By Joy Berry

Spring is a time for dizzying new growth in the world around us, even as we plan the rituals and celebrations that help mark the end of the regular church year — and the beginning of Summer Sundays. Whether you are looking for inspiration for big ideas, stories, activities, or worshiping together as a community, this month’s round up is here to help.

UU Rituals

Spring is a time for rituals and ceremonies important to UUs, like Coming of Age Service, Flower Communion, and Volunteer Appreciation. (See March resources post for more on COA and Bridging.)

A Primer on Rituals (excerpts from Blessing It All: Rituals for Transition and Transformation)

For UUs, ritual is an embodied, participatory way to mark transitions or facilitate transformation, connecting us to something larger—community, the holy, the seasons, the cycles of life and death.

Ceremonies and Rituals for Worship: ideas and resources on UUA’s Worship Web.

Volunteer Appreciation

Recognition of Volunteers: A Litany

Ideas for Volunteer Appreciation Gifts (from the members-only LREDA resource portal; LREDA membership info)

Flower Communion

Flower Communion: Worship Resources

Learning from Daffodils (Time for All Ages)

Flower Ceremony: Coloring Page 1 &Coloring Page 2

Coming of Age

Coming of Age in a Unitarian Universalist community | Rev. Beth Dana (10 min video)

An example of celebration and blessing of CoA youth and graduating seniors bridging into young adulthood. On the songs we know about ourselves — and the stories of our lives not yet written.

Coming of Age–Threshold Conversations: panel discussion, essays, interviews, podcast

Opportunities to Learn, Share, and Connect

Call for Submissions: Whole Church RE Field Guide
Whole Church Religious Education (WCRE) gives UUs a powerful story and practical tools to connect all the parts of the congregation, center faith development, and engage a community practice of shared learning as UUs. We hope to learn from, and lift up, creative ideas from the field. Please consider sharing WCRE resources/activities that you’ve created for your congregation. Click the link above!

Whole Church RE Training: April 29 1:30-3:30 ET
RE professionals and lay leaders are invited to register for this 2 hr webinar on Whole Church Religious Education (WCRE). We’ll explore the approach together, with examples from the field — including WCRE as an emergent strategy that meets the moment of change we are in. This training will equip you for congregational conversations and creative ways to share the blessings of RE, in community-wide faith development. Register by April 26.

The Deeper Joy of Whole Church RE – at RE Week @ The Mountain
This workshop will be offered for Sparks credit, July 5-10, 2026. Designed especially to support shared ministry approaches to congregational community-building and co-learning – registrants are encouraged to invite their ministry colleagues! Register by June 21. 

Resources for Upcoming Special Days and Celebrations

April

Arab American Heritage Month
Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture: The author, child of refugees, grew up speaking Judeo-Iraqi Arabic — a language that’s now on the verge of extinction. The healing power of our ancestor’s music, stories, and recipes.

April 1-9 Passover
Celebrating Passover Seder | UUA Worship Web: activities, stories, and worship elements (beneath search boxes)
UUs for Jewish Awareness: a variety of resources for Passover and more

April 5 Easter/April 12 Easter (Orthodox) 
Celebrating Easter | UUA Worship Web: activities, stories, and worship elements

Blessing of the Easter Baskets
Easter Litany Worship Activity
Mary Magdalene’s Story

Marie’s Magic Eggs: Story of the woman who saved the craft of Ukrainian Easter eggs and brought it to America. A richly illustrated picture book for kids who love creating. Great idea for shared activity. (ages 7-10)

April 13 Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)
Ceremony of Remembrance: Yom Hashoah
The Gift of a Raspberry (Story for All Ages)

April 22 Earth Day

Activities, Stories, Games, Taking it Home

Dirt Communion: multigenerational worship service appropriate for Earth Day. With homily, ritual, and a “blessing of the dirt” brought by congregants from places special to them.

Our Roots of Resilience (Body Meditation)

Church Grounds Clean-Up (Multiage Activity)

Climate Change Religious Education Curriculum (aimed at 4th/5th grades — also works for multi-age)
Earth Day: An Alphabet Book (ages 3-6)
Love, the Earth (ages 3-7)

The Tide is Rising, So Are We! (ages 5-8)

Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet. There is anger, fear, and grief—but also wonder, hope, and love. A soaring journey, filled with mythology, physics, witchcraft, bad movies, volcanoes, sequoia groves, and the many small miracles of nature we usually take for granted.

This Sweet Earth: Walking with Our Children in the Age of Climate Collapse We raise our children toward an uncertain future. This book helps us see that those same children shift our posture, slow us down, and invite us away from despair: to fall in love with the ground we inhabit together.

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden The author wanted to diversify her garden in a white community — with strict restrictions on “allowed” plants. Uses the diverse garden as metaphor for risky homogeneity; explores why cultivating intersectional language in our discourse on the environment is the best means of protecting it.

