Saturday, January 24th
The Big Event (the UU Youth/YRUU fundraiser scheduled for Sandburg Hall starting at 5:30 PM)
has been POSTPONED.
New date to be chosen soon; details to follow.
Questions? Reach out to Jen Johnson. 

Sunday, January 25th 

BOTH IN-PERSON SERVICES ARE CANCELED.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL TO THE CHURCH.
There will be one service *online only* at 11:15 AM on Zoom, not our typical YouTube Livestream link. More details to follow. *Please note, power and/or internet outages may force full cancelation of the Zoom service. Questions? Reach out to Lauren in the office.

Associated Sunday church/worship/after church events are canceled on 1/25: Faith Formation, Coffee Hour, *Long-Range Planning Town Hall, Soul Collage. Questions about these events? Click the event name, and you can email the respective organizer.

This weekend’s forecast is projecting a serious winter storm with heavy snow and ice headed to our area as well as many other parts of the country. To keep our members, friends, visitors, and staff safe, we have preemptively made some changes to the schedule for congregational events and worship this weekend. 

Saturday, January 24th
The Big Event (the UU Youth/YRUU fundraiser scheduled for Sandburg Hall starting at 5:30 PM)
has been POSTPONED.
New date to be chosen soon; details to follow.
Questions? Reach out to Jen Johnson. 

Sunday, January 25th 

BOTH IN-PERSON SERVICES ARE CANCELED.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL TO THE CHURCH.
There will be one service *online only* at 11:15 AM on Zoom, not our typical YouTube Livestream link. More details to follow. *Please note, power and/or internet outages may force full cancelation of the Zoom service. Questions? Reach out to Lauren in the office.

Associated Sunday church/worship/after church events are canceled on 1/25: Faith Formation, Coffee Hour, *Long-Range Planning Town Hall, Soul Collage. Questions about these events? Click the event name, and you can email the respective organizer.

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The Family Drop-In Soul Matters group is happening this Sunday!

Join me in The Commons after worship on Sunday as we explore the theme of Hope using the discussion questions in this month’s Soulful Home packet. Plan to bring a lunch or snack for your fam, kids are welcome to hang out in the Commons while we meet! Here are a few sample questions: 

1. When have you seen hope grow out of something hard or unexpected?
2. If you could give someone who feels hopeless one gift, what would it be?
3. What’s one tradition or ritual that helps your family stay hopeful?

Whether you can join us on Sunday or not, please check out this month’s Soulful Home packet, linked below. The packet contains movie recommendations, game suggestions, and parent resources, all great tools to navigate the holiday season – especially over the school break! Find the packet here!

Holiday Worship Schedule

Sunday, December 21 – All Ages Pageant Service at 11:15 am 

Families should sit together in the Sanctuary. Child care begins at 10:45 this week.

CUUPS Winter Solstice/Yule Celebration

Join Blue Ridge Spirit CUUPS for a high-spirited celebration of winter solstice, or Yule, on Sunday, December 21, at 5pm in the sanctuary. On the shortest day and longest night of the year, we welcome the return of the light in community with singing, dancing, and a Mummer’s Play from Old England. Children are especially welcome for this evening of merriment. Please bring a dish to share for the potluck afterward.

Questions? Contact susanjfosterphd@gmail.com

Wednesday, December 24 – Family Christmas Eve Service at 4 pm in the Sanctuary

All ages are welcome at our afternoon service. Dress cozy (pajamas welcome!) and come hear the story of 3 births with Rev. Claudia and Kim. Wiggles welcome! Afterward, join us in Sandburg Hall for a cookie reception sponsored by the UU Hikers. Cookie donations welcome! Just drop them off before worship.

There will also be a choir concert at 7 pm, followed by a Candlelight service with singing and story at 7:30 pm.

Sunday, December 28 – Poetry Service at 10 am (one service only!) 

Child care available starting at 9:30 am. Special program for children and youth. We could use a couple of volunteers to lead an easy art project and game play – let me know if you can help out!

Chalice Lighters Needed – We need someone for 12/28!

