Children participated in several special celebrations in today's worship service. We celebrated a "Coming of Age" for our oldest middle school student, Margaret. The congregation pledged to walk with her as she enters young adulthood as a high school student, continuing a spiritual journey that will last her lifetime.
We also celebrated a unique Unitarian Universalist tradition, the Flower Communion. As everyone entered church this morning they brought a flower and added it to a communal bouquet, signifying that we come as unique individuals with a diversity of beliefs and talents, and form a beautiful bouquet when we share together in community. As the service ended, each person took a flower different than the one they brought, signifying their acceptance of the gifts that others bring to our community.
We also enjoyed the wonderful sounds of our church choir joined by the choir from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Easton. Looking at the children's faces, it was easy to see the awe and wonder they felt experiencing the power of song and harmony.
After the elementary children were sung out to their RE program, we wrapped up our year's PEAK (Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids) program, reviewing the principles that we’ve discussed during the year. We talked about all of the ‘life’ that is in and on the ground where we walk, hike, pitch tents, etc., ; how all life is sacred, in all of its forms, but that in order to live we must sometimes take the lives of plants and animals. But by being respectful and not wasteful, we can minimize the damage that we do, especially when we are outdoors. It led to a nice discussion about hunting, how it is ok as long as you eat what is killed, and don’t waste any of it – not ok to do just for sport.
We also celebrated a unique Unitarian Universalist tradition, the Flower Communion. As everyone entered church this morning they brought a flower and added it to a communal bouquet, signifying that we come as unique individuals with a diversity of beliefs and talents, and form a beautiful bouquet when we share together in community. As the service ended, each person took a flower different than the one they brought, signifying their acceptance of the gifts that others bring to our community.
We also enjoyed the wonderful sounds of our church choir joined by the choir from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Easton. Looking at the children's faces, it was easy to see the awe and wonder they felt experiencing the power of song and harmony.
After the elementary children were sung out to their RE program, we wrapped up our year's PEAK (Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids) program, reviewing the principles that we’ve discussed during the year. We talked about all of the ‘life’ that is in and on the ground where we walk, hike, pitch tents, etc., ; how all life is sacred, in all of its forms, but that in order to live we must sometimes take the lives of plants and animals. But by being respectful and not wasteful, we can minimize the damage that we do, especially when we are outdoors. It led to a nice discussion about hunting, how it is ok as long as you eat what is killed, and don’t waste any of it – not ok to do just for sport.
Then we went outside, broke into two groups (younger and
older), and stretched out a piece of string in a circle about 2 feet in
diameter, and explored and identified all of the life forms that we found
within the circle(s). Identified were ginko trees, poison ivy, dandelions, rotting
ginko fruit, spiders, gnats, mosquito larvae, algae, several types of lichens,
grasses, as well as some ‘non-living’ items like litter, trash, dead leaves,
etc. It was wonderful to have a lovely warm and sunny day to do
this activity, and the children enjoyed being able to ‘run off some steam’!
Great coming of age ceremony. I don't know who all set it up but it was very nice. I particularly liked the fact that so many people, both young and older, got to directly participate in the ceremony. Great job everyone and congrats to Margaret!
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