As you may recall, last spring the RE Committee announced a new way to offer Spirit Play to our kindergarten-5th graders. The Spirit Play curriculum is already an outstandingly interactive, age-appropriate, fun way to encourage faith development in our youngest UUs and the new plan seemed to make it even better by being able to allocate resources differently while giving kids the opportunity to interact in mixed-age groups. However……
As an experimental year, almost everything is good. The stories are always interesting and the times for activities, be they art, drama, dance, contemplation or science, are a wonder to behold. Early on, we noticed that the second service 4th and 5th graders were not engaging properly. We had a most amazing offer from Anna Olsen who offered to lead a separate class for these young ‘uns who are now prospering in their self-named class, District 45.
Here’s the part where we need YOU! At its inception, using “activity rooms” as way to do Spirit Play was new so it was not obvious how to recruit teachers/helpers for the various adult roles needed each Sunday. Everyone hoped that with a shorter-term commitment, it would be easy to fill the slots. Turns out that our hopes did not become our reality. So, for the rest of this year, WE NEED SPIRIT PLAY ADULTS!!!
If each person reading this gave up three Sunday worship services from now through mid-May to instead give their time to UU children, all the teaching and helping slots would be filled, and then some. Joy, Jen and Kim (our lifespan religious education staff) absolutely cannot do it all. In fact, they shouldn’t be doing it at all. These are our children, this is our congregation, and we proclaim that “children are important.” If you believe that, then you must also believe that these children are important to you, and that you need to be part of a solution to a problem that we think we can mend next year. But for the remainder of this year, please contact Joy right now to tell her you are willing to lead (they have advice and resources available) or at least be the second person in the room for three Sundays (or two, or one if that’s all you’ve got).
Your congregation has a very specific, immediate need for your time and talent. Please take this opportunity to live your values.
Great article, Linda!!! I hope people respond. Teaching the kids is amazingly rewarding. There are also several Sundays (eg. Easter, Mother’s Day) when there is a general program for kids (ie. not Spiritplay) , planned by RE staff, where they just need assistants.