May

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Asian American Histories of United States
Asian American is Not a Color

We Who-Produce-Pearls: An Anthem for Asian America (ages 4-8)

Jewish American Heritage Month
Jewish American Heritage Month
Jewish Unitarian Universalists
Jewish Voices in Unitarian Universalism (book)

Mental Health Awareness Month 
Peaceful Mind: An Introduction to Meditation by the Dalai Lama (ages 2-5)

ABCs for a Peaceful Me: A Mindfulness Seek-and-Find Book (ages 3-5)

It’s OK –Being Kind to Myself When Things Get Hard (ages 3-7)

Words Are My Superpower: A Kid’s Guide to Affirmations, Mantras, and Positive Thinking (ages 8-13)

Here I Am, I Am Me: An Illustrated Guide to Mental Health (ages 13+)

Rest and Sabbath Retreat: J. Zimmer’s weekend youth retreat; focus is on mental health

A Novel Mind:database of kid’s books,educator resource pages on mental health/neurodiversity

May 1 Beltane / May Day / International Workers’ Day 
The May Weavers (Multigenerational Activity)

May 10 Mother’s Day

Celebrating Mother’s Day (History, Articles, Ideas for Action)
Mama’s Day — Ideas & Queries for Worship, RE, and Beyond

May 17 International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia 
Love at the Center – Defending Trans Lives and Democracy (Study Guide, Lecture)
The LGBTQ+ History Book

If You’re a Kid Like Gavin (ages 4-8)

This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Tales of Her, Him, Them, and Us (ages 8-12)

Tales from Beyond the Rainbow: Ten LGBTQ+ Fairy Tales Proudly Reclaimed (ages 8-12)
Beyond They/Them: 20 Influential Nonbinary & Gender-Diverse People You Should Know (ages 12-14)

May 25 Memorial Day

Honoring Fallen Soldiers (Time for All Ages)

Creative Ideas for Summer and Beyond

Better than Sunday School: UU World Article
UU World article explores how one Oakland UU church changed its approach to RE with Summer Camp — changing their church culture, and deepening community and faith identity, in ways they didn’t expect.

Born to Belong: Spirituality for Mammals

J.L. Shattuck’s BORN TO BELONG explores the core emotional systems common to all mammals, and calls UUs to lifespan faith formation with a whole church approach. A focus on embodied practices of care, wonder, and joy that will nourish all ages — and inspire big ideas about how to live into them.

Full Week Faith — Shared Values Learning

This 6-week offering supports spiritual practice, lifelong learning, and community connection. For each value, a ritual of candle lighting, family reflection, activity prompts, playlists, songs, and stories invite reflection on the values that guide UUism, and shape our life together.Note: These resources were offered as part of one congregation’s tradition of “Chalica”, a “holiday” problematic for many UUs. However, the content is deeply faithful to our shared values, and useful under any name!

Building Beloved Community: A Whole Church RE Cooperative Game

The whole congregation takes turns drawing cards and resolving actions: an opportunity to listen, to work together, to learn and to share! Resources include adaptable, printable cards, tokens, and guide.

By Mylo Way

In the very best of times, “safety” is a loaded term for many of us. These times are not the very best. And, we still need to show up, co-exist, grow, learn, and be. How are we supposed to do that? 

The UUA has made some particularly relevant resources to address community safety in these times and help your congregation with discernment and action.

I cannot recommend more strongly this simple resource from Side With Love to look at community safety: Six Questions Congregations Need to Answer About Community Safety in this Moment. And there is a deep trove of resources and information available at our Community Resilience Hub.

Right now, it may feel like we’re drowning in crises and long-term, big-picture, structural planning feels impossible. And if all we can do is grab a tool kit and breathe, do that. Co-regulate as a community. Come back when you’re individually and collectively a little more grounded.

And. The crises will continue to come. We have a chance to create structures and systems that set us up to be able to navigate what life has to offer.

One of the places we can look to skill up our congregations is in the realm of “youth safety.” And that certainly does mean the guidelines your community writes up, ensuring the rule-of-three be followed, getting permission slips and waivers signed. AND, just like the resources and toolkits won’t keep your congregation safe from fascist violence, neither will a beautifully decorated covenant on the wall of the youth room make spaces as safe as possible.

We keep us safe.

The guidelines, the trainings, the conversations are all tools to skill us up as a community to see what safety looks like and how to support, encourage and implement that… and what looks like danger, and how to interrupt, limit and contain that.

What does youth safety look like? Certainly, it looks like following some basic practices in your programming that will include youth. It also involves general awareness and mindfulness around what it means to have a multi-generational space. Fun fact: When we make congregations more open, welcoming, and sensitive to youth and their needs, the congregation is more open, welcoming and sensitive to everyone. And, a space that is open, welcoming, and sensitive to the needs of the members is, in fact, a safer space.

Some generally solid questions to ask as you are making your spaces:

Who is present? Who is absent? Ask this about everything. Who is in your congregation? Who is not being reached? Who is on your board? Who is at the Social Justice Team Meeting? Who is being asked to move chairs after events are planned? Who is welcome at the table to design events?

I ask these questions in the context of youth. Are youth invited to be decision-makers? Is the input of the youth considered about programming? About worship? About engagement? Are their needs being met? When a decision is made that is in conflict with what the youth advocated for, is there honest, clear, grounded conversation about how and why the decision was made? We all sometimes advocate for something, and the decision doesn’t go our way. Emotional safety is tended to when we take the time to share how the advocacy was heard and what may be taken into consideration. Are policies and plans sometimes actually shaped by the advocacy of youth?

Also. Who are the youth who are showing up? Who is being served? Do you have accessible spaces? Are you grounded in anti-racist frameworks? Do you have an understanding of neurodiversity? Is your space full of queer liberation and ready to defend trans lives?

And, are your ministers and religious educators and pastoral volunteers skilled at holding the spiritual and pastoral needs of youth? Do your youth have the skills to provide peer pastoral care?

This list is not exhaustive and is not meant to be exhausting, instead to be encouraging. There are so many resources and community opportunities to grow, to learn, to encourage each other to take big and small steps. It’s not up to one person to know and hold all of this, not even one congregation. It’s our challenge, our call, as people of faith, as Unitarian Universalists, to work ever more to center Love. And to keep our love expansive, welcoming, and as safe as possible.

The good news, and the bad news, is that this doesn’t end when you’ve answered every question and taken every training and grown together as a community. The sacred work does not end. We must keep asking those questions of ourselves, and even exploring if the questions themselves are still relevant. Because new people arrive. New needs are surfaced. New understandings and approaches are developed. It may feel exhausting that the work is never done, that there isn’t a checklist to complete and be doing things the right way. I hear you. Let me offer you this reframe: there isn’t some secret you don’t know, some code you need to unlock. We’re all in this together. And we keep being in this together. This is hard and messy and wonderful and sacred work.

Together, we will keep being and doing better. And we will remember that we are loved and we are Love.

May it be so.

By Joy Berry

The first green shoots are emerging and multiplying here, even as the snow melts around them. March reminds us that Spring is on the way; a green promise we can count on the Earth keeping each year. In religious education, this is often a time of planning and prepping for end-of-year events and trainings — like faithful gardeners, preparing the soil for what we want to cultivate and grow in ourselves as professionals, and in our congregational community.

Upcoming Special Days and Celebrations

Women’s History Month (March)

• Black Women’s History of the United States

• Celebrating UU Women in History

• The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls

• Women Warriors: An Unexpected History

Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31)

• Trans History: A Graphic Novel

• Raising Trans Kids

• Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families

• The Trans and Gender Diverse Teen Resilience Guide

Celebrating Ramadan (February 17 — March 19)

Celebrating Purim (March 2)

Celebrating the Vernal (Spring) Equinox (March 20)

Celebrating Palm Sunday (March 29)

Celebrating Passover Seder (April 1-9)
Celebrating Easter (April 5)

Religious Education Events in March

Safer Use of Tapestry of Faith March 24, 1-2:30pm ET. 

ToF is no longer being updated, due to extensive cultural appropriation and centering of whiteness. In this interim period, as we create a new curricular series, we want to support ToF users. Register here for the 1.5 hr webinar if you want to: understand the challenges and risks involved; learn to notice and avoid harmful use in advance; and explore better options.

UU World Focus on Religious Education

• Whole Church Religious Education: Calling Us To Deeper Formation, Joyful Experimentation

• Imagining New Possibilities for Welcoming Families to UU Congregations

• Community Sundays Foster Intergenerational Connections

Youth Ministry and Bridging

Bridging from Youth to Young Adulthood The transition from youth to young adulthood is a moment to be celebrated — and a process to be supported.

UUA’s Lifespan Faith Engagement Office wants to celebrate your 2026 Bridgers!

• Want Bridger necklaces? Request one per Youth by March 15, 2026.

• For a video celebration at GA, please submit names of Bridgers by May 1, 2026. 

• Youth groups are invited to create and upload artwork symbolizing our Shared UU Values to be used in the celebration video.

Suggested Titles and Resources

Celebrating the Bridging Ceremony readings and rituals on WorshipWeb

Becoming: A Spiritual Guide for Navigating Adulthood

Bridging: A Guide for Congregations

Reimagining Bridging: A “Milestones” Framework for Youth Ministry
A non-linear framework with accompanying tools and resources. This training will guide leaders to design a bridging program grounded in relationships and congregational context.

By Lauren Wyeth

• View the recording (Vimeo) of Kind, Clear and Heartful: Effective Boundaries in Faith Development. 
• Read the captions of the recording.
• Explore the Resources and Slides from this session (Google docs).

By Joy Berry

Siding with Love, Centered in Love

The state-sponsored violence in Minneapolis and around the US is calling UUs, in body and spirit: to side with love, protect each other, and advocate for change, in the face of hate and injustice. Our communities, congregations, and families need the blessings of faith now, more than ever. This month’s resources center LOVE, and encourage learning and action to build the beloved community, even — and especially — when despair, anger, and grief threaten to overwhelm us.

Introducing 30 Days of Love 2026: Reimagining the World as It Could Be

If hope is a discipline, spiritual practice is how we cultivate it — shaping who we are and what we can build together. Includes written reflection; family activity; journal prompts; meditative body practice; and coloring sheet, connected to the weekly theme.

Side With Love’s Minnesota Resource Kit

A continually updated resource kit from UUA’s Organizing Strategy Team, designed to support people in Minnesota and across the country. Want to take action with your neighbors, or ground your community spiritually? This toolkit offers a clear starting point.

Hate, Violence, and Trauma: Supporting Families, Children, Youth, and Congregations

State sponsored violence is impacting us all. You want to help our children, youth, and families to emotionally and spiritually process what is happening — in and beyond our communities. Tips for grounding and creating a plan, with other resources to look to.

