Families

Mystery Pals – Make a New Friend at Church

Make a Friend at Church create connections across generations! The mystery only lasts a little while, but the friendship can be much longer. Sign-up to be a Pal to someone older or younger than yourself—we would love to have everyone involved and will match any pair from different generations (roughly 20 years apart). To facilitate anonymity, each pair will be identified by a famous Unitarian with a corresponding “mailbox” envelope in the Hewett Centre Hall. Celebrate May 6th after the service with a Mystery Reveal Party.

Kids Will Take Over UCV

Kids Takeover Arts Festival Coming to UCV Inspired by Kids Takeover UBC (who in turn were inspired by Britain’s Arts and Culture Kids Takeover), I am starting an initiative (with Arts Committee support) to plan an Arts Festival for next fall or the following spring (depending on interest and offers from other UCVers). There’s a great start for a committee: Liam and Noella two of our coming-of-agers have joined up. Looking for a young adult and a parent/guardian of one or more babies (to represent their babies). Mary Bennett, instigator and co-conspirator Contact me if you have ideas or would like to join the team planning this event. I’ll pass ideas along to our team. You’re probably wondering whether “takeover” is one word or two: The answer is both.  Takeover is a noun; take over is the verb. Are you a kid? What would you like to take over at UCV? … Continued

Receive Our Chalice Basket and Contribute to Our Congregational Journal

An Invitation to Light the Chalice and … from Kiersten Moore, Director of Children and Youth Programs Every Sunday we close our worship with a benediction to Carry the Flame of Peace and Love until we meet again. You are invited to sign-up to light our Chalice one Sunday and receive the Chalice Basket in return. It contains a chalice, a journal, and books with meditations, readings, and Unitarian celebration ideas to carry the spirit of our church and principles through the week. All we ask is that you return the basket to church the following Sunday for the next person or family to receive! Every family and individual member is encouraged to receive the basket at least one Sunday during the year. The journal is meant to be a congregational conversation on each of our experiences or thoughts on being Unitarian through the week. Why receive the basket? Taking … Continued

Parents invited to Our Whole Lives Orientation

Our Whole Lives sexuality education for ages 9 and 10 The first workshop is this Sunday, January 14th, at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver.  We have six children registered. I invite any curious, interested, or concerned parents of a child nearing or beginning puberty to attend our Parent and Child Orientation this Saturday, January 13th, from 1:00-3:30 pm in the Fireside Room of Hewett Hall.  If you may consider registering your child for the program I encourage you to have them attend the Child Orientation portion as well.The orientation is required for participation in the course. Childcare is provided for siblings. Why attend? The Parent Workshop addresses questions, concerns, and tools for talking to our children about sexuality in an age-appropriate way. We have parent resources and suggestions for learning more; we identify what messages we want our children to receive about sexuality, and what we value about our own sexuality … Continued

Mini Adult OWL Workshop

Delicious. Intriguing. Satisfying. This is Better than Chocolate! (And it’s only for Adults.) When was the last time you had a thoughtful and fun conversation about sexuality? Remember your high school sex education? Ugh! Society is highly sexualized today and yet people don’t REALLY understand sexuality and this robs them of deeper fulfillment. Our UU values, through the Our Whole Lives program (OWL), give us a unique opportunity to take a holistic look at sexuality so that we can enhance self-knowledge, clarify our values and understand our boundaries. This workshop also helps participants: guide their kids/grandkids towards healthy sexual relationships, increase physical and mental well-being as you age, and have greater confidence to positively impact societal issues in this area. No, you won’t have to talk about your sex life, nor hear about mine! Join a safe, non-judgmental group for exploration where you will learn as much from the other … Continued

Kiersten’s Blog: Smiles Build Community

How do we welcome children and youth? by Kiersten Moore We have vibrant children’s programs going on at that are engaging for families and should be continued in one form or another. Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation; Coming of Age; Our Whole Lives; Cosmology explorations; Spirit Play, garden time, etc., as well as peer community building among our children and youth. But what draws the most families in attendance are our special events: the ancestor shrine, pageants, wassail, everybody’s birthday, the services with children directly involved, and ritual celebrations. The number of children who come to the children’s program on Sunday regularly has increased this year and involves 11 to 12 families, 21 children. However, we serve 50 to 60 children over the course of a year, including visitors; those who attend off and on; and members whose children do not connect with “Sunday School”. For every child who engages with our Sunday … Continued

Unitarian Advent Calendar

Traditions and Events for December One of the creators of the Spirit Play program created a Unitarian Advent Calendar. Could we add Canadian Unitairian significant dates and people? https://www.uua.org/offices/people/ralph-y-roberts     Most of the graphics have historical events and figures from U.S. connections. I chose these two to put here as they’re related to holidays and traditions that we celebrate at our congregation.   Here’s a youtube video of Malvina Reynold’s song Eight Candles. Here’s more about Malvina Reynolds noting her Jewish background. Resources Recommended by Harvard Square Library Reynolds, Malvina and Emmy Lou Packard. The Malvina Reynolds Songbook. Berkeley: Schroeder Music Company, 1974.   Here’s a song called “Quiet” by Reynolds.