Religious Education

From the December 2005 Chalice Unitarian-Universalist Congregation PrevUUs

by Stuart Holmes

As I sit down to write this article this month it's daunting to recap all of November's activities! The month began with the sounds of drumming calling the students and parents to out the Yurt Dedication and RE open house. It was rewarding for the students, teachers and I to see how many of you, both parents of students and non-parents, came to celebrate our sacred spaces under the oaks. We appreciate the interest expressed in RE and the work the kids have done. We look forward to many years of learning and exploring in our unique classrooms!

November 11th to the 13th I was fortunate to find myself at Camp de Benneville Pines for the first time. What a blessing for our UU congregations to have such a wonderful retreat to get away to! I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know many members of Chalice better and spend some time reading Native American stories among the trees with some of the RE kids. I hope many of the kids in RE will take advantage of this resource and make the trip to Camp de Benneville February 18th to the 20th for the Winter Elementary Camp.

For our annual Thanksgiving Feast the RE program paralleled our congregational service with a discussion of blessings and giving thanks. The kids enjoyed creating cards with their own blessings and thanksgivings to share at the feast and had fun "Punching Down" and baking homemade squaw bread dough. I hope you all got a taste of their labors!

Also in November the Chalice RE web page had a face-lift and has been updated for the first time in a long while! Special thanks to Paul Dulany for his enthusiasm for RE and for taking on this task! Please visit our RE web page at http://www.chaliceuu.org/RE.htm

Childcare Program

The RE program is looking for a volunteer to work on the Childcare program we provide each Sunday at Chalice. For some time we have had youth scheduled to handle childcare duties, but as the congregation grows we may need additional help in this area. My hope is to develop a cooperative program where parents using childcare will sign up to be childcare providers once every six weeks or less depending on how many parents can help out. The youth will continue to fill any gaps in the schedule, but greater involvement of the parents will free up those youth to participate in RE classes themselves. The volunteer we are seeking would primarily help coordinate the childcare schedule. Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions for this program!

December RE Classes

With the holidays in full swing, we have a busy month ahead! December 4th we will continue the curriculum begun in September. December 11th we shift gears and begin to focus in all classes on the Winter Festivals of a variety of faiths and cultures, with each class learning and sharing the symbols of a selected tradition. December 18th will be an intergenerational music service featuring a performance by the kids during "Time with Children" Wrapping up the month on the 25th we'll meet as a large group to share stories of presents given and received and find out where the tradition of gift giving this time of year began. More details for each class can be viewed at http://ical.mac.com/stumusic370/ChaliceRECal