We love it when children and youth are part of worship! Sign up now for Winter (late Dec.-Feb.) Services! Sign up by Noon on Thursday for the coming Sunday. *Please note: Chalice lighters need to arrive 15 minutes before worship begins and check in with the worship leader!

Thanks, and happy holidays! – Kim

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How To Go About It

The most straightforward way to do this is simply to have parents and/or caregivers read off the questions they think will resonate the most with family members and have everyone take turns answering.   

Another fun way to do this is to create a family question jar. To make this easier for you, we’ve listed all the questions below at the end of this packet with dotted lines you can cut along to make “question strips.” You can then pull out the question jar and have family members choose a question/strip a few times each week. 

Discussion Questions

1. How do you define or explain what it means to be inclusive? What words are similar to inclusion? How many can you name?
2. What is your favorite way to welcome new neighbors, classmates, people to your church, or other kids into your troops/groups/clubs/sports, etc.?
3. Can you be inclusive without using words? What would that look and feel like?
4. Where–other than your actual home–do you feel most “at home”?
5. When you see someone on the outskirts of a group, not sure how to join in, what do you usually do? When it’s you on the outskirts of a group, what would you like someone to do?
6. Who in the family is the best at meeting new people? What makes them great at it?
7. When was the last time you were the “new kid”? Do you remember who the first person was to reach out and help you feel included?
8. Without words and using only your body (like charades), show how being welcomed into a group feels.
9. What makes our church an inclusive place? How could you help it be even better at it?
10. When someone new comes into a group of people you know well already, how are you most likely to react? What’s something you’d like to try the next time this happens?
11. How are you most likely to react when you sense that you’re not included?
12. Who in your life has made you feel the most included and why? 
13. What was one thing you did today to include someone else? 

Want to keep going? Find more family activities here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sU3gkE0irLoK2hWmVF6oGdtqZmY1gZgq/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108695119908519377783&rtpof=true&sd=true

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What: We’ll spend this first Sunday together getting to know each other, creating a group covenant, and playing some ice breaker games.

When: This Sunday morning, September 15th at 11:15 am. Child care for kiddos 4 and under is available beginning at 10:45 in room 2 downstairs. Youth in grades 5 and up will be dismissed at the end of class (between 12:15-12:30 pm) to find their families upstairs. Please make sure that your kids know where to find you and that they need to come straight to you. Kids in grades 4 and under should be picked up from their classroom or the playground by 12:30 pm at the latest. Please be conscientious about picking up your kiddos, this is important to honor the time that our collaborators are dedicating to our children and youth every week. You can find out what’s happening every week in Sunday Morning Faith Formation here!

Where: At UU AVL of course! Here are the classroom assignments for this year:

K-2nd Grade – The Commons

3rd-4th Grade – RE 5

5th-6th Grade – RE 6

7th-9th Grade Crossing Paths – RE 3

9th-12th Grade YRUU – 23 Edwin Place (just down the street from the main building)

A few more reminders:

• Please remember that outside of FF group time, parents and caregivers are responsible for supervising their children and making sure that they are always within your eyesight, or that of another designated adult. 
• We are a multigenerational community with folks of all ages and abilities. Please remind your children and youth to use courtesy when on campus. This means no running inside (only okay on the playground) and that we need to be aware of our surroundings (this goes for adults too) in order to make sure we are not blocking access to anything or impeding someone else moving around. 
• We are a neurodiverse community! Some of our members may have some sensory issues and need to use adaptive tools like headphones or fidgets, or engage in stimming. That’s okay here and we welcome everyone to come as they are. It’s important to get consent before touching someone, especially if they are not looking at you – this can be really uncomfortable and triggering for some people. Please talk to your kiddos about this before Sunday morning.
• We want you to feel comfortable doing what you need to do for your family while you are with us. You have choices on Sunday: your kids are welcome to stay in Worship with you for the whole time and you are welcome to attend Faith Formation groups with your kids. Sandburg Hall is available for anyone who needs to move around more, stim, or just prefers not to be so close to others. The Worship service will always be streaming there.
• Our expectation is that everyone will attend the beginning of Worship together for the opening and the Wisdom Story. This is time for our whole community to be together every week and it’s really important! Our kids learn how to be in Worship by being in Worship! As I said above, if you need to be in Sandburg Hall instead of the Sanctuary, that’s totally fine.

