Church Meetings Are Brilliant!

In the next couple of months, the Coming of Age-ers will be attending a committee meeting as part of their learning about how our church works.  Why are we doing this? You say, "Isn't it bad enough that adults have to go to committee meetings?"

We Unitarian Universalists are remarkable because we are REALLY good at having meetings.  We'll have meetings for worship, meetings for programs, meetings for money and meetings to schedule the next meetings! Well, hold on there...

Yes, Channing has a lot of meetings, but that's where the action is!  Our church is based on congregational polity, which means that we get to decide what our church will be like- no one else- not the UUA, not a bishop or a sacred text. Channing Church members decide how we worship, what social justice work we engage in or what we will teach our children. That's why each UU congregation is a little different from another. If you have ever gone to other UU churches, you likely noticed that each has a slightly (or dramaticly) different focus, energy or mission.  That's what we Unitarian Universalists are all about!

The UU historian Conrad Wright puts it this way:

"Congregational polity is so much taken for granted by Unitarian Universalists that they tend to overlook its importance, particularly its importance as one of the key elements in the consensus that holds the denomination together. When Unitarian Universalists identify the set of values they hold in common, they resort to high-level abstractions like freedom, reason, and tolerance. Yet the meaning of freedom and tolerance is revealed more clearly by the way people behave than by the generalizations they utter. So it is a fact of no small consequence that Unitarian Universalists stand in a tradition of congregational polity that is almost four centuries old; that they are much more conservative with respect to the practice of that polity than they are with respect to doctrine; that they have been congregationalist in polity much longer than they have been liberal in theology; that, indeed, their congregationalism has proved to be more durable and adaptable to changing times than any of the doctrinal formulations— whether of God, or human nature, or human destiny—that dominate accounts of the history of liberal religion."

Each youth needs to attend a meeting to see our cool process in action.  How else can they understand how we make decisions and what we value as a congregation?  Meetings are where we enact our mission and our vision.  SO if you go to a meeting in the next couple of months and see a youth visiting, smile and get energized- show how we are working for the future of Channing Church!

What Turns a Busy Day Into A Great Day?

I had a great day Sunday-

I was pressed for time (as usual!) so I walked into my office, found a template for paper dreidels in my files, copied some off and made an example dreidel for the Preschool-Kindergarten class... and zipped over to the Sanctuary...
Wrote out some announcements to be read in the Sanctuary (and brought in the traveling chalice- and got stopped by the usher for questions and the layleader for other questions)...head back to Channing House...
Got the movie on the Children's March (how children made a difference in the 1963 Civil Rights Movement) prepped for the Fifth-Sixth grade class...turn on the heat in there!.. gathered teacher binders...and headed over to Parish Hall...
Set up a couple of couple of classrooms, putting away random flotsam that seems to wash up during the week.....check in with the folks in the Re-Gift Store.... paid the childcare gals....got the supplies together for the pencil case making craft (for the schoolbags for Haiti) happening during Fellowship ...unlocked the playground....and back to Channing House!
-breathe-
Prepped my notes and handouts for the parent information meeting for Our Whole Lives also happening during Fellowship!....Then I grabbed my notes to help teach the Neighboring Faiths class on Islam, which was an amazing and engaged group...after class, I whisked into the Library to set up for the OWL meeting, including dragging the totally heavy and tippy TV cart from the Fireplace Room and cued that movie.  Ack!  beter try to dash over to Parish Hall for a cuppa coffee!
Drat!  Only decaf left!

Pour a bit before checking in with the Haiti craft....I'm stopped by parents who want to lead a snow tubing evening for the Junior Youth social night- so we plan to check in later...see lots of people I would love to talk to, but knowing I have to get to the OWL meeting I do no more than briefly check in with the teachers and parents I see and move on (with a few stops to help direct adults to meetings here and there)...Have a few unexpected young folks at the OWL meeting, so we gather some Legos and set up for a multi-gen meeting!  A great hour is had with thoughtful parents and leaders- energizing!...  Then quickly clean up and scoot back over to the remainder of the pencil cases craft in Parish Hall!...Great connections with the folks there then clean up and do everything in reverse order to shut down for the day.

Certainly it was much like many of my Sunday mornings at Channing- (quieter than some!) but this one left me especially energized, hopeful and ready to take on more.

