RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 2.3.2012

By Rayna Hamre posted Friday, February 3, 2012, 9:40 pm

Dear OCUUC Parents-

Our Valentine’s  Craft Night is tomorrow, Saturday Feb. 4, from 4-7 pm in the Social Hall. There will be pizza, juice, crafts and fun.  We hope to see you there. Please bring a dessert or a side dish to share if possible.

Many thanks to our adult helpers for assisting with our dragon parade last week. Lana Weiss, Christine Soriano, Liz & Jacques Kilchoer, Bryan Lundholm and Yesenia Nunez all made it happen!

Next weekend is our Jason Shelton Weekend and Concert. Please get your tickets early, you can order on line from with a link from our church web sitea t awww. ocuuc.org. The music committee needs help in making all of this happen.  See below for details on assistance needed for food and beverages on Sat. Feb 11. You can drop off food on Friday for workshop participants on Saturday, munchies needed!

RECY has made one policy change for this year for teachers. We are asking that relatives not teach together in the same classroom if there are only two teachers present. This is to keep everyone protected should any questions arise about any situation in a classroom. We are being proactive with this policy so that we continue to have safe and happy classes at OCUUC. Also, children must be seated during snack time for any food or drink consumption. We will need to enforce this policy for the safety of all of our children.

Gabrielle Block will be heading up our Secret Pals program at the end of February, continuing through March for the third year in a row. Thank you, Gabrielle!

Thanks for all you do~~

 Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education, dreocuucorg

 ______________________

• February 4, 4-7 pm in the Social Hall. Crafts for Valentine’s Day. Cards and crafts, fun for the entire family, all are welcome! Pizza will be provided, bring a side dish or dessert to share. Helpers needed for set up and clean up.

•  OCUUC Children’s Choir will be singing in the Jason Shelton concert “Voices in Unity” on February 11th at 7:30pm.

• Rehearsal schedule:

• Sunday, February 5, 1-2pm, Gillan 3 classroom,  Thursday, February 9, 7-8pm, sanctuary, Friday evening, February 10, 6-7pm, sanctuary, Saturday evening, 6pm call time, 7:30pm concert
• Jason Shelton wrote some of our favorite UU songs – “Standing on the Side of Love,” “Morning Has Come,” and “Fire of Commitment.”  He’ll be here to conduct and sing a concert of his own compositions about love, unity, and action.    Here is the flyer for the whole Jason Shelton weekend.
• Contact Beth Syverson if your family wants to participate in this special event. 

Beth also asks for assistance with food and beverages:

• I thought it would be nice to have some home-made yummies and fruit/veggies available throughout the day.  (Things that can be eaten with just a napkin – no fork or plate please).    The food could be brought anytime throughout the day Saturday or before the concert, or it could be delivered Friday anytime as well. I also would love to have someone prepare the beverage service on Saturday morning (February 11) – coffee, tea, pitchers of water or lemonade.  That would need to be ready to roll by 8:30am Saturday morning.  And we need a bartender for the Saturday night (February 11) concert.

• (more…)

RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 1.27.2012

By Rayna Hamre posted Friday, January 27, 2012, 6:37 pm

Dear OCUUC Parents-

I hope your children will be able to join us for our dragon parade for Chinese New Year this coming Sunday. We will walk our dragon around our coffee area immediately after the adult service. We still need adult helpers for this Sunday’s project, and to assist the children in making their own dragon paper bag puppets. Please let me know if you can assist, there will be too many children for just three of us to work with safely.

RECY has made one policy change for this year for teachers. We are asking that relatives not teach together in the same classroom if there are only two teachers present. This is to keep everyone protected should any questions arise about any situation in a classroom. We are being proactive with this policy so that continue to have safe and happy classes at OCUUC.

Our youth group will be moving the first week in February up to the Tracey Boag Building for a pilot project. We hope to create a great place for the youth to gather near the patio area and playground.

Check out all the details below for fun activities for all ages. The Jason Shelton music event is coming up fast. RE will host a Valentines Craft Night, with pizza dinner on February 4^th. Gabrielle Block will be heading up our Secret Pals program at the end of February, continuing through March for the third year in a row. Thank you, Gabrielle!

Dates will be announced very soon for winter/spring Our Whole Lives for Sr. high and for our 4-6 graders. Our Whole Lives (OWL) provides a safe setting with trained facilitators for children and youth to learn about their bodies. In addition to providing accurate information, OWL encourages the older youth to explore their own sexual identities and ethics, and to critically examine the messages from the larger culture. Please contact me immediately if your sr. high or 4-6 grade students would like to take OWL this spring. dreocuucorg

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

dreocuucorg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Saturday February 4th, 4-7 pm in the Social Hall, Crafts for Valentine’s Day such as cards and decorations. Fun for the entire family, all are welcome! Pizza will be provided, bring a side dish or dessert to share. Helpers needed for set up and clean up, please contact Rayna to RSVP at dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• OCUUC Children’s Choir will be singing in the Jason Shelton concert “Voices in Unity” on February 11 at 7:30pm.

Rehearsal schedule:

Sunday, January 29, 1-2pm, Gillan 3 classroom

Sunday, Febuary 5, 1-2pm, Gillan 3 classroom

Thursday, February 9, 7-8pm, sanctuary

Friday evening, February 10, 6-7pm, sanctuary

Saturday evening, 6pm call time, 7:30pm concert

Jason Shelton wrote some of our favorite UU songs – “Standing on the Side of Love,” “Morning Has Come,” and “Fire of Commitment.”  He’ll be here to conduct and sing a concert of his own compositions about love, unity, and action.    Here is the flyer for the whole Jason Shelton weekend:  http://ocuuc.org/ministries/workshops/

Contact Beth Syverson if your family wants to participate in this special event.  Beth Syverson, 714-376-6666, MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  .

• Renaissance Module at the Los Angeles UU Church, March 22, 2012, 5:30 pm  to March 24, 2012, 12:00 pm. Renaissance Module: UU Identity. This is open to the RE community; Rayna is one of the organizers. The goals of the Unitarian Universalist Identity Module include: creating an understanding of identity as a process; becoming aware of how the process unfolds; identifying ways to foster the process, specifically among Religious Education participants and generally among their congregations. Link: Registration form

• May 5, 2012, save the date. International Day at Soka University, with the OC Dept. of Education and Arts Orange County. We can meet up for music and fun

• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog

RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 1.7.2012

By Rayna Hamre posted Saturday, January 7, 2012, 12:30 pm

With combined RE funds, youth recycling money, a donation to RE and Spirit Grant matching, we have been able to purchase a new television for the Social Hall. We look forward to resuming movie nights with a much sharper audio and video output for the new year! We will need someone with a pick up truck to assist with moving the old TV for recycling on January 13 or 14, transporting to a temporary recycling center at Huntington Beach Public Library. Please let me know if you could help us out with a truck dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

We are in the process of setting up dates for winter/spring Our Whole Lives for Sr. high and possibly for our 4-6 graders. Our Whole Lives (OWL) provides a safe setting with trained facilitators for children and youth learn about their bodies. In addition to providing accurate information, OWL encourages the older youth to explore their own sexual identities and ethics, and to critically examine the messages from the larger culture. Please contact me immediately if your sr. high or 4-6 grade student would like to take OWL this spring:  dreocuucorg

dreocuucorg

• February 4, 4-7 pm in the Social Hall. By popular demand, Crafts with Judi for Valentine’s Day designs!! Cards and crafts, fun for the entire family, all are welcome! Pizza will be provided, bring a side dish or dessert to share. Helpers needed for set up and clean up, please contact Judi or Rayna at dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• OCUUC Children’s Choir will be singing in the Jason Shelton concert “Voices in Unity” on February 11 at 7:30pm.
• Rehearsal schedule:
• Sunday, January 29, 1-2pm, Gillan 3 classroom
• Sunday, Febuary 5, 1-2pm, Gillan 3 classroom
• Thursday, February 9, 7-8pm, sanctuary
• Friday evening, February 10, 6-7pm, sanctuary
• Saturday evening, 6pm call time, 7:30pm concert

 Jason Shelton wrote some of our favorite UU songs – “Standing on the Side of Love,” “Morning Has Come,” and “Fire of Commitment.”  He’ll be here to conduct and sing a concert of his own compositions about love, unity, and action.    Here is the flyer for the whole Jason Shelton weekend:  http://ocuuc.org/ministries/workshops/  Contact Beth Syverson if your family wants to participate in this special event.  Beth Syverson, MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  .

• Renaissance Module at the Los Angeles UU Church, March 22, 2012, 5:30 pm  to March 24, 2012, 12:00 pm. Renaissance Module: UU Identity. This is open to the RE community, Rayna is one of the organizers. The goals of the Unitarian Universalist Identity module include: creating an understanding of identity as a process; becoming aware of how the process unfolds; identifying ways to foster the process, specifically among Religious Education participants and generally among their congregations. Link: Registration form

• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.

• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 12.17.2011

By Rayna Hamre posted Saturday, December 17, 2011, 8:55 am

Dear OCUUC Parents-

Blessings of the season to all!

Please stop by the Social Hall after the potluck on Sunday 12/18 to hear a presentation on Ethical Eating. OCUUC would like to have more involvement in this important movement to assist the planet and all that make up the interdependent web.

The day is rapidly approaching for our Christmas Eve pageant! We still need some help behind the scenes for the presentation Would You Like to Hold the Baby? This will be a wonderful evening of family and church bonding and holiday fun. Please bring a treat or snack to share for the social hour from 6:30-7:30 p.m. that night. Beth Syverson will be leading the choir, and I am coordinating the acting roles. Rehearsal for the actors is this Thursday December 22^nd.  Pizza dinner for the rehearsal diner, 6:00 p.m. for pizza, rehearsal begins at 6:30.

We will be moving ahead to create a pilot program for a full RE program at our first service time on Sundays. Please send any thoughts, ideas or comments to me, we need to hear from you. The target date for beginning is February 5. We will need teachers and participants. We are very excited and hope to expand our vibrant RE program to a wider community. We will need your assistance and talents for this pilot. Please contact Rayna if you can assist or have any questions or suggestions.

We are in the process of setting up dates for winter/spring Our Whole Lives for Sr. high and for our 4-6 graders. Our Whole Lives (OWL) provides a safe setting with trained facilitators for children and youth learn about their bodies. In addition to providing accurate information, OWL encourages the older youth to explore their own sexual identities and ethics, and to critically examine the messages from the larger culture.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

dreocuucorg

_______________________________

• Rehearsal for the Christmas Eve children’s choir and pageant actors.  All children are invited to participate:

• Rehearsal for all actors and choir members is Dec. 22. Actors can wear bathrobes if they play people, animals will wear the color of their animal, any style of clothing. If you have an earth color or plain head scarf for the people roles, please bring it. I will have some on hand for actors to borrow.
• The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7:30pm.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)   or dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

Backstage pageant help is needed:

• Costume & mask helpers (night of the performance), staging coordinators, prop assistants, clean up and set break down(at least 4 helpers needed)    dreocuucorg

• Registration is ongoing for winter camps at de Benneville Pines. Sr. registration goes fast, sign up asap http://www.uucamp.org/
• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 11.25.2011

By Rayna Hamre posted Friday, November 25, 2011, 10:53 am

Dear OCUUC Parents-
‘Tis the Season! Preparations are moving into high gear for our Christmas Eve Pageant, Would You Like to Hold the Baby. Please see details below and jump in on the participation if you can, this is a wonderful evening of family and church bonding and holiday fun. Beth Syverson will be leading the choir and pageant, and I am coordinating the acting roles. The acting roles are NON-speaking parts. We have the costumes, we just need participants of all ages to join us that evening. There are several rehearsals for the choir, see details below, just one for the actors on Thursday Dec. 22^nd. Pizza dinner and more fun that evening, 6:30 p.m.

Religious Education is currently looking at adding a full RE program to our first service time on Sundays. Please send any thought, ideas or comments to me, we want to hear from you. The target date for beginning this pilot program is February 5 2012.

Note the link to sign up for Camp de Benneville Pines winter camps below. The camps fill quickly, particularly Sr. High Camp, so get your registration money in soon. Some scholarship money is available through OCUUC, contact Rayna for more information.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

dreocuucorg

• Rehearsal for the Christmas Eve children’s choir.  All children are invited to participate:

Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4 (in the Sanctuary); December 11; December 18

The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)   or dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Non-speaking, December 24th pageant parts available. Please contact Rayna or sign up at the RE Table on Sunday:

Mary, Joseph, Donkey, Innkeeper & Wife, Stable girl, Shepherds, 3 Wise People, Dove, sheep, cow, cats, horse & barnyard animals

• Backstage help needed:

Costume & mask helpers (night of the performance), staging coordinators, prop assistants, clean up and set break down(at least 4 helpers needed)          dreocuucorg

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  See attached, and info flyers will be available at the RE Table with the dates dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Registration is ongoing for winter camps at de Benneville Pines. Sr. registration goes fast, sign up asap http://www.uucamp.org/
• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• Share Our Selves (SOS) adopt-a-family. Information on the patio for adopting a family for the winter holiday
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 11.19.2011

By Rayna Hamre posted Saturday, November 19, 2011, 9:45 am

Dear OCUUC Parents-
Here are our highlighted activities for this week:

Craft, Cider and Stories Night with Judi & Rayna on Sat. 11/19, tonight! In the Social Hall, light dinner provided, 4-7 p.m.

