Mark Your Calendars
(events are located at the church, unless listed otherwise)
Choir practice--each Wed @ 6:45pm and Sun @ 9:45am
FOCUS mailing party--Wed, Feb 1 @ 1100
MDD Young Adult Ministry Conference--Sat, Feb 4 @ 9am at Jefferson Unitarian Church, Golden, CO
Great Decisions--Sat, Feb 4 @ 1pm
Family Promise Rotation-Sun, Jan 29 - Sun, Feb 5
Harvest the Power Leadership Training--Thurs, Jan 26 @ 6pm
Harvest the Power Leadership Training--Thurs, Feb 9 @ 6pm
Mindful Monday Meditation--Mon, Feb 13 @ 6pm
Interfaith Speed Dating Potluck--Tues, Feb 14 @ 6pm
Great Decisions--Sat, Feb 18 @ 1pm
COMEA Shelter dinner--Sat, Feb 18 @ 5:30pm
Harvest the Power Leadership Training--Sat, Feb 25 @ 9am
Great Decisions--Sat, Feb 25 @ 1pm
Path to Membership Classs--Sat, Mar 3 @ 9am
Great Decisions--Sat, Mar 3 @ 1pm
Great Decisions--Sat, Mar 10 @ 1pm
UUCC Service Auction--Sat, Mar 10 @ 5pm
Great Decisions--Sat, Mar 17 @ 1pm
Great Decisions--Sat, Mar 24 @ 1pm
UUCC Stewardship Campaign/2nd International Food Festival/Talent Show--Sun, Mar 25
Family Promise Rotation-Sun, Apr 1 - Sun, Apr 8
Earth Day Clean-up Pizza Party--Sun, Apr 22 @ 12 noon
May Day--Tues, May 1 @ 6pm
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
February Newsletter
Our children do not belong to us, as tempting as that may be to believe. Our memory that they came out of us is misleading. They are not our words, our thoughts, our waste. They have their own imaginations which we can neither create nor undo; they may live in our house but they have their own world. We can respect and admire their world by giving them privacy, tolerance, an appreciation for their own bodies, and a great feeling of love beyond possession. Susie Bright
My son Atticus is really into Ninja’s right now. It isn’t unusual for him to wake us up bright and early by poking our sleeping faces and whispering, “Can you tell me everything you know about Ninjas?” While I object to being awoken by anything other the sound of waves slapping on the beach and a hot cup of coffee (this, by the way, has never happened, unless you substitute wind for waves) it has had the effect of teaching me that I know more about Ninjas then I ever knew that I did. Kind of. Because my son’s curiosity is relentless I have to stretch far outside the tropes of “they wear black, know martial arts and are sneaky.” That answer doesn’t even begin to cover the insatiable needs of a 4 year old. So I imagine what their favorite food might be and I remember the scene in Kurasawa’s Seven Samurai when the villagers offer the samurai rice balls, even though they have only millet for themselves. “What’s a rice ball? What’s millet? Are the villagers nice? Are the villagers mean?” And we’re off. There’s no reason a question that begins with the likely dietary habits of Ninjas can’t end with a mutual contemplation of the US Postal System and their outlandish reliance on non-Ninja labor. I think that’s a good model for thinking about Religious Education too. Where we start may not be where we end up- and the direction is determined by the curiosity of our children. This is true on Sundays when we gather together to learn and it is especially true when we teach Our Whole Lives, the sexual education program that “provides facts about anatomy and human development, but also helps participants clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality.”
We are very fortunate to have members of our church who have volunteered their time to be trained to teach this curriculum. It’s a big time commitment. Actually it’s a huge time commitment and it speaks volumes that we have three people, Luanne Gearhart, Melanie Dutremble and Birgitt Paul who are willing to teach the 8 sessions to our 4th-6th graders.
Janet Hayes the former public relations director for the UUA said,"We see sexuality as a very important part of the human experience that is lifelong, that's why we named our program Our Whole Lives. Your sexuality doesn't end after you stop having babies or get divorced or after you turn 60. It is who we are in our core. We feel it has to be integrated into our spirituality because, for us, spirituality is about wholeness."
We are all looking for wholeness and our church strives to meet that need, for children and adults. Comprehensive sex education is just one facet.
Other programs we have coming up include hosting a Valentine’s Day Dance for the high school Gay Straight Alliance on February 11th and a Spring Pageant in April. If you are interested in providing refreshments for the dance or chaperoning or helping out with the Spring Pageant, please let me know. I’ll be the lady standing in the foyer, answering questions about ninjas.
Cheers, Sara Burlingame/DRE
