Am I the only one looking forward to June already? When that sun comes up and we can kick into a little bit more relaxation. We’re still a little bit away, but rest assured, we are doing stuff this summer and we want you to come! We have programs lined up, two we’re putting on right here at East Shore.
Art in Community full day, in-person summer camp. Participants welcome in Grades K-5 and Youth Camp Counselors in Grades 6-12.
East Shore Unitarian Church teaches the wisdom of world religions and helps kids to create justice and peace in the world. And this year, we’re partnering with Camp Kindness Counts believes in the power of kindness to build a happier healthier world. And together, we imagine a world of empowered kids bringing their voices and visions for the greater good of our world! Bring a friend, or two, and have some fun!
We believe in each person’s voice and vision! You are never too young to make a difference! The week will be a unique mix of art, social-emotional learning, and community service in an empowering setting.
Throughout our week we:
learn more about how awesome diversity and justice are for everyone
imagine and create images for our common future through art and community mural work
collaborate and create action plans for change starting from our own interests and concerns with the world
learn mindfulness exercises focusing on social-emotional awareness
play games and let loose! Every day is inspiring, empowering and really…Really FUN!
Fees:
Children: $350
Youth Camp Counselor: $150
Adult Volunteer: $35
Multiple kids in the families? Take a $100 off each registration! NOTAFLOF
Youth camp counselor are trained to co-lead a small group of kids in activities and learning experiences throughout the camp week. There are also opportunities for them to spend time as a youth cohort!
With laws criminalizing trans-children and reproductive health care, now is the time to root ourselves more deeply in this calling. Unitarian Universalism has a long and proud history of creating sexually healthy congregations and communities. We carry that torch in part through OWL. OWL empowers adults and children across the lifespan to know themselves in a deep way. It provides language and skills to think and talk about consent, boundaries, gender, sexuality, relationships, and our values. There are new editions of K-2 curricula and 10-12 curricula. These editions include much needed updates on gender and race diversity. All curricula levels (children, youth, and adult) will be offered. This will be East Shore’s third time hosting a Labor Day weekend training. And this time, we’re partnering with the Pacific Western Region of the UUA and local PNW UUA congregations to do so.
Childcare may be available upon request. Volunteer support roles for congregants who are not enrolled in the weekend course are needed
Many children want to give gifts to express their love to others. For some, that is their love language. They know the joy or receiving and gift and want to offer that gift to others. How beautiful to let our children know that giving is not just a moral practice, it is a spiritual practice. When we give to others, we are making a visible sign of the relationship and interdependence that exists in our world. I would like you to spend some time as a family during March to work on your stewardship together at home. I envision a congregation where the wisdom of our children and youth is a guiding force so I would love to receive any feedback about how these activities go for your families.
Here are three reflective family activities around stewardship of a faith community:
Use a device to pull up the church website or one of our social media sites and click around. Check out the different parts of our website to recall the programs we are running together and the ways we are really living out our mission: we practice love, explore spirituality, build community, and promote justice. Does anything spark your interest? Did you notice something new as a family that you didn’t know about before?
Think back over the last year, or two if you’re pulling from the pandemic timeline, and remember some of the things that were your favorite. This could be done over a meal or on a walk. Maybe you have some pictures on your phone from beet picking or a Black Lives Matter flash stance, maybe it’s been getting reengaged with RE and OWL and Family Covenant Circle, maybe it was one of the Sunday worships that moved you, maybe it was just being on our campus amongst those tall and sometimes flowering trees. Find a memory of this community and then share it aloud with one another in a story format: “Tell me about a time when…”.
This is a visualization journey into your imagination. Close your eyes or sit comfortably and have one person read this aloud: First, place your hand on your heart. Next, imagine someone you care about at church, it could be a family member, a teacher, a friend, across from you. Reach out your hand now and offer it toward this person who reaches out to greet your hand halfway. Pause here. What do you see passing between your hands? Is it your heart? Is it some money? Perhaps it is water droplets, flowing and abundant. Now imagine that there are ten more people also doing the same thing. Place a string connecting each person and grow the web in a spiraling expansiveness. Close the exercise by placing now both hands on your heart and speaking aloud our mission: we practice love, explore spirituality, build community, and promote justice.
by amanda alice uluhan, Director of Religious Education
It’s a new year, and wasn’t one of your resolutions to get more involved in the community? Sign up to volunteer.
Did you know Religious Education is one of the primary reasons that bring people to East Shore? Families long for a liberal religious center where they can raise children in community and fill up their cups all the while. East Shore is that Beacon on a Hill. These families can end up staying for a lifetime, making East Shore a spiritual community for the generations that will come! Volunteering in RE isn’t just about teaching, it’s about community building and making our mission come alive. Our volunteers aren’t professional teachers, they’re members in our community who sign up with a team and who partner with the DRE, children/youth, and parents to nurture this place we call home.
Help make a difference in East Shore’s community by signing up to volunteer RE classes: biweekly RE Online (2nd and 4th Sundays) or RE Outdoor programs (1st and 3rd Sundays). If you’re trained in OWL, we’ve started classes again and will be reaching out to you soon!
