From DLRE: September 24, 2021

When I was first hired just 6 months before the pandemic, I had heard about UCE’s desire to create a more multigenerational community. When Rev. Karen Gustafson came as our interim minister, this was reiterated many times. Knowing this gave me such hopes and dreams as a religious educator!  

And so this past year, the Faith Formation Force has been working hard to find a creative way to make this happen, and we’re about to launch this new idea of all-ages worship and faith formation and see it come to fruition! Or are we?  Will the continued challenge of the pandemic force us to veer our course? 

We have a volunteer challenge. The reality is that many people are not comfortable working with our young people for many reasons, partly due to vaccination issues. What this means for our young people is that we cannot have age-specific programs at this point, even with only having these programs twice monthly.  

The past 18 months have been challenging for parents and families. They need our support. If we are striving for a shared ministry, then it is not the responsibility of parents solely to fill the role of guiding our young people and youth. Rather, it is our collective responsibility – whether we personally do this or not. I also acknowledge that working with young people is not everyone’s cup of tea. We want people who genuinely care and want to be with our young people. And so I ask those of you who do, volunteer to be a helper one Sunday this year – just one! I promise that you will be amazed by our young people, learn about UUism, and have fun! What more could one ask for these days? 

One thing the past 18 months has told us is to be flexible and forgiving. With this approach, we will go forth with this vision of a shared, multigenerational faith formation experience, and learn and grow along the way.  

In Faith, 

Kathy