http://www.uua.org/re/youth/events/gacaucus/faq/index.shtml

Our 1st-6th grade class will be holding a sock drive in June in support of the No More Deaths Ministry. I will deliver the collected socks to that team at General Assembly in Phoenix:

http://nomoredeaths.org/

Blessings~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUUC Director of Religious Education

My very first two General Assemblies were in Phoenix, where this year’s GA will be held and in our own backyard, in Long Beach. I went with my entire family. Those GAs were very special. I went to GA in Salt Lake City, where I was able to visit my mother’s family, and to GA in Minneapolis, where my husband’s family lives. Those trips were also, very, very special. One of my proudest moments was a GA I didn’t even attend, where youth advisor Birdie Reed sponsored my son, and he carried our UU banner in the big banner parade that opens GA every year. I wasn’t even there, and that GA in Cleveland was very special to me.

But last year we went to Charlotte, North Carolina. So my very proudest moment at GA was putting on this ‘Standing on the Side of Love’ T-shirt, gathering with so many other UUs wearing this T-Shirt, and marching with everyone to stand up for Marriage Rights for All. Swirling in that gathering of UUs, and knowing that we all stood together; that we all were there to stand on the side of Love gave me goose bumps. I got goose bumps writing about it, too.

We walked together in our shirts that day, we had signs and we sang. We heard inspirational stories and singers. But being part of that group, just being together, straight and LGBT, old and young and in-between, being there to do the right thing and to speak up for justice, was an incredible experience. It rained on the way back from the park that day, and that in no way dampened our spirits. We were there, and we were all present for justice. We were together in the spirit of life and love.

This year we will be standing up in Phoenix for another important issue, immigration and border justice. I want for each and every one of you to be able to have that experience. To march with your UU sisters and brothers, to hold space and speak up for doing the right thing. Please join us for justice GA in Phoenix in June 2012. Walk with UUs from all over, walk together with others from OCUUC. Please come and join hands, and walk with me.

http://blueboat.blogs.uua.org/ga2012/programs/

http://www.uua.org/documents/lfd/1202_youth_ga.pdf

OWL provides accurate information to young people so that they can make informed decisions about their bodies and their lives. It’s a lot of fun too! We still need one male facilitator for a Saturday if anyone from another UU church is available who has had the OWL training.

Mandatory Parent meeting Monday March 26 6pm-10pm
Friday March 30 5:30 (potluck 5:30-6:30) pm through Saturday March 31, 6 pm
Friday April 20 6 pm through Saturday April 21, 6 pm

Registration is $30. OWL is open to all youth in the 10th-12th grades in the larger community. Contact Rayna Hamre  (dreocuucorg)   for more information.

Please let us know ASAP if your children will be participating in Our Whole Lives, or, OWL. We will be opening up the sessions to other churches in the area, so spaces will fill fast.

• Senior high OWL will meet for two intensives on Friday March 30 6 pm through Saturday March 31, 6 pm and Friday April 20 6 pm through Saturday April 21, 6 pm.
• 5th-6th grade OWL will meet on the following: Sunday April 15, 1-3:30 pm mandatory parent & student session; Sundays April 22, 29; Sundays May 6, 13, 20, 27; and Sunday June 3, 1-2:30 pm.

Our Year of the Dragon is off to a great start. Thanks to the help of our January volunteers, our children had the fun of putting together a dragon parade for Chinese New Year. Fittingly, this is the Year of the Dragon, so there were dragon stories and poems along with our dragon making activities in the Social Hall. The adults had a surprise when the dragon was waiting for them on the patio after the second service. If there were any evil spirits lurking about the building they should be gone after our parade. We welcomed in the New Year with plenty of noise and good wishes. February brought us our second craft night, with the evening focused on Valentine activities and a pizza dinner. Through the cooperation of several committees, our Spirit Grant money, and a private donation, we were able to replace the television in the Social Hall with a new model. With much clearer picture and sound available, RE will be able to resume family movie nights and to provide up-to-date equipment for trainings and classes.

If our Religious Education classes seem a little small during the months of February and March, it is because we have a large group of youth who are taking Our Whole Lives (OWL) at the UU Church of Long Beach. Our families and events will be back on track at OCUUC in May. OWL provides age appropriate information, in a caring environment with trained facilitators, about the human body, sexual health and positive life choices. OWL classes are scheduled at OCUUC for our 5-6 graders and senior high this spring.

Parents, please let us know ASAP if your children will be participating in Our Whole Lives, or, OWL. We will be opening up the sessions to other churches in the area, so spaces will fill fast.

