Director of Religious Education

We had a lovely Blessing of the Backpacks to kick off our new school year — and the fall generally! Everyone left with a “Powered By Love” tag since love is the driving force behind all of our newly adopted values (Justice, Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Interdependence, & Generosity). The purpose of this tradition is to help remind us that we bring our UU values and Wildflower’s love with us wherever we go.

Here’s an excerpt of the blessing:

Even when you are away from Wildflower, you carry the heart of Unitarian Universalism with you wherever you go. 

We bless these charms that will accompany you on your journey.

We bless these charms in the name of Love.  May you always remember that you are loved here at Wildflower  May you remember to love yourself and to love each other.  

May you keep love at the center of all you do.

These charms are to remind you of the support of this community.  Transforming can be hard – when times are hard, hold this charm and remember that you can rely on this church and rely on our shared values.  

You bring our values with you wherever you go.

Your bag might not look any different or feel any different, but the next time you use your bag I hope you will remember that we’ve added our blessings. And as you pack your bag with all the tools you need each day, think about the blessings you bring with you from your church community. Blessed Be.

We had a great time learning about Easter’s pagan and Christian roots and decorating cake-shaped cookies yesterday! Our all-ages event culminated with a new type of Easter Egg Hunt. Instead of searching for eggs filled with candy, our young Wildflowers hunted for dog and cat toys the congregation donated and assembled them to go to Austin Pets Alive. 

It was a great way to weave themes of generosity into our celebration. It was also heartwarming to see the youth interacting so kindly with the younger children.

We had a great Sunday together this week! In our elementary group, we talked about the Transgender Day of Visibility coming up next week. The kids had great ideas about why such a day is needed and about ways to be welcoming and not make assumptions about new friends! Then, we collaborated on a trans flag poster made up of encouraging & welcoming words along with stickers for decoration. Check out the finished product on our blog or in person in the Community Room.

The Youth Group discussed a possible upcoming camping trip and then explored the power of photography to create empathy between communities.

Next week is our Easter party at our regular CYRE time. Hope to see y’all there!

For this week’s class, our elementary group explored our 7th UU Principle: We believe in caring for our planet Earth and all living things. We began by brainstorming ways that we are all part of the interconnected web of life and the ways that we can communicate with the non-human creatures in our world. Then, we listened to a folk tale where a mother tells her son that when you hurt one living being, you hurt all of nature. After discussing how that could be true for us in our lives, we got the chance to observe and interact with some non-human creatures: rats! These incredibly tame rats were able to communicate with us through their body language and we all enjoyed holding & petting them.

The youth group focused on connection & community with a group discussion of art and a game.