Love and Help: Paper Chain Resistance (whole church activity)

Amy Peterson, religious educator near Minneapolis, invited her whole church to create a paper chain, sharing their acts of resistance and care: helping with bus stop and school drop-off patrols, bringing meals to people, holding space for community joy, and more. She said: “Watching this chain grow is a visual representation of our solidarity and power, and a reminder that we are not in this alone. We are surrounded by helpers, and centered in love.”
The invitation: create a paper chain of your own in your congregation, and share your pictures and stories. Amy will include in her worship service on Sunday, February 15.

Creative Lament Activity — Resources from Side With Love

Community rituals are essential for collective healing and resistance. This zine-making activity helps name our grief and ground in faith, and ngages the whole church RE embodied practices of “community making” and “sacred stories.”

Liberation for Littles: Navigating Rising Fascism Together

Monday | February 9 | 12 — 2:30 PM EST 

This FREE workshop, hosted by Sudanese artist and writer Rania El Mugammar, is for parents, caregivers, and all who want to be in liberatory community with children. We will discuss how to explain our current conditions to little ones, how to equip them (and ourselves) and how to organize alongside them to resist and transform our realities. Registration required.

Suggested Additional Resources

Love at the Center (book)
A testimony to love’s theological power — from UU religious history, to lessons drawn from the natural world, the justice rally, and the quiet moment before worship begins. MayLove at the Center deepen your own understanding and practices of love.

We Care (board book, ages 2-4) Research says challenging topics should be discussed early and often with kids. This book introduces the idea of justice within the responsibilities and benefits of being part of a healthy, loving community.

We’re Not Alone — Sesame Workshop (video, ages 3-6) Being a good community member means remembering that what you say and do matters to others. A music video on the power of community connections, particularly in the face of violence.

Share Your Love (book, ages 3-7) This book teaches children how to wish others happiness, good health, peace, and safety. A great daily ritual of lovingkindness — and if a child is struggling after witnessing harm, repeating the metta can help.

Safe Crossing (book, ages 5-8) Want to develop love-centered civic engagement in young children? An empowering story shows how even the youngest citizens can raise awareness about a cause they love, drive change, and unite people locally and globally.

Love and Help (workbook, ages 7-11) Helps kids actively deepen their lived UU identity. Includes stories, activities, and thoughtful questions to help children better understand themselves, their family, their community, and their faith.
Signs of Our Faith: Being UU Every Day (curriculum, ages 8-11) Signs of Our Faith guides children to live faithfully. Focuses on ideals, values and rituals centering love and justice — including public witness.Note: Use with care. Overall, very good, but is no longer being updated; may need targeted adaptation for this moment.

Black History Month

Black Lives Matter Worship Collection (reflections, prayers, readings, and more)

Black UU Ancestors: Three short videos on the life and work of Rev. Ethelred Brown,Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Lewis Hayden.

Rooting for Us: Celebrating the Centennial of Black History Month (reflection) Anti-Blackness is deeply rooted in American culture. Celebrating Black people and affirming their accomplishments is a way to build unity, and doesn’t take away from anyone else’s joy.

Let My People Go! (story for all ages) A powerful pairing of the biblical story and the work of Rosa Parks, whose meaning is amplified in this moment of injustice and violence.

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (book, young readers’ edition) Illustrates the effort to expose and eradicate racism in jobs, housing, schools, and public services, as well as police brutality — and how Rosa Parks was a key player throughout.

Poemhood: Our Black Revival (book, ages 13+) Thirty-seven powerful poetic voices reflecting the diversity of the Black experience. A conversation about race, faith, heritage, and resilience between fresh poets and the literary ancestors that came before them.

This is Not a Small Voice (book, ages 8-12) Collection of poems about hope and struggle, joy and pride, home and food, music and family. Each is paired with vibrant, inviting illustrations.

Professional Development

OWL online training for grades 7/9, 10/12 and K/1 are upcoming, in February and March. All trainings are posted on the UUA OWL calendar — see details, dates and how to register there.

Threshold Conversation Panel: Trauma-Informed Ministry

Join us for the Threshold Conversations’ final topic, with virtual panel discussion followed by a Q&A with panelists, on February 24, 11-1 ET. Learn more and register in the links above.

Dimensions of Faith Development: Sparks Module

Online — Tuesdays in March, 3-5 ET. Develop a method for dismantling white supremacy through Lifespan Faith Development; learn how it is central to congregational work. Registration fee is $200 — limit of 20 participants.Register by March 3.

UU Youth Ministry: Sparks Module

Online — Tuesdays, February 24 — March 3, 6:30-9 ET. Explore aspects of UU youth ministry including history, youth empowerment, and spiritual lives of teens in today’s world. Registration fee is $300 — limit of 15.Register by February 17.

Kind, Clear and Heartful: Effective Boundaries in Faith Development
Boundaries are part of the soil that nurtures our relationships and helps our ministry thrive. Missed the last meetup? The link above includes recording, slides, and the resources shared.

By Joy Berry

With the rush of the holiday season behind us, you may be looking for plug and play options that make the little decisions in Religious Education easier now — especially if you are gearing up for new trainings and programs soon. This month’s round up includes resources for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and UU justice learning, ideas to help you plan ahead for Chinese New Year, and a collection of youth ministry content to deepen and strengthen your understanding of that vital work.