• Senior high OWL will meet for two intensives on Friday March 30 6 pm through Saturday March 31, 6 pm and Friday April 20 6 pm through Saturday April 21, 6 pm.
• 5th-6th grade OWL will meet on the following: Sunday April 15, 1-3:30 pm mandatory parent & student session; Sundays April 22, 29; Sundays May 6, 13, 20, 27; and Sunday June 3, 1-2:30 pm.

Email dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

Our December 2011 worship theme at OCUUC is world religions. Here is my Time For All Ages presentation that compares Unitarian Charles Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol and the Buddhist Four Noble Truths. Dickensians around the globe will celebrate his 200th birthday in February 2012.

Happy Holidays to All!

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

 ~~~~~~~~~~~

Once upon a time there was a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. He has become famous, many of the grown ups know his story. He loved money more than anything. His business partner dies, and his partner comes back as a ghost on Christmas Eve. I always want to say Bob Marley, but it was Jacob Marley. He warns Ebenezer that he will be visited by three ghosts before the night is over, the Spirit of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future.

The Spirits do come and visit Ebenezer, and give him a good scare. The Spirit of Christmas Past shows him the person he used to be, that he used to be able to have fun and was in love with a girl, but his love of money became more important. The Spirit of Christmas Present takes him to his nephew’s, where hears how the others see him, that he is mean and only thinks of himself and his money.

The last Spirit, who shows him the future that might be, takes him to see the family of the man who works for him, Bob Cratchit. He has a little boy named Tiny Tim, who will die because his family is poor and not able to take care of him. Ebenezer sees his own death which really scares him.

After he wakes up in the morning he is very different. He realizes that we should be good to each other, that to take care of each other and to be kind is the most important thing. He tries to make all of his family and those who work for him happy. He learned an important lesson.

Rev. Ed has talked about a religion from Asia, it is called Buddhism. I saw some of the important things in Buddhism in this story. The Buddha told everyone what are called the Four Noble Truths. Charles Dickens lived at a time when many people suffered, and that is the first noble truth, that everyone suffers. Rich people, poor people, everyone suffers.

The second noble truth is that the cause of everyone’s suffering can be known and understood. Good news for all of us, and Ebenezer was able to find out what was caused his suffering in the story. He was greedy, he only loved money, he tried to keep everything he had for himself, and he never shared anything.

The third noble truth talks about greed, that is the way that all of us try to hold on to the good things in our lives, and worry if we will not be able to do that. It makes us unhappy that everything changes, that things never stay the same, and we worry about that and try to hold on to things and people. It can make us mean and crabby with ourselves and with others.

The fourth noble truth tells us how to live to have a happy life. We need to do what Ebenezer did, share what we have and expect things to change all the time. We can be happy if we accept that things are always changing and don’t expect them to stay the same, if we can let things change.  We have to see that all the things we own can go away and even our feelings or other people’s feelings can change, and that all the changes are okay. We shouldn’t expect to keep everything forever. If we see that, it sets us free, and we can open up our hearts and stop worrying. Then we are free to love ourselves and each other.

Our first group of highlighted UUs includes Margaret Fuller, Hans Deutsch and Rev. Charles Joy, and George de Benneville. Margaret Fuller was a 19^th century intellectual, mystic, war correspondent and early champion of women’s rights. Hans Deutsch and Rev. Joy designed the flaming chalice during the resistance movement of World War II. This symbol eventually became the symbol of our shared Unitarian and Universalist faith. George de Benneville championed our Universalist heritage in the 18^th century, and preached that all people are loved and saved by God. He risked of his life to say these words in both Lutheran and Catholic Europe, and many of his friends were killed for these activities. His life was important, important enough for our UU Camp de Benneville Pines in the San Bernardino Mountains to be named after him.

One paragraph cannot do justice to the lives of these amazing and complex individuals. Below are UUA resources if you would like to explore further:

http://www25-temp.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/margaretfuller.html

http://www.uua.org/publications/pamphlets/introductions/151248.shtml

http://www25-temp.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/georgedebenneville.html

I am honored to share these brave and inspired lives with our children and youth. I hold an MA in history, so this is a true passion of mine. Presenting age-appropriate information and activities with enthusiasm can bring people from the past alive to young people. History shouldn’t be boring!

Of course 1^st Sundays are only one week out of our month. Our regular curriculum Sundays are taught by a wonderful group of volunteers. As always, I am so grateful for our RE community! Thanks to all those who help teach and support our young people on Sundays and beyond.

I look forward to a year of learning and fun with our OCUUC children and youth!

In Gratitude~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

We have had a wonderful changes in the past year in our program. We have steadily increased our registration for church school thanks to hard work and planning by our volunteers and staff. Close to 30 children and youth attend our Sunday program on a regular basis. It is a thrill to see their enthusiasm and excitement as they participate. We have a team of dedicated volunteer teachers and coordinators who make it all happen. Our Religious Education for Children and Youth Committee (RECY) plans with the Director of Religious Education for our classroom activities and programs, with support from our minister, church administrator, Worship Committee and Director of Music ministries. Our parents and church members volunteer to make it all happen, and bring their suggestions and ideas to the community along with their caring and creativity.

With this dynamism and growth does come change. As planners for this religious community, it is our job to find, to listen for, and to evaluate and implement new ideas. It is then our responsibility to make these changes. This can mean streamlining some procedures or trying a new idea. Change can be a challenge, but it also can be exciting and dynamic. As one browses through our curricula dating back over 50 years, it is clear that change is vital! And young or old, change will find us. Embracing the new can bring vitality and energy to our lives.

I was able to attend one transitional event this month, a big change for one person and our Pacific Southwest District, that made me so proud to be a Unitarian Universalist. It was Rev. Tera Little’s ordination at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles. The religious educators and the ministers, along with all guests and visitors, processed around the block of 8^th Street, singing and waving celebratory wands. It was wonderful and invigorating. It was a true gift to see our Rev. Tera’s hard work and dedication rewarded at this loving event. A big congratulations to you, Rev. Tera

In Gratitude~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

Some of us are able to travel and get away for a time. My husband and I were visiting Oslo about two weeks before the tragedies there began, and we were very saddened by the news of the bombings and shootings. Fun and tragedy, laughter and tears. Our lives are often made up of dualities.

As I work with our youth to create this week’s service, Faithful Fools: Standing On The Side of Love for the Homeless, some of those dualities from the trip I took with our youth come into focus. Four OCUUC youth, one youth from Fullerton UU Church, two Directors’ of Religious Education and two chaperons set out on a rainy April day in a rented van. Rain turned to light snow as we traveled over the Grapevine, but we were warm and comfortable in our van, able to stop for dinner along the way.

The next morning we went out on our Street Retreat. This was my second retreat, and I had a completely different experience than the first time, which I wrote about in a previous column. Our youth were in groups of two, with an adult chaperon close by at all times. I was a woman alone, not pretending to be homeless, but hanging out at the park and outwardly not doing much. I was approached by a man for sex while I was sitting by myself in the park (hey, I’m old,  what’s going on here, I thought to myself!), which I declined. At that point, he opened up his coat, took out a glass pipe, lit it up and inhaled deeply. He then told me I looked like the type that ‘never got high.’ We were told by Rev. Denis Paul, the Faithful Fools coordinator, to say ‘no, thank you’ when presented with illegal or inappropriate requests on the street, so I was using my ‘no, thank yous’ quite a bit that day. I never felt unsafe, many people were close by including one of our small groups and a male chaperon, but the experience was an eye opener for me in terms of safety for homeless women.

Later in the day I was sitting in a different area and started talking to a homeless woman named Cami. She described her life to me. She could stay at friend’s house one or two nights a week. The other nights she tried to scrape up enough money to ride the rapid transit or the bus all night so she could safely sleep. She couldn’t sleep on the street alone, day or night, it was too dangerous. She said it was safer for a woman if she joined up with a mixed-gender group. Cami had lived with relatives her entire life until they all passed away, was sweet but was obviously not educated, and she had some physical problems. I bought her lunch, gave her $20, made sure she was plugged into a social service agency (she had an appointment the next day) and then had to leave her to return to the Faithful Fools office. My feeling of abandoning her was overwhelming as I walked away. A deep sadness for her and for an economic system that fails so many so regularly.

As a society, I know we have failed these people. A free lunch will not fix this problem; it runs so much deeper and is so much more complex. I was faced with the figure of a person who is realistically not employable in today’s economy. How many more Cami’s are there in the first world; how many are trying to function in the poverty and despair of  third world countries? Far, far too many.

Our UU faith provides us with ways to help out in those deeper ways. Please take a moment and review information on our UU Legislative Ministry for California, and our UU Service Committee. Immediate needs are so important, but also we need to look for the root causes of social problems and work for long-term solutions, not quick fixes. The duality of rich and poor is fixable. It’s up to us to become educated and to work for social justice.

