The holiday season was full of light in Children & Youth Religious Education (CYRE), as we have been learning about some of the major winter holidays celebrated by our community — Christmas, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah. Through lessons and activities in our Soul Matters curriculum, as well as special occasions like the holiday pageant, the Christmas Eve service, and a special Time for All Ages about the Persian holiday of Yalda, the children have been learning that the connection between our many diverse winter celebrations is bringing light into dark times.
We learned that Christians celebrate the light of God’s presence in the world through the incarnation of Jesus at Christmastime, and that Unitarian Universalists, who may have different beliefs about the divine, can still celebrate “Jesus our brother, kind and good” and the light of compassion he shared with the world, as we saw in our holiday pageant.
We learned that many different people around the world celebrate the Winter Solstice — the longest night of the year which looks forward to the return of the light. As an expression of our values of generosity, justice, and transformation, kids and families contributed to the winter clothing drive as a way of sharing warmth and light with neighbors in need during this cold season.
We learned about the light of pride and joy that was kindled to shine against the darkness of racist repression through the introduction of Kwanzaa, a holiday introduced to the United States in 1966 to help connect Black Americans to their cultures and histories. By weaving our own Mkeka mats, we learned that all our diverse traditions provide us with a solid foundation to build our lives upon.
And we also learned that the lights of Hanukkah can be a powerful symbol of hope for our Jewish neighbors. Through learning about the historical origin of Hanukkah, the ways different families celebrate, and playing our own game of dreidel, we saw that hope — as well as food and fun! — provides light to all our lives.
Throughout the month of January, the kids in RE will join the adults at UUSM in focusing on the theme of “Story,” looking at both how stories shape us and how we can write our own stories of who we want to be. In addition to our Sunday RE lessons, the kids will also learn about story through a multigenerational service celebrating the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on January 19th.
Youth RE for grades 6-12 will be kicking off our new meeting time in January as well, with the premier of Sunday Funday at 12 pm on January 12, and our first Building Bridges workshop at 12 pm on January 26. Building Bridges is a UUA world religions program for teens, helping young people to learn more about our diverse world of faith while also strengthening their own spiritual practices and identities. We’ll continue to alternate between fun community-building activities on 2nd Sundays and Building Bridges workshops on 4th Sundays.
This is just a brief summary of what we’ve been learning in Children & Youth Religious Education — there’s so much more going on, and the best way to find out more is to get involved yourself! We’re always looking for volunteers of course, which can be as high commitment as helping to teach kids or youth RE a couple times a month, or as low commitment as helping to clean up the Cottage after an event – with lots of opportunities in between! I’m also always happy to meet up with members of the congregation to share more about my philosophy of religious education, to listen to new ideas, or just to get to know folks a bit better. You can contact me at dmre@uusm.org any time to set up a meeting. Thanks as always for supporting Religious Education at UUSM!
Jessica TenHave-Place
Director of Multigenerational Religious Education
