St. John's Unitarian Universalist Church

From the Co-Directors of Religious Exploration

Dear parents, children and youth,

We welcome you to this year's Religious Exploration (RE) Program. Ours is a friendly, affirming environment in which curiosity, creativity and the joy of learning are encouraged. We foster the Unitarian Universalist values of compassion and conscience while also exploring the world's great religious faiths and the many ways to give life meaning. Leaders, advisors and parents join together to serve as guides to our children and youth as they develop their own spiritual practices.

Especially important is the opportunity to gather together in religious community, for it is in community that we learn to be our best selves... to be fair, kind, loving, justice-seeking, creative and responsible individuals. At St. John's we explore our expanding relationships with ourselves, with others, with the world, with our earth, with the universe and the infinite. Children learn what Unitarian Universalists value, why we hold these values and how our principles relate to other important religious traditions.

We hope you will make it important for you and your family to be here regularly on Sunday mornings to grow in relationship and to explore life's spiritual riches. We look forward to learning with you this year.

Mary Darner and Layne Richard-Hammock, Co-Directors
mmdarner@aol.com laynerh@aol.com

Opening for Director of Religous Education

Greetings from our Minister

Dear Parents and Students,

As we strive to build a caring community respecting freedom of expression, I look forward to deepening our relationships.

Education has always been an essential dimension of our liberal faith. Unitarian Universalism has supported the life of the mind, encouraged personal improvement and urged an ever enlarging appreciation of the world we live in and the people we share it with.

Years ago the founder of American Unitarian Universalism, William Ellery Channing, delivered the great challenge of our religious education, that we are "not to impose religion upon others in the form of arbitrary rules, but to awaken the conscience, the moral discernment". Our Religious Exploration Directors, our teachers, seek to fulfill this high calling. Give them your full support. Talk with each other during the week about what you are learning here at St. John's. Please let me know if I can be of help to you.

In peace and dignity,

Rev. Frank Carpenter, Doctor of Ministry

Our Children's Religious Lives...

We invite you to read a small book called The Gift of Faith by Jeanne Nieuwejaar to inspire you as you seek ways to enrich your child's spirituality. The following is an excerpt from the book:

Whether we wish it so or not, our children are religious, spiritual beings. From within their own magical selves they know feelings, intuitions, and impulses. From the people, stories, songs, and media of their environs they hear religious words and messages and see religious symbols and images. From the experiences of their daily living they encounter religious events. They see dry sticks sprout pulsing green leaves. They see the deer killed on the highway. They watch their teacher's tummy grow round with new life, and bid farewell to their uncle dying of AIDS. From the demands of their living and growing in the world they face situations that require from them a religious decision, response, or interpretation. We cannot choose whether they will be religious, but we can choose how and to what extent we will support, guide, and celebrate this dimension of their nature.

Children are deeply religious beings on every level. Intellectually they think and conceptualize on matters of good and evil, of God and prayer, of life and death. Emotionally they feel deep compassion and empathy, as well as unbounded hope and deep despair. Spiritually they enjoy a sense of awe and wonder that far exceeds our adult possibilities; they have insights of transcendence, even mystical experiences. Behaviorally they live out kindness and cruelty, generosity and selfishness, forgiveness and condemnation. And physically, sensually, they are blessed with extraordinary gifts.

Contact us for many more resources to enrich your own spirituality

Classes and Curriculum

Nursery (Infants)
Jefferson Room (downstairs)

We emphasize continuity of care in our nursery and toddler room. An experienced caregiver is hired by the church to be available throughout the year to see that our smallest children are nurtured and feel secure in a colorful, well-equipped room designed just for them. (It is possible to be in the room with your child and hear the adult service on earphones or speaker.)

Wee Walkers (One to Three Years)
Nightingale Room (downstairs)

Children will be greeted each week by the same experienced caregiver and a team of volunteer parents. Equipment for large muscle active play and exploring, puzzles, music, books and toys are provided in a welcoming and safe environment.

Growing Times (Ages 3 and 4)
(Upstairs)

Children ages three and four will be participating in a program created especially for them called Celebrating Me and My World. They will have experiences and opportunities to grow in trust and caring, to develop self-identity and connectedness with all of life using stories, songs, crafts and games.

Pre-school/Kindergarten
(upstairs)

Chalice Children offers children the grounding of a religious community and tradition, along with the freedom to discover and express their own uniqueness. Stories explore birth and death, making choices and developing rituals A teaching team of volunteers provides leadership with the assistance of parents.

First and Second Grades
Lincoln Room (Downstairs)

Free to Believe emphasizes children's spiritual and religious growth through connections to their ever-widening environment. They learn to appreciate the worth of each individual by sharing rituals, games, stories and talks, crafts, music and drama. The group is led by volunteers and parent assistants.

Third Grade
Rosa Parks Room (downstairs)

Third graders will be using the curriculum called Spirit of Adventure. Sessions focus on Unitarian Universalists who have made a difference in the world: Darwin, Dickens, John and John Quncy Adam, Alexander Graham Bell, Christopher Reed, Clara Barton, Frank Lloyd Wright, Albert Schweitzer and many others. There are lots of activities, plays, internet sessions, and service projects led by a team of parents and other volounteers.

Fourth and Fifth Grade Children
Darwin Room (downstairs)

We come from a long tradition of questioning and searching. We come from a long line of loving kindness and good works. We have powerful stories and visions of hope to share with our young people as they begin the process of shaping their own faith. Traditions with a Wink offers an understanding of Unitarian Universalism that can replace the vaguer "I can believe anything I want" and the confidence and the ability for them to articulatie their values and ideas.

Middle School - 6th, 7th and 8th Grades
Library (downstairs)

Although World Religions includes much information aboutn various religions, its main purpose is to stimulate young people's interest and curiosity about the beliefs and practices of other faiths. Of primary importance are the feelings, interests, attitudes and values that the participants develop and share. There will be several field trips to places of worship.

Senior High (YRUU)

Senior High youth meet each Sunday. Young Religious Unitarian Universalists is based on the components of youth leadership, community building, social action, worship and learning. All high school students are welcome. Look for the Youth On Fire brochure on the greeter's table.

Our Whole Lives (OWL) for Teens

St. John's offers human sexuality curriculum for elementary ages, teens and parents led by trained presenters every other year The next offering for teens, 7th through 9th grades, will be in January, February and March of 2009 though a combined effort of all Cincinnati UU churches. In addition to learning about sexuality, the training is formatted so that our youth will have social time together with other UU youth in the Cincinnati area.

Religious Exploration for Children

Sunday morning Religious Exploration classes provide an opportunity for our young people to come together and learn about themselves and their religious community, practice living the Unitarian Universalist principles of respect for one another and tolerance of differing ideas, to explore religious ideas and grow spiritually, to participate in a caring community, to worship together, and to have fun.

Children and Youth Religious Exploration at St. John's involves people of all ages. Through the curricula and church activities we promote: