Join me with guest, Katy Siepert, UU Church of Eugene, OR who is offering SpiritJam.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017 - 7:00-8:00 p.m. PT
Are you having trouble recruiting teachers? Check out a new model of Religious Education called “SpiritJam” developed at the UU Fellowship of Boulder, CO.

• Staff teachers lead the program.
• Align Religious Education with Thematic Ministry.
• Provide consistency, professional leadership and safety for the children.
• Free up the energy of parents with paid lead teachers.
• Offer service opportunities for all ages.

Register for SpiritJam: Fun, Engaging Faith Formation

 I call it "The Matrix," sci-fi fan that I am. Imagine the Jam Matrix as a 3-D soccer ball (aka a truncated icosahedron.) Each pentagon panel represents one of the 10 most important elements for creating the Jams. We roll the Matrix around in our brains to make sure we don't miss an important activity that would illustrate the theme.

The 10 Elements of the Matrix for creating Jams:
 1. UU Faith Formation  (Core Stories, Principles and Sources)
 2. World Religions
 3. Kid and Youth Culture
 4. Music (Theme Songs for the month)
 5. Life Issues
 6. Talents in the Congregation
 7. Sermon topics
 8. Justice Making Projects
 9. Multiple Intelligences
10. Sensory Play

We review these elements each month to make sure that we are offering Jams which cover the aspects of the themes.

Here are a few examples:

For the theme of "Letting Go," our musician noted that we HAD to use the song "Let It Go" from the currently popular Disney show of "Frozen." She used element #3 "Kid Culture" and #4 "Music," from the Matrix, to think of that one. 

For the theme of "Resistance," we used an activity from my own curriculum Spirit of Adventure about Viljhamur Stefansson, Icelandic Unitarian Arctic Explorer, in which we challenged the kids to overcome their resistance to new things and taste a variety of canned fish. We used Element #10 "Sensory Play" to come up with tasting as a way to experience resistance. 

For the theme of "Ancestry," we invited a congregant who shared her story of the Irish village where her family originated, using Element #6 "Talents in the Congregation," to remind us to ask for such stories from our own folks.

The Matrix is written up on a poster, so we can percolate the elements together. For those who are writing up their own thematic activities, try it! Let me know if you have other elements to add!

Some folks think that SpiritJam was expensive to the Fellowship. After all, paid lead teachers instead of volunteers? 
Quick answer? NO.
Quick total additional cost? $400.00
I'll explain this more at the LREDA Fall Conference, Sat. Oct.24, 2015, 4 p.m. in Morristown, NJ. Rev. Lydia and I will be presenting details about SpiritJam, how it has transformed our congregation, the structure and the cost. Hope to see you! For now, here's the quick and dirty.....

The R.E. staff previous to SpiritJam included a:

1. 30 hr. wk DRE for Babies - 18 year olds
2. 15 hr. wk Youth Coordinator
3. 10 hr. wk R.E. Assistant
4. 4 hr. wk Preschool Teacher

I spent about 30% of my time recruiting and supporting volunteers. The R.E. Assistant spent 80% of his time supporting and filling in for volunteers. Our time spent chasing volunteers was re-allocated to SpiritJam at no cost to the Fellowship.

In SpiritJam, we expanded and enhanced the program with an alternative staffing plan removing the recruiting and support of the volunteers:
1. The DRE becomes Lifespan Director of the School of the Spirit. (No change in salary or hours)
2. The Youth Coordinator and R.E. Assistant becomes the SpiritJam Youth Coordinator. 25 hrs. (no change).
3. The Preschool Teacher becomes part of the SpiritJam Faculty. (add $400.00 for extra planning time)
4. Hire the SpiritJam Lead Teacher from proceeds of the Day Camp ($4,000.00; 6 hrs. per week plus planning time) 

Thus, we needed $400.00 of new funds to implement SpiritJam.

Here's the special circumstance for our congregation - we have offered a Day Camp each summer for 9 years. We generated a profit, which used to go into the Boulder Valley UU Fellowship general fund. We received permission to use that money to hire the SpiritJam Lead Teacher. 

Here's the reality - even without the Day Camp proceeds, spending $4,000.00 is still a bargain: to free up the energy of the parents, create a multigenerational, unique program and to enter the future of congregational life.

You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water - Rabindranath Tagore

Thirty years as a religious educator and I had never thought of a water slide in the context of the Water Service until last year. But now I know is the perfect element for celebrating water, celebrating return, and celebrating the generations.

Last year, we rented a water slide with some trepidation. Would it be accepted? Was it too silly? Would the adults try it out? Would folks resent wet children in the pews?

The answers were YES, it was accepted, NO, it wasn't too silly, YES, many adults tried it out, and NOBODY complained about the wet seat marks in the sanctuary.

