Rev. Carol Bodeau, Director of Religious Education dre@westsideuuc.org
Well, the official ‘church year’ is here. Now that we’ve all come back from our summer adventures, it’s time to kick off our regular Sunday morning programming for children and youth. This year, the Religious Education committee has decided to focus our programs on a theme of World Religions. Children and youth at all age levels will be exploring and learning about a number of major religious traditions, including: Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and earth-based spiritual traditions. For our holiday pageant, the kids will be presenting a “Festival of Lights” and sharing what they learn about a number of winter holiday traditions. In the older grades (middle school and high school) the youth will be visiting a number of other religious communities, including a Jewish Temple, a Buddhist community, a Christian church, and a Native American spiritual event. It’s going to be an incredible year!
As we launch the program, there are many wonderful opportunities for people of all ages to participate in learning and teaching with our children. We’ll be holding a number of multigenerational worship ser-vices and parties; there will be a special Mystery Friends program in the spring (which is a bit like in-church pen pals); the Coming of Age program will allow the youth to develop relationships with adult mentors from the congregation. No matter your age, you can be part of the exciting and fun things happen-ing in the Religious Education program this year.
If you are an adult interested in helping lead one of our Sunday morning classes, please let me know. Or if you’d like to help out with special events, field trips, or special programs like Coming of Age or Mystery Friends, please send me an email or give me a call. Every person in the Westside community is a treasure of wisdom, curiosity, experience and knowledge; we can all learn and grow together by sharing our talents and enthusiasm. Families with children, be on the look-out for registration forms and mailings from me soon about the program.
I’m so looking forward to learning more about each of you, and the gifts you bring to this community.
Many blessings,
Rev. Carol