Address: 6556 35th Ave NE Seattle, WA 98115
Service: Sundays at 9:30am and 11:15am in-person or online
Phone: 206-525-8400
Three articles from Amanda Mack, Youth Ministry Coordinator
Youth Visit Shoreline UU to Learn About Pagan Faith; Magic Unites Them
Last Sunday, a handful of volunteers and youth advisors saw a bunch of UU youth transform over the span of fifteen minutes during an evening field trip to Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church (SUUC). We were there to learn about Paganism from the GreenSong Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) chapter that meets there. They hosted a labyrinth walk to honor the Pagan holiday of Samhain that honors the bounty of the harvest and the coming of the dark time of the year. They generously opened up the labyrinth for youth from both congregations to walk together. We had 9 youth and 4 youth advisors from UUC to SUUC’s 15 kids and 4 advisors plus parents from both congregations. There were about 40 of us total.
The transformational special sauce was youth walking the candlelit labyrinth together in SUUC’s dark, quiet, dome-shaped sanctuary to the beat of drums preceded by a short introduction and meditation. The kids emerged recharged, rejuvenated yet calm, centered, at peace. They hardly knew each other but for a few awkward icebreaker games introduced by the facilitators before the labyrinth. Afterward, they hardly knew how to handle this new found energy that was inside of each of them. Their guards came down. They were suddenly connected as a group. They were animatedly talking to each other, exchanging contact information. One of our youth asked if we could get together with the SUUC kids once a month from now on. It’s as if when they turned to each other after walking the labyrinth, they saw the lingering light of the candles lining the labyrinth reflected back at them in the light of each others’ eyes and they knew it was true. “It” being this spiritual practice that was now inhabiting space in their minds, their bodies, and most importantly, their spirits. Last Sunday evening, adolescent awkwardness turned to magic right in front of our eyes!
Halloween Party Magic in the Children’s Suite
Creating magic for our youth is what Family Ministry is all about. Aria Curtis, UUC’s Director of Family Ministry, is our very own Mary Poppins who inspires us all to find our own internal superpowers that will equip kids with just the right tools to live a meaningful, magical, connected life.
Nine From UUC Attend Youth Advisor Training in Bellevue
Family Ministry is thankful to have sent nine of our Family Ministry volunteers to attend a Youth Ministry Training last Saturday at East Shore Unitarian Church in Bellevue. Eric Bliss, our UUA Youth and Emerging Young Adult Specialist for the Pacific West Region, organized the training, tapping Seattle-based trainers Rev. Justin Almeida and Elias Breidford, a former UU youth who is now a youth advisor at his home church of Westside UU, to lead the training. In total, there were at least forty youth advisors from throughout the Puget Sound including Port Angeles, Shoreline UU, Westside UU, East Shore UU and North Lake UU and more.
We learned about safety, boundary setting, how to center youth in our work and how to equip them with the tools they need for their journey. Many connections were made and ideas were floated about how to create opportunities for our youth to connect. For example, several of us are now working together to travel as a caravan to Vancouver B.C. over Veterans Day weekend for a Youth Con hosted by the Vancouver Unitarians Youth Group. UUC has five youth and three youth advisors attending. We will be traveling north with youth from at least two other congregations for a weekend of youth-led icebreakers, workshops, spiritual practices and worship. If it is anything like what happened in those 15 minutes of magic at SUUC last Sunday, it will all be worth it.
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