Submitted by: Kay McCurdy, Director of Religious Education
Dumbledore exclaimed, “Ah! Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit-flavored one, and since then, I’m afraid I’ve rather lost my liking for them….but I think I’ll be safe with a nice toffee, don’’t you?”
He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth.
“Alas! Ear wax!”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Much like Dumbledore, we in RE are open to the surprises, and never-ending mysteries, of life. In our classrooms, we explore what it means to live a purposeful life, how to practice compassion, how to exist in community with others. The themes of social justice, human rights, and environmental stewardship all figure prominently in our activities and discussions. Instead of relying on a sacred text to get our message across, we draw from a much deeper (and more inclusive) well.
Opening our minds, hearts, and hands is how we “do life” in this church, and how our children and youth learn to navigate a world that often fears differences and praises homogeneity. Fortunately, the kids in our congregation understand that this is a place where differences are not only tolerated, they are celebrated. Unitarian Universalism values both dissent and collaboration, and, as UUs, it is our actions, not our dogma, that define us. Bearing witness to the humanity in each other is our way of saying: I’m here for you.
As adults, we know there’s a huge difference between intellectually mulling over a concept, and actually putting it into practice. Children, fortunately, do not intellectualize their own behavior, or cloud their choices with an agenda: they are without guile. When we talk about radical hospitality as adults, it is with the understanding that the biggest obstacles to being truly welcoming are the biases we have collected over a lifetime. Children instinctually look, not for differences, but for commonalities: “You love rock climbing/playing minecraft/eating sour gummy worms? Me too!”
The UUCC is a different kind of faith community, to be sure. When visitors pull into the winding drive, and make their way up the hill, they may feel uncertain (or even anxious) about who, exactly, we are. And,when they walk through our doors on Sunday morning, what do they find?
This is the church of the open mind.
This is the church of the loving heart.
This is the church of the helping hands.