As I return from this year’s General Assembly in Charlotte, North Carolina, I know that I am blessed to belong to a faith that asks its member’s to act on their shared values. On Friday June 24^th I stood in Marshall Park in downtown Charlotte beside my husband and hundreds of our UU sisters and brothers of all ages. We were there to stand up for LGBTQ rights and marriage equality. Later I was able to cheer with a large group of UUs when the passage of the New York Marriage Equality Act was recognized and announced.

It is distressing that this type of activism is needed. Sadly, rather than declining, violent acts against this part of our community are on the rise. In the U.S. violence against victims because of real or perceived sexual orientation, HIV status or gender identity rose 13% in 2010 over the previous year, according to a report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lgbt-hate-crimes-20110713,0,3199857.story

At General Assembly in Phoenix, we will be asked to stand on the side of love for immigrant families. I hope to see many OCUUC families make the trip. This is a wonderful opportunity to show our children and the world that we stand on the side of love in response to immigration issues. We have one year to plan for this event.

Our voices are being heard. I was at the Charlotte airport and started chatting with one of the guards while I was waiting to go through security. I said I had been at a church conference at the convention center. He asked if “y’all are part of that yellow shirt group?” There was not a hint of displeasure in his tone, he was simply curious. I proudly said, “yes, we are the yellow shirt group.” We are being noticed as we stand on the side of love and justice: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/06/25/2405808/liberal-denomination-stands-up.html

Please pick up a yellow “Standing on the Side of Love” tee shirt or hat in the months ahead, and be ready for next June’s General Assembly:  http://www.sslonlinestore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=77&zenid=4c9ec254f165b7ddc3981ad3f51160ea

I hope to hold your hand, let our hearts beat as one as we Stand on the Side of Love together.

In Gratitude~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”  Elie Wiesel

Note our time change for summer services and Religious Education for Children and Youth. OCUUC will transition to our summer schedule of one service only.

RE will gather from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Sunday mornings in July and August 2011.

Rayna Hamre, Director of Religious Education

Saturday July 23:

As part of our “Going Green” this summer, the Religious Education committee invites ALL to attend the Trail of Beauty at the Environmental Nature Center on Saturday July 23.  The Trail is open from 10 am to 3 pm so you can attend anytime you’d like but if you want to join others from OCUUC, come at 11 am. Questions?  Ask Merrie Lee Wooten  (oceanmother221gmailcom)  .

Our social justice work took some of our youth and chaperons to San Francisco for the April Faithful Fools Street Retreat. We had other opportunities for families to have hands-on work with Big Sunday and Second Harvest. These activities required planners, coordinators, and chaperons.

We had four classes that required teaching teams that served throughout the regular school year. Our volunteer teachers and assistants planned lessons, read stories, assisted with art projects, set up and cleaned up classrooms, and served snacks. Our dedicated core group of teachers do this many Sundays out of the year, missing the adult service to spend time with our children and assist the larger community. We have assistant teachers who help when they can and step in to give our regular teachers a break. All of these people help to make our Sunday program strong and growing.

We had volunteers who assisted with special activities like our third Friday youth movie night, field trips, Time for All Ages and our first Sunday program. They stepped up when needed and so our children could experience the extra events that make our program interesting and varied.

Our minister, Rev. Karen, our Religious Education for Children and Youth (RECY) Committee and Chair (Merrie Lee Wooten) provided structure and leadership for our program. They made decisions, provided short and long-term planning, voiced concerns and provided encouragement. Their contributions were vital to the success of the OCUUC  Religious Education program this year.  The chair of the Worship Committee, Jason Cook, and our intern minister Patrick McLaughlin, collaborated with the DRE, sharing their time and talents for the intergenerational services in fall and spring.

As I complete my first year as Director of Religious Education at OCUUC, I am very proud to have worked with such a wonderful team of people. Our UU young people and the caring adults I am privileged to serve make my job a joy.  I encourage everyone to take at least one Sunday and work in our program this summer or next year. I guarantee, you will get back more than you give.

In Gratitude,

Rayna Hamre

OCUUC Director of Religious Education

Our weave is something lovely. Our grades 7-12 youth group, led by Merrie Lee Wooten and Mike Scott, looked for the UU Messages in Music. Along with this musical exploration, some of our youth were able to participate in our Faithful Fools Street Retreat weekend in San Francisco in April. They experienced first hand homelessness for a day, and they were asked to take a critical look at the assistance provided to the homeless. Homelessness is a complex social issue, and free food is a necessity for daily sustenance. But our time with Rev. Denis Paul and Faithful Fools team asked us to look more deeply into the social ills that create this situation. We wove the ribbons of critical minds and kind hearts.

