Children, though natural
questioners, are not skeptics, for whom doubt is an end in
itself. Children are as open to belief and faith as they are to
questioning. They are looking, as we are all looking, for things
on which they can depend, values they can faithfully live by.
ideas that make sense, things to believe in.
The Reverend
Earl Holt
from the UU book, Religious Education At Home.
9:30AM
Class for all ages
Love Surrounds Us
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
Lynn Kerr and Christy Olson
At the core of our Unitarian Universalist community are our seven
Principles. The Principles encompass all the ingredients of a good
and faith-filled life based on equality, freedom, peace, acceptance,
truth, care, and love. This program explores all the Principles in
the context of Beloved Community of family/home, school, and
neighborhood. Participants engage in activities that emphasize the
love they feel in community.
11:00AM
Spirit Play (3-6 year
olds)
A Unitarian Universalist Adaptation of Jerome Berryman's Godly Play
developed by Nita Penfold, D. Min. Rev. Ralph Roberts and Beverly
Leute Bruce.
We see the purpose of religious education as helping children in
living into their own answers to the existential questions: Where
did we come from? What are we doing here? How do we choose to live
our lives? What happens when we die?
Using a Montessori school approach, the doorkeeper welcomes the
children into class and the Storyteller leads the circle in the
story of the day, followed by wondering time.
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children by Rev. Alice
Anacheka-Nasemann and Cathy Cartwright.
In this program, participants learn to seek guidance in life through
the lens of our Unitarian Universalist Sources, with an emphasis on
love. Together we ask questions such as, "Where did we come from?"
"What is our relationship to the Earth and other creatures?" "How
can we respond with love, even in bad situations?" "What happens
when you die?" Sessions apply wisdom from our Sources to help
participants answer these questions. Participants will learn that
asking questions is valued in Unitarian Universalism, even as they
begin to shape their own answers.
Riddle and Mystery (11:00
for 5th-7th grade)
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children by Richard S. Kimball
The purpose of Riddle and Mystery is to assist students in their own
search for understanding. Each of the 16 sessions introduces and
processes a Big Question. The first three echo Paul Gauguin’s famous
triptych: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
The next ten, including:
Does God exist? and What happens when you die?
could be found on almost anyone’s list of basic life
inquiries.
The final three are increasingly Unitarian Universalist:
Can we ever solve life’s mystery?
How can I know what to believe?
What does Unitarian Universalism mean to me?
Our Whole Lives (7th-10th grade this will be a closed class, only
those registered may participate)
OWL, a sexuality education program for youth that models and teaches
caring, compassion, respect, and justice. A holistic program that
moves beyond the intellect to address the attitudes, values, and
feelings that youth have about themselves and the world.
OWL helps teach youth about
sexuality in healthy, age appropriate ways. OWL also focuses on
helping people discern their values and make healthy decisions about
their sexuality and is grounded in our Unitarian Universalist faith.
This year we are planning on partnering with the Williamsburg
congregation for our OWL classes. This gives an opportunity for our
UUFP youth to connect with their peers in Williamsburg. What this
means is that some portion of the sessions will take place in
Newport News on Sunday mornings from 11 am - 12:30 pm.
The other sessions will take place in Williamsburg from
4:00pm- 5:30 pm. The program
will start in mid September and finish at the end of December
(approximately 12 weeks, we will not hold class on the Retreat,
Thanksgiving and Christmas Sundays.) We will hold one overnight to
bond the group together and cover the first 2 sessions. You will
need to commit to having your youth attend sessions both here and in
Williamsburg for those four months.
Since we are compacting the program from a full year to a
half year, each session will be filled with information. Also, OWL
classes become very close and for group dynamics, regular attendance
is critical.
We love babies and have lots of room for them!
Our Nursery is professionally staffed and open from 9:15-12:15 every
Sunday, through the program year, for infants and toddlers.
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Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Peninsula
