice flame in a UU holiday called illUUminations!  Doug and I will tell the story of Ed, barely an angel who finds the source of his own light.  Join us after dinner for a night of tile painting-- we will ultimately be creating a mural for the long wall opposite our stairs going into the social hall-- it will be made from pieces of tiles painted in the past and present by members and friends of BUF.  Paint a beautiful chalice on a tile and a piece of your work will live on in our building forever! This activity is fun for people of all ages!

Christmas Eve Service

Saturday, December 24, 8:00 p.m.

A beautiful, musical worship service honoring the season.  It is a late evening and there is no childcare during the Christmas Eve service.  If your family would like to come, I recommend getting to BUF very early as we fill the sanctuary to the gills and end up with standing room only!

Christmas Brunch

No worship service or childcare, Sunday, December 25, 10:30 a.m.

Doug and I will be hosting a pot-luck Christmas Brunch in the social hall on Christmas day. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to me or to the office!

Children's Chapel

One service only, Sunday, January 1, 10:30 a.m.

Children in grades K-5 are invited to begin their worship experience upstairs in the Flex Room rather than the usual practice of beginning in the Sanctuary.  We will have a brief worship service that will include our covenant, music, milestones and pondering on the theme of New Year's Resolutions.  We will also have a special collection for Heifer International-- it would be great if children could bring a portion of their allowance or money they can find in your couch cushions... so it is authentic giving for them (you are welcome to pitch some in as well if you like!).  

 

Happy Holidays Everyone!  I hope to see you at many of these fun events!!!

Crystal

The Role of Youth at Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship...

Greetings Dear Ones,

I am excited to report back to you from the annual National Fall Conference of the Liberal Religious Educators Association, held this year in Portland, Oregon.  This is the 3rd of these conferences that I have attended as your Director of Lifelong Learning.  The theme this year was sustainability.  And while some of the focus was on ways to bring this large topic to life in our programs, much of it was on sustaining our own energy and that of our volunteers.  It was restorative and inspiring to spend time with my colleagues!

Hey Crystal-- the title of your post says you will be talking about youth, did you learn anything about youth ministry while you were at your conference?

I'm so glad you asked!  Yes, in fact, I learned a lot about youth ministry in the special 15 hour training that I attended.  The focus of youth ministry in our denomination is to establish a collaborative program among youth and adults in the congregation that provide opportunities for youth to develop spiritually, to establish multigenerational relationships, to experience beloved community, participate in covenant leadership, to work for justice, to offer and receive pastoral care, to explore their faith and to work intentionally on identity formation.  This rich understanding of youth ministry has the potential to touch nearly every aspect of congregational life. 

In our congregation youth serve as religious education teachers as well as childcare providers-- they participate in Sunday morning music through the youth band, the choir, and special performances-- we have had youth serve as celebrants and most years the high school group puts on a worship service.  I was encouraged by these ways that our youth are a part of the larger BUF community.  It also made me wonder where else youth might be needed and where they might feel the need to be.  This is a transitional year for our high school group, with 11 graduating seniors last year and some turnover in youth advisers.  The hard part is re-building our program but the great part is the opportunity to create something new that fits who we are now and who we are becoming as a congregation.  I am excited by the endless possibilities of how our youth can participate in authentic and meaningful ways in our community.

We will hold a multigenerational, Youth Involvement Visioning Event in December to explore our dreams for the future.  Stay tuned to the Mid Week Update for details about dates and times and feel free to contact me for more information, uuneva@gmail.com or 224-1984!!!

Cheers,
Crystal

Getting Ready for Ingathering!!!

 Greetings BUF Families,

I had some wonderful time off even though the weather wasn’t quite as inspirational as I had hoped.  Since my last official days at work in June, I managed to travel to the Caribbean, spend time with cousins who visited from New York, cross the world’s highest foot suspension bridge in Vancouver, B.C., and move my daughter into her first apartment in the heart of Capital Hill in Seattle.  It has been a full and exciting time of adventure and change! 

Upon return to BUF I have been working on creating a new curriculum for your children that focuses on the heart of being welcoming—welcoming to ourselves as unique beings, creating welcoming environments, and being explicitly welcoming toward the unique people we may come in contact with so that we can honestly say, “All who come in the spirit of good will are welcome here!”

