Welcome to Unitarian Universalist Society East
Sunday Services at 9:00 and 11:00
Director's Corner
Emmy's Friday Update
For Sunday April 13th
Greetings CYM Families & Friends!
Last Sunday I took the middle school class on a field trip to the Old State House in Hartford, the site of the city’s dedicated Witness Stones (https://witnessstonesproject.org). If you aren’t familiar with the project, it was started by middle schoolers in Guildford, CT with help from their teachers in 2017. A Witness Stone is a memorial to the last living enslaved person from that city or town. These sites raise awareness of important historical facts, such as the life and events of the dedicated persons’ lives. As well as that contrary to popular belief, forced human slavery of black, brown, bi-racial, and indigenous people existed in every town and city in the north.
Several of the Witness Stones sites show a death date of the last enslaved person in town to be just over 100 years ago. The misconception that slavery didn’t exist in New England, or that we are far removed from it, hasn’t been perpetuated accidentally. In general, people from the north and south may talk about the history and generational impacts of slavery differently. But those impacts are quite similar, if not more difficult to repair in the north because personal and institutional values of superiority through class distinction, education, and generational wealth are gripped so tightly and quietly by the “haves”, and the coldness we are known for is seen in the blind eye turning away from the “have-nots.” This rumor that the north is not complicit or responsible is quieter, sneakier, and serves the wealthy. All the more reason to point it out and talk to your youth and fellows about it.
Standing in the city of Hartford with our middle school youth, I am reminded that Hartford, CT is the insurance capital of the country, as well as the home to some of the top medical research sites and facilities in the country, in the wealthiest state in the country. Yet how is that abundance of wealth shared within this community? I encouraged our youth as I talked with them in Hartford last Sunday to think about what is important to them, as they should be doing at their age. I asked them to reflect on what their passions are, how they feel comfortable being in the world, and offered that those answers would guide their personal development of their own spirituality. What a gift to be on this journey with them, and all of you.
Here’s what else is happening in Children & Youth Ministry on Sunday, April 13, 2025:
@11 AM
Children & Youth Ministry Groups:
Children and Youth in 1st-8th grade will join their families in the Sanctuary for the beginning of worship Sunday. Students will be dismissed from the Sanctuary to the Garden Level for programming after a Time For All Ages. Garden Level programming ends at 12:15PM.
Sunday Service: “Gracefully Amazing” - This morning we offer a multifaceted exploration of the hymn Amazing Grace. We’ll experience different musical approaches to this hymn, and we’ll probe it’s history and lyrics for spiritual guidance.
Coordinators: Mary Bopp and Rev. Josh Pawelek
Nursery (Ages 3 and under): Childcare is available in our Nursery on the Garden Level at 11 AM for children 3 and under. Care is provided by two regular childcare staff including our Nursery Coordinator Molly, our Nursery Assistant Lilly. Our nