Hello Families! Happy spring to all of you! As you may have heard, there is a LOT going on at UU Asheville over the next couple of months so I wanted to give you all an update on our Religious Exploration Sunday schedule through the “end” of the year.
Sunday, April 9 – Easter Sunday – Special Program in RE: We’ll celebrate Spring by learning about Ostara & The Hare with some fun activities!
Sunday, April 16 – Regular RE Classes
Sunday, April 23 – Regular RE Classes – First Sunday of Candidating Week – Come meet our Ministerial Candidate!
Sunday, April 30 – Youth in 6th grade and up are invited to attend Worship for the second Sunday of Candidating Week (congregational vote!), there will be a special program for younger kids in RE Commons.
Sunday, May 7 – Faith Development Sunday! Join us for an all ages service all about Faith Development at UU Asheville. Rev. Claudia, Kim, and Jen will lead this fun service with help from our RE leaders and (hopefully) our children and youth. You’ll also hear about our adult Faith Development!
Sunday, May 14 – Regular RE Classes – Mother’s Day service led by Kim
Sunday, May 21 – Last day of RE and class celebrations! We’ll also have a fun, icy treat (free!) for children and youth after the service.
Sunday, May 28 – RE Play Day – Memorial Day weekend
Sunday, June 4 – First day of summer RE – helpers wanted for summer!
Have you heard this big news? We have a ministerial candidate! We are nearing the end of our process of interim ministry and our Ministerial Search Committee has chosen an excellent candidate that we hope to call as our next settled Minister. Candidating Week will be April 23-30th. Find out more about it here!
Summer Fun! This summer we are asking members of our community to join us to share their passions! Do you have a hobby or skill that you would love to share with our children and youth? Let Kim know about it! We are hoping to learn more about all the wonderful and unique gifts our church community members have to share! We are open to all sorts of things – indoor and outdoor! Want to help out but not sure about leading? We need assistants too! This is a great opportunity to get to know our children and youth in a more relaxed environment. If you want to help out, email Kim at Lrec@uuasheville.org
Pastoral Care Available RE staff (Kim and Jen) are available and willing to help provide pastoral support to children, teens, and families who may be struggling. We know that many families are still recovering from the height of the pandemic and that our children and youth have faced unprecedented challenges over the last few years. We know that mental health challenges for teens especially have skyrocketed. While we are not therapists and cannot offer that kind of support, please know that we are here to listen and to help in any way we can. Our congregation also has a pastoral care team to offer support to anyone in our congregation who is struggling. We can even help with practical things like meal trains and helping find child care and rides. Your UU Asheville community is here for you! We also wanted to share an article from The New York Times that may offer some helpful advice for parents. You can read it here.