Come, Come Whoever You Are...

to my new UU blog!  Here you will find my thoughts, my dreams, and mostly my enthusiasm for Unitarian Universalism, the Religous Education program at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa, and for life in general.  Welcome!

Two gatherings of UUCT super stars took place recently that I would like to share with you.

1. Super Star Religious Education Committee Retreat!  Our committee has grown to include 7 members who work together in the creation and implementation of our vision for an ideal UU RE program.  At the retreat we talked about some of the things that are going well in our program right now.  Some of those great things are:

Lots of new faces in our RE program!
Construction of a new RE building!
Dedicated, enthusiastic Religious Education teachers!
Monthly potluck picnics for parents on the 3rd Sunday of each month!

The RE Committee and I are very excited about working together and working with you as we plant seeds of justice, hope and love and grow hearts, minds, and spirits at the UU Church of Tampa. 

2. Super Star Middle and High School Youth Group!

One of my fondest memories from my time spent as a  youth advisor is of a night I lifted up my voice in song with over 100 UU youth from all over Florida.  Our youth group was hosting a week-end long conference (called a "Con") and we were lining up for worship, which was taking place outside.  One of the youth worship leaders began singing the Rumi poem, "Come, Come, Whoever you are, wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving, ours is no caravan of despair, come yet again, come" and we all joined in.  I would say 98% of the adult advisors and the youth knew the words and were singing along, no hymnals.  They knew the words because they had sung it many times before, it is a common church song for the youth to sing, and they were all very active participants in youth group.  I stood there in line, the darkness of the night around me, and I felt "it."  Do you what "it" feels like?  Goosebumps, smile, heart flitter flutter, sigh.  My soul felt full, my soul felt lifted.  I felt a connection unlike any I have felt outside of the special community that exists within a Unitarian Universalist community.  It was so cool. 

In recent years our youth group has experienced a "lull" in participation, mainly because there were not enough middle and high school youth in our congregation.  But I am happy to report that we now have enough youth to revive our youth group!  We also have two youth advisors to assist in re-building this very important ministry of our religous community.

Youth and parents met last week and decided that youth group will take place twice a month on Friday or Saturday evenings.  The first meeting will be a lock-in (overnighter at the church) beginning at 8pm Friday, February 4th and ending at 9am Saturday, February 5th.  This lock-in is open to all middle and high school youth.  Bring bedding and a snack to share.   Future meeting dates will be posted soon. 

Before I wrap up this first blog entry I want to mention that Bring A Friend Sunday is approaching!  Please start thinking about inviting lots of your friends and family to join us in worship on Sunday, February 20th.  A potluck will take place after service.  I will talk more about Bring a Friend in my next blog entry!

I hope you have enjoyed reading about some of the exciting things that are happenning at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa and that you will join us as our community continues to grow...hearts, minds, & spirits! 

Peace and Love,

Katie