2021-12-03

Religious Education: December 5, 2021

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Religious Education & Faith Development
Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains
December 5, 2021

2021-2022 RE Theme: Community, Wholeness, Discovering Our New Normal.
Holiday Craft Party for All Ages
Tomorrow!
 
Sat Dec 4, 10:00am-12:00pm in Fellowship Hall. This will be a fun morning for all ages with holiday crafts you can keep or share to brighten another person's day.
Come make holiday cards, and decorate chalice cookies to take home. We also have someone who is bringing supplies and will teach us to make earrings for yourself or to gift - for every pair you make to take home, you'll make a 2nd pair to be donated to a women's shelter. We hope you will join us! We will observe safety measures of wearing masks, spreading out, and wearing gloves to frost cookies. If we have a large turnout, we'll move one of the activities to the Fireside Area so there's more space to distance. 
Sunday Morning 
Childcare

9:30-11:45am
Diane and Hans offer childcare for young children. Everyone wears a mask. No snacks are served. Drop off and pick up in room 32 in the yellow hallway. 
1st-9th Grade Classes

10:10am-11:20am
Religious Education classes for 1st-9th graders meet this Sunday. Enter through the RE lobby doors and visit our Welcome table. As your family completes vaccinations, please bring or e-mail Tracy photos of cards or other verification so we can put blue dots on name tags of everyone who is vaccinated. 
1st-5th Grade Class, Love Will Guide Us - Meets in Fellowship Hall. Norm H and Laura S are leading. In this session, children will learn about the Golden Rule, the ethic of reciprocity. For Unitarian Universalists, this ethic comes to us both from our Jewish and Christian heritages and from the wisdom of world religions. Children will explore the ethic of reciprocity as a guide toward actions that strengthen the beloved community—in our congregations, in our families, and in other communities to which we belong. This ethic is related to the idea of "radical hospitality" in our congregations. Radical hospitality invites us to welcome not only those to whom we are naturally drawn because of their similarity to ourselves, but also those who seem different from us.

6th-7th Grade Class, Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong - Meets in Room 41, in the Green Hallway. Alex Z and Laura G are leading. 
Having examined the nature of virtue and sin in previous sessions, participants in this fourth session confront the fact that the line between good and evil is often thin and unclear. Telling right from wrong is not always easy. They will explore "Amazing Grace," the theme music used by the curriculum, hear about texts that some religions use to teach what is right and wrong, and hear a Buddhist story that brings up the idea of conscience. 

8th-9th Grade Class, Coming of Age - Meets in Room 11, in the Red Hallway. Betsy, along with Nick, Raquel and other leaders, will invite youth to explore hospitality, learning to extend "radical hospitality" through having an experience that helps them be open to others, and considering the implications of a story they'll hear for their own journey. Youth will also begin using their new COA journals, To This I Give My Heart
 
11:20am ~ Pick Up in Fellowship Hall or Childcare
All children in 5th grade and younger, along with unvaccinated youth in 6th grade and older will wait for parents/guardians to pick them up in Fellowship Hall after RE. Children in childcare will be picked up in the childcare room, 32 in the yellow hallway. Please pick up children right after worship so RE leaders may leave for meetings or other activities. Vaccinated youth 6th grade and older with blue dots on their name tags will be released to find their parents/guardians. 
 
All adult leaders are vaccinated. Everyone will observe pandemic safety protocols including wearing masks, and we are skipping snack time. 

10:00am Worship
In Person & Online

“Not Such a Bad Species” ~ Rev. Meredith Garmon
Homo Sapiens are not as governed by narrow self-interest as heavy consumption of daily news would lead one to think.
At our in-person worship in our sanctuary, we follow Covid safety protocols, showing proof of vaccination, remaining masked, and maintaining social distance from those not in our household. Please have your mask on and proof of vaccination (or blue dot on your nametag) as you enter. We will not yet be hosting in-person or virtual coffee hour after worship.

We livestream the service on Zoom for people to join online or by phone. To watch the service online, click https://bit.ly/CUUC-Worship, or phone in (audio only): 646-876-9923, Webinar: 761 321 991, Passcode: 468468.

Orders of service are e-mailed and uploaded to our website prior to each Sunday.  Revisit past services anytime at our YouTube Channel.
Wreath Sale

This Sun (Dec 5th) After Worship 
As a scouting fundraiser, Doyle & Callie Zisson will be selling wreaths outside the main doors at CUUC after the service this Sunday. Let them help you beautify your door or mantle!
Connecting in Community
Holiday Donations

We are collecting donations that will spread some holiday cheer. Bins and individuals collecting donations will be at CUUC over the next two weeks. Thank you for helping brighten the season for those in our local community! 
Toys for a New Family - Donate new and gently used toys for boys ages 1 and 4 who are arriving in our area with their family from Afghanistan. Contact Jane Dixon (lilrhodie@gmail.com) with questions.  

