Worship, Celebration and Special Traditions
Halloween
Every year on the Sunday closest to and before Halloween, the entire congregation is encouraged to attend Sunday services in costume. The UUFG youth group designs a haunted house for all to experience, and pumpkin carving, treats, and a Halloween carnival make this event a favorite.
Winterfest
On the first Saturday in December, this multi-cultural, inter-generational concept of Unitarian Universalism as an inclusive faith. Children make holiday gifts from cultures and countries around the world, while adults and children alike savor the flavors of delicious holiday treats.
Winter Holiday Pageant
On a Sunday in mid-December we have an Intergenerational Service: “Holiday Memories and Traditions.” This is a special time to honor and share our pasts with our children. On Christmas Eve we celebrate another Intergenerational Service featuring holiday music and the Christmas story.
You, Me and RE
On a Sunday in late January, the Children and Youths of UUFG organize and conduct an Intergenerational Service. This sharing Service helps the congregation know what our young people have been learning and doing.
Secret Pals
Secret Pals are intergenerational pairs composed of one young person and one adult. For six weeks at the end of Winter, children are matched with adult "Secret Pals." Adults send letters to theiryoung pals with clues to help the children guess their identity. Children write about their hobbies, pets and favorite foods. The Secret Pal Program was designed to bring people (young, old and in-between) of our congregation together to meet someone they might not otherwise meet. The Secret Pal Program culminates with an “unveiling” Secret Pal Luncheon where the pals meet for the first time.
Hidden Egg Hunt
On Easter Sunday we celebrate Spring with an Egg Hunt. Rabbits, real and costumed, often appear to delight the young egg hunters.
Child Dedication
Unitarian Universalist worship practice usually does not include Baptism. Instead, we have child dedications. Most commonly, children dedicated are newborn through age 4 — though older children may certainly be dedicated as well if they or their parents wish.Child Dedications are a uniquely Unitarian Universalist ceremony of naming, which offers parents the opportunity to present their children to the congregation. This ceremony celebrates the ongoing mystery of human life, welcomes the child into our religious community and publicly affirms the responsibility of the parents and the entire congregation to help the child grow in the way of love, truth, justice and peace. A child dedication ceremony:
- gives parents a chance to bring their children before their religious community to express joy and awe at the gift of their new or young life,
- allows the children to be symbolically dedicated to the good, the true, and the beautiful, and
- lets the congregation express its hopes for its children and dedicate itself to being a part of their nurturance to spiritual growth.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) About Child Dedication
- Q: What is the child dedication ceremony like?
A: We take about 5 minutes during the Sunday worship service for this ceremony. The minister and the DRE each speak some words about the significance, spiritual and otherwise, of having children in our community, and the significance, spiritual and otherwise, of our children having authoritative communities. Then the parents with their child(ren)-to-be-dedicated are called up on the stage. The parents announce the name of the child. The minister dips a rose into our "Waters of Community" (the water saved from our last Water Communion service) and touches the wet rose to the child's forehead, lips, and hands, to "dedicate your thoughts, your speech, and your action to all in life that is good and true and beautiful." Then hands the rose to the child or a parent. The congregation reads in unison this prayer for the child, which, in turn, dedicates the congregation as well: "May you grow to a life of joy. May you grow to love other people. May you grow to be courageous to challenge evil. May you speak the truth you know, and never cease from seeking to know more. In everyone you meet, may you recognize kinship and accept difference. May you endow those who know you with faith and hope. May you grow to be strong and gentle. May you lessen a bit our human sorrows. And to help to realize our hopes for you, to guide you and comfort you, to teach you and learn from you, we, your religious community, dedicate ourselves."
At the end of the ceremony, the family is presented with these words on a parchment, that the child may always remember the promise made to her or him by our Fellowship. - Q: Will my child face eternal damnation if s/he is never dedicated?
A: No. - Q: How about any form of ostracism or peer pressure?
A: Nope. - Q: How can I tell which other children in the congregation have been dedicated?
