January 2009

PARENT TAKE HOME LETTER 

Once every 3 months, Youth Education hosts a Parent’s Day or Night Out where you can bring your child, K-8, to a planned activity supervised by youth education staff.  There is usually a suggested love offering per family based on the cost of supplies for the event.  In December, we hosted our 2nd gingerbread house making party and it was fun for all.  

Our next event will be a board-game night on Friday February 27^th from 6-9 pm.  You can reserve a space for your child by emailing Katie Barnes at katie.unitytemple@gmail.com .  There will be reminders posted in upcoming bulletins and in the February parent take home letter as well.

 

CELEBRATION OF NEW LIFE

Each year new lives join our congregation through birth and adoption.  If a new life has joined your family during this past year, we invite you to take part in a special celebration and blessing ceremony during the service February 1, 2009.  This blessing of infants and adopted children is a time to rejoice in the wonder of God’s love expressed anew.

If you would like to participate in the service, please let the Youth Education Department know so that we can have seats reserved for you in the sanctuary.  You may sign up in the Angel Loft or call or email Katie Barnes at 816-561-4466, ext. 127.

 

JANUARY LESSONS

Lessons in the coming weeks will be based on a new curriculum entitled Unity Peacemakers developed in 2008 by collaboration with Kansas City area Unity Youth Education Directors.  The 12 week curriculum was created to coincide with the annual observation of the Season for Non-Violence that commemorates the 64 days between the assassination anniversaries of peacemakers Mahatma Gandhi on January 30 and Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4.  A Season of Non-violence is an international, grassroots movement begun in 1997 that is dedicated to demonstrating that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform and empower our lives and our communities.  The curriculum focuses on the lives of 4 peace heroes: Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and Jesus and will be presented in preschool through middle school classrooms in an age-appropriate format.

BRINGING IT HOME… If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the Unity Peacemakers curriculum, you can go to http://unity.org/index and download your free copy from our website.  May all of you and your families have a beautiful and blessed New Year!