Summer Vibes...

It’s JUNE!! This month we will celebrate and move forward into our summer rhythms that return us to the outdoors and building community through playing and having fun together.

SUNDAYS IN JUNE:

Our Sunday morning programming invites children of all ages to come together in a simple ritual and summer camp type activities under the supervision of our wonderful childcare staff.

Please make sure children have appropriate clothing and sun/bug protection for playing outdoors.

Sunday June 1st - Make-It Fabulous Craft Workshop (children under 10 should be closely supervised)

Saturday June 7th - Springfield Pride Parade and Festival. A great chance for families to marchtogether and join the party!!

Sunday June 8th - Flower Communion. A whole congregation annual ritual marked with the giving and taking of flowers. Held outside weather permitting.

Sunday June 15 - Party of Possibility! A spring celebration of our congregation, great for the whole family with activities and attractions for all ages. Supervised playground will also be available to sign kids in, when parents want a break!

June 29th Brown Bag Lunch Presentation -- Post-Worship Service - 1:30pm
Parents and guardians are invited to share a meal and learn more about the rules and practices our staff employs in our programs to help guide safe and faithful behavior among our children. A short presentation will be followed by an invitation to lift up and join in the communal work of raising families together this summer! Supervision will be provided for children. Please bring a bagged lunch or beverage if you wish. Additional snacks and water will be provided.  PARENTS & CAREGIVERS, PLEASE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ATTEND.

Summer Faith Opportunities:
There are many UU camps and conferences for folks of all ages.  Here are some:  https://www.uua.org/beliefs/get-involved/where/camps-retreats-and-conferences. And remember that UUSGS offers scholarships for those who wish to attend opportunities like these to deepen their spiritual development and faith connections! For more information, contact Darcie or Rev. Jason.  

COMING SOON:
Do you have a student 13+ years who is ready to take on some leadership and connection with younger children? Interested youth will gather together for a leadership training retreat in late June/ early July and apply to become “Assistant Counselors” for our camp-style summer programming on Sundays over the summer. Adults interested in helping to support this experience for youth are also invited to apply to be a volunteer. Please contact Darcie@UUspringfield.org

Summer Hikes - Family Friendly Hikes during July and August!

To volunteer to lead a hike please contact Darcie with what Saturdays you are available, preferred start time, your name, hike location, and any features or details folks should know! You can view and comment on our growing hiking schedule via this LINK! 

On Freedom, a reflection from Darcie...

There is a photo that I keep on my office wall of my children, arms flung wide in rapture, faces bright with joy running through a field of long grass and dandelions. “Ah”, one might sigh in taking in the view of that captured moment, the freedom of childhood, “how rare it is when there is opportunity to be fully in one’s self, to move with abandon, to feel unrestricted in mind, body, and soul. That is what freedom feels like!”

I am struck by that moment of captured transformation and openness but I also can not forget the moment was possible because of the larger context and tethers of their happiness. They were fed, rested, safe, loved, connected to a large circle of family, and had been shown how to access beauty, kindness, care, and personal agency again and again. Only then could they play without hindrance and experience the feeling of that moment.

Is that moment then, truly FREEDOM if it is tethered to circumstances that can be restrictive and outside of their control?

This question made me think of the challenge faced by the practice called, both with love and frustration, “free-range parenting”. What is the cost when we release our children to have the freedom to make their own choices and do what they want when they are still immature and working developmentally to see the importance of remaining tethered to the larger context of responsibility and connection? For that matter, what happens when adults, in the name of
freedom, do the same?

This is a reflection for Family Ministry so I will not digress into the larger historical and political ways that untethered freedom plays out poorly in the world, but instead keep this thought journey closer to home. I asked myself, and ask you to as well to think about when you have experienced feelings of real freedom, and when have you felt trapped, confined, or restricted from being yourself.

“I versus We”
I have felt trapped when actions are taken by or against a group I am a part of that go against my deepest values and faith in humanity.

I expect to feel helpless when facing uncontrollable forces like sickness, death, accidents, and
disasters. It is when I find faith that pulls me through. But when much of my faith is tied up in humans I struggle to find light in moments of great violence and hate. When that violence is done in my name, or through my affiliation I feel caught, trapped, and powerless. My first memory of this is a sunny day during high school, where between classes I was relaxing on the front lawn of the typical brick rectangle classroom building when I heard that the United States
had entered Desert Storm. I looked into the blue sky and remember thinking that “right now there are planes flying in that same sky that are dropping bombs on people in my name as a citizen of the United States. There is no choice I can make in this moment to stop it, it is being done “for me” because I am American, and it is against everything I stand for.” As I have matured I have found more agency and capacity to carry the complexity of my personal and
collective identity, but the struggle is ongoing and real.

Freedom is Being a Speck of the Universe:
I was a teenager when I put the name “God” to encounters of a divine sense of mystery and holiness. In that sacred understanding I also started a long journey to make peace with the idea of surrender and powerlessness. There is a lot of data that suggests that youth who are religious or have faith are more capable of dealing with anxiety. This makes sense. If you are not connected to something bigger than you, then when you make choices it all comes down to you - you have ultimate ownership and responsibility. For me, faith was freeing - it called me to do what I could and act from a place of deep values, but it also released me from everything being on my shoulders or in my control or my fault.