Multigenerational Religious Education
Maybe you’ll recall from my newsletter post last month that, 
following the February presentation of my report monitoring
lifespan learning under policy governance at UCE, our board
president, Jeanne Kerl, asked me to craft three posts from
that report. This is the second in that series. According to
End 2, as presented in our governance document: in our
multigenerational religious community, we foster intellectual
excitement, lifelong learning, truth seeking, and respect for
our traditions of reason and faith. This is what our congregation has said it wants for our congregants of every age. As I said last month, multigenerational community is about more than lifelong learning – i.e., an individual’s serial learning from birth through death. It is also about intergenerational learning, or collaborative learning across generations. I’d like to address my post today to the growth I see in this arena for our congregation – and I especially want to congratulate our adult members for the evolution I see in their thinking and their embrace of a new way of being in our community.
When I first came on board as your Director of Lifespan Religious Education, I learned that I would be staff lead for three organizations: the Children and Youth Program Team, the Learning Associates (who develop and participate in our Tuesday Night Adult RE series), and the Lifespan Learning Council. I also learned that our intergenerational events (Bike the Ridge, Ornament Sunday, Night of the Arts, etc.) were all coordinated by one member of the Children and Youth Program Team, called the intergenerational events liaison (thank you, Jessica Presto!), that the Children and Youth Program were highly engaged and super busy, and that the Lifespan Learning Council didn’t yet have a clearly defined role. Not too far into my first year, I learned from conversations with colleagues at other institutions that the role undertaken by our intergen events coordinator was usually handled by a team – and indeed, Jessica, though highly engaged and organized, was starting to look a little crispy around the edges. One thing I know from long experience: congregations should work hard not to burn out our effective and engaged volunteer leaders.
So as it came time for the Lifespan Learning Council to consider our long-range goals, I asked our members (most of whom are liaisons to other church organizations) whether they would take on the role of heading up our intergenerational events. We had a council retreat where we considered this shift in mission. We tried on some ideas about what it might look like. We brought on some new council members, to represent arts and sciences programming and denominational affairs. We developed ideas for some new programming. Then over the summer, I asked council members to volunteer to take lead on at least one intergenerational event over the course of the new church year, and to assist on another. Though we’re only in our first year and I see opportunities for growth yet, I perceive this transition to have been a great success!
Pi Day was one of our new initiatives last year, and we re-offered it this year. Many thanks to Robb Geiger, our science liaison, for his enthusiasm in helping to dream up what the event might look like, to Jim Strickler for taking lead on the Pi Day Pizza Bar fundraiser for Boston Bound thisyear , and to our able team of volunteers who staffed eight stations for the evening. Robb also took lead on a new event this year, the Worship Arts Jam, which like Pi Day this year, drew a good crowd even in a blizzard. Bodhi Day was a new initative this year – many thanks to Jim Strickler for taking lead in organizing and emceeing this event, to Sue Larson for putting together a team of youth to perform a Jataka Tale about one of the Buddha’s past lives, Great Joy the Ox, and to Sensei Tricia Teeter for leading us in a loving-kindness chant. Heartfelt thanks go to Jean Durkin, our arts liaison, who made it a priority to understudy Johna Van Dyke and Kay Gibbs-Novy on the pageant team, and Johna and Will Van Dyke on the Night of the Arts team, to help ensure ongoing stability for these beloved events – and who also recently co-led our 5th Sunday Service Day canvas bag craft to benefit Niles Township Food Pantry. Many thanks also go to Rachelle Brooks and daughter Margot Audenard, who volunteered to lead three big events (!) this year: Ornament Sunday, Easter Brunch, and the Church Picnic (not to mention their stellar teamwork for the Serendipity Auction). Thanks also to Forum liaison Dick Whitaker for his leadership and superb storytelling for our Darwin Day Celebration, and to Learning Associates Chair Dan Solomon and wife Lisa Solomon for leading our Learning Seder.
I know that many congregants will likely see this list of events as recreational – and they are! It’s a great big list of fun times! But these are also some of the best opportunities we have as a congregation for multigenerational learning – events that inspire intellectual excitement, lifelong learning, truth-seeking, and respect for our traditions of reason and faith. I even notice that our Forum organizers (thank you, Julia Takarada and Jim Kepler!) have taken some hints from our intergen programming, offering sessions on a Slice of Pi and Passover Renewal, for example. It is vitally important that adults in our congregation take responsibility for sharing and transmitting UU culture, learning, and identity formation among congregants of all ages. This is, I believe, what multigenerational learning looks like, and I am proud to work alongside of these church leaders – as well as our ministers and worship associates in creating all-ages worship – in leading this vitally important programming.