Dear Parents, Grandparents, and Guardians,
Welcome back to fall at First Unitarian! If I haven’t seen you yet, I look forward to seeing you soon. I am writing to you about a change you may have noticed already in our children and youth’s schedule having to do with Sunday mornings and worship, as well as about a connected opportunity – our Christmas pageant and hearing more about your hopes.
1.) TOGETHER TIME: Children and Youth in Worship
When the Unitarian Universalist Association conducted a survey of thousands of high schoolers and young adults, they discovered that the primary predictors of people who grew up in our faith feeling comfortable checking out a UU church as young adults was whether or not they had regular experiences worshipping with ministers and adults when they were children/youth.
These young adults also testified to the positive difference having a UU community made in their lives around connecting to resilience, hope, and community in times of hurdles, challenges, and change that they were going through as they made their way in the world post high school and beyond.
Listening to the wisdom of young adults raised in our faith is why we are experimenting with having a multigenerational Together Time every Sunday for 15 minutes from 10:15am - 10:30am followed by their classes and youth group from 10:30am - 11:30am. Thank you to all of our volunteer teachers and mentors in the Learning Community who we look forward to commissioning in our upcoming Sunday Service on October 5th.
We will also have a few worships that are entirely multigenerational throughout the year as we just did on our recent Homecoming Sunday. (By the way, children/youth are always welcome to stay with their parents/guardians if they don’t want to attend class that day.)
We are beginning with trying out a monthly rotation with what we include during the Together Time: 1st and 3rd Sundays will have a story as a focus, 2nd Sundays will have a ritual of sorrows, cares, and celebrations (including birthdays) as a focus, and 4th Sundays will have music as a focus.
Please share some comments with me that might include your suggestions about stories or something else about this time together, and let us know if your child(ren)/youth would be interested in helping as a reader, leader, and/or candlelighter.
2.) CHRISTMAS PAGEANT
Our congregation has a long history of celebrating Christmas with the inclusion of a pageant that our children, youth, and adults have put on together. Rhionne Morris, one of the young adults who was raised in our church, has volunteered to serve as the Pageant Director this year. Thank you to her and the many others working on costumes and other pageant needs!
Our pageant has centered around the telling of the Christmas story through narration and tableaux - the actors freeze in various positions to tell a story. There have also been favorite carols and favorite characters - like the comedic camels. This year we are exploring what traditions we want to keep as well as some different ways of telling the story of the nativity. We might have some dancing - Rhionne is a dance teacher. We might share the narration between the senior minister and youth. We might have a scene that is not just frozen, but acted out in the voices of our children/youth. We might have a solo or a couple of solos, and possibly a children’s choir. We also imagine simplifying the costumes.
Please click through to let us know your feedback, ideas, and hopes for the pageant, as well as the ways your child(ren)/youth would be interested in participating.
Our children and youth are a vital part of our focus on Weaving Community this year, and we are excited to build on traditions that continue to serve them well and to build new ways that may serve them even better.