Toys for the Ecumenical Food Pantry to Distribute - Donate new or gently used toys suitable for a small apartment. Contact Mary Cavallero (marycava4@gmail.com) with questions.

Financial Donations for the Ecumenical Food Pantry - Make checks to CUUC with the memo "Food Pantry" and mail or add to the Sunday collection. You may also pay online at cucwp.org by clicking the yellow Donate button. A small percent of online donations goes to PayPal fees; please consider increasing your donation by a few dollars to compensate. Contact: John Cavallero (jcwpny@gmail.com)

Coachman Gift Cards - Coachman Family Center is a local shelter for families experiencing homelessness. Donate cash or checks we will convert to gifts cards. We hope to offer $25 gift cards for each of the approximately 200 children currently residing at Coachman. Bring or mail checks to CUUC with the memo "Coachman Gift Cards," or donate online at cucwp.org by clicking the yellow Donate button and selecting "Coachman Gift Cards" from the dropdown list. Contact Jacy Good (goodjacy@gmail.com).


Toiletries - We collect toiletries year-round for Samaritan House (women's shelter) and Open Arms (men's shelter). There are black & white collection boxes for in the front lobby. Contact Ray Messing (914-592-4497).

From the Committee on Ministry

Survey on Covenantal Relationship, Now through Sun Dec 5th.  Given two major transitions that we are facing – the return to in-person services and the possible retirement of our minister in June 2023 – this is a good time for us to explore our covenantal relationships. The brief COM survey has 11 questions and should take less than 10 minutes, so help us hear your voice by taking a few minutes to complete it. The survey will be open until Sun Dec 5. Click here to take our survey.

JUUst Breathe Live - UU Youth

December 14th, 8:00pm 
 JUUst Breathe Live is a YouTube live stream where youth ministry has a say! December 14 at 8pm is our next stream featuring Martha Durkee Neuman talking about Resonance Organizing. In this session, we will explore the practice of listening for resonance. We will have opportunities to share stories with each other and find our points of resonance as a strategy for empathy and organizing. And starting in January we'll be with you twice a month - Mark January 9 and 23 at 8 pm ET on your calendars now!

 
Spring Seminar
UUA Office at the UN

Save the Date: April 22-24, 2022
This is a fantastic multigenerational opportunity for our youth and adults! 
The UUA Office at the UN is hosting its Intergenerational Spring Seminar in partnership with UU Ministry for Earth and UUSC, focusing on climate justice, forced displacement, and human rights. The Seminar is for everyone age 14+ and is expected to take place online with opportunities to participate in New York City too! Registration will open in December. Find more details at the UUA website.

Raising Climate-Resilient Kids

The CUUC EPG shares this great resource with our families: "How to Raise Climate-Resistant Kids," by Tim Lydon. "Climate-related disasters are on the rise, and carbon emissions are soaring. Parents today face the unprecedented challenge of raising children somehow prepared for a planetary emergency that may last their lifetimes. Few guidebooks are on the shelves for this one, yet, but experts do have advice. And in a bit of happy news, it includes strategies already widely recognized as good for kids." Read more here...

Gratitude~Joy~Delight Journals
In November 21st Chapel, we heard a story about building a practice of gratitude, Gratitude is My Superpower by Alicia Ortego, then decorated our gratitude journals. If you'd like to make a journal at home, click here for prompts and images. Gratitude journals (you can also include Joy & Delight!) would make a great stocking stuffer. You can write, draw, add stickers and cut out pictures in magazines to paste in. If you are gluing images on a leatherette surface, Mod Podge works great! 
Following Sunday - December 12th
PlaceKeeping RE Activity

Sunday, December 12th, 10:10am-11:20pm 
Calling all EarthKeepers, AnimalKeepers, and WaterKeepers! K-7th graders will have another PlaceKeeping morning December 12th. We will be meeting in Keeper teams to discuss projects for this year. Bring your enthusiasm and any ideas you might have! We look forward to continuing the RE & PlaceKeeping collaboration. 
COA/Youth Group
Superhero Year

Sunday, December 12th, 10:10am-11:20pm 
Youth Group, assemble! If our everyday gifts were turned into powers what would that look like? Explore this question with the 8th-12th grade Youth Group this year by designing your own superhero and playing them in an escape room, creating a mask for them, creating a board game based on them, and more! We will be kicking superhero year off with a viewing of Marvel's What If? Stay tuned for more details, citizens! Sunday, December 12th, we'll combine COA and Youth Group to launch Superhero Year!
For up-to-date information, schedules, and Zoom links, visit the RE overview and schedule. You may also consult our CUUC website calendarFamilies participating in childcare through 12th grade RE, please submit 2021 registration (click here for the form). Read All CUUC Announcements in the Weekly e-Communitarian Newsletter
Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains  
468 Rosedale Ave · White Plains, NY 10605-5419






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