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!