RE Newsletter: Imagine New Worlds

January 29th, 2021

Religious Exploration/Education

January's Theme is Imagination

Hello Families,

An important piece of using our imaginations is being able to imagine new worlds and new ways of being, in order to live more fully in this world. The power of a good fairy tale, fantasy novel or science fiction story is that it lets us try out different scenarios, options and ideas in a pretend world to get more insight into our own lives.

So I invite you to dive into some of your favorite stories together and to make up your own this week! Storytelling is such a powerful way to connect to the challenges in your own life and to see them through a different lens. And remember the monthly reminder from our Soulful Home packet: "I am the director of my own movie." We get to choose what stories we are telling ourselves and how we choose to respond. Check out the "On the Message Board" section of Soulful Home for more ideas about how to work with storytelling to empower our kids (and ourselves).

And for your convenience, all past newsletters can be found here on the UUCSC website

Gathering Together Video

Imagine New Worlds

Hippo joins us again this week to co-create a story of a magical world with me! We imagine a village that exists entirely inside of an electrical socket and how they solve their problem of giant metal prongs invading their peaceful village.

Songs of Joy

Rise Up

by Andra Day

"All we need all we need is hope

And for that we have each other

And we will rise"

This video was part of the inauguration celebration and shows the singer in Hollywood, as well as a 10 yr old skater in Washington DC, performing on the Black Lives Matter Plaza.

Stories for RE

Picture Books

Fairy Houses, by Tracy Kane is a sweet book about visiting a place where lots of fairy houses have been built in a forest, and then the kids get to make their own. I invite you to go outside and make your own too!

Imagine A Place, paintings by Rob Gonsalves. If you haven't seen this artist's paintings, be sure to check this out. They are gorgeous imaginings/optical illusions of the meeting between two worlds. I suggest pushing pause to really take in the illustrations.

If... by Sarah Perry. This book imagines things like "if kids had tails" and "if worms had wheels" with awesome illustrations. I invite you to create your own, or write a story based on one of the statements from the book!

Videos

Soar

I hope you enjoy this gorgeous 6 minute award-winning, wordless short called "Soar"

It's about creating something, failing, trying again and gazing in wonder as your creation takes flight.

This is the kind of short animation we will be watching for our CartUUns time this coming Sunday! and the last Sunday of every month.

Soulful Connections

UUCSC February Flurry of Love

Let's send Valentines!

Our Multigen Project for the month of February encourages you to connect by sending a surprise valentine to someone from the congregation by snail mail. You may sign your name or be anonymous, and include the phrase UUCSC February Flurry of Love somewhere on the card. See the DIRECTORY for addresses and choose one or more people to send to. This would be a good time to check and make sure your address in the directory is accurate! Folks are not expected to respond, so this will be a one-way flurry of love!

Sunday Zoom Time

Click Here on Sundays for any of the offerings below!

We are expanding our offerings, so I hope you can make it to some of the following:

EVERY SUNDAY, 9am-9:30: Kid Circle Time. We have a lovely, simple time together, sharing Roses/Buds/Thorns, singing a song and doing a scavenger hunt, drawing or game together.

THIRD SUNDAYS, 9:30-10am: Adult Sharing Time. We've decided to offer this once a month, so mark your calendars for next month, Feb. 21st and come spend time with fellow parents in a supportive, sharing environment.

LAST SUNDAYS, 9:30-10:30: CartUUns! Join us as we explore this UU curriculum that uses simple, short animated films to explore UU principles. We will watch the film on Zoom together, discuss it from a UU perspective and make some artwork inspired by the film. Please respond to this email if you're interested! Our first class will be this Sunday, Jan. 31st.

Pictures from our Families

Craft Bag Sculptures!

"Rainbow Time Turner"

by Teddy

"Fire Chief's Car" by Zayn

"Speed Bump/I love you"

by Benjamin

"Butterfly "by Bea

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