Our grades 4-6 class has been reading and doing projects using a Bible-based curriculum, Timeless Themes. Headed by lead teacher Gabrielle Block, this group has searched for the deeper messages in Old Testament Bible stories. As a part of the larger culture, the RE Committee and parents felt that this was an important part of any education. Our 4-6 teaching team handled this curriculum in a sensitive and enthusiastic manner. We wove the ribbons of the old and the new, of part of our history on this planet.

The ribbon thread for our grades 1-3 class was the UUA on-line Moral Tales curriculum. It was my pleasure to teach this energetic group with the teaching team during the fall. Lead teacher Christine Soriano and the other instructors used crafts, gems of wisdom and acting out the stories to reinforce the moral message in each tale. We wove the ribbons of treating each other well, with thoughtfulness and caring.

The ribbon for our PreK-Kindergarten group was unity. The curriculum that we use for this class is titled We Are Many, We Are One. Based on our Seventh Principle, our children learn about the Interdependent Web of Life by exploring their relationship to the earth, to families and to themselves. This team of teachers has been especially dedicated and helped out on our special first and fifth Sundays over the past RE curriculum year. We wove the ribbons of community and self knowledge.

Our very youngest ribbon weavers are our youngest UUs, our beautiful babies. Each baby in our nursery gives us a message of hope and new life. Our nursery caregivers are wonderful, and each child in our nursery is loved and nurtured. We wove the ribbons of regeneration through love.

I look forward to our upcoming year together in Religious Education, and in our larger church life together. I know that whatever brightly colored ribbons we weave together in the coming months, our design will be brilliantly hued and wonderful!

In Gratitude~~

Rayna Hamre

Director of Religious Education

Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church

I arrived at the First UU Society of San Francisco at 9:00 a.m. I had made the decision not to chase down my car, which had been valet parked somewhere in the city by the downtown hotel I was staying at, to get my umbrella. There was just a slight drizzle, I had my coat, and figured I would be fine. I met with Rev. Denis Paul and the FF volunteers and we waited for the arrival of the group that I would be going on the retreat with that day. The rain began to pour down in sheets. By the time the group had walked from the UU Society to the Faithful Fools office on Hyde Street, I was soaked to the skin with the very cold rain.

At the FF office the high school students were assigned adult “shadowers” to follow them on their day-long retreat, three to a group. As an adult, I went by myself on my own retreat. We were given the boundaries of the Tenderloin, some information about the local services for the homeless, and then turned out to experience the day. Luckily the FF office had a spare umbrella to loan to me.

Where do homeless people go when it rains? I saw groups of people huddled in the entryways of little markets on corners. For a while I walked around, but even with my umbrella I was soaked and really cold. I felt a little uncomfortable walking into the stores, and there was no place to sit in them. I realized it was my own discomfort that was keeping me out in the cold and wet, so after mildly berating myself I resolved to go into the first coffee shop I ran into. It happened to be a Vietnamese owned coffee shop. The owner was very nice, but I was the only Anglo in the room, and the owner started to talk to me about where I was from, everyone seemed more than a little curious about me. We chatted just a bit, I was able to drink a cup of hot coffee and dry off for a little while. I spent one dollar for the luxury of sitting down in a dry room with a warm drink.

I then returned to the streets and walked around for a while. I knew there were two places that served lunch, and Rev. Denis had urged us to check them out and see how the social services side of homelessness plays out. I asked directions and found my way to St. Anthony’s church. In addition to lunch, there were restrooms available. Yay! The toilet paper was padlocked down, but there were restrooms. I then got in the free lunch line in back of a person who seemed to be mentally ill. He was turning around and speaking in repetitive statements to me while we waited. One of the things I noticed throughout the day was the prevalence of untreated mental illness in the homeless community.

The lunch was very filling, heavy on carbs. I had planned to talk to people during lunch, but the people around me did not make eye contact and seemed a bit shut down. I felt like I would be intruding on their privacy to just strike up a conversation with them, so I kept to myself. Food was traded around, and some people were stocking up on the leftovers and taking tangerines with them from the trays. It was very uncomfortable to just sit at the table, so as soon as I was done I left. There were occasional outbursts in the room, and many of the people at other tables seemed to know each other and be more gregarious than the people at my table, so the room had a lot of noise and bustle, not unpleasant.

I went back outside and continued to walk around on the streets, and realized I had a lot of time to kill before I went back to the FF office. I walked by the Salvation Army Recreation Center and tried to ask about services. At this point I looked pretty wet and bedraggled and not much different from many of the people on the street. The staff was not very helpful to me and seemed to be making derogatory remarks about the clients right in front of them. I finally figured out that you could purchase a day pass. So, that was where I spent a full five dollars. I hung out at the Rec Center for a while. It was dry and warm, and also had a restroom. After drinking coffee to stay warm, restrooms became very important. There are no gas stations or McDonald’s or any other obvious places with public restrooms in the Tenderloin, so you have to figure that piece out, too, on your FF Street Retreat.

