RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: ideas and links
One of the ways I have been blessed to participate in congregational life is by teaching a fifth grade religious education class. That year, my students reliably asked me two questions: “What are we going to do today?” and, “What’s for snack?” As amusing as these questions may seem, they also give generous insight into, not only the process of religious education on Sunday mornings, but also what religious education learners of all ages experience as motivating questions.
What are we doing today?
Isn’t this a pressing question throughout the Unitarian Universalist movement? On every level, the Movement seeks to clarify and define itself. We know some of what we are by where we have been as a Movement. We are the ones who show up. We are the ones who do the work, imperfectly sometimes, but not without a focus on the world we dream about.
Religious education is a process by which children, young people, adults, elders, friends experience the stories of transformation that our Movement holds.
Sometimes they are stories of the historical legacy of our Movement. Other times, they are stories across faith and ethical traditions that accomplish more than one thing in their teaching—appreciation of traditions and cultures to which we are connected by the web of humanity and of earth life, but also the experience of insight that comes when a learner hears the story of another and takes it to heart, experiencing wisdom, perhaps corrective guidance, or even an illustration of a new possible future.
Religious education allows for the transformation of attitudes, as people experience wisdom, not just in teaching, but also in the practice of covenantal relationships. One of the stories in WorshipWeb is The Woman Who Outshone The Sun by Nancy Jilk. It tells of a woman who was beautifully connected with the river, such that the otters and fish were rolled up in her hair. The villagers ostracized her and were unkind to her because they perceived her as strange. I have told this story as an experience for the congregation and bring it up here because it is a good illustration of the possibility of religious education. People can know something—the story, feel something, the arc of the characters’ experiences, be something, be a welcomer and an includer, and do something, engage in welcoming and befriending acts.
In fact, the purpose of transformation in religious education is for the learner to arrive at new ways of acting, both compelled and supported by the learning of mind and heart, allowing that learning to be expressed by observable behaviors and movements of the body. This has a few applications in Unitarian Universalist (UU) contexts. One is that the experiences of learners should be making a conscious effort to be different from the academic experiences students may have during the week. Children, for example, should be afforded opportunities (as are accessible to class members, to move around, make sound (talk and communicate), make things and enjoy art, color, and texture, sing songs or enjoy music. The more kinds of experiences the lessons include, the more of the learner can be involved and engaged.
What’s for snack?
In a way, the point of this question is to ask, “What is there to look forward to, anyway?” It is a good place to begin. Although I have discussed here the transformational nature of religious education, there is a gap for every learner between the experience of learning and the moment of transformation. That is, for children seeking answers to life’s big questions, the seeking takes what seems like forever. For adults, seeking friendship and community, as well as support for living into their life purpose, nothing is obvious. These things take time, effort, experimentation. What is there to look forward to? Snack represents refreshment and comfort in this way. Each learner needs not just transformation, but also experiences of safety, belonging, friendship, and, very literally, refreshment.
Unitarian Universalism is often identified by visitors as one of the places in which their humanity, their inherent worth and dignity is lifted up. At times, Unitarian Universalists may take that a bit for granted. It may tumble off the lips in stale rote, but, in fact, is one of the things to which we must continually awaken ourselves. Unitarian Universalism offers affirmation and expression of inherent worth and dignity in a world that is weighed down by thousands of years of hearing that it probably can’t be redeemed anyway, that there is nothing worth saving. Unitarian Universalist religious education is a significant way in which we rework the narrative, in which we interrupt that story to offer the story of God’s relentless love and of the commitment of humans, these humans right here, to the building of Beloved Community.
There is a lot possible in Unitarian Universalist religious education: transformation, refreshment, interruption of narratives of a punitive god. Still, on a personal level, one of the things that brought me so much joy was the way in which the religious education program, as a whole, functioned as a source of support for the many kinds of families present in the congregation and the wide spectrum of needs they brought with them each week. For people who don’t connect to the Learning Community, religious education can be a synonym for babysitting. Of course, it can be much more than that. I wonder what the possibilities are for transforming that perception and the way it falls short of the possibilities. Ultimately, I am grateful to have both the questions, and the opportunity to explore than answers.
What are we doing today?
Isn’t this a pressing question throughout the Unitarian Universalist movement? On every level, the Movement seeks to clarify and define itself. We know some of what we are by where we have been as a Movement. We are the ones who show up. We are the ones who do the work, imperfectly sometimes, but not without a focus on the world we dream about.
Religious education is a process by which children, young people, adults, elders, friends experience the stories of transformation that our Movement holds.
Sometimes they are stories of the historical legacy of our Movement. Other times, they are stories across faith and ethical traditions that accomplish more than one thing in their teaching—appreciation of traditions and cultures to which we are connected by the web of humanity and of earth life, but also the experience of insight that comes when a learner hears the story of another and takes it to heart, experiencing wisdom, perhaps corrective guidance, or even an illustration of a new possible future.
Religious education allows for the transformation of attitudes, as people experience wisdom, not just in teaching, but also in the practice of covenantal relationships. One of the stories in WorshipWeb is The Woman Who Outshone The Sun by Nancy Jilk. It tells of a woman who was beautifully connected with the river, such that the otters and fish were rolled up in her hair. The villagers ostracized her and were unkind to her because they perceived her as strange. I have told this story as an experience for the congregation and bring it up here because it is a good illustration of the possibility of religious education. People can know something—the story, feel something, the arc of the characters’ experiences, be something, be a welcomer and an includer, and do something, engage in welcoming and befriending acts.
In fact, the purpose of transformation in religious education is for the learner to arrive at new ways of acting, both compelled and supported by the learning of mind and heart, allowing that learning to be expressed by observable behaviors and movements of the body. This has a few applications in Unitarian Universalist (UU) contexts. One is that the experiences of learners should be making a conscious effort to be different from the academic experiences students may have during the week. Children, for example, should be afforded opportunities (as are accessible to class members, to move around, make sound (talk and communicate), make things and enjoy art, color, and texture, sing songs or enjoy music. The more kinds of experiences the lessons include, the more of the learner can be involved and engaged.
What’s for snack?
In a way, the point of this question is to ask, “What is there to look forward to, anyway?” It is a good place to begin. Although I have discussed here the transformational nature of religious education, there is a gap for every learner between the experience of learning and the moment of transformation. That is, for children seeking answers to life’s big questions, the seeking takes what seems like forever. For adults, seeking friendship and community, as well as support for living into their life purpose, nothing is obvious. These things take time, effort, experimentation. What is there to look forward to? Snack represents refreshment and comfort in this way. Each learner needs not just transformation, but also experiences of safety, belonging, friendship, and, very literally, refreshment.
Unitarian Universalism is often identified by visitors as one of the places in which their humanity, their inherent worth and dignity is lifted up. At times, Unitarian Universalists may take that a bit for granted. It may tumble off the lips in stale rote, but, in fact, is one of the things to which we must continually awaken ourselves. Unitarian Universalism offers affirmation and expression of inherent worth and dignity in a world that is weighed down by thousands of years of hearing that it probably can’t be redeemed anyway, that there is nothing worth saving. Unitarian Universalist religious education is a significant way in which we rework the narrative, in which we interrupt that story to offer the story of God’s relentless love and of the commitment of humans, these humans right here, to the building of Beloved Community.
There is a lot possible in Unitarian Universalist religious education: transformation, refreshment, interruption of narratives of a punitive god. Still, on a personal level, one of the things that brought me so much joy was the way in which the religious education program, as a whole, functioned as a source of support for the many kinds of families present in the congregation and the wide spectrum of needs they brought with them each week. For people who don’t connect to the Learning Community, religious education can be a synonym for babysitting. Of course, it can be much more than that. I wonder what the possibilities are for transforming that perception and the way it falls short of the possibilities. Ultimately, I am grateful to have both the questions, and the opportunity to explore than answers.
Link to a lesson I wrote on the Day of the Dead, middle grades
Archived Webinar: Cultural Competence with Disability: Conversations for Access and Possibility
Archived Webinar: Cultural Competence with Disability: Conversations for Access and Possibility