A: You'll recognize them by that special glow of truth, goodness, and beauty they give off. Or not. Seriously: once the day of the ceremony is past, we don't make any fuss over our dedicated kids that we don't make over all our kids. Our Fellowship members, unless they attended a given child's dedication, have no way of knowing whether a child has been dedicated. None of our programs ever make any distinction between the dedicated and the nondedicated. The fact of dedication becomes something for the family to remember, often with a profound sense of meaning. - Q: Why would I want my child dedicated?
A: It's a lovely, beautiful way to affirm the connectedness between our congregation and your child. And it helps the congregation get to know the child and the parents — both from seeing you up on the stage, and from greeting and congratulating you after the service. Getting to see the child, and speak the unison words together, will help reinforce the congregation's remembrance of its promise to guide, comfort, teach, and learn from all the children in our Fellowship. - Q: If I miss this dedication, will I have another chance?
A: Yes. LoraKim and I plan to continue offering child dedications twice a year: once in December and once in late May or early June.
Water Communion Service
Water is a symbol of spirituality and an inclusive symbol. This ritual speaks to our connectedness to one another and to our place on this planet. We cannot survive without water, nor flourish without tending to the spirit of community that flows around and through us all. Because we tend to scatter during the summer, we schedule our Water Communion Service in early September to mark the beginning of the cooler seasons and a return to the community of our Fellowship. Members gather a small quantity of water from wherever they go during the summer as a reminder of where they went and that they carried their UU connection there with them. They then bring that small bit of water to the Water Communion Service to pour into a common bowl and briefly tell where the water came from and how it represents a connection to UUism and the fellowship. At the end of the service, a small amount of the commingled water—now representing the commingled lives of the Fellowship—is reserved for use on occasions such as child dedications and weddings.
Flower Communion Service
Held in Spring, the Flower Communion service was created by Norbert Capek (1870- 1942), who founded the Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia. He turned to the native beauty of the countryside for elements of a communion that would be genuine. For the flower communion service, people are asked to bring a flower of their choice, either from their own gardens, or from the field or roadside. The vase that contains all the flowers is a symbol of the united church fellowship. After the service, each person takes a flower from the vase other than the one that he or she brought. The significance of the flower communion is that as no two flowers are alike, so no two people are alike, yet each has a contribution to make. Together, the different flowers form a beautiful bouquet. Our common bouquet would not be the same without the unique addition of each individual flower, and thus it is with our church community—it would not be the same without each and every one of us. Thus, this service is a statement of our community. By exchanging flowers, we show our willingness to walk together in our search for truth, disregarding all that might divide us. Each person takes home a flower brought by someone else, thus symbolizing our shared celebration in community. This communion of sharing is essential to a free people of a free religion.
Animal Blessing
On Earth Day, or the nearest Sunday, our Intergenerational Service is attended not only by children and parents, but also by our pets. This Service helps us remember the web of life that connects us all.
Coming of Age
In late May, the Sunday Service is planned and conducted by our Coming of Age youths. In the Coming of Age Program, which is a passage and a pilgrimage. The program is intended to provide a focused year of self-definition during which youths explore questions about themselves: their gifts, their strengths, their areas of growth, their beliefs and their goals. They explore how their answers fit or do not fit within Unitarian Universalism. After a year’s journey, part passage and part pilgrimage, these adolescents are prepared to share their insights and to articulate their faith.
Symposium
In May we hold a Symposium to celebrate and thank all the many adults who volunteer their time and energy to make all our programs for children and youth successful. The Symposium includes a training component to help our program grow.
Chalice Camp, the UU Summer Camp
For two weeks in June UUFG becomes a Summer Camp complete with energetic daily worship, creative arts, theatre and water play. Chalice Camp, a nationally accredited program of the UUA, is the UU answer to Vacation Bible School. Chalice Camp deepens a child’s sense of belonging to the interdependent web of Life of which we are all a part with daily themes such as: "It’s a blessing we were born," "It matters what we do" and "We don’t have to do it alone." In 2008, the annual Summer Chalice Camp will be a Peace Camp, where children will learn about Non-Violent Communication, and have fun in a diverse group.
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