SO what made this wild ride of a morning have such a good feeling?  After thinking it over for a couple of days, I think what makes me so blissful is seeing programs come together that have been slowly gathering interest and momentum over the past few years- Elementary OWL and Youth Programs.  Both programs have special meaning to me, and it has been my dream to see both areas of Channing's ministry grow.  Now it is happening!

In the third year of offering Elementary Our Whole Lives, we have a fourth trained leader and a big class of children who might join.  Even before "official" registration, the class is half full!  Channing has always been a great supporter of Junior High OWL, and we have shown that Elementary OWL is important to us, too!

It is a little more amazing that the youth program is taking flight so strongly.  We are offering Sunday Morning Neighboring Faiths classes, monthly Coming of Age and Social Nights.  There is a lot of overlap in the youth who attend these three parts of the program, so the youth are getting to know one another and make real bonds.  Kim Shute and I are leading all three elements right now, so we get to know the youth well also!  It has been very rewarding.  When I hear a youth ask what we will do next month for social night with an expectant tone and SMILING - well, that's the best!

I could go on and on, but I'll keep it short.  Part of me wants to hold on to these happy feelings, but I know it would be healthier for the program for me to share some of this joy with other caring adults, too.  I have LOVED planning lessons on Islam and creating a 6 foot banana split trough, but I need to also have time to administrate lessons and communicate more with our other teachers!  SO I am hoping that this amazing energy can be carried on for the youth...perhaps you are ready to have this busy/happy feeling, too?  Something important is happening at Channing for the youth, something that we can keep going, and building!  I had no idea the youth would be so responsive, so fast to the attention we are paying to their classes and programming. 

One of our activities in class was drawing what we envision G-d to look like.  Well, I see G-d in just about everything, and especially in the relationships we people have with each other.  So when I have a day where relationships are strong and vital and since I have had a challenging Fall, I am singing:

What Wondrous Love Is This (Hymn 18 in Singing the Living Tradition)
link to mp3
What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this
That brings my heart such bliss
And takes away the pain of my soul, of my soul
And takes away the pain of my soul

When I was sinking down,
Sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down
Beneath my sorrows ground,
Friends to me gather’d round,
O my soul, O my soul,
Friends to me gather’d round, O my soul

To love and to all friends, I will sing, I will sing,
To love and to all friends, I will sing
To love and to all friends who
Pain and sorrow mend,
With thank unto the end I will sing, I will sing,
With thanks until to the end I will sing.

—American Folk Hymn,
New words by Connie Campbell Hart, UUA

The Fountain of Youth, And Why We Need It Back!

No - I don't have a secret to end aging...this post is about our young Channing folks, the junior and senior high age Youth.  Quite often I am asked, "Where are the high school kids at Channing?"  That's a complicated question to answer...

I hear stories about a vibrant senior high group, YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists) at Channing.  I hear anecdotes about how some years the group has been bigger than others, but always some Youth were around and gathering.  Right now we don't have a senior high group.  Is there still a place for Youth at Channing?

Our Youth are living in a hard world.   Life is even more fast paced for teens than it is for adults! Youth need time to connect face to face, comforting each other and celebrating each other.  Youth group at its best provides spiritual sustenance, community and fun.  And for youth who might not fit society's norms, having a safe place to be yourself is essential.

The many suicides of boys and young men around the country this fall has made me realize more than ever that we need to build our youth group at Channing because it will save lives.  A strong youth group of caring peers will counteract brutal bullying that causes our young people to give up hope.  Yes, especially for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth a loving environment is healing, but really all youth benefit from affirming company.

Here's what Rev. Meg Riley says about our calling to make the world better:



Whatever the reason for the decline of Youth Group at Channing, we have a chance to rebuild our  program and make it stronger than ever!

Now is the time to spend extra energy building the connection of the junior high group of Youth.  These 5th, 6th and 7th graders are excited about Channing and more so about each other.  These junior high youth are ready to spend time together, so let's give them what they want BEFORE they lose interest!

It is going to take some commitment from parents.  The effort you put in, helping with a social night or driving will be well worth the gains in leadership, friendship and reinforcement of UU values that Youth Group provides.  In just one night a month we can lay the groundwork for a rocking youth group!

I am excited to see what develops!