Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church

524 Allen Avenue, Portland, Maine, 04103 (207)797.7240

Dear Middle Schoolers and Parents of Middle School Youth,

Were excited to begin a new church year this coming Sunday, September 8, 2013, and are welcoming you back to Religious Education and the Middle School Group for grades 6, 7 and 8! Our curriculum for this year is called Neighboring Faiths.We will be learning about other religions and religious and spiritual communities and churches. We will go on a number of field trips to visit other churches, and we will also have visitors come to us to tell us about their religion. If you have ever wondered what it might be like to go to a Catholic church, a Jewish temple, a Quaker meeting house, Hindu worship, Buddhist meditation, Muslim prayer or a Pagan ritual here is your chance to ask questions and explore! In the process we get to compare what other religions have in common with UU faith and where they are different, understand our neighbors, classmates and maybe even family members of other faiths a little better, deepen our own UU values and hopefully become more able to appreciate and tolerate religious diversity. This is a fun and exciting curriculum. We will be ambassadors of our own UU church as visitors to other churches and strengthen our interfaith bonds. To make it successful we need you and your parents to get involved and YOU to come as regularly to group as possible. The field trips require a bit of planning and preparation of logistics. Some religions hold their meetings at other times than Sunday morning and we hope that youll be able to go on field trips at other times, and that your parents will be supportive in helping to get you there. We also need parents to be supportive and willing to bring you, and invite parents to come along on field trips and actively participate in other ways. We hope this opens up an opportunity to discuss the religious roots within your own family and your experiences with other religions at home. To get parents on board, we invite you and your parents to a special PARENT MEETING on Sunday, September 15, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. There will be an all-church potluck that day after the second service and we hope youll consider just staying after the first service for the meeting and the potluck. It is very important for parents to come to this meeting if at all possible. Please put it on your calendar right now:

PARENT MEETING on Sunday, September 15, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon.

Childcare will be available. Parents will need to sign some important permission slips for field trips at that meeting. If you cannot attend, please let the DRE, Laura Messenger, know, and she will mail the forms to you. Please also fill out the enclosed questionnaire to help us with better planning!

Our first group session will be on Sunday, September 8, 2013 at 9 a.m.

We will start in the sanctuary for the Ingathering service and our annual Water Ceremony. Bring some water from your summer travels, beach visits or swimming holes to pour into the communal bowl. We will then go to group for our introductory meeting. Our group this year meets in the Memorial Room the room with the colored glass windows in the back of the RE wing (first one on the right when you enter through the RE door). Your RE leaders will be there before the service, so come a little early and meet us! You can chose to sit with the group or your parents during the Ingathering whatever makes you most comfortable. Our second group session will be on September 15 and we will meet directly in the Memorial Room. We will spend group time plotting our plan, which churches we plan to visit, what questions we want to ask, and how we can be the best ambassadors for A2U2. On September 22 we will visit our first church service in our own church. Rev. Myke will preach about the Mystery Seed that day about our soul and its connection to all there is. Please plan to come to the Memorial Room before the service, so our group can sit together in the sanctuary. We will meet in group for 15 minutes after the service to share our experience. Finally, we would like to introduce our team of RE leaders for this church year to you: Fall session - September 8 through November 24: Noel Genova (noelpac@aol.com) and Meret Bainbridge (meretbainbridge@gmail.com). You can also reach us by phone: Noel at 207-671-9076 (cell) and Meret at 207-838-2413 (cell). Winter session December 8 through February 23: Anne Bureau (patrick.bureau@myfairpoint.net) and Kimberly Gladman Jackson (kgladman@gmiratings.com). Spring session March 2 through June 8: Rick (rickskimball@gmail.com) and Tirrell Kimball (tirrellkimball@gmail.com). Our Director of Religious Education, Laura Messenger, can be reached at dre@a2u2.org or by phone at 207-797-7240 (church office) or 603-738-9439 (cell). Rev. Myke will assist us making interfaith connections and setting up visits. She can be reached at: revmyke@a2u2.org Feel free to contact us (Noel and Meret) if you have any questions. We do look forward to seeing you on Sunday, and throughout the year! Your Neighboring Faiths leader team