Seasonal Resources: Activities, Stories, Articles and Books

Jan 16: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

• Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday
• Adult books on/by MLK Jr. from Beacon Press
• I Have a Dream: collaborative mural activity

Whole Church Faith Development Goal: Justice Learning

• Justice & Inclusion — All about the UUA’s justice initiatives, in one place.

• Mosaic Anti-racism Curriculum — Cultivate UU identity and share the work of becoming anti-racist with this lifespan learning curriculum.

• Group Rhythm and Social Justice Stretch — All-ages activities from Deeper Joy. Build shared spiritual muscles for the work of community organizing and collective solidarity.

• “On This Day” — The Zinn Education Project supports the teaching of people’s history. The website offers free lessons and articles by theme for middle and high schoolers.

• A Protest History of the United States — This book for adults reminds us that dissent is an essential tool for eliciting long lasting change.

• Rise Up! — Learn about 25 moments of resistance and revolution in American history. Protest is American by definition! Ages 6-8.

• A Change is Gonna Come — Sam Cooke’s legendary and beloved civil rights anthem is brought to life for the first time with stunning illustrations by Nikkolas Smith. Ages 4-8.

• We Are the Builders! (Connected to this year’s UU Common Read)
  Welcome to our Community Day! Ready to find your role to play? An intro to community organizing and finding your place in a movement. Ages 3-7.

February 17: Lunar New Year (Fire Horse)

• Crafts, printable and activities to support RE and whole church learning for the Lunar New Year.

• Learn how to make space for cultural variations on the Lunar New Year.

• All Are Welcome — When the whole community gathers for a New Year’s party, they learn and grow from each other’s traditions. Book for ages 4-8.

Youth Ministry Round Up

• Youth Engagement: What We’re Learning (Feb 2025)
• Rethinking Youth Leadership (Apr 2025)
• BIPOC Youth Ministry Report Recommendations (Jan 2025)
• Needs and Opportunities as Identified by UU High School Youth 2025
• 50 Years of UU Youth Ministry — a Timeline (May 2025)

Upcoming Events/Trainings for Religious Educators

• UUA Faith Development Co-Lab’s Winter RE Meet-Up

“Kind, Clear and Heartful: Effective Boundaries in Faith Development”: REPs explore the topic with presentations, breakout groups, and interactive activities. Register by date of event — January 20.

• Peer Study Group: Facilitation for Transformation
  A discussion group for those who want to take the Facilitation for Transformation course together. This course prepares facilitators for the Mosaic Anti-racism curriculum.
• Philosophy of RE Sparks Module
  Learn about the influential ideas that have shaped UU RE — and better articulate YOUR personal RE philosophy. Register by January 13.
• Ministry with Youth Sparks Module
  Explore aspects of UU youth ministry including history, youth empowerment, and resources. Register by February 17.

By Joy Berry

Resources for Faith Development, December 2025 

In this busy time at year’s end, religious educators and volunteers may be stretched thin by the abundance of “holy days and holidays”: so many congregational events, pageants, ceremonies, and celebrations happening! We hope the resources offered here can make some part of it just a little easier — and support you in finding ways to rest now, and center your spirit for the year ahead.

Worship Web offers seasonal resources for most holidays, with links to relevant articles, activities and stories. Here are some ideas for the weeks ahead:

• Opening Words: Celebrating the Darkness
• Celebrating Advent
• Celebrating Winter Solstice / Yule
• Celebrating Christmas Eve / Christmas
• Celebrating Hanukkah
• Celebrating Kwanzaa
• Questions about Chalica?
• Fire Communion / Burning Bowl

Stories, Activities, and Readings for the Season

Chalice Snowflake Instructions
This timeless activity is an easy way to encourage multigenerational connections. The shared making — and meaning making! — makes this a low-input, high-return offering.

The Christmas Story (As Best We Can Remember It)
Tony Bianca, religious educator at First UU San Diego, helped kids tell the tale via zoom in 2020. Consider sharing the clip as an all ages story (potentially with volunteers acting it out).

Snow Kid
A “gentle, reassuring” wintery picture book about a kid snowman finding out what it means to truly be ourselves — even when we, or things around us, change.

Aisha’s Moonlit Walk 
A pagan family celebrates 8 special days around the wheel of the year. Includes activities and discussion guide for each.

A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories 
Historical stories and poems reflecting the Christmas experiences of everyday African-Americans; includes deeper topics.

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
An invitation to change how we relate to our own fallow times.Wintering models an active acceptance of sadness, and the nourishment of the deep retreat of winter.

Give Me a Word:The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year

Thirty contemplative and creative practices invite you to slow down and listen for a word to guide you through the year ahead.

Sacred Bow: An Intentional Way to Close Out the Year & Start the New Year
A practice guide to learning from and letting go of the past; looking forward mindfully; and creating a plan to be intentional in how we spend the next year.

Sabbath Practices for Wintertime
What would it look like to not just accept and survive our times of rest, but to delight in them?

New Curricula from UUA

Journeys of Deeper Joy A roleplaying curriculum for all ages, with young people in mind.

Religious Education Study Guide: Love at the Center – Defending Trans Lives and Democracy. Framing quotes, discussion questions, and actionable steps to help congregations learn how to practice love and interdependence.

Timely Professional Development

New Religious Education Professional Orientation - Fridays in January and February

Organizing to Make a Difference in Our Communities

The examples below demonstrate the Whole Church embodied practice of Public Witness. Sharing and discussing these examples can support faith formation in congregations — especially UU Identity Development.

• Helping Hands, Full Plates: With Looming Halt to SNAP Benefits, UUs Prep Emergency Food Support (UU World, October 31)
• People Power: UUs in Georgia are Energized for Utility Justice (UU World, October 30)
• UUs Are Helping During the SNAP Crisis (In Good Faith Blog, October 29)
• Rev. Sofía Betancourt at No Kings with UUA Board of Trustees (Facebook, October 23)
• Unitarian Universalists from Across the Country Say “No Kings!” (In Good Faith Blog, October 20)

The Side with Love Action Center has resources for immediate action and sustainable resistance, helping leaders stay grounded in justice, wisdom, and collective strength.

By Erica Baron, Lauren Wyeth, Melissa James

Introduction

In Spring 2025, the UUA Wave Cohort called “Caring for Parents as Whole Beings” gathered UUs who

 are parents currently raising children to learn more about the challenges their families face and what kinds of support they want from their congregations.

We invited a diverse group of parents to join us for three gatherings. We also worked with a BIPOC facilitator to convene a conversation focused specifically on the experiences of BIPOC parents. Recruiting participants was a challenge because parents are overwhelmed and overscheduled. Eventually, we talked to 12 parents in the course of four conversations and a written survey.

 As facilitators, we came into this experience already knowing something about the disconnect between the expectations of congregations and the lived reality of families in 2025. We were also informed by the 2024 Surgeon General’s Advisory, “Parents Under Pressure.”

Here is what we learned from our conversations with the parents in our cohort in response to the three big questions that Meet the Moment waves are considering.

1. What is the moment we are in?

It is hard to be a parent/caregiver raising children right now. This was confirmed and made much more concrete and present through our wave cohort.

The degree of economic precarity that our families are living with was striking. About half of our families reported struggling to pay for housing (rent or mortgage). One of our families has two adults and a young child. Both adults work two jobs in order to afford housing. One of our participants mentioned how helpful it would be for congregations to serve enough food at coffee hour for it to be lunch because going out to lunch after worship is a hardship.

This aligns with the findings in the Surgeon General’s advisory, which reports that 66% of parents feel “consumed by worries” about money compared to 39% of other adults; 1 in 4 parents report that there were times in the last year when they did not have enough money for basic needs.

This is a very different reality from most Unitarian Universalist congregations 30-40 years ago. Our communities have often thought of “us” as well-off – or at least comfortable – and so our work to provide people with the basic necessities of life is usually directed “out there.” Now, our families are struggling (and many of them have been struggling beneath the radar all along).

The Surgeon General’s advisory tells us that parents in the 2020s are working more. Compared to parents in the 1980s, fathers work 4% more hours and mothers work 28% more hours. But more significantly, parents are parenting more. Compared to parents in the 1980s, mothers spend 40% more time directly parenting, while fathers spend 154% more time directly parenting. (Sadly, the gender binary built into the data from the report is reflected in these statistics.)

This time crunch was definitely a theme in our cohort. Parents agreed that they – and their kids – generally have too many obligations. UU community gatherings that require extra effort and expense might sound helpful, but can actually add to their feeling of overwhelm. The most inviting offerings are free and low-stress, with a “come-as-you-are” vibe. For example, one parent talked about how their congregation was hosting a parents’ night out, but they were the only family who signed up, so the event was cancelled. They felt that really deeply because they were really counting on that time.

Our cohort also had some experiences that are not quite as widely shared among all US parents. Parents of neurodivergent kids were overrepresented in our cohort compared to the general US population. One of our participants pointed out that this is likely not a coincidence. Rather, neurodiverse/neurodivergent families may be drawn to UU communities because of our stated commitments to inclusion. Time and money challenges were greater for these families. For example, several participants cited not having the money for the extensive testing recommended for their child. Another talked about how caring for their child’s needs sometimes takes more time than anticipated, making it harder to get places on time.

2. What are the most important and urgent needs of this moment?

Our cohort participants lifted up a need for practical support. Picking up on themes from the previous question, our families need (but are hesitant to ask for) financial assistance. Many need support with housing, healthcare and other basic necessities.

And our parents need more time. They need time alone or with their partners and friends without kids. They need time to attend to logistical tasks, such as arranging carpools, signing up for summer camp, cooking dinner, etc. They need time with other parents currently raising children for support, commiseration, and collaboration. And they need time for rest and sleep.

Although our cohort included both kids and parents who are trans/nonbinary, our cohort participants didn’t talk about the particular needs of trans families very much. But it feels important to say a couple things here. First, families with trans and nonbinary kids are disproportionately represented in UU congregations – again, likely due to our commitment to inclusion. Second, this is a very difficult time to be trans/nonbinary or to parent someone who is trans/nonbinary in the US. Support, care, and practical assistance for these families is critically important and urgent.

