Religious Education

Lifespan Religious Education for Children

We offer Religious Education to children of all ages each Sunday morning.     Childcare for infants and toddlers is also provided.

We teach:

•  Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
   
•  Justice, equality, and compassion in human relationships. 
   
•  A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
   
•  Nourishment for that which is spiritual in each of us.

  We offer programs for several different age groups during the church year: Child Care is provided for infants until the age children would like to attend Spirit Play classes. This is usually at ages 4 or 5, but depends on the readiness of the child.

UUFES Religious Exploration Fall 2009

Our RE registration and Open House will be Sunday, September 6th, from 9:00-9:45.

We will continue Spirit Play for our young group. Spirit Play connects children with the "big questions" of our faith through stories told with simple and beautiful materials, and invites them to find their own path to meaning, with gentle guidance from our trained teachers. If you've not seen a Spirit Play story told, please do let me know. Experiencing a story is the best way to understand the curriculum, and I would be happy to tell one to you, or even better, have one of our youth tell you one. For those of you who may be new to Spirit Play this link will give you more information: http://www.spiritplay.net/.

Our middling youngsters will be taught using a curriculum from the newly-launched Tapestry of Faith curricula. Tapestry of Faith is a lifespan RE program, sponsored by the UUA, and available free online. We will be using a program called Toolbox of Faith, which "invites participants to reflect on the qualities of our Unitarian Universalist faith, such as integrity, courage, and love, as tools they can use in living their lives and building their own faith. Each of the 16 sessions uses a tool as a metaphor for an important quality of our faith such as reflection (symbolized by a mirror), flexibility (duct tape), and justice (a flashlight)."

The adolescents in our congregation are going to have a special opportunity to meet once a month with Reverend Mary and me using a curriculum called Popcorn Theology. "Popcorn Theology takes the concept and popularity of movie night and uses it to explore issues of theology and ethics in popular film. The goals of the curricula are:

• To examine how the choices we make affect our lives and the lives of others
• To explore how concepts such as truth and meaning are related to perspective and point of view
• To understand ways in which the right of conscience calls us to do what is right despite possible negative consequences
• To consider ways in which our faith can help us understand our questions, seek answers, and deal with the trials of life
• To learn about other faith traditions and their responses to important theological/ethical issues

I look forward to watching this next year unfold. It's a tall order to meet the unique religious education needs of each of our youth, but I can't think of any work that is more important, or more beautiful. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have at .

Jolene Twombly-Wiser, DRE