Our gracious minister, Rev. Lydia Ferrante-Roseberry, grinned and affirmed my tentative suggestion. "Of course!" she said, "I'll go down it, for sure!" She wore her "Standing on the Side of Love" shirt for the ride. Our Music Director, a PhD. in Piano Performance, changed into his gym clothes in the car after the service and careened into the water. The President-Elect wore flippers and a snorkel for the walk across the lawn (I nearly hyperventilated I was laughing so hard!)

The kids played on the slide during the early part of the service, then we joined together in full community for the Sharing of the Waters Ceremony in the Sanctuary. Families, singles, elders, young adults and leaders brought water from meaningful places and poured them, one at a time, into the large bowl. The children in their wet pigtails and dripping towels joined their parents at the microphone. We created the sacred water to be used during the year when the blessing of the community would be invoked. The choir sang "Wade in the Water." The murmur of the fountain said, "This is us, this is our community, this is a sacred time." Our hearts were full, so full, that they would explode unless....
we flowed outside to complete the service with the liturgy of the water slide. We held our noses, slid into the streaming water and splashed into the pool! 
We celebrated and played in glorious exuberance, Dads made cannon ball splashes. Moms rolled their eyes and gave it a try in shorts and T-shirts.  Matrons pranced, and blue-lipped children shivered in line.
Laughter and whoops on the water slide make the Water Service complete. We are doing it again this year! 

SpiritJam combines with Soul Matters for the monthly themes to be used in our congregational life at Boulder Valley UU Fellowship. What a great dovetailing of resources! 

The theme for September is "Invitation." As we brainstorm and create the Jams, we include core stories from Unitarian Universalism. I call those stories UU Core Stories which are pivotal to our faith.

What better story for "Invitation" than that of Thomas Potter building a chapel and waiting to invite a preacher of a loving God? Plus, how did John Murray come to accept the invitation to preach, even though he had sworn off preaching? How did Potter's invitation change his heart?

After the story, we will offer an ImaginationJam. We will be inviting children into a Creative Visualization of a walk through the woods into a clearing (based on the introduction to the "Invitation" packet by Scott Taylor). There will be something to build. What would they imagine building? Who will it be for? Me, I'd build a log cabin while waiting for a storyteller who can help me write my wilderness memoirs. What would you build and who would you be waiting for?

For more information about Thomas Potter and John Murray, visit:

• John Murray and the Winds of Change - story from "Creating Home" UUA Tapestry of Faith Curriculum
• The Story of John  Murray and Thomas Potter - from Murray Grove Retreat and Renewal Center

This year we gave Gonorrhea to our OWL leaders. Last year there was an assortment of Herpes and Chlamydia. But my favorite is Syphilis, a cute pink spiral microbe. These Giant Stuffed Microbes are hilarious, rather cute, and even educational. But best of all, they fit the quirky, silly humor that I've seen in so many good OWL leaders. Isn't lightheartedness so crucial to teaching OWL? Bit of a ding at $10 each but build it into your OWL fees, it's worth it.

In addition, here's the other gift I give:
1. OWL pins - these elusive pins are still available through ShopUniUni (formerly UniUUniques) at www.shopuniuni.com/category_s/1841.htm. There are separate colors for each age level, but I had trouble keeping them straight, so now I order all blue and give them to everyone for their first year. Our leaders (25 of them!) pin them proudly on their name tags - OWL bling.

Want to find out more about O.W.L. "Our Whole Lives Lifespan Sexuality Education?"  Visit www.uua.org/re/owl It's one of the best things we do!

This month, I'd like to share how one family made the connection to SpiritJam during a dinner table conversation. One of the Peace theme songs we used for the opening circle was the Meditation on Breathing #1009 in the Singing the Journey by Sarah Dan Jones.

Enter Illya:
During dinner tonight, I shared the stories I heard on the radio today about how the supreme court passed on hearing the cases about gay marriage and how this will allow how states to legally offer gay marriage to couples.  The kids couldn’t understand why this was a big deal - that, “You mean gay people can’t get married?”  I talked about how things were much different when I was a child, about how misunderstanding created confusion and fear, and how happy I am that things are changing.  I talked about how gay and lesbian families will have the same rights surrounding life care, children, and financial matters…

The whole time I was wondering whether or not any of this was sinking in.  Taytem was up and about, getting more pasta, and Boone was waking around, filled his milk glass and then he climbed over the bench and whispered something in Taytem’s ear.  During whisper sessions we usually intervene because we have a “no secrets” policy in our house, but their body language didn’t seem so bad, so I let it go. So, Boone finished up, climbed back into his chair and looked at Taytem with a satisfied smile, waiting.

Taytem then swallowed her bite and started singing, “When I breathe in, I breathe in peace.”

Then Boone took over, “When I breathe out, I breathe out love.”

They continued together for a few verses, then in a moment of ridiculous love and gratitude, the four of us held hands and sang together amidst tears and wonder.

