Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (RVUUF) Ashland, OR

Come Join Us as We Weave a Tapestry of Faith!

This year we will use the following UUA Tapestry of Faith programs to guide our explorations with our children and youth.

Preschool (ages 3-5): Wonderful Welcome
Welcome. Welcome in love. Welcome in friendship. Welcome in faith. How do we welcome? We welcome by sharing intangible gifts, those positive qualities that we all have inside us such as kindness, love, invitation, covenant and empathy. This program helps children understand and practice other values central to Unitarian Universalism such as friendship, hospitality, and fairness. Each session begins with a Wonder Box that contains a symbol of the session's theme. The Wonder Box engages the children's curiosity and encourages a spirit of inquiry and reflection.

Grades 1-3: Faithful Journeys
Children embark on a pilgrimage of faith, exploring how Unitarian Universalism translates into life choices and everyday actions. In each session, they hear historic or contemporary examples of Unitarian Universalist faith in action. Stories about real people model how children can activate their capacity to act faithfully as Unitarian Universalists –in their own lives, and they have regular opportunities to share and affirm their own stories of faithful action. Through sessions structured around the Unitarian Universalist Principles, Faithful Journeys demonstrates that our Principles are not a dogma, but a credo that individuals can affirm with many kinds of action. Over the course of the program, children discover a unity of faith in the many different ways Unitarian Universalists, including themselves, can act on our beliefs.

Grades 4-5: Windows and Mirrors
Mirrors in which they can see themselves, windows in which they can see the world. — Lucille Clifton, African American poet, writer and educator
Unitarian Universalism views our members' multiple perspectives as a blessing. Windows and Mirrors nurtures children's ability to identify their own experiences and perspectives and to seek out, care about and respect those of others. The sessions unpack topics that lend themselves to diverse experiences and perspectives—for example, faith heritage, public service, anti-racism and prayer. The program teaches that there are always multiple viewpoints and everyone's viewpoint matters. The metaphor of windows and mirrors represents the dynamic relationship among our awareness of self, our perceptions of others, and others' perceptions of us.

Grades 7-12: Exploring Our Values through Poetry
Poetry can be an accessible and profound tool in our spiritual practice as we journey toward becoming more conscious as human beings and as Unitarian Universalists. Poetry asks the big questions. So do youth: How do we live? What do we love? What deserves our faith? Who are we, and where do we fit in this universe? How do we keep our hope alive? Both poetry and youth are tireless seekers—of sense, justice, meaning, reason, hope, and sometimes just the plain old company of a good laugh. This program utilizes poems from all over the world and represents different cultures, cosmologies, genders, races, and times in history. Youth will learn how to sponsor a poetry slam in their congregation or community.