A note about our Wee Worship area at the front of the Sanctuary. We introduced this special space in early 2022 as a way to be more inclusive of families and young children in our Worship space. We know that children need to be included and involved in Worship in order to become adults who are involved with Worship and seeking out faith communities. We chose to place this area at the front of our Sanctuary so that children can see and hear everything that is happening in Worship. This is key for our kiddos to learn about our faith and engage with our rituals. Our Wee Worship space is stocked with quiet activities for little hands to use while still engaging with the service. There are coloring supplies, soft blocks, play food, and lacing cards – all things that are intended for children to engage with individually so that they can still tune in to Worship. Parents and caregivers are responsible for supervising their kiddos during Worship. This means that our expectation is that you will sit nearby (we know that the first pew gets crowded!) and pay attention to your children so that you can redirect if needed. We are not striving for silence, which would be impossible with that many people in one room, but we are hoping to keep voices low and keep talking to a minimum. This is all part of the process of learning how to be together in worship – our community is a work in progress! I want to be clear that children and youth belong in Worship and should be seen and heard in all parts of congregational life – please let me know if you’d like to get your family involved in Worship by signing up to be chalice lights or help out with greeting on Sunday mornings! We also need readers and we would welcome some youth Worship Associates as well.

Do you need to meet with me and/or other Faith Formation staff? Let us know! We are typically all available on Sundays and Tuesday-Thursday during the week and we’d be happy to set up a time to discuss whatever is on your mind about Faith Formation.

In faith, Kim Collins, Lifespan Religious Educator

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Banned Book Summer is underway! Most Sundays this summer we will explore a book that has been banned or challenged. We’ll have our chalice lighting and check in, followed by a story and discussion and an art project!

This summer we are exploring banned and challenged children’s books at UU Asheville. The idea for this came from a Worship service offered by Rev. Audette that you can find here! I was inspired by this service to spend the summer exploring banned and challenged children’s books with our children. Since then, I have learned a lot about the conservative book banning movement in this country. There are coordinated efforts by groups all over the country to ban any books that deal with race, equity, difficult truths about history, gender, LGBTQ+ history, sex, perceived “witch craft” (the beloved Strega Nona!) and other important topics. Many parents and non parents who are calling for the banning of books have been provided with lists of books from these outside organizations. In most cases, the people calling for the banning of books have not actually read the books. In many cases, the books with “sensational” material that they read out loud at school board and library board meetings are not even in the libraries that they seek to ban it from. You can read more about this movement here.

We love to learn here and we have some big ideas about how people should have access to information in order to make up their own minds about things. We also believe in listening to people’s lived experiences in order to understand the world more fully.

In faith, Kim Collins LRE

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Please join us this Sunday, May 19 for the Faith Development Worship Service!
We will have All Ages Worship at 11:15 am this week and it’s all about Faith Development! We’ll hear from parents, teachers, youth, children, and your religious educators, PLUS Rev. Claudia. Talk about an all star lineup! We will also recognize folks who have served with Religious Exploration this year. Additionally, we will recognize our emerging adults who are graduating from high school this spring with a Bridging ceremony. Oh, and one more thing – it’s a Sundae Sunday so we’ll share some ice cream after worship in Sandburg Hall.

About the playground…
You may have noticed that we have had to remove the slides and the wooden decking that supported them from the playground. This is because the wood was really rotten and it was unsafe for it to remain in use. One of the slides remains on the playground for now, because it’s really heavy and we haven’t been able to move it yet. We are looking at this as an opportunity to reimagine our playground and we are going to want your input! Staff will meet soon to discuss plans, so be on the lookout for an invitation to get involved with the planning and execution! Special thanks to John Bates, Mara Sprain, and Adam Griffith for jumping into action to make our playground safer for the time being!

