Our Kids’ Connection program has an intentional design, one that is consistent with our goal of promoting feelings of TRUST in our young charges. One overarching design principle that permeates our program is best captured in the phrase CHOICE WITHIN STRUCTURE. Competing philosophies of education often are geared toward one or the other of those […]
What is silence? And how is silence related to listening? While not exactly the same thing, silence and listening do overlap each other. Maybe one definition of silence could be eliminating the noises or sounds that we make so that we can take note of, or listen to, noises or sounds that we are not […]
Last year our Family Ministry Team was laser focused on reconceptualizing and implementing a new version of our Kids’ Connection program. At our Kids’ Connection Open House last month, we officially went public with the results of our program development efforts. The new program has a new look with additional spaces and materials, as well […]
The Beat Café and Jam Café are back from hiatus! The last Tuesday of the month (except holidays), join MC Paul at the Beat Café: an open mic night for poets and writers. On the last Thursday of the month (except holidays), DJ Paul hosts the Jam Café: a casual gathering of musicians playing familiar […]
We are gearing up for a new year of Kids’ Connection. Last year, the Family Ministry Team focused on issues related to program development and implementation. We re-conceptualized our Kids’ Connection program, experimenting with alternative versions of it, making changes based upon how our children responded to our offerings, and exploring new ways of using […]
I bet if we were to gather a group of us together for a discussion about some of our fondest memories from childhood, many of those memories would be related to how we spent our summers. My childhood summer memories mostly involve palling around with neighborhood friends—participating in seemingly endless sessions of hide-n-seek or tag-you’re-it, […]
I love the fact that our church year is like a school year—starting up fresh in September each year and slowing down in June. For me, it is a pattern that brings with it the comfort of familiarity. Even more important, though, is that the opportunity for renewal is built into this pattern. Even though […]
A few months ago, I read the book Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. It is a paean to the interdependence at work in natural ecosystems such as forests and fields. What impressed me about Sheldrake’s message is how at first glance, these ecosystems seem to be made-up of individual and identifiable forms, such as trees […]
Over the last few months, as we have been redesigning our Kids Connection spaces and rituals, we have been moved to consider how our Kids Connection program might affect our UUCM children in the long run. What will our children remember about their time in Kids Connection at UUCM? How might their memories of Kids Connection influence the people they grow up to be? […]
The New Year is always a good time to rethink the usefulness or effectiveness of our routines and habits. Upstairs, in our Kids Connection program, we have been doing some of this New
Year rethinking. We are looking forward to many opportunities of connecting with you and your children in the year ahead.