I am also working to finalize teaching schedules, calendar our wonderful traditions, review ideas for new programs, and prepare our classrooms for the beginning of religious education.  Ingathering is September 11, that is the day we go back to 2 services and our formal church year begins.

Returning families will be receiving a registration update in the mail along with some information about important upcoming dates.  New families are invited to email me at uuneva@gmai.l.com or call me at (360) 224-1984 if you would like more information about our Lifelong Learning Program for people of all ages. 

I’m looking forward to seeing you all soon.  In meantime I hope you will squeeze this summer for all it is worth and enjoy every minute of sunshine that you can!

Crystal

Spring Has Sprung!

Greetings Everyone,

Even in such difficult times in our world, new life bursts forth in spring.  The children in our religious education program planted seeds a few weeks ago and I am utterly amazed by how much they have grown-- it feels like if I watched them really closely, I would be able to see them reaching and spreading out toward the sun that shines through our beautiful windows in the Flex Room upstairs.

As I think about the aftermath of disaster in Japan and all the problems in the world it strikes me that all we can do, is do what we can do.  Right now, we can create an organic food garden that will feed people who need to be fed.  We can love the people in our lives and make sure they know it.  We can add our time and resources to the things that need doing that simultaneously feed our souls and we can enjoy and treasure the life that we somehow managed to stumble into.


The Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship is a place for us to do all of this.  I am excited to report that Norm Witter is creating planter boxes for our children's project even as I type this message and our wonderful Principles in Action Team for Children is eagerly preparing for our Principles in Action Sunday on March 27 when we will transfer our starts into the ground.

Doug and I have analyzed the results from the recent survey that we sent out and in order to meet the needs of the most people, have decided to offer a class in Articulating Our Unitarian Universalist Faith (on Thursday evenings) and The Poetry of Mary Oliver (on Thursday afternoons).  Actual class dates will be posted soon, watch the Midweek Update for details.

I hope you find new life and energy this season!
Crystal

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Once again we get to start over-- or at least hone our direction....  I love the New Year!  I completely buy into all the resolution stuff and ride the wave as long as I can.  This year I am starting some fad diet, going to manage my spending, exercise regularly and re-commit to a spiritual practice.  Wish me luck!  Seriously though, I've been around the block enough times to know that these great intentions will last a while and then I will return to my usual ways.  The thing is-- this is part of my usual way.  Sometimes I take life seriously and I live with great intention and sometimes I slack off and take it as it comes.  My passions ebb and flow like waves, like seasons, like hormones!  And so it feels like the beginning again-- like it did in September, like it will in late spring.  And I will cling to the possibilities and ride the wave as long as I can--hope to see you on the surf!

And in case one of your resolutions this year is to get more connected at BUF, there will be many new opportunities in the Lifelong Learning Program including:


First Wednesday Movie Nights!
This began in December with the movie Flow: For Love Of Water (if you haven't seen it-- I would highly recommend-- intense about the evils of water privatization all over the world-- really gets you thinking).  This month we will show "Bullied" which is a short documentary about the first case where a man successfully sued a school district for not protecting him from being bullied for being gay.  We will show it at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, January 5, after the Community Night Dinner.  We plan on having a movie every month to highlight some aspect of justice-- ecological, social or economic.  It is a way to stay informed and connected at the same time.   

Adult Forums in January!
Bob Keller and the Adult Forums Team has a great line up for you starting up again on Sunday, January 9th with Tim Douglas, "Life After the Mayor's Office,"  January 16, Clara Kelly, "A Flamboya Tree in My Life," January 23, Regina Ryan, "Igniting the Inner Life," and January 30, Laura Clark, "A Wiser Concept of Animals."  Adult Forums meet on Sunday mornings at 9:30, in the library.  Look for fliers at BUF or check the online BUF calendar for more information!


Lifelong Learning Council Meetings
Several sub teams will meet this month to plan for programming and evaluation.  We have a new building and a new program and now we need to know how it is going.  The Support sub team will be meeting soon to plan an evaluation process.  Also, a new team focused on Principles in Action opportunities for kids will meet for the first time to set a vision and start planning for future events.  And if you can believe it, it is almost time to start thinking about our Peace on Earth Summer Camp!  I am always looking for new council members-- please contact me if you are interested!

Our Whole Lives (OWL) for Grades 4-5
Our Whole Lives is a values based sexuality curriculum offered at BUF at various pivotal points in development.  We offer this elementary class to help children develop values around respect and trust in all the various relationships that they are in and to expect respectful relationships in the future.  Informational meeting for parents is Sunday, January 23, at 6:30 in the Library.  Contact Crystal for more information!


Sunday Mornings for Kids
Things are getting back to normal this month however, January 2nd is one service only at 10:30 and will include alternate programming for kids.  Regular RE classes will resume on January 9th!
 

For more information about the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship and/or to link to our online
calendar, please visit our website at www.buf.org

Holidaze... don't miss out on what BUF has to offer this season!

Like many of you, I find this time of year an exciting/exhausting mixture of wonderful traditions and tedious obligations.  This year, I am working very hard in my personal life to find a balance in my coulds and shoulds.  At work, I am spending time tending the fires of many of our beloved multigenerational traditions.  I hope you will be taking part!

December Sundays for Kids
Sunday, December 5
9:15-- Regular RE classes
10:30-- Pageant Rehearsal for Pageant Cast and Children's Choir
11:15-- Regular RE classes

Sunday, December 12
9:15-- Regular RE classes
10:30-- Pageant Rehearsal for Pageant Cast and Children's Choir
10:30-- Youth Choir Rehearsal
11:15-- Regular RE classes

Sunday, December 19
Christmas Pageant-- One Service Only at 10:30!
Actors and singers in the pageant should arrive early at 9:00 a.m.
No regular RE classes (childcare is available for toddlers in the Childspace room)

Sunday, December 26
Children's Worship and Activities-- One Service Only at 10:30! 
No regular RE classes (childcare is available for toddlers in the Childspace room)


Posada
Saturday, December 4, 5:30
This year our festivities included over 70 children and adults enjoying dinner, a beautiful walk with Jose and Maria (on a pony) in the neighborhood, in search of an inn and a rousing party afterwards with Pinatas cookies and cider.  If you missed the fun this year-- keep this event in mind for next year.  It is great fun for kids of ALL AGES!

Hanukkah Celebration
Wednesday, December 8, 5:15, 6:00
We celebrate Hanukkah during our Vespers Service and then again at our Community Night Dinner.  Who can resist the magic of holiday food, stories, songs, dreidels and other traditions.  Come light the Menorah with BUF!

illUUminations!
Wednesday, December 15, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00
illUUminations is a Unitarian Universalist holiday that we have been celebrating at BUF since 2008.  It is a special celebration of our chalice as part of the traditional festival of lights.  It was inspired when a child asked his parents-- how come we celebrate everyone else's holidays-- why don't we have a holiday of our own?  And it was true-- in most UU congregations we honor Hanukkah-- the Menorah lights and the star of David, we celebrate christmas-- the North Star that led the wise men and the lights on trees, we mention the yule log and its endless fire and we give thanks for the returning light of the sun.  And so the parents of this child got together with members of their congregation and they created the holiday illUUminations-- to celebrate our light in these long nights of darkness-- the light our our chalice and the unique spark in each of us.  Come to BUF at 5:00 to make or decorate a chalice.  Carry your chalice into the Vespers service at 5:30 and hear the mythological story of illUUminations and then join us for a special blessing of the chalice at our Community Night Dinner at 6:00!

Christmas Pageant-- Spirit of the Christmas Tree
Sunday, December 19, 10:30
Pageant participants should arrive by 9:00 a.m.

Solstice Celebration
Wednesday, December 22, 6:00
Community Night Dinner will include a special Solstice Blessing!

Christmas Eve Service
Friday, December 24, 8:00 p.m.
***  There is no childcare for this service.  The nursery in the back of the sanctuary will be open to parents and children who need a quiet place.***

I wish you all peace and laughter this holiday season.  May it be a time of remembering what matters most in your life and a deepening commitment to integrity in the New Year!