Finally, every parent in our cohort expressed a deep longing for understanding. They need their fellow congregants to understand the level of struggle they are living with. This includes understanding that parenting really is harder (on average) than it used to be. They need congregations to understand that there is very little that individual families can do about those challenges, so blaming these parents for their lack of availability to volunteer or the resources to donate in high amounts is not helpful.

In other words, the people currently raising children are not able to come and save our congregations. They need us to save them.

3. How do our UU values call us to respond to the urgent needs of parents and families in this moment?

The Surgeon General’s report offers three recommendations that congregations are well positioned to act on:

The first is, “Elevate the voices of parents and caregivers to shape community programs and investments.” In other words, ask them what they need. 

You can learn from this report, but don’t forget to ask your own families about their specific needs on a regular basis.

It is difficult for many of us to acknowledge our needs or to ask for help. The dominant culture tells parents that if they’re working hard and in the right kind of family and parenting the way they should, everything will be fine. So parents who are admitting they’re not fine need validation and support – definitely not doubt or blame. Believe them. Normalize their experience. Empathize. Reassure them they are not alone. Thank them for their courage and honesty.

Once you have heard these needs, be willing to reimagine how you provide ministry to children, youth, and families. For example, could you provide programming on different days of the week or at different times? How could you structure programming to meet the specific needs parents are raising?

The second recommendation from the Surgeon General’s report is, “Create opportunities to cultivate supportive social connections among parents and caregivers.”

In other words, parents need time together to build community.

For example, they want ways to quickly check in with the wisdom of other parents/caregivers, such as a chat group where they can ask things like, “Are you letting your kid(s) watch that new show everyone is talking about?” Parents in our cohort and in other conversations often express a desire for relatively unstructured or unprogrammed time with other families where the kids can keep each other busy, allowing the parents to talk to each other.

The third recommendation is, “Equip parents and caregivers with resources to address parental stressors and connect to crucial support services.” 

In other words, help them find resources in the larger community, and offer some resources yourselves.

What do you already do to support your members that you could extend to parents? For example, if you already provide meals to members of the congregation who are struggling, maybe you could provide dinner to your families sometimes. Maybe offerings to support those struggling financially in your larger community could also include financial support to the families in your congregation who are struggling.

We recommend that a whole meal be offered every time you invite families to show up in person at the congregation. That might mean breakfast before and/or lunch after Sunday worship or dinner at evening events. This helps both financially and time-wise by providing food they neither have to purchase nor prepare. (Potlucks where parents are expected to bring something are generally not experienced as helpful; they can actually be more expensive and more time consuming than regular family meals.)

Finally, if we step back from the details of each family’s day to day challenges, we can see that many of the stresses parents are experiencing come from larger systems and structures. 

Parents are working multiple jobs or worried about money because the cost of living keeps increasing, and incomes for all but the very wealthy are not keeping up. Compared to parents in the 1980s, parents in the 2020s have much higher debt on average, driven by the massive increases in the costs of higher education and housing. These conditions continue to get harder and harder for an increasing number of American households, both those raising kids and others.

The current social and political climate is exacting a huge toll, particularly on families with targeted identities. And every parent in our cohort is worried about their child(ren)’s future, given the violence, instability, and uncertainty we are experiencing locally, nationally and around the globe.

If we really want our parents/caregivers and families to thrive, we need to take an active role in healing the context of their lives. Let us keep this in mind as one more reason we do the work to make our values real in our congregations and in the larger world.

By Joy Berry

As the last leaves fall and we wake to frosty mornings, we know colder, shorter days and longer, darker nights are on their way. This month’s resources remind us that humans have always created special ways to gather, share, tell stories, and strengthen community bonds, to help each other through the most challenging times.

November’s Concepts, Values and Practices for Religious Education

Consider engaging these themes in your programming and communications this month; see more info on each in the links.

Key UU Values: Interdependence, Generosity, Pluralism
Key Concepts: Covenant, Community, Connection, Gratitude, Care
Key Embodied Practices: Faithful Conversations, Sacred Stories and Joyful Connections

Seasonal Resources on Communion

Thanksgiving is the dominant national seasonal theme in November. It is a special holiday for many Americans, when friends and families make time to travel and prepare for a shared meal and special time together. The holiday’s origin story, however, is more complex and problematic — a colonial project of historic whitewashing that still causes harm today. As such, the holiday reminds us of two opposing realties: our gratitude for human connection and deep interdependence in community — and of the ways we too often dismiss and dehumanize those we do not consider part of it. UUs often plan a “Bread Communion” instead, as a reminder of the promise of beloved community and a recommitment to collective reciprocity.

But what is “communion”, in our humanist faith? Finding out together is a wonderful way to welcome faith development to claim a seat at the table, in upcoming congregational offerings.

For young children or multiage groups, consider this resource: The Ritual of Communion from Tapestry of Faith. It explores communion as a ceremony of sharing that embodies our UU values of generosity, pluralism, and interdependence. It prepares participants for this activity: two versions of the Christian Parable of The Loaves and Fishes (one a UU-themed retelling by Sophia Lyon Fahs) and discussion prompts, to encourage shared meaning-making and UU identity development around how we covenant to be together in community — in ways that help nourish everyone.

