| CHILDREN'S RE/YOUTH PROGRAM |
At a recent training for Directors of Religious Education
and lay leaders, the focus topic was the philosophy of
religious education. These three questions were asked:
(1) As we enter the twenty-first century, what is the
core of our evolving Unitarian Universalist faith?
2)
What is your vision of the goals for our lifespan religious
education?
(3) What are the vital components of Unitarian
Universalist curricula?
Various answers to these questions comprise a book entitled
Essex Conversations, Visions for Lifespan
Religious Education.
Thirty-two Unitarian Universalists, a mix of ministers
and religious education professionals, responded to these
questions, each bringing new insights as to how we look at, value and achieve
viable lifespan religious education experiences.
This new knowledge challenged me to look at our Fellowship
and my own philosophy on what comprises "Faith Development" (the new UUA term formerly called "Religious
Education"). These are some of my forming ideas.
For Faith Development to flourish to its full potential,
the community facilitating it must be a whole community.
A whole community is one that honors each person as a complete,
contemporary being with much to teach and much to learn.
A person of any age (birth through advancing age) is a
whole, spiritual, complete being, capable of all the facets
of religious experience and expression. We are all teachers
and learners, none of us greater or less than any other,
and together we are greater than the sum of our parts.
There is no level of attainment to strive for-just an interconnection
between persons, all seeking, memorializing and celebrating
together. Through our interdependent community, we achieve
an intimate exchange of insights and experiences within the framework of
our UU faith.
For Faith Development to be successful, each sub-group
of our whole community must enjoy equitable support, participation
and integration. How well are we walking together? How
are we each contributing to the health of the congregation
and the larger community? What can we do better? How can we improve and
grow?
hese are the questions our Fellowship will be reviewing
annually to guide our path whole community, and to facilitate
fulfilling Lifespan Faith Development.
Janus, the two-faced God that gave January its name, supposedly
looks back at the last year and forward to the coming year.
It's hard to think of the completion of a year in that
way when so many of us follow the school calendar and our
church calendar or a fiscal year calendar. At the Fellowship
things seem to come to a quiet conclusion at the end of
May and start up with great anticipation in early September.
The youth group will complete the church year with some
social activities, with senior graduation recognition on
May 23 and with the Coming of Age ceremony on May 22 (to
which everyone is invited). It's always bittersweet to
say goodbye to the seniors. It's always uplifting to hear
from the teens who finished the Coming of Age program.
The middle of May brings the congregational meeting where
all of us can vote for new Board members, the budget, changes
to the by-laws and such things. My focus in these meetings
is how our decisions affect the youth program. Last year
for some reason, there was no youth budget line and only
one person noticed and commented. I'm not sure how the
finance committee will finalize the proposed budget for
this meeting, but I do know the YAC asked for considerably
more funding than last year. We're looking toward the future,
not the past. We're thinking with an attitude of abundance
and not scarcity. To do otherwise would not promote or
advocate for a dynamic youth program. People sometimes
tell me how much they admire those of us who work with
teens, thinking maybe they don't have the skills, patience,
talent or inclination to work with them. Maybe this is
true, but if you're one of those who thinks that way, support
the youth program financially and help us meet our goals.
As the church year ends and we look back, the YAC and
youth are grateful to some special people: Anita Maher-Lewis
and Sarah Carlson who drove to youth conferences; to
Coming of Age mentors (Reggie Greenlaw, Nancy Schroeder,
Mark Runquist, Curt Slagell, Delphine Douglass, Liz Weber);
RE leaders Ria Keinert and Terry Alexander; Mary Duerson
and Dave Kraemer for organizing a canoe trip; Toby Ewing,
Ria Keinert and Lisa Enloe for chaperoning overnights;
Donald Lewis and other sound 'engineers'; Brian Eslinger;
Ellen Wool for her office assistance; and high school parents.
Thanks to the congregation for continued support and
positive comments.
We wish you a good summer
Benette and Deb
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Last month in this column you read about the Iowa Association of Municipal
Utilities, their energy efficient building and prairie reconstruction. On May
16, IAMU Executive Director, Bob Haug and Green Sanctuary will host an open
house and tour of the Association's building and grounds in Ankeny. The tour
will start with a luncheon at 1PM followed by the tour. To help us plan, we
will take a head-count on Sun., May 9, of those who might come, or notify Erv
Klaas.
Directions to IAMU (a 35-40 minute drive from Ames): Take I-35 south to the
second Ankeny exit (Oralabor Drive). Go right on Oralabor to Delaware (next
street) and turn left. Go south on Delaware to NE 70th Avenue and turn right.
Go west on NE 70th and turn left into IAMU just after passing Carney's Marsh.
You can also take US69 south through Ankeny. Continue south after crossing
Oralabor Drive and watch for a Casey's store on the left. Turn left (east)
at Casey's on NE 70th Ave. and then turn right into IAMU just after crossing
the railroad track. Note: NE 70th Avenue (Polk Co.) is also SE 54th Street
in Ankeny; you may see signs for both of these names on this road.
Ada Hayden Heritage Park is nearing completion and will soon be open to the
public. Bank stabilization and storm water treatment ponds were completed
last fall and already are functioning. A channel has been cut in the center
of the old haul-road causeway dividing the two lakes and the pedestrian bridge
is installed. The asphalt trail system will be installed in late April or early
May. The control structure at the southeast corner of the park is complete,
as are the boat ramp, rest rooms, and parking lots on the north side.
In the aerial photo that appeared in The Tribune a few weeks ago you may
have noticed what looked like a large lake to the west of the gravel pits
where crop fields used to be. This was spring snow-melt water. It gave
us some indication of the extent of potential wetlands and wet prairie that
will be present. Last fall, Story County Conservation staff seeded the
area around the treatment ponds and more than 35 acres of native prairie. The
whole area should be greening up soon.
A final master plan has been approved that includes tree plantings along
the north boundary of the park, markers for a conservation heritage trail,
an entrance sign, overlooks, and several interpretive signs. Waterfowl
have been stopping during spring migration and Canada geese have started
nesting. Watch for announcements of the park's opening, probably in June.
Erv Klaas
Our new building addition is wonderful! I marvel at the
new space, its functionality and its utilization. When I
walk into the building I feel this sense of new capability,
new flexibility and new resources.
Not only did we have a successful capital campaign, but
one can't help but notice the many continuing contributions
of individuals in building, fixing, creating and organizing.
Everywhere you look there is new and continuing work to
improve our physical home.
Perhaps not as noticeable is the wiring of our building
for additional phones and internet service. During May,
I will switch us over from dial-up via AOL to broadband
internet service. A DSL modem provides Ethernet connections
through a firewall router to the offices of our Minister,
DRE, Youth Coordinator, and Office Manager, as well as
our new library and Tower Room (old library).
Between
the router and floating hubs, we can simultaneously accommodate
as many computers as our needs require. Not only can
these computers access the internet without tying up any
phone lines, but they are all connected to each other via
our Local Area Network (LAN), facilitating the sharing
of documents and information.
Thanks go to many who have contributed financially, and
with planning, labor and insight. Notables include
Fritz Keinert, Dirk Scholten, Ken Lane, Rich Van Valin, Kay
Berger, Donald Lewis, James Pritchard and yours truly.
Denny Lindeman, Liz
Weber, Terry Lowman, Dallas Thies and many, many others
have provided much valuable computer support over the
years Thank you all!
Sam Wormley
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