The Gift of Time

"Love is, above all, the gift of oneself."

This quote from Jean Anouilh was the basis of the elementary children's lesson today as they explored our second Unitarian Universalist Source of beliefs, expressed in children's language as "women and men of long ago and today whose lives remind us to be kind and fair."  They heard an often-quoted Christmas story from the life of UU minister and author Ralph Waldo Emerson.  When Emerson asked his daughter Emily what she wanted for Christmas, she responded with a riddle:  "You cannot buy it, for it is worth all the money you have, but only YOU can give it."  Emerson pondered that for quite a while, and finally concluded - correctly - that his daughter's wish was for the gift of his time, which he gladly gave her throughout the coming year.  Later in his life, Emerson would repeat that story often in his writings and from the pulpit. 

Today the children played a riddle guessing game, and made Gift of Time coupons to give to family members.  They added a new UU constellation to the Night Sky display:  a constellation of two stick figures joining hands, representing our second Source and the gift of love.

In another lesson on the gift of love, our middle school youth thanked the congregation for their extremely generous special collections the past two weeks (over $500 was donated as well as several boxes of food goods) and spent the morning shopping to fill the shelves of the local Food Pantry.

AT HOME IDEAS:  Start a new holiday tradition of gifting others with your time!  With your child, explore the topic together.  Is there a family member or friend who might especially appreciate the gift of your time?  Brainstorm ways your family can spend time together without spending a lot of money, such as planting a garden, going for a walk, reading books, playing games, etc.  Coupon booklets are one way to capture those gifts of time.  Another is to make a Give Love or Gift of Time jar, into which family members can deposit a piece of paper with a gift of time that the family can share together such as family movie night, or cooking dinner together.  Then once a week or so, have the family gather round to draw one slip and enjoy the gift of time together.  Or create a Give Love family scrapbook.  This is particularly appropriate at this holiday season when we have time to spend with extended family members, and can include interviews as well as multigenerational scrapbooking activities. 

In this era when a family's life can be filled to overflowing with one structured activity after another, giving our children the Gift of Time can be the most precious thing we can do.

PEAK and MEETING MYSTERY

Under the leadership of teacher Diane Shields, today's elementary group participated in a PEAK program (Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids).  The topic was "How Long Does It Last?"and the focus was on the "Pack Your Trash" principle of Leave No Trace.  Participants were shown a variety of objects (aluminum can, wool sock, orange peels, paper, plastic grocery bag, etc) and guessed at the length of time each item takes to decompose.  That led to a discussion of what it means to decompose, and some side discussions such as mending worn clothing that is still quite usable, disposing of pet droppings, and bringing cloth bags to use at the grocery store.  Since the temperature was quite brisk, children were given the choice to do the primary activity indoors or outdoors.  Responding to the theme, they unanimously chose to do the activity outdoors!  Diane notes that PEAK is a GREAT addition to our RE program, not just for the kids but for the parents and general congregation as well.  The idea of incorporating Leave No Trace/PEAK principles into a culminating spring camping trip was discussed with a few parents afterward, with great enthusiasm.  Look for details in the future!

While the elementary group was exploring environmental practices, the middle school group, under the guidance of Linda Dutton, was busy with their Questing Year session "Meeting Mystery."  Discussion revolved around the different ways people use to explore spirituality, including prayer, meditation, and music.  Participants had the opportunity to experience various practices such as chanting during their Mystery Quest.

Thanks to the extremely generous donations of our congregation in the past two Sunday special collections, the middle school and upper elementary students will spend next Sunday (December 18) shopping for the Food Pantry.  The students are excited to offer this service on behalf of our congregation.  The children's religious education program thanks our congregation for such generous support!

I would also like to draw your attention to a wonderful weekly parenting blog by UU educator Michelle Richards.  She focuses on how to incorporate UU principles into daily practice within the family.  Please visit her blog "UU Parenting" at:  blogs.uuworld.org/parenting

We Learn from Jewish and Christian Teachings

This past Sunday the elementary level learned about Jesus' life through a story based on passages from Christian scripture.  They explored the fourth Unitarian Universalist Source, "Jewish and Christian teachings which tell us to love all others as we love ourselves", learning that Jesus taught - and more importantly, demonstrated - the importance of taking care of everyone in a community.  The children identified communities they belong to, talked about what being a community means, and tied their lesson about building community to the story of Stone Soup that was read during the worship service, and which would be experienced during the Stone Soup lunch to follow.

Children also shared personal experiences about Christmas (the birth of Jesus) and other seasonal holidays such as Hannukah and the lesser-celebrated Solstice.  They heard one of Jesus' parables about the tiny mustard seed growing into a huge bush large enough for birds to nest in, and how Jesus compared the mustard seed to the way that Love grows in our hearts.  They created mustard seed door hangers as a take home reminder of that story. 

The lesson ended with creating a new UU Source constellation in our Night Sky display - the constellation of Jewish and Christian Teachings (a cross and a Star of David.)

Families are encouraged to explore the vast diversity of this season's holidays, and to include child-friendly story books about the teachings of Jesus such as Tomie DePaola's classic Book of Bible Stories, acclaimed for its gentle stories and sweet illustrations.