Communion and Sustenance is a Braver/Wiser reading from Tania Y Márquez, about how food connects us to both our present and past, in gratitude and love. “Food is nourishment andcultura; it carries the love, wisdom, and stories of survival of a people. When I cook the meals I learned from my mother, I am in communion with life and with my ancestors and I receive sustenance for the body and the spirit.” Consider sharing this reading at the beginning of a shared meal, and asking 2-3 person groups to share their memories of food that shaped their sense of belonging, identity, community, and culture.

Seasonal Resources on Conversation

Coming together to break bread gratefully, and share our stories — in ways that are faithful to our UU Values — is a powerful example of UU communion. Especially in this moment of social crisis, it’s important to build our skills for morally-grounded conversations. Consider these resources to develop and strengthen connections through meaningful conversations with family, friends, faith community, and beyond.

Faithful Conversations is a collection of resources that help us bring covenantal values to our discussions — even the difficult ones! Its activities and resources can be used as prompts for personal reflection, family discussion, or for crafting worship and shared learning. It includes several UUA resources for small group ministry with a focus on conversation, as well as:
Agreements for Meaningful Conversations, by Margaret Wheatley
Core Concepts and Values of Faithful Conversations, by CB Beal

Whole Church Worship Resources

What is worship, anyway? And more importantly, what is it for? The UUA webpage on Worship and Inspiration says:“Worship is our shared Unitarian Universalist practice of exploring, connecting to, and creating the ways that our individual lives fit into a larger whole. Not all UUs share the same beliefs or opinions…but our shared worship forms a vessel for us to find meaning together. By devoting ourselves to a regular time of encountering and engaging that which is greater, wiser, and more compassionate than our individual selves, we create opportunities for transformation and meaning-making.” 

When we worship as a whole church community, we grow closer in faith — and into closer alignment with our UU theology of love at the center. Consider talking ABOUT worship and what its meaning and value is in your community, using the quote above as a starting point. A Tool Kit for Worship Leaders may help leaders ground a shared vision, and develop their congregation’s capacity for great worship. Ready to try something new? The following suggestions support UU faith development in shared worship, by creating a more inclusive and accessible experience for all.

Make this Canva template for a kid-friendly OOS, adapted from one shared by Religious Educator Amanda Alice. It also includes examples for pew card or OOS inserts that encourage congregants of all ages to develop new understandings, habits, and practices for shared worship.

The recent RE Summit on New Models of Religious Education offered resources for a worship service called “A Piece of Fertile Ground”, ready for you to adapt & share with your congregation! Check out the Sunday Worship elements, as well as an Order of Service template (to download and edit).

Story:
One common and beloved part of UU worship is the story for all ages, often led by the religious educator as a multigenerational service element. One way to make whole church worship more accessible and inclusive is to center the message in a powerful story, instead of a sermon. Stories can serve as a homily told in parts, with other worship elements threaded throughout. Want to dig into more great ideas for storytelling in worship? This resource from Worship Lab includes why, how — and lots of suggestions.

The Goddess and the Redbird by Christina Leone Tracy
Redbird learns to let go of sunny days and embrace the season’s blessings of slowing down, rest, and renewal. Its focus can ground conversations about congregational changes: how is letting go of “what was” an essential part of opening up to the blessing of “what will be”.

Song:
Singing together is a beloved part of UU worship, and a powerful way to connect with our community. It’s also an important way to learn about our faith! Worshiping (and singing) together more as a whole church? Consider choosing, with your music professional or committee, a set of kid friendly hymns to be sung while children and teachers are present in worship. There may be opportunities to practice those same songs in RE spaces, too. Over time, kids will come to know these songs by heart, and may even be able to share their skills as song leaders in whole church worship.

Come, Sing a Song with Me: A Songbook for All Ages from the UU Musicians Network, includes 25 of the most popular and accessible songs fromSinging the Living Tradition andSinging the Journey, in simple arrangements and a larger 9 x 12 format.

Coloring sheets:
Did you know? Research shows that coloring and doodling are good for all ages — enhancing focus, concentration, and recall, while reducing stress and anxiety. In particular, coloring mandalas can also calm our bodies and help us learn new skills, like being in worship longer. Check out the Doodles and Coloring Pages from Worship Web to try it out in your congregation.

Join the Faith Development Conversation

Our latest Threshold Conversation, on The Theology of Covenant got real about what it means to live in covenant today. We unpacked how covenants differ from rules and contracts, what makes them aspirational instead of just behavioral, and how they’ve shifted from our Judeo-Christian roots to something more liberating and inclusive over time. Folks named how covenants can be weaponized and how to be attuned so that our covenants are not used to replicate or enforce the status quo of white supremacy culture. The Q&A time took us even deeper, with conversation about what it takes to build trust and accountability, ideas for keeping covenants alive on staff teams, making them work across generations and neurotypes, and finding better ways to call each other back to right relationship. You can watch the replay here. Our next topic: Trauma-Informed Faith Development.

JUUst Breathe is a Unitarian Universalist podcast on faith development, hosted by Ember Kelley. This season, we focus on UUs embracing a whole church religious education approach and deepening community connections across generations, guided by the map from Deeper Joy. October’s episode was all about “covenant lighthouse”, and November’s will focus on “opening up harbor” — a good fit for all the holiday gatherings and conversations ahead of us. Prefer video podcasts? Juust Breathe is also on YouTube.