It’s the time of year when we turn our attention to the holidays; Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas preparations are well on their way. We’ve already had all of our planning meetings for the holidays here at Westside. The calendar is full! For the Religious Exploration (RE)program that means lots of activities with the whole congregation, but not a whole lot of RE class time.
At this point we won’t have RE classes until Dec. 3. Although, we will have another “Youth Group for All Ages” this Sunday, November 19, during potluck. Our youth group is doing Neighboring Faiths this year and one of the pieces of that curriculum is to have a guest speaker who practices, or is especially knowledgeable about, a faith tradition come and speak with the youth group. We’ve decided to open up the guest visits to the entire congregation—so please join us! David Howell will be speaking about Buddhism in preparation for the youth group’s visit to the Buddhist Center next month.
On December 3, we’ll be preparing for our Holiday Pageant, “It’s a Small World.” This year’s pageant will explore Christmas around the world. In preparation for that, we’ll be sorting out character roles and getting ideas for costumes during RE that day. If you’d like to dress up and play a part, come to RE class in the Elementary Room that day between noon and 1 pm or contact me so I know you’re interested. Right after class we’ll be setting up the props for the pageant, so if you’re more of a prop person, come help with that at about 1:15 pm or so.
Our pageant will be held on Dec. 10 during the service. The no-rehearse rehearsal will happen at 9:30 that morning, just so that everyone knows where to be and what their character/part does at what point during the pageant. Showtime, of course, is during the service at 11 am. The annual Hanging of the Greens holiday party will be held right after that in the sanctuary, so no RE classes that day so we can celebrate the holidays all together.
The following Sunday, Dec. 17, is our Winter Solstice Spiral service to celebrate the return of the sun and more daylight in the darkest of winter days. Potluck follows that service, so there won’t be RE that day or for any of the remaining Sundays in December. Christmas Eve, December 24, although it’s a Sunday, will go a little differently this year in that we’ll have the Christmas Eve service in the evening. Watch the newsletter and Order of Service for announcements about these dates and events as they near! All of us in RE are looking forward to celebrating and being together as a congregation especially during this time of the year.
Wendy can be reached at 865.226.9191, dre@westsideuuc.org, and during office hours or by appointment.