After I left the Rec Center, I happened across the other church that offers lunch to the homeless. I went downstairs into the Glide Evangelical church kitchen. At this time I saw a woman in the corner, who looked exhausted. A staff member came over and told her she couldn’t sleep there. She kept saying she wasn’t sleeping, but she and her friends stayed put in the corner the entire time I was there. It looked like a cat-and-mouse game to try and get some rest without getting kicked out of the cafeteria by the staff. I could see both sides of the problem, the staff was trying to move huge numbers of people in and out for meals, but the woman looked completely exhausted.

The second thing that I noticed on my Street Retreat was that most of the homeless were people of color. I checked my observations against census data on poverty levels, and the anecdotal evidence is correct: While most of the people I saw on my retreat were men, the census data also shows that women are more likely to be living in poverty, as are young people.

After visiting the churches and the Rec Center, it was time for me to return to the FF office and reflect on my experience with the other participants. Our re-entry back into the middle class world was aided by a hot cup of tea and a chance to share with each other what we saw and how we felt. What I came away with, I realized once I was back in my cozy, clean hotel, dressed in dry clothes and warm socks, was how tough and resilient the homeless are just to make it through the day. I was exhausted spending one day in their world, dealing with the wet and the cold, navigating meal programs, trying to find a place to be, to just to sit or stand, that was dry.

The Faithful Fools Street Retreat gave me a whole new appreciation for owning an umbrella, having six dollars in my pocket, and being able to slip on a pair of dry shoes at the end of the day.

In Gratitude-

Rayna Hamre
Director of Religious Education
Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church

Another point of pride for me is our denominational Green Sanctuary movement and our upcoming Green Theology course at OCUUC. I was recently able to take a college level course on ecopsychology. Since that time I have been acutely aware of the difficulty we humans have in recognizing long-term dangers, like ecological threats, to our safety.

Here is an excerpt from my final project, on plastics in the environment, from that course:

As I was reading about pollution in the Pacific Ocean, I found information on the North Pacific Gyre.  The Gyre is a point where several of the currents of the Pacific converge, creating a dead space for water movement. Conservatively, the Gyre is estimated at either twice the size of Texas, or at the other end of the estimates, as large as the United States. It lies between San Francisco and Hawaii. It extends down 30 feet into the Ocean. It contains two to three million tons of trash. Some estimates state that the contents are 80% plastic, and 80% of the trash originates on land, the other 20% is dumped by ships. Items such as computers have also been found in the junk. You can read more about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch on Wikipedia.
Of course, the environmental impact of this sea of plastic is catastrophic. Since plastic photo-degrades, it doesn’t bio-degrade, the plastic just breaks down into smaller pieces of plastic. The tiny pieces of plastic absorb any toxins in the water and hold them in like a poison sponge. Birds and marine animals eat the plastic thinking it is food and either starve to death or send it up the food chain. Click this link to see the contents of one bird’s stomach:

I know that it is sometimes hard for us to take action. Here is an easy one we can all help with: Let’s declare our OCUUC kitchen a Plastics Free Zone. While it is best to wash our permanent silverware and plates, sometimes we do need the convenience of disposables. Please, no plastic cups, plates or utensils. Let’s use paper or corn-based products only. These products can be purchased for just nominally more at Smart and Final and other stores.

Take a look. Save some lives, big and small.

In Gratitude-

Rayna Hamre
Director of Religious Education
Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church

Personally, I have strong ties to Zen Buddhism. I learned and practiced Zen at a local Zen Center as a young person. Those meditation techniques and the dharmic teachings that include the acceptance of all beings, learned as a teenager and on into my twenties, profoundly changed my life. I feel a deep appreciation for the gifts that the Zen tradition and Buddhism have given me over the years. I did not find Unitarian Universalism until my own children were born, and it was important to me to find a faith tradition that accepted and honored my previous religious journey and practices. Unitarian Universalism does that so well!

The story by Jon J. Muth, The Three Questions, is based on an older story by Leo Tolstoy. A boy tries to find an answer to the questions “What is the most important time? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do?” He learns that the most important time is right now, the most important person is the one who is with you, and doing good for those you are with, right now, is the most important thing. Those themes, the importance of paying attention to right now and truly helping those who are with us every day, are concepts for right living that young and older people can ponder and appreciate.

On our 5th Sunday in January, the teaching team was together with all of our youth in room Joan Gillan 3. We heard about how the Buddhist religion came into being, and some of our youth acted out a scene from the Buddha’s life. We learned about the eightfold path that Buddhists live by: right understanding; right thought; right speech; right action; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; and right concentration.

After hearing some of the basic precepts, we tried a few minutes of meditation. Next we chanted the ancient Sanskrit words “om mani padme hum” which translates as “the jewel in the Lotus.” Then we were on to crafts. We had wonderful parent volunteers assist with our crafts and coloring activities. After our regular church time, our RE Youth Director, Merrie Lee Wooten, took some of our older youth on a field trip to a local Buddhist Temple. It was a busy day and we hope our youth enjoyed exploring a new faith tradition.

That Sunday was the right time, with exactly the right people, to do the most important thing.

In Gratitude~~

Rayna Hamre

As adult UUs, I know that most of us care deeply about environmental issues, and most of us work for social justice in this area. I do wonder how many of us regularly take the time to deeply connect with nature. It is easy in our suburban setting to “forget” to take nature walks, spend time at the beach, to visit our bigger parks and wilderness areas, or to even make a fire in the backyard and sit outside. I know as I get older it’s a little easier to neglect taking time to make that important connection to the natural world on a daily basis. So I am enjoying noticing the trees around me, learning their names and just paying attention to them.

As we move into a new year, I would like to invite those adults who would like to connect/re-connect with the out-of-doors to love a tree in 2011 with our PreK-K class. Each of us can select a tree, identify it and enjoy it this year. You don’t even have to tell anyone about your tree. Here are some ideas from We Are Many, We Are One to help you with your tree experience.

Complete these sentences for your tree:

My tree feels like____________
My tree smells like___________
My tree sounds like__________
My tree looks like____________

Paint or draw your tree, make a rubbing from the bark. Sculpt your tree. Meditate on being a tree. Feel your roots going down into the earth, your branches going up.

Enjoy your tree as you let that inner wild child out to play this year. Here’s to honoring trees and to forging deeper connections with the Earth and each other in 2011!

In Gratitude,

Rayna Hamre
Director of Religious Education

It has been one of my great joys over the past few months to teach and assist in our Grades 1-3 Religious Education classroom. We are using the UUA Tapestry of Faith on-line curriculum “Moral Tales”.

During a recent session I read the children the story The Messiah is Among You.^* The story is about children in school who argue constantly. Their teacher, Mr. Cohen, after trying everything he knows, seeks help from his Rabbi. When the children file into the classroom one Monday, the Rabbi is seated at Mr. Cohen’s desk. She has only one lesson for them; she has had a dream from God that someone in the class is the Messiah, an individual who has come to save humanity. At first the children argue about who this might be, but soon they settle down and everyone’s behavior begins to change. After all, any one of the people in the class could be the Messiah, anyone. The arguing children begin to treat their classmates, the adults, and ultimately themselves with care and respect.
As we move deeper into this busy holiday season, let’s all remember to take a moment to look closely at those around us. Depending on your beliefs you might see the face of Humanity, The Goddess, The Buddha, or Christ in your children, your family, and your friends.
Be sure you look into the mirror each day, too.
In Gratitude~~
Rayna Hamre

There have been many joys and sorrows mixed into the fall days for me this year. One ending that saddened me was the death of my uncle. He was my last blood relation from my parents’ generation, my mother’s youngest brother. I was deeply moved by the tributes I heard to this gentle and loving man at his funeral. There was much beauty in the encomiums that he received from his family and from his community. His children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were there to say goodbye.

Within the same week, I flew to Washington D.C. with my husband to attend the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. What a wonderful event that was! Our first surprise was when we tried to ride the subway to the Washington Mall and huge lines of people were curling out of our Virginia metro station. Rally participants all crammed into the trains and made the 50 minute ride downtown. There were great signs that you can view on www.youtube.com, and it was a wonderful, friendly crowd. Unfortunately the sound system and video screens were not adequate for the huge turn out. Since we were standing toward the back and had trouble hearing the distant speakers, we enjoyed speaking with those around us. Our subway ride back was even more crowded, and I made several friends as we squashed together heading out of the downtown D.C. area.

What did I take away from this event? That there are many of us in this country, who, as Stewart says, work together every day to get things done. We don’t have to follow the drumbeat of hate and divisiveness that is getting pounded into our consciousness by extremist pundits. We met and saw so many wonderful young people who are worried and who care deeply about this country. It was a positive day, a multi-generational event that brought people from all over together to show that we care about America.

