February marks the beginning of our Focus Month, and this year the focus is on Spirit in Nature, and yes, believe it or not, there is plenty in nature to feel spiritual about during the heart of winter. Sure it’s easy to sit outside on a beautiful spring or summer day and commune with nature, but in February? Well, let’s just say that here in the Religious Education department, we have been hard at work finding that spirit and gearing up to present an inspired program to our Kindergarten through Fifth grade students.
We begin our month with a Children’s Chapel on February 3, where we will be joined by Judith Lin Hunt who will teach us a thing or two about Beatrix Potter. She will then continue her presentation with our K/1 class, while Sabina Ernst, chair of our Grounds Committee will meet with our 2/3 class, and Silke Springorum of the Green Sanctuary committee will join the 4/5 graders for a special presentation. Finally, all our students in those grades will make seed balls to sell to the congregation during coffee hour on Feb. 24, to raise money for the Fresh Air Fund, a not-for-profit agency that has provided free summer experiences in the country to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities.
The weather will determine our following two Sunday’s programming, as we have deemed one an “outdoor experience” and the other, an “indoor” one. Our outdoor experience will consist of taking the students for a walk outside in order to be surrounded by nature and find some beauty and spirituality even in the middle of winter. Permission slips will be going home very shortly, so please be on the lookout for those.
The final Sunday, January 24 is an intergenerational service, and also our second Youth Facilitated Service of the program year. We are looking for greeters, offertory collectors, chalice lighters, and singers for our Children’s Choir. The choir will be singing a few songs, and Amy Crafton and Markus Hauck invite all children ages 5-11 to participate in the choir. Rehearsals will be Feb. 3, 10 and 17 between services at 10:00am in the Rotunda, with a final rehearsal at 8:00am on Feb. 24. Please email either Amy (Amy@craftone.com) or Markus Hauck (mhauck7@gmail.com) to be included.
See you Sunday,
Allison Sosinsky
Religious Education Program Coordinator