Your NWA home for a liberal religion
Join us this Sunday (services now offered both virtually and in-person with pre-registration) for a very special zoom play, “Stone Soup for the UU Soul.” This play was written/created by our own Jules Taylor and will be performed by the talented youth of UUFF!
To follow along with the Order of Service, CLICK HERE.
Join us this Sunday as Stephanie Bentley (Children’s RE Lead) and the amazing children and youth of UUFF teach us about the many types and benefits of play for people of all ages!
To view the Order of Service, CLICK HERE.
Our Fourth Principle, or Wednesday Chalica installment of Chalice Stories. Illustrating the UU Principles using Janeen Grohsmeyer’s book “a lamp in every corner: our unitarian universalist story book.” This Video’s story is “The Race to the Top of the Tree”
Hi Y’all!
Here is our third installment of a Chalice Story to celebrate our Principles for Chalica! Our stories are from the book “a lamp in every corner” by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer, and this one is titled “The Rooster Who Learned to Crow,” illustrating our third listed Principle – Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations… or as the story puts it, “We’re free to learn together.”
So please, light a chalice or candle, enjoy the story, and contemplate how we work to help each other grow and learn, even though they may believe differently from ourselves!
Peace, Rev. Jim
Hi Y’all!
Here is the Chalice Story for our Second listed Principle – Justice, equity and compassion in human relations… or Be Kind in all You Do.
The Story is “The Excruciatingly Scrupulous Twins” by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer, from her book “a lamp in every corner.”
Light a Chalice, relax, and enjoy the story! Then discuss the second listed Principle and its meanings as you will. Love to hear your thoughts here if you wish.
Peace,Rev. Jim
Celebrating our Unitarian Universalist Principles at UU Fayetteville, AR, we’re using the stories from Janeen Grohsmeyer’s book “a lamp in every corner: Our Unitarian Universalist storybook” and her series on our Principles. We’ll have seven videos, and seven stories, for seven Principles. This story is about our First listed Principle – The Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person, or Each Person Is Important.
UUFF is in exploration to form a new Youth Group (6-8th grade) who will meet together regularly to support one another’s interests and accomplishments, learn and enforce the core values, and to just have a some fun. They would meet Sunday’s at 10am, plus other times as agreed!
Some of the things we would do in the Youth Group include attending theater performances – many times in which one of our children or youth is performing. We enjoy going on group hikes, and other fun outdoor activities. And we also like to host movie and pizza nights at the church.
These kind of activities depend on our members and friends caring for and participation to provide activities for our youth. Sign up to get to know our youth, and help them learn the UU values by your example! Sign up Here: I’ll Help RE!
Led by UUFF Youth!
We Shared the Plate with OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology. OMNI Center is dedicated to nurturing justice, equality, open communication, meaningful networks and a healthy earth through work in many different activities and programs. For more information, visit http://omnicenter.org/ Thanks for sharing!
by Teresa Honey Youngblood
What a rich class we had on 2/17, on the topic of conflict! So rich, in fact, that we’re going to be picking up the topic again after our Mentor Bagel Breakfast, since we only got to half the material I intended for us!
One interesting piece was a “forced choice” activity, where the students had to choose YES or NO (not “it depends,” or “sometimes”). Statements such as these split the group:
“If someone has a problem with you, it’s their problem, not yours.”
“Learning and growth is possible without conflict.”
And, “Being rude or impolite is always wrong.”
We were working toward the ideas that 1) conflict is uncomfortable, but can be used for creative transformation of self and systems, and 2) Being conflict-averse props up the status quo, and can prevent necessary change from happening. When we next pick up the topic, we’ll talk about covenant as a tool to help us navigate conflict well.
Below are a couple of pictures from the 2/17 class. We began with a challenge, building a chalice together with exactly 100 planks of wood. And, the youth also heard the story about the blind mice and the elephant–pictured next to the chalice–which shows us how making room for multiple truths (i.e. conflict!) can often produce the most complete picture of a situation.
-Teresa Honey Youngblood