So against the beauty of the brilliant colors of the fall leaves, I saw a beginning. This was a rallying point for those of us with lives, with families, who are trying to make our world a better place without tearing others down in the process. For our sake, and our young people’s sake, let’s hope the momentum and spirit from October 30, 2010 continues forward.

Personally, I love the way our congregation connects with our youth. We have a caring community of parents, RE Committee members, and our larger church to hold and care for our young people. We also have an amazing group of youth who are looking for ways to connect with our adult community. Is there room for improvement, for more? Of course! That’s why we have a structure in place to assist with this process, to assess and strengthen our relationship with our young people. Helping out in our classrooms once or twice a year is a great way to be involved in this co-creative process. We would love to have your assistance and for you to get to know our young people. We need you to be involved!

In contrast to the warmth of our OCUUC community, this month I was called in to work as a substitute at my previous job in the public school system. What did I find? A system gutted by budget cuts, valiant teachers and classified staff struggling to keep their chins above water with crushing work loads after mass staff lay-offs over the past two years.

I have also been following the story of public school teacher Rigoberto Ruelas, an involved and devoted LA teacher whose value-added score for raising math and English proficiency, published on a web site by the Los Angeles Times, rated him a “less effective” teacher. While the facts are not completely in, his family reports that he was despondent over the publication of this score. His body was found at the bottom of a ravine below a bridge.

While I share the love and ties that we have as a community at OCUUC, and treasure our relationship with our young people, I still have one foot in a low-income neighborhood in Anaheim. I see a public that is hostile to the very people who we have entrusted to educate our youth, denying them the basic resources and respect they deserve to do their jobs adequately. What can we each do to help? Upstream, write your local, state and federal legislators and demand adequate staffing and funding for public schools. Downstream, see what you can do to help out. Volunteer to work a half day at a school in Anaheim or Santa Ana. You’ll come away with a totally different view of our public education system. Very sadly, it’s not the public school system we attended 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago.

In Gratitude,

Rayna Hamre
OCUUC Director of Religious Education

Our children and youth have had a fun and educational summer. Children in the grades K-6 program have enjoyed a curriculum based on science experiments created and organized by our own Jennifer Abt. Thanks to Jennifer for the many hours of preparation, planning and scheduling she put into this effort. Our children explored icebergs and diving bells, radish vacuums, slime and quicksand, the water cycle, rocket science and more. We had guest teachers over the summer from the congregation, and many more parent volunteers to assist. It took everyone to give our children an exciting hands-on experience of the scientific experience. Thanks to you all. Lead teachers included Jennifer Abt, Maurice Giss, Dale Osborne & Tom Hogan, Keith Jenkins, Gabrielle Block, Jonathan Pearson Magoon, Jacques Kilchoer and Mary Lundholm.

Merrie Lee Wooten took our grades 7-12 youth on field trips and brought in guest speakers that allowed them to experience other faiths. Kudos to our talented youth and Merrie Lee for the full service they put on exploring our seven principals and giving us a glimpse at the church of the future. They did a beautiful job and we are proud of them.

We also thank Summer al-Bayati for her transition work with our youth this spring and summer. Her years of service as Youth Advisor are greatly appreciated.

I look forward to an exciting fall in our Religious Education program. We have many talented people who are here for our youth and children. More teachers would be welcome to the program. You are not asked to teach every Sunday, so you will always have some open Sundays to attend the adult service. If you are interested in getting involved with our wonderful young people, please contact me for more information.

In Gratitude-

Rayna Hamre

My first week was a busy one. I met with our Religious Education Committee and participated in the annual Board retreat. I am so impressed by the caring and commitment of this community. I foresee a very exciting year ahead at OCUUC. I have heard so many creative ideas and activities suggested and there are some new faces on our leadership teams. I look forward to serving a dynamic and loving community in the months ahead!

Our fantastic Religious Education team has worked hard over the past year to provide quality exploration experiences for our children and youth. I would particularly like to thank the following people for their love, commitment, and time: Merrie Lee Wooten who has served as acting DRE and is serving as the chair of Religious Education for Children and Youth (RECY) committee; Summer Albayati-Dadah who has served as Youth Advisor; Randy Kokal who has served as the Sunday coordinator; Jacques Kilchoer for assisting with the RECY Weekly; and Jennifer Abt who created the spectacular science curriculum that our children and youth are exploring this summer. There are so many other people who contribute to the education of our children and youth. Thanks to all of you! We have much work and play ahead of us as we move through the summer months.