As an RE volunteer, you will be challenged to have fun, be adventurous, make meaning with our students. You will learn more about Unitarian Universalism, its history, principles, sources, and values than you knew before. You will help nurture and grow your teaching team and partnership with the RE staff and parents. Consistent adult leadership is proven to help reduce childhood trauma, and let’s face it: the world is in need of harm reduction. You can help be that salve right now by sharing your time and talents in RE.
What are some ways you can volunteer with Religious Education?
Join a team of adult members after worship servicewith RE Outdoors
Join a team of adult members before worship service with RE Online
Sign up for a Time for All Ages story on a Sunday morning worship
Join the Children and Youth RE Team and share your time and talent with meetings online and take-home projects between meetings
Help organize! RE has an extensive library and curricula catalog that are sorely in need of some extra TLC and attention
Organize your ministry team to provide events and opportunities that include children, youth, families, or parents
“The truth about stories is, that’s all we are.” -Thomas King
We use stories to find meaning in our lives; help us to know ourselves and each other more; and help us ask big questions about life’s mysteries. It’s not all fun and games, but we do want stories to inspire and guide us with big and little challenges! Here is how you can take part in sharing a story!
Choose a story that is appropriate for ages three and up, that fits with the theme of the worship, and that you enjoy. It can be a story book, an oral or written story, or a personal story from your life.
Choose a story that reflects UU values, sources, and principles. Consider wisdom from a variety of sources, including world cultures and religions, poets, seekers, teachers, science, the rhythms of nature, and the quiet voice within.
Make sure that your story is between 3-6 minutes in length and that you share the details with RE staff and the Worship Team.
If you are recording it as a video, make sure that the recording of the story is sent to Jenny Newell at [email protected] by the Thursday before the date of the Sunday service.
If you are telling the story live, we ask that you be available to practice sharing it at a Friday dress rehearsal.
LeAnne Struble often tells of her introduction to East Shore on Salmon Bake Sunday, a beloved Ingathering Tradition occurring in early September of, nearly, every year for the last 75. And then how by the next Sunday, she was signed up in the Nursery room to teach. And for the next ten years, she’s been doing just that: teaching the rudimentary foundations of our faith and our beloved values to children in ways that even the most advanced of adults mind would surely revel to hear. Let’s learn a little more about her experiences in RE over the last year. LeAnne writes:
I have performed the responsibilities of Lead Preschool Teacher and much more. During the past year I have led online sessions, outdoor sessions twice a month, and drive in events with take home activities. These require coordinating with parents, the DRE, and facilities staff to create a positive experience. I led the RE program in bringing the children back together for outdoor RE. Through rain and shine we came together
I value children as full members of our multigenerational community. I am committed to keeping children connected to our church community. During our time at the virtual church I have helped out as a worship associate and in the worship service using my skills as a crafter to bring more visuals and meaning to our services. I pray that children will be welcomed by the church when we are given the chance to return to in person worship.
Talking to children at their level is one of my core skills. I know how to keep children engaged whether they are online, outdoors, or have special needs. Knowing how to present content to children to meet their needs and bring them our UU values and history is one of my skills and one of the things that brings me joy in working in the RE program.
My greatest concern is for support from the congregation as a whole for children and families. Like many of the staff during the pandemic I worked hard to learn new technology to bring the same level of content to the children. I feel training on new curriculum and new ways of teaching in a hybrid model would benefit everyone associated with the Religious Exploration program.
Hello, my name is Julie Heise and I am on the Middle School RE teaching team with Bill Chappell and Carrie Coello. I have been so impressed with the energy of our Middle School RE group this year! They prepared 40 breakfast burritos for the Congregations for the Homeless (CFH) men staying at East Shore, hosted the Parent Afternoon Out auction event, and enthusiastically welcomed a new youth into our group. With the “Questing Year” curriculum, we talk about life’s big mysteries and think about how to help our church, our community, and our world. Coming up we will learn about the history of the UU chalice, and talk about tolerance and diversity. This energetic group already has even more ideas for “Action Quests” this year too.
When I first started helping with East Shore’s RE program in 2001, we taught in portables in the lower parking lot while the RE building was being built. I love the combination of children participating at the beginning of church service in the Sanctuary and then heading over to the RE building for classes. It’s so important for children to see their parents and other adults expressing their faith and being part of that experience. I have had the joy of watching the preschool children that I taught enter middle school, high school, and then head out into the world as adults. Along the way our East Shore youth learned about traditions from different faiths, worked on service projects, and became friends.
As a parent who had a child in the East Shore RE program for 15 years, my favorite memories are when my daughter proudly showed me her homemade chalice, her World Religions class and visit to a Hindu temple, the Water Bottle project to raise money for water bottle filling stations at East Shore, and chaperoning at High School Con. One of the things that impressed me during Amélie’s years in RE was that in addition to exploring UU principles, the adults around Amélie encouraged her to explore opportunities and challenge herself – being stage manager for RE winter pageants, assisting Walter Andrews with RE classes, YES team, Con staff and participating in regional and national UU events.
Amélie taught me about the “Robbie Rule” where there is always an empty chair and an opening in a circle of friends – so that more people can join in and be included. Then the high school youth created the “Robbier Rule” where there is not only an opening for another person to join, but participants look around to see if anyone is alone and invite them to join the circle.
As our Middle School RE group continues our journey this year, we will leave a chair open for new members to say, “We’ve been waiting for you. Welcome home!”
Art in Community Summer Camp
OWL Facilitator Training
