I recently returned from the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA) Fall Conference, in which we dove into the spiritual issues pertaining to several “tough” topics: money, death, race, and sex.  We explored our own perspectives on these topics, along with their spiritual dimensions and we can (and are) bringing these topics into our conversations and rituals in our congregations.

I am thrilled that we have an active Adult Faith Development Task Force this year, exploring the religious needs and programs of adults currently at FUUSN to propose and advocate for a structure to allow people to continue to deepen their Unitarian Universalist and spiritual identities and practices at FUUSN, and am eager to explore more deeply how we are and can have more of these conversations across all age groups and in multigenerational ways.

Attending conferences such as this UU one, allows me to continue to develop as a professional and as an individual, and allows me to bring the wisdom from the successes and shortcomings of other congregation’s experiences back to FUUSN.

There is both energy and curiosity about how FUUSN can evaluate our children’s religious education (CRE) program and continue to deepen our support for families at FUUSN.  What’s working well about our program?  What ideas do we have for how we want to move forward, to continue to enrich our ministry to children and families?  Assistant Director Beth Walton, Religious Education Council Chair Kim Shanks, and I are planning a meeting to discuss these topics and more within this coming month.  Please contact me (rowan@fusn.org) if you are interested in talking more about this and/or participating.

Lastly, the holidays are coming, and we need your help!  Are you interested in helping making the annual Christmas Eve Pageant a success?  We need people to go through and organize the costumes, to help with marketing and recruitment, and more.  Is a Passover Seder more your style?  We are also starting to assemble a team to plan the spring seder.  For that, we need people to help coordinate the rhtual components, organize catered food, promote the event and encourage signups and attendance.  There’s a job for everyone, and we need your help to make these beloved traditions happen!  Please be in touch if you are able to help, in a big or a small way.

With gratitude,
Rowan Van Ness, Director of Lifespan Religious Education