We hope the prospect of the return to school feels joyful or is at least not causing stress in your homes. We’re holding you all in the joy, the angst, the anticipation, and all the many emotions that pop up in these moments of transition.

And we hope to be seeing you at church as we flow into the new season. 

Our annual Water Ingathering tradition marks the start of the church year, and that will happen on Sunday, September 11th. If you can, bring a little bit of water to add to our ceremonial collection, which includes water from many years of this tradition. We use this sacred water throughout each year in child dedications, bridging, and other special rituals in our community. People bring water from special places they’ve travelled to, or places that have special meaning to them, or from kitchen sinks of their own homes. Wherever your water is from, bring it to join with all the waters that buoy us.

Water Ingathering will be a multigenerational worship, so kids will stay in the sanctuary instead of going to religious education class. Kids can either sit with their families or find JenDD to sit in an area with other kids! Service will be interactive and we have fresh activity packs available.

Religious Education Classes: We have been working hard to plan, redefine, and rebuild, in a big post-pandemic way! We’re ready for rich, robust Religious Education programs to be filled with young people, connecting with each other in deep and meaningful ways. We will continue the summer format of having all ages together for RE during worship through the next few weeks, then we will move back to our age-based curricular programs. 

The Program Info area of this website is updated with information on the age-specific classes that will run this program year!

Here are some key things to know in this particular moment:

• Register for RE: It’s time again! We need all children and youth to be registered each year so we have all the info we need to serve you safely and well. Now is the time! Click here to register!
• OWL Sexuality Education classes: We will have OWL for 5th grade and 7th grade this year. Detailed info is on the OWL page. Registration is required, and we will open space to the larger community, so please sign up asap by sending an email: jendeldeo@southchurch-uu.org. 
• 8th Grade Coming of Age (CoA): Orientation and Opening Ceremony for CoA youth and their families will be on Thurs Oct 6th, 6:30-8pm. 

Please reach out with any questions or concerns! Everyone deserves to engage at church in ways that feel right for them. We are always happy to help find the ways work best for each person.

See you soon! 🤟♥️

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Calendar for this month… 

Click Linked Items for additional Details:

Click here for 2022-2023 RE Program Information

• Sunday, August 28th:
  • Worship at 10:00a, in person and live on YouTube. Sermon offered by Reverend Ellen
  • All-ages RE following the Time For All Ages
• Sunday, September 4th:
  • Worship at 10:00a, in person and live on YouTube. Sermon offered by Susan Treleaven
  • All-ages RE following the TFAA
• Sunday, September 11th:
  • Worship at 10:00a, in person and live on YouTube. Sermon offered by Reverend Ellen. This will be a multigenerational worship; kids remain in sanctuary.
• Saturday, September 18th:
  • Worship at 10:00a, in person and live on YouTube. Sermon offered by Reverend Ellen.
  • All-ages RE following the TFAA
  • Senior Youth Group will share about their Service Learning trip to West Virginia after worship!
• Sunday, September 25th:
  • Worship at 10:00a, in person and live on YouTube. Sermon offered by Reverend Ellen
  • Religious Education classes downstairs following TFAA 
  • Senior Youth group meets at Court St 4:00-4:30
• Wednesday, September 28th:
  • Parent Orientation for 7th Grade Sexuality Education (OWL), 6:30-8pm
• Saturday, October 1st:
  • Senior Youth orientation and overnight! Parents join for start of the evening, then youth stay over and go to worship together.
• Sunday, October 2nd:
  • Worship at 10:00a, in person and live on YouTube. Sermon offered by Reverend Ellen
  • Religious Education classes downstairs following TFAA 

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September’s Theme is “Belonging“

Our UU faith in practice and action:

• Connecting to Water Ingathering/Water Communion
  • Bring a small amount of water from your summer travels, a special place you love, or a faucet in your own home, to our Water Ingathering worship on 9/11. Reflect together on where your water comes from, and put your intentions for the church year into your water at home before bringing it!
  • This is a UU tradition that many UU congregations, including ours, “hold at the end of the summer, in which participants of all ages bring ‘living waters’ from wherever their travels led them and mingle them for later use by the congregation in ceremonies, such as a child dedication.” (From UUA.org) As we think about the ways that water connects all humans and other living organisms, watch this video poem about a girl who walks 4 miles to collect water. 

• Become Water Protectors: Check out the Water Protectors activity kit and take the Earth Steward and Water Protector Pledge.
• “Belonging” Dinner Discussion Prompt:
  • Can you think of times when you sacrificed or hid a part of who you are to conform? (pretended you didn’t like something, made fun of someone to fit in, bought something all your friends have)
  • Belonging means being accepted for ALL of who you are. It means the courage to stand alone and say, “This is who I am.” 
  • Can you think of a time when you felt accepted for ALL of who you are? At a Grandparents house, at church, by friends?

Chalice Lighting for mealtimes this month:

Belonging for Our Whole Selves, by Rev. Scott Tayler 

May the flame we now kindle light the path back to our center, 

back to that place of belonging 

to what is true, what is deepest within, what knows us even before we know ourselves. 

And may our chalice remind us that we are held 

and welcomed whole, without the need to hide 

a single piece or part 

of who we are.