Our Jewish and Christian Heritage
We choose programs from national resources as well as homegrown ideas that best fit our goals and engage our children. Children’s (Preschool — 5th grade) classes are offered simultaneous to the adult services at 9:00 and 11 a.m. The teen program is offered at the 11 a.m. service only.
Our age groups are:
Nursery
The T.Berry Brazelton Infant Cuddle Room has rocking chairs and infant toys, and is connected to the sanctuary with a pulpit speaker and window. Parents and infants/ toddlers may stay together and hear the sermon
Preschool
For ages 2-5 years. “Chalice Children” — Learning about being in a UU community through fingerplays, sharing circle games, and songs.
K-2nd
“Super Heroes; Bible Stories for UU Kids” — Using the superheroes theme, children will explore bible stories and relate them to their own lives, in this lively, fun program. Children make an ark of the covenant, create Joseph’s coat of many colors, and act out the Cherry Tree Carol to learn the Bible Stories.
3rd-5th
“Timeless Themes; Stories from the Hebrew and Christian Bibles” – Children will be introduced to the religious stories central to our culture and to our heritage as Unitarian Universalists. They will meet modern refugees while learning about the Flight from Egypt, compare the two stories of Adam and Eve, and learn about the Bible in the anthropological context of desert culture 2000 years ago. There will also be the fun of building the Tower of Babel, and sharing jokes about Noah’s Ark.
Why Teach Bible Stories?
From the introduction to “Timeless Themes”
“Our culture is derived from a predominantly Jewish and Christian ethic. By becoming familiar with the stories which helped to shape those faiths, our children will better understand this heritage. The human issues which inspired these scriptures are ageless. Their settings, social customs, and scientific knowledge may seem outdated, but their vital core of beliefs and values continues to be important. These “timeless themes” include:
- the belief in a transcendent power, or God
- the belief that humans are responsible for their actions
- the love of freedom for all people
- the prophetic imperative to speak out against injustice
- the respect for the beliefs of others and our common humanity,
- the love of one’s neighbor
- the forgiveness for wrongdoing
Goals for Our Jewish and Christian Heritages Semester
Why: One of the sources of our living tradition is “the Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.” If we wish our children to make informed decisions about their own spirituality, then we wish them to know about the roots of our faith. In addition, we live in a culture which is predominantly Jewish and Christian and wish our children to understand the culture.
How: We teach Bible stories as teaching stories. Our Jewish and Christian brothers and sisters use these stories to learn about how to find meaning in the world. We can find meaning in them too. For example, the story about Joseph and his brothers can teach us about sibling rivalry and forgiveness. The story about the Good Samaritan can teach us about finding help in unexpected places.
What: UU’s are a pluralistic religious people, recognizing many paths to meaning. Our Jewish and Christian Heritages provide some of the paths to meaning but not all. Sometimes their answers to life don’t fit our world anymore. For instance, we no longer want to treat women the way that the ancient desert cultures did. Sometimes the stories are timeless. Jesus’ love of the children is just as relevant today. We want our children to know the insights and poetry in the Bible, for what we can learn from it. We want our children to be familiar enough with the Bible to know that it is a compilation of texts written down by people who lived long ago but which still can teach us things about ourselves today.
Where: We teach the Bible Stories as stories that come out of a desert culture, long ago. We would like our children to know some of the geography of the “Holy Land” from which so much of the Jewish and Christian Heritage came. We want our children to know the anthropological and human context of these stories.
When: We are offering the Jewish and Christian Heritages Semester as a First Semester, and will include pertinent stories and holidays for the Fall and Winter seasons. The next time this Semester is offered we will offer it as a Second Semester so that Winter and Spring Holidays and stories can be covered.