It's moving time at OCUUC!Please join us for Religious Education Pack 'n' Move on Friday November 23rd from 10am - 3pm. We will need people to help us pack at the Victoria church and move boxes and smaller items to our new Mesa Verde church site. This will help burn off those holiday calories. Snacks, lunch and fun are included!
As I have inventoried and packed up materials from years of operation of our Religious Education program, I have experienced many emotions. We are clearing out materials that will not be needed in the future at our new church home. But as I handle each book or binder, I see in each older curriculum the time and love that the author put into it, creating experiences and memories for the children and adults who participated in that classroom experience. My own children, like many others, grew up in the OCUUC Religious Education program.
One day last week I sat in the RE office surrounded by paper, notebooks and boxes feeling a little sad and slightly overwhelmed. Many of our older curricula will not be used again. With the transition from using print books to on-line programs through our UUA Tapestry of Faith program, I need to make decisions about what is worth keeping from our shared past for future use.
But I also took some time to drive through our new church site neighborhood last week. My perspective changed. I saw the houses and people as potential partners and neighbors, as co-creators for the new life of OCUUC. When I went in to continue my sorting and weeding of books and print materials, I had a new point of view. Rather than feeling it a chore, I realized that I am shaping our future by honoring the past. We are part of creating a new space with nuts and bolts, aesthetics and plumbing, writing a new chapter for our community. I am privileged to be working at this time in history when our methods for storing and transmitting information are changing so radically. Since my background is in the library and education field, I have done this before, sorting and down-scaling print materials. It requires a balance in perspective, an appreciation for the past and an excitement about the future.
I have just begun to appreciate what a canvas we have as a community, with this new opportunity as we move locations, to build on the old and to truly create something new. We have so many choices about what we will take along, what we will leave behind, and how we will build this new community life for ourselves. I invite you to come along on this exciting phase of the rockin’ journey of co-creation at OCUUC!
Blessings of Past, Present and Future~
Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education
President of the Pacific Southwest District Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA)