Blogs (Page 45)

I am so proud of OCUUC for following through on our decision to move to a new location. I feel this move is crucial for our congregation.  We have so much to offer Orange County! Our expanded space and parking will provide a strong home base to assist us in getting the UU message of compassion and tolerance  out to the larger community. Here is the announcement and update: https://ocuuc.org/onthemove/ As a denomination we struggle to keep our membership levels…

As we finish up the curricula for our children and youth for the year and prepare for summer programs, and possibly bigger changes around the corner, it is fun to take a look back and see what we have accomplished as a religious education community. This year we registered over 50 children and youth in our Sunday program, and each child and family brought their own unique gifts and energy to OCUUC.  Our special days, including our Christmas Eve pageant,…

Dear OCUUC Teachers and Volunteers- It is such a joy to watch the face of a child light up when we have an RE activity, lesson, story or song that connects that child to our faith and community! This Sunday, we want to honor all of you who make this happen regularly at OCUUC. Our Religious Education Teacher and Volunteer Sunday is the community’s opportunity to acknowledge your time and commitment this past year, and to thank you. Please attend…

Justice General Assembly is just around the corner. I hope to see many of you there. We will be exploring border justice issues with plenty of hands-on opportunities to work with other organizations around this social issue. If you have any questions about the Youth Caucus, here is a great place to start: 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…

Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. It is a huge gathering of UUs from all over the country; from all over the world, really. I love going to our UU General Assembly. As an employee of the church, it is now an expectation that I go, but I started loving GA long before I began working as our OCUUC Director of Religious Education. My very first two General Assemblies were in Phoenix, where this year’s GA will be held and in our…

Our Whole Lives (OWL) is coming up for grades 10-12 at OCUUC! 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…

The New Year is a time of reflection and celebration for many of us. Reflecting back on our growth and expanded activities over the past year is a great source of joy for me. The months of January and February also held so many fun and activities for our children, youth, parents and volunteers at OCUUC. Our families and volunteers make it all happen! Our Year of the Dragon is off to a great start. Thanks to the help of…

Dear OCUUC Community- 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…

Unitarian Universalists have a wonderful and inspiring heritage. We have many people in our denominational past who have been in the forefront and the background fighting for both public and private good. It is my pleasure this year to introduce our children and youth to some of those people during our Religious Education 1st Sundays together. Our 1st Sunday format is for all our children and youth to gather together for about 20 minutes, then to break out into smaller…

Fall is a time of change for most American children. Moving up a grade can be a challenge and can be fraught with a mix of  excitement and anxiety. AT OCUUC we hope to help our children with transitions in their Sunday classes, and to create a warm caring environment for them to feel safe as they explore new UU territories with their classmates. We have had a wonderful changes in the past year in our program. We have steadily…

The summer days are racing by for many of us. OCUUC Religious Educaiton has had some great moments for our Going Green Summer. Water day, recycling sorting, and mask making have been just a few activities our children and youth have participated in over the past month. 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…

Standing on the Side of Love. Powerful words, and I can feel the love and strength of our denomination when we sing this song together. One of the great things about being a Unitarian Universalist is that we don’t simply sing lines to our shared songs, we are called to live out the values of those words in our daily lives. And we are obligated to share those values with our young people. As I return from this year’s General…