This past Sunday was the kick off for our 2024-25 Children and Youth Faith Formation program! There was a palpable energy in the building when I arrived around 10:30 am. There was a newcomer meeting in the Commons, a Mountain Retreat Committee meeting in the art room, and Faith Formation collaborators were arriving to prep their rooms, pick up their attendance folders, and get ready for Worship. I got to answer questions from the retreat committee, stop by the newcomer gathering to introduce myself and our program, all while on the hunt for the air dry clay that I knew we had somewhere. This all happened before I even made it upstairs! It was my favorite kind of Sunday morning, one where the Congregation is alive and buzzing on the campus.
We all began together in our beautiful Sanctuary for the first part of Worship. We did some of our sacred rituals together; the welcome, the chalice lighting, lifting up our voices together in song, and then our Minister of Faith Formation, Rev. Claudia, sat down on the floor in the front of the Sanctuary to be on the same level as our youngest members. I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember any of my childhood ministers plopping themselves down on the floor to have a conversation and tell a story with the children. After the story, our children and youth went with some of their trusted adults to their new groups; where they
played ice breaker games, made new name tags for the new year, and created covenants with each other.
When Worship was over, people filled up Sandburg Hall, drinking coffee and tea, laughing together while eating cookies, and welcoming newcomers and visitors. Our YRUU youth group met on the lower patio to continue painting the new free pantry that our congregation sponsors with Beloved Asheville. Downstairs in the Commons, we had an orientation for the K-2nd grade Our Whole Lives class that launches next week. Parents and caregivers shared about their families and some of their own experiences, while their kiddos got to meet their OWL teachers, get to know each other, and make some art together.
If you’re wondering what Faith Formation is, it’s this. In the words of Religious Educator Connie Goodbread, “Everything we do is Faith Formation, everything we teach is Unitarian Universalism, the Congregation is the curriculum.” Whenever we are together, it is Faith Formation. When you light a chalice at home with your family, it is Faith Formation. When you march, canvass, and write postcards to get out the vote and fight for equal rights for all, that is Faith Formation. When our children and youth see you out there living your UU values all week long, that is Faith Formation.
Kim Collins,
Lifespan Religious Educator