Widening the Lense – Support one of our youth!
For the last 9 weeks, two youths (including our very own Eliza Martin!) have been hard at work with photographer Peter J. Robinson, Jr. and Religious Educator Jil Novienski, using their photographic eye to capture UU values of justice, equity, transformation, pluralism, interdependence and generosity. They’re ready to show their stories their way, so please show your love and support and join us for the exhibition film screening and artist Q&A on Monday, May 20th at 8:00pm (ET) on Zoom. All are welcome to attend. Here’s the zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84214954302

Help us mind the gap in child care!
One of our stellar child care providers, Phoebe, has headed home to Charlotte for the summer and won’t be back until school starts again in August. I am hoping that our community can help us make sure we are covered for the summer. Do you know someone who likes working with kids looking for a part time job this summer? Send them my way! I would love to hire someone to help out, but I am also hoping that you all can step up to help us out over the next few weeks – email lrec@uuasheville.org if you’re up for spending an hour in the company of the fabulous Via and our sweet kiddos!

Speaking of Summer…
We’re exploring banned books this summer! Do you have a passion for reading? Have books made a difference in your life? Come share that joy with others! I am actively recruiting collaborators for the following: Helping out on Sunday mornings with sharing stories and exploring art, or just being an extra set of helping hands. This is a great way to dip your toes into RE if you’re new to us. I am also seeking folks that would be interested in facilitating a youth book club if you prefer to work with older kids. Sign up here and I’ll share the schedule with you to choose your date(s)! https://forms.gle/hHzd4EkfYiHNaz3eA

Don’t forget about camp!
I heard on Sunday that several camps at The Mountain still have openings! Find out more here: https://www.themountainrlc.org/mountaincamp

Ready to sign up to be a Collaborator?
2024-25 Teaching teams are forming now! Find out about all the options and sign up here: https://forms.gle/HyMqqU2Ghg2L5BJ69

Sunday, May 26 All Ages Worship
Join Rev. Audette outside for some bubble fun! Bring a blanket for your fam and enjoy our beautiful campus! Weather permitting, of course!

Finally, a language update!
Maybe you’ve noticed that we’ve started using the word “collaborator” instead of volunteer – there’s a good reason for that! This faith community belongs to YOU. Without you, we simply can’t do all the good things we do here. Staff is here to support and guide, but the real work is done by the congregation. When you serve in our community, you are supporting the congregation that supports you, which is different from volunteering. We continuously update our language to reflect our understanding of this important work – it probably won’t be the last time! We are also going to be shifting from using the term Faith Development to using Faith Formation instead. This will help us define the work of our staff and make sure we are in alignment with our current understanding of what we do here at UU Asheville. Let us know if you have questions about any of this!

In faith, Kim Collins LRE

The post Summer Updates! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville.

It’s also time for us to cultivate a new crop of RE leaders and teachers! Religious Exploration at UU Asheville is like a community garden, it only works because a large group of folks tends it together. Every Sunday morning, 15-25 caring and curious adults take time to invest in our children and youth and cultivate learning, relationships, and fun. Last Sunday, our high school youth were serving hot donuts during coffee hour to help encourage congregants to engage with our annual giving drive. Our Pre-K group was doing experiential learning using different senses to explore nature, while our K-3rd groups combined together to hear a story about community and then helped prepare and beautify our campus by spreading mulch and painting rocks for our actual garden. Our 7th-8th, Our Whole Lives class was learning about pregnancy and parenthood while our other middle school group explored Imagination as a quality of a justice maker. Like a community garden, everyone who participates in RE nurtures their soul and reaps the benefits of being with our children and learning and playing alongside them. 
We always need more helpers in our garden of love and community! Working with our children and youth is rewarding, fun, and fulfilling and I promise it will benefit your own spiritual development in the process! We will also equip you with all the tools you’ll need, including fun training. We have all sorts of needs and we have the perfect fit for you, look for us during coffee hour beginning in April and find your place in our garden! If you already know what you want to do or have an exciting idea – email me! I’d love to hear from you!