Jr. High parents, attached is the information about upcoming Jr. High OWL in Long Beach. We need to get reservations in to Cheryl Kessler for our youth if they are attending. Registration will be held the first day, but we need to reserve spots for our youth.  The information is on the attached info sheet. Please contact me with any questions.

Note the link to sign up for Camp de Benneville Pines winter camps below. The camps fill quickly, particularly Sr. High Camp, so get your registration money in soon. Some scholarship money is available through OCUUC, contact Rayna for more information dre@ocuuc

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Family Night of Crafts, Cider and Stories, Saturday November 19th, 4-7 p.m. Come for a cozy evening of crafts with Judi and stories with Rayna. Warm cider and fall snacks, too. All who are young at heart are most welcome! Please RSVP to Rayna  (dreocuucorg)   so we can plan supplies and food. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Saturday November 19th from 9am to 1pm at the Orangethorpe Methodist Church to hand out food to the needy. Call or text Merrie Lee.
• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.  There are animal parts and parts for hand percussion also. All children are invited to participate:

• Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
• The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)   or dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  See attached, and info flyers will be available at the RE Table with the dates dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Registration is ongoing for winter camps at de Benneville Pines. Sr. registration goes fast, sign up asap http://www.uucamp.org/
• Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 11.12.2011

By Rayna Hamre posted Saturday, November 12, 2011, 11:05 am

Dear OCUUC Parents-
Here our highlighted activities for this week:

Craft, Cider and stories night with Judi & Rayna on Sat. 11/19 RSVP requested so we can plan supplies and food. This event will be cancelled if we do not receive your RSVPs by Wed. Nov. 16, so let us know if you can make it for this evening of family fun!

Special thanks this week to Ariana Kenney and Karen-Magoon Pearson for their assistance on November First Sunday, and to Merrie Lee and Heather McCoy for putting together our youth Halloween party.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Family Night of Crafts, Cider and Stories, Saturday November 19th, 4-7 p.m. Come for a cozy evening of crafts with Judi and stories with Rayna. Warm cider and fall snacks, too. All who are young at heart are most welcome! Please RSVP to Rayna  (dreocuucorg)   so we can plan supplies and food. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Saturday November 19th from 9am to 1pm at the Orangethorpe Methodist Church to hand out food to the needy. Call or text Merrie Lee.
• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.  There are animal parts and parts for hand percussion also. All children are invited to participate:

1. Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
2. The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)   or dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  Info flyers will be available at the RE Table with the dates dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 11.4.2011

By Rayna Hamre posted Friday, November 4, 2011, 12:01 pm

Dear OCUUC Parents-
Here are our highlighted activities for this busy fall 2011 week: Craft, Cider and Stories Night with Judi & Rayna on Sat. 11/19 rsvp requested; Talents and Services Auction THIS Sunday 11/6 after 2^nd service.

A big thanks to Merrie Lee, Heather, Vera Viana-Asper, Frankie Seigfried, Jade & Jeremiah, Gabrielle Block, and Birdie Reed for assistance with our special activities on Halloween Sunday. Our regular volunteer teachers jumped right in, too. Adults and young people had a fun day. We had a learning activity centered around our reverse trick-or-treat packets that were put together by the children and were sent home for each family.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Family Night of Crafts, Cider and Stories, Saturday November 19th, 4-7 p.m. Come for a cozy evening of crafts with Judi and stories with Rayna. Warm cider and fall snacks, too. All who are young at heart are most welcome! Please RSVP to Rayna  (dreocuucorg)   so we can plan supplies and food. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.   I will also have parts for hand percussion if they would rather play than sing:

1. Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
2. The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  Info flyers will be available at the RE Table.dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Saturday, November 5^th Assist with our building and grounds clean up and maintenance.
  9:00 am Work Party, OCUUC grounds
• November 6th will be our all-church Goods and Services auction. I have been to some wonderful events over the years, including pizza making last month. Plan to offer an event and come for the fun! Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee for more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS)  little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 10.27.2011

By Rayna Hamre posted Thursday, October 27, 2011, 12:40 pm

Dear OCUUC Parents-
Here are some extra special RW highlights:

Craft night with Judi on Sat. 11/19 rsvp requested; Talents and Services Auction Sunday 11/6; we need a few more adults to help out with RE this Sunday for our fun & informative Halloween RE time. Kids are invited to wear their costumes. Face painting between services, reverse trick-or-treating packets and more. More information below.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Date change for crafts with Judi, Saturday November 19.  Come and have fun, snacks and make some winter craft items to take home and to sell at our our Dec. crafts fair as a RE fundraiser. Plenty of crafts for the entire family, don’t miss this night! Save baby food or other small jars WITH lids, cleaned and label, free please, for snow globes. You can drop them off at the RE table on Sundays. Please rsvp so we can purchase supplies and get ready for the fun.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.   I will also have parts for hand percussion if they would rather play than sing.

1. Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
2. The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucor  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  g
3. We will be looking for a few good actors to participate in the pageant. No speaking parts except for  a bit of mooing, neighing or baaaing.

• November 6th will be our all-church Goods and Services auction. I have been to some wonderful events over the years, including pizza making last month. Plan to offer an event and come for the fun! Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee for more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

RECY (Religious Education for Children and Youth) Weekly 10.21.2011

By Rayna Hamre posted Friday, October 21, 2011, 12:00 pm

Dear OCUUC Parents-
We have some great events coming up. Please note the OCUUC auction date, 11/6. Send in an event to auction off, come and by goods and services. You can offer all kinds of events, play dates, picnics, use your imagination. If you need ideas, contact Merrie Lee or Judi:

dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

Look for a new service project on the patio. OCUUC will begin an ongoing collection for Share Our Selves, canned goods and toiletry items.

RE teachers, please note this Sunday is the last opportunity to attend teacher training. We will gather immediately after the service to review changes and updates in our RE program.

Beth Syverson, our Director of Music Ministries, is getting ready for our Christmas Eve Service. Note the dates for the children’s choir practice below. Your child’s participation is most welcome for this year’s pageant! Contact Beth at

MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.   There will be parts for hand percussion if your child would rather play than sing:

• • Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
  • The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  

• Teacher training will be held after the second service, on Sunday October 23^rd at 12:45.  All RE teachers are requested to attend if you did not go to last week’s training. It will not take too long and will fun & informative ;)   dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  Info flyers will be available at the RE Table.dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• October 24, Social Justice Leadership Webinar. The UUA is presenting a series of webinars this fall, this is the first http://ocuuc.org/socialjustice/2011/10/social-justice-leadership-webinar-monday-october-24/
• October 29^th, 9am-1 pm, CPR and defibrillation training. Just a few spots are left, priority for RE teachers. Contact Rayna at dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• October 30, Sunday, Reverse Trick-or-Treating kits for your families. Let neighbors, friend and family know about earth-friendly options for chocolate purchases. Kits will be ready for pick-up in the Social Hall. We will hold our annual morning of face-painting, too! If you would like to help out with face-painting contact Rayna or an RE Committee member dreOCUUCorg  (dreOCUUCorg)  
• November 6th will be our all-church Goods and Services auction. I have been to some wonderful events over the years, including pizza making last month. Plan to offer an event and come for the fun! Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee for more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Sat. Nov. 12, crafts with Judi! Come and have fun, snacks and make some winter craft items to take home and to sell at our our Dec. crafts fair as a RE fundraiser. Plenty of crafts for the entire family, don’t miss this night! Save baby food or other small jars WITH lids, cleaned and label, free please, for snow globes. You can drop them off at the RE table on Sundays. Please rsvp so we can purchase supplies .  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

• February 26, 2012: Universalist Heritage- John Murray - 9:45 am and 11:15 am
• Work Party this Saturday, February 25th at 9am. Hot beverages and Lunch are provided, please RSVP to Keith.
• Larisa Stow & Shakti Tribe in concert February 25th
• Evening classes at OCUUC: Adult Education
• The 42-42-42 Food Action Program is forming in honor of the 42nd Earth Day
• Enjoy Auctions?  Consider leading the team to plan our Spring 2012 Auction.
• February Recipient of Church Donations: Project Linus
• Directions to OCUUC

1259 Victoria Street - Costa Mesa, CA 92627 - (949) 646-4652 Contact Us

OCUUC is a welcoming congregation

OCUUC is a member of the Pacific Southwest District of the Unitarian Universalist Association