Dear Ones,
As we launch a new program year, one that will be unlike any other, we are becoming ever more familiar with uncertainty. We have hopes but no guarantees about how our nation and our world will respond to the challenges we face, especially in the next few months. Here at WES, we are figuring some things out as we go about this interim time. I do have tools to share with you and some ideas about how we might proceed; however, we are going to shape this year together, so I can’t predict exactly what will happen. Change and creative flow can be good — even great — as we grow and discover and collaborate. Change can also draw a lot of attention and energy, so we’ll want to be attentive to caring for ourselves and each other, and to finding ways to renew our minds and hearts in the midst of our work together.
As you may know, WES participates in Soul Matters, which is a subscription service that offers us ideas for Deepening Circle discussions, Platform readings, and sometimes additional resources that we can use throughout the year. Through Soul Matters, we are invited to explore themes of the month, using the lenses of our own experiences and bringing to bear the philosophies that feel authentic within this community. In September, our theme is Renewal. We might think of this in terms of renewing our energy, renewing our commitments to our communities or to our values or to our descendants, renewing and revising our understanding of the past, or simply renewal of the seasons and cycles that govern our lives and our planet. We could reflect together from a number of perspectives.
I hope you will renew your participation in WES as a community. If you haven’t logged into a Sunday Platform lately, please join us for Opening Sunday on September 13. We’ll enjoy the virtual Chorus, hear from our partners at Friends and Family of Incarcerated People, and find joy in being together in a new way. Members of WES have done an amazing job of adapting to the times in which we find ourselves. It may have seemed impossible back in March, but you have made it this far while still checking in on each other, sharing your thoughts in Deepening Circles, and finding opportunities to speak up for justice. You should be proud of what you have accomplished. I hope we can find renewal in new ideas for creative community building in the coming year. Hope to see you online soon.
Take care,
-Lyn
The Question Box Continued
On August 30, the Platform included a Question Box, in which Interim Leader Lyn Cox responded to questions from members. The number and depth of questions was so abundant that some of the questions had to be deferred for later. Lyn covered two in her Wednesday Wonderings YouTube series on September 2. Here is one more:
What are some of the ideas for keeping the youth engaged, not only through SEEK but in general while these virtual platforms are happening?
Staying engaged as a multigenerational community will take all of us. I am particularly mindful that parents and guardians of school-age children are feeling overwhelmed right now. Many of them are attempting to adapt to demanding distance learning schedules at home, while adults are still working as hard as ever at their jobs. That means that one of the groups most likely to volunteer for SEEK under normal circumstances — that is, parents — do not have the time or energy to create something new or to volunteer as teachers. It’s up to the rest of us (though I am a parent, I include myself here) to think about how we can welcome children and youth along with their families in our current activities, and to support SEEK when the opportunity arises.
By now, you have received news that Lara Profitt, the Director of Lifelong Learning, has resigned. In her short time with us, Lara offered keen observations that will help us to strengthen the SEEK program when we eventually return to in-person operations. For now, we’ll need to be cooperative and creative. Volunteers are helping me look into possibilities for sharing SEEK resources with another AEU society or UU congregation. There is an online community for Unitarian Universalist teens and emerging adults starting up, and I’d be glad to forward information to interested families of youth. I’m hoping to hire a Coming of Age coordinator soon, and to recruit 4-6 volunteers who can help lead sessions, so that we can adapt Coming of Age for online or hybrid learning. We will figure it out together.
One thing we will be bringing back from the Spring is a weekly newsletter for SEEK families drawing on the “Soulful Home” resource for at-home discussions and activities. Inspiration for this newsletter comes from our Soul Matters subscription and will be shaped into something useful for WES families by Ndara Miles. Soulful Home suggests things like questions for family discussion, ideas for a treasure hunt, and stories you can share with children as an entry point for philosophical or ethical topics.
Meanwhile, I’d like to do some more reflecting with the Sunday Officiants and other members of the Platform team about how to make our online Platforms more inclusive and accessible while still inviting the deep insights that I know members treasure about that time. We might involve more stories, Zoom polls, and visuals. We should assume that children are looking over the shoulders of adults participating in Zoom Platform. Even when it doesn’t look like they are listening, it is amazing what children can absorb. Let’s try to ensure that they are absorbing something that will help them understand Ethical Culture and their place in it.
I’m also hoping to brainstorm with some people about how to carry the joy and positive messages of WES’s seasonal celebrations in a way that is adapted for our current situation. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I don’t recommend abandoning your celebrations like Stone Soup just because they can’t be done in the same way they always have been done. Let’s imagine how children, youth, and adults can do something together in a new way.
The best way we can get through this year is together. That means we want to be creative and flexible toward the goal of being as inclusive as we can be while staying as safe as possible. We’ll try new things and make room for the needs of people we might not have considered before. Keeping the channels of engagement open is up to all of us.
You must be logged in to post a comment.