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Join us on Saturday, February 3rd and Saturday, March 3rd 1-2 pm for family yoga with Donna Hollinshead! People of all ages and abilities are welcome to explore this mindful, spiritual practice. Please bring your own mat or blanket if possible, we will have a limited number of mats available to share.

Do you have a kiddo who is 5 or younger? Are you looking to connect with other little UU’s and their folks?

We have some interest in setting up a monthly play and connect group that would be a mix of planned activities and free play, with the possibility of inviting occasional speakers. We’ve got the space for it, we just need to know if there is interest in something like this. Reply to this email if you want to get involved!

Girl Scout Cookie Season is Here!

A few Girls Scouts will be selling cookies in Sandburg Hall for a number of upcoming Sundays and we want to make sure that all Girl Scouts have an opportunity to be included. If you have a scout who would like to sell cookies, please use this link to sign up for a day and time. If you have any questions please reach out to Monica Youngman (mstich42@gmail.com). Thank you!

The Coming of Age Big Event 

Each year, our Coming of Age group does fundraising for youth trips. You may have already enjoyed some of their hot soup on Soup Sundays! Save the date for Saturday, February 24 5:30-8:30 pm! They’ll serve baked ziti, salad, garlic bread, lemonade and cookies! Other refreshments available for a donation. They will also have fun games for all! Tickets are sliding scale. Adult tickets are $15-$20, children’s tickets are $7-$10, and family tickets are $40-$50. Child care will be available upon request. Reserve your tickets and pay in advance here!

Sign up to be a chalice lighter!

We are always looking for children and youth to light the chalice for Worship on Sunday mornings! There are also opportunities to be a reader in Worship. Let me know if your family wants to sign up by replying to this email.

No Nuts Please!

Friends, we have several kiddos in our program with serious nut allergies. We are asking that you refrain from bringing any food or snacks with nuts in them to church, even if you are not sharing with anyone else. Sometimes just the presence of allergens is enough to trigger an allergy. We are also working on asking the whole congregation to be mindful about labeling foods that we don’t have the original packaging for when sharing food at church. Folks with allergies depend on this to eat safely, and everyone deserves to make informed choices about what they eat. Please help us be more inclusive in this way!

RE Teacher RE-Fresh! Sunday, January 28th 9:30-10:45 am

Join Kim for an RE teacher RE-Fresh! We’ll talk about how things are going, share some tips and tricks, answer questions, and have some planning time. All current and future Religious Exploration volunteers are welcome! Not ready to commit but want to see what it’s all about? Join us! We will be recruiting for next year in a month or so and this is a good way to find out more info! We’ll meet in RE Commons and we’ll provide some light breakfast and coffee. Please RSVP to Kim by Thursday, January 25.

Child Care Helpers Wanted!

We are extremely blessed to have Via and Phoebe doing such a great job in child care, AND we are growing! We recently opened up our new nursery space, but we really need some volunteers to help out on Sunday mornings so we can open up both child care spaces. We are looking for folks who can give about 1 hour per month to helping out in child care on Sunday mornings. We are looking for folks who feel comfortable spending some time on the floor and who can move fairly quickly if needed. Reply to this email if you’d like to sign up – we are working on a new and improved sign up system!

It’s a Mystery…

Mystery Friends is coming…stay tuned for more info and the link to register!

Save the dates for these upcoming events:

Saturday, February 10, 5-7 pm – It’s Family Fun Night! Join us for pizza and games – look for the link to RSVP next week!

Saturday, February 17, 3-6 pm – Melanie DeMore Community Sing & Potluck – see the eNews for more details soon!

The post Winter Family Ministry Update appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville.

First, some safety stuff! In addition to providing an outstanding Religious Exploration program, we take safety very seriously! It’s the job of the staff, particularly RE and child care staff, to create and follow guidelines based on best safety practices for working with children and youth. This is for the safety of EVERYONE at UU Asheville. Here are some things you should know:

1. Children and youth visitors – We think it’s great when our children and youth want to share their church experience! Please help us out when bringing visitors whose parents/guardians are not on campus by bringing them down to RE and making sure that teachers and/or RE staff know who their adults are so we know who to contact in case of an emergency.

2. On campus supervision – Parents/guardians/caregivers are responsible for their children and youth whenever on campus, or at an off campus UU Asheville event. Outside of RE classes and activities, children in 5th grade or under should be with their families or another designated adult at all times. Children and youth who are in 6th grade or up have a bit more freedom to move around the campus, but you should still know where they are at all times while on campus. Children in 5th grade and under should be picked up from RE by a parent or other designated adult by 12:30 pm on Sundays. 6th grade and up groups will be dismissed to go find their families by 12:30 pm. This does not mean that kiddos in 6th grade and up have “free reign” on campus – the expectation is that they will be supervised by their folks once they leave class. There should always be adults present on the playground as well, please do not send your kids to the playground without making sure there will be an adult who agrees to supervise them.

3. Safety ratios – The safety ratios that we use in child care are state mandated and determined by the age of the youngest child in child care. This means that we may occasionally not have enough child care providers on hand because the ratio can change. This is one of the reasons that we encourage all parents who use child care to sign up to volunteer in child care several times per year. It means that we may occasionally ask a parent to stay in child care so that we can be in compliance. Our goal is to never have to turn someone away from child care, but I want you all to know the reason why it may happen sometimes. 

1) When any baby younger than one year is present, the total ratio of children under the age of 12 (in both childcare rooms) to adults (over 18) should never exceed 5:1. 

2) If a baby 12-18mos old is the youngest child present, the ratio should not exceed 6:1. 

3) If a toddler 19-23 mos old is the youngest present, the ratio should not exceed 7:1. 

4) If a child 24-36 mos old is the youngest child present, the ratio should not exceed 8:1.

5) At no time, regardless of the age of the youngest child, should the ratio exceed 9:1.

Speaking of volunteering in child care…I’m planning a training! No details yet but I will have more info in the coming weeks. If you want to sign up to volunteer in child care and/or sign up for the training, let me know and we will get you oriented! Now that our nursery is ready to accept babies, we could certainly use some more helping hands and loving hearts.

Please note that both of our child care staff members will be off on Sunday, December 24 and Sunday, December 31. We hope to arrange for volunteers so we can still have child care available on those Sundays, but please know that we may not be able to offer child care if we do not have enough volunteers.

Now for the fun stuff!

DECEMBER VESPERS

Wednesday, December 6th at 6 PM

Our December Vespers evening will be a special celebration. First, a very special guest will be joining us – Santa Claus! Kids of any age can visit with Santa and let him know what you want for the holidays. Our dinner time will include our time for reflection and centering, as well as some meaningful conversation. And after dinner, please join us in decorating UU Asheville for the holiday season! We’ll have hot cocoa and cookies, as well as holiday music and some ornament-making crafts. Bring a friend! The more the merrier as we decorate for the winter holidays at UU Asheville. RSVP Here.

Photos with Santa! – Sunday, December 10th 12:30-2:30 pmEveryone (pets included) is welcome to have a photo taken with Santa! There is a suggested donation of $10 and you will receive the photos. Special thanks to Joe Penno and Tobin Photography for making this possible!

Christmas Eve is on Sunday this year! Join us for all ages Worship with our Ministers at 11 am – all are welcome! Our candlelight service will be at 7 pm, featuring a mini concert from Dr. Les Downs.

We need chalice lighters! Does your family, child, youth want to have a small but significant part in worship? Sign up to be a chalice lighter! Email Kim at lrec@uuasheville.org to sign up!

Mystery Friends is coming and we need YOU! We need at least 2 more adults that can help plan and implement our beloved Mystery Friends program – we want to bring it back, but we need your support! We have one adult already signed up to coordinate so it will be a team effort! Mystery Friends is a fun, safe opportunity for children and youth to make connections and develop relationships with adults in the congregation. This helps to deepen our intergenerational ties to each other and can lead to lifelong friendships! Several of our past pairs have gone on to be mentors/mentees in our Coming of Age program! Email Kim at lrec@uuasheville.org 

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