Happy New Year!
The day after Christmas I look out my window to see squirrels frolicking in the trees munching on pine cones. The night rain has washed everything clean. The trees are well watered. I love these trees and the squirrels who live in them. I feel kin to them and to the humming birds that hover above the red and orange flowers. The world blesses me, fills my heart with gratitude and I do my best to bless the world in return. My resolution; to live in gratitude.
As always, we stand at this threshold of time with an awesome potential --365 new days. The New Year, the beginning of a new decade, is always a time to take stock. What were the joys and sorrows of the year gone by? What do we need to do differently this year? These days are given to us to fashion our lives and our communities into our vision of what they yet may be. May we let go the past and its regrets and live more fully into the life of our aspirations. May your new year be full of opportunity for integrity, authenticity and connection.
What’s my vision for RE for the new year? I’m very excited to announce that on January 12 Jacque Nunez, an educator/storyteller from the Acjachamen Nation, will be with us. “The Acjachemen (A-ha-che-men) Nation,” the Education Department of Mission San Juan Capistrano tells us, “lived prosperously for more than 10,000 years on the coast lands of Orange County. They were among the 275,000 people that inhabited California. Their nation’s territory, which consisted of many villages, spanned from Long Beach to Oceanside, as far east as Lake Elsinore, and westward to Catalina and San Clemente Islands
Our Sunday service will be about Indigenous land rights. Ms Nunez will do a sung blessing and The Time for All Ages at the beginning of the service. Then, she will come to a combined Religious Education group to teach us how to weave our own baskets. The cost is $6/basket if you’d be willing to contribute. If not, the RE budget will cover the cost.
RE classes: January through mid-February, we will continue with Chalice Children in the Nursery with Teddy Bear Month coming soon. Love Surrounds Us, for PreK-3rd grades learning the seven Unitarian Universalist Principles, will end in February. And we will take up Love Will Guide Us, exploring the six UU Sources. In 4th-7th grades we will complete Riddle and Mystery in February and have a class art day together before transitioning to Sing to the Power. Youth Group will continue learning and engaging with leadership. We have a cooking evening to make dinner for Stand Up for Kids on January 25. Before the end of the academic year, our youth will offer us a worship service and have a retreat to plan next year’s Youth Group program! I’m excited!
With love,
Rev. Judy