RE Minister's Note:
Random Kindness
(September 2010)
Welcome back!
Our first Sunday together is our In-Gathering worship service,
a multigenerational one, with Water Communion and a Teacher Dedication
ceremony on September 12th. Remember to bring some water back from
your summer adventures. I so enjoy hearing about where this time
has taken you.
The first gathering of the Religious Education community will be
the day before on Start-Up Saturday, September 11th, our teacher
orientation. Teachers new to our program please come at 8:30 AM
for a course in the basics. Lead Teachers will meet with me to set
the agenda for teacher team meetings. Coffee and registration start
at 9:00 AM with worship at 9:30 AM. You all bring such amazing energy
to this new beginning and so I look forward to this time with great
anticipation.
We do have some openings for volunteer teachers, an opportunity
to enjoy the younger side of life and deepen you own spiritual life
and understanding of Unitarian Universalism. Please let me know
that you would like to participate and we will find just the right
connection for you.
The Nursery/Toddler and PreK classes begin on September 12th. All
other classes meet for the first time on September 19th. We will
also have a welcome back Children's Chapel for grades K-5th in the
Rotunda on September 26th.
Our new program year together holds some new and exciting changes,
ones that we all hope will bring us new opportunities to live out
the mission of our congregation to recreate our lives and help heal
the world the world.
You may have heard that our first service will begin at 9:00 AM.
We hope that this additional 30 minutes between services will give
us the opportunity to create additional bonds within our congregation.
There will be new opportunities for learning, meeting, and spiritual
growth.
We will also welcome Allison Solinsky as Religious Education and
Program Assistant. This is an expansion of the RE Assistant position
and Allison will assume that role and more. She comes to us from
Central Unitarian Church in Paramus where she was an extraordinary
RE volunteer. Like many of you she taught all her daughters classes
up through the 7th grade. She was also the RE Committee Chair there
and worked closely with their Director of Religious Education. We
welcome her to our congregation!
With Allison's arrival we say goodbye to Daphne Wolf who, for the
last five years, has been an amazing RE Assistant. Always keeping
things organized, taking initiative and making sure that everybody
had what they needed to get the job done. Though Daphne will be
with us through Start-Up Saturday, she has decided to pursue some
new interests. We are so grateful for her time with us and wish
her very well in her new pursuits. I know we will all miss her.
Many blessings, Daphne!
Our volunteer teachers will offer some new curricula developed
by the Unitarian Universalist Association with a mix of some that
we treasure. For a full description of our children and youth RE
program please see the RE prospectus that will soon be mailed to
all RE families or pick one up in the Narthex.
The Adult RE Committee welcomes Melissa Allen. She will join continuing
members Laura Kushner, Connie Thames and Tanya Dixon. We have an
exciting fall lineup. Rev. Charlie Ortman will bring us New UU and
Five Questions. Along with the stellar team of Courtney Allen, Kimberly
Johnson, Judith Rew, and Teresa de Sousa, I will be facilitating
a leadership program called Harvest the Power. We will have a presentation
on the new health care bill with Dr. Caryl Heaton and Gray Russell
will make a presentation on going green. It will be an enriching
and deepening fall program.
Let us begin together.
In the faith,
Judy Tomlinson
Minister of Religious Education
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