How do we empower our young UU’s to care and then to act in our community and world? One of the ways we encourage caring in the GPUC Religious Education program is through our Kids Who Give project. We ask each child to donate some time to our community between September and June. Parents and students can find a chart on the bulletin board in the RE wing to keep track of their hours served and activity donated. Our suggested hours are as follows: ten hours for Seniors and Juniors; eight hours for Upper Elementary students; and five hours for Lower Elementary Students. Kids can help change the world for the better by tutoring at an after school program, visiting nursing homes, making cards for shut-ins, or doing the dishes for grandparents or a special friend. Students can also bring in food and toiletries to our church. Those donations are taken each month to Crossroads East for distribution to some of our neediest neighbors in Detroit. The students could help an older couple by raking their yard, carrying packages, or reading a favorite book to them. Who knows, they may get to enjoy an afternoon with milk and cookies.

The Giraffe Heroes Project collects stories of people of all ages who have chosen to “stick their necks out” for the common good. You may want to go online to  www.giraffe.org and read about what other students are doing. Service fosters empathy, understanding and compassion. Our students who choose service can grow in confidence, responsibility and leadership. We are never too young to believe in our power to make a difference.

Religious Education Lessons:

Lower and Upper Elementary students will be studying Native American Spirituality on Sundays, October 2 and October 9.

Junior students will be studying The Gospel of Thomas, the Gnostics and Very Early Church on Sunday, October 2 and will study Catholicism and the Greek Orthodox Church on Sunday, October 9.

Senior students will attend church for Association Sunday on Sunday, October 2 and then gather for lunch and discussion in Room 2 of the RE wing. On Sunday, October 9 the students will gather at the home of Ann and Dave Ottenhoff at 7:00 p.m. to study Art in Religion.

Date to Remember:

The RE Committee will meet Sunday, October 9 at 11:50 a.m. in Room 1 of the RE wing.

-- Julie Artis, Director of Religious Education