After we stopped, wiped our eyes and sniffled, Sarah looked at me and said, “It is in there.”  

And I replied with, “That’s why we give our fair share."

I know how difficult it can be when we lead.  So often the communication we are involved in deals with the myriad of emotions that accompany unmet needs.  Tonight, I want you to know that together, we are standing on the side of love and that together, we are bringing love and reason to life. 

Breathing in and out,  Illya 

My assistant assigned numbers to my vents/rants one day at staff meeting. Here goes Rant #47...

SpiritJam was created because I couldn't find one single person to teach the 4-6th grade Sunday School class. Yes, we had some dedicated teachers, "but not enough." And the numbers of these valiant souls had been dwindling over the past 5 years. I've learned many tricks of recruiting volunteers since 1983 and none were working.

Add that to the story about a colleague DRE getting a call from a volunteer teacher on a Saturday night saying, "I'll be hung over tomorrow morning and can't teach, sorry!" 

The "duty" generation is passing on. The new generations are following their passions. It is not their passion to give up a much needed Sunday morning to background checks, attachment disorders, health issues, classroom management techniques, budget woes and discontinuous attendance.

The "mommy volunteer" is going away.

For me, it equals paid teachers. 

I believe the days of volunteer teachers are over. Volunteer mom teachers hark back to pre-feminist days when women with talents volunteered and created superb structures for hospitals, churches, schools, etc.
But this is 2014. Women's talents are not marginalized, they are part of the working society. 

The remedy is a vibrant program led by a faculty who know the children, provide consistent leadership, as well as outreach through social media to the "Nones" (No-church,80 percent) and "SbnR's" (Spiritual but not Religious). 

The faculty provides the groundwork (classroom management, knowledge of the children) so that folks can share their passions. We've had youth leaders, board members, storytellers and scientists join us to share. The faculty offer about 85% of the sessions and back-up the guest leaders the rest of the time. 


There's my Rant #47!

The minister and I tried an experiment for the first Sunday in January. We called it the "New Year's Mini-Retreat: Spiritual Adventures."

Threw out the sermon entirely. 

Why, why are we UU's stuck in a Protestant paradigm of sermon and Sunday School? Aren't we supposed to be seekers, universalists, innovators?

So without a sermon, what did we do?

• Tibetan bowls played while folks walked a labyrinth.
  
• Yoga - a member yogini.
  
• Zen Doodling - offered by our Youth Coordinator/Seminarian
  
• Life Collage - a certified SoulCollage facilitator offered a New Years Intention custom collage making workshop.
  
• A Winter Walk - around a nearby lake
  
• A Chat Room
• A robust refreshment hour with New Year's traditional foods and a Bluegrass Gospel band.

The wise ones winked at me and said, "This is really just All SpiritJam; All the Time, isn't it?" You betcha. All ages were invited to choose a 25 or 50 minute option. The preschool was open. Folks were mixing it up.

I admit I lost some sleep beforehand, worrying about the radical format. But the place was packed at 9 a.m. even with temperatures at 1 degree.

Folks came prepared for yoga with a mat, or for the walk. We had 2 families arrive whom we hadn't seen in 3 years. One little girl said, "I never want to leave church!"

Those who came without any idea of what was happening chose their options and participated. The evaluations were glowing. "Do it more!" they said over and over. OK, we will see what we can do!

Two of Google's architects have analysed what they think worked to make Google indispensable to people's interactions online. They have published a book, "How Google Works" by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg which was reviewed in the Economist Magazine September 27th, 2014. I see parallels to SpiritJam.

1. Think extremely big - the "moonshot," as it is called in Silicon Valley. Instead of seeking a 10% improvement, they seek a 10x attempt. SpiritJam and other models of lifespan faith formation in the 21st c. need to think big to reach the 80% non-churched "SBNR's" (Spiritual But Not Religious). My treasurer and minister both told me to "think big" when developing SpiritJam.

2. Fail fast. That way people can learn from failure and move on.  "Learning" trumps "knowing." SpiritJam staff meets weekly to review and revise each Sunday's plan. The staff has become responsive and flexible while creating the Jams. We learn about what works and what doesn't for each Jam and modify between Sundays. Lydia likened it to "taking off in an airplane while still tightening the bolts."

3. Empower employees. Many of Google's biggest products and features (like Gmail) have emerged from this and also from a policy that lets staff work on pet projects for 20% of their time.  The congregation is empowered to bring their interests and augment the SpiritJam program. Thus, we have offerings much richer than the staff could come up with, such as Harry Potter wands and petronus shield making scheduled for the theme of "evil," a Peace PoetryJam from a former university professor, and an EatingJam from a youth interested in Ethical Eating.

Wouldn't it be divine if Unitarian Universalist faith formation became the go-to resource for spiritual development for our society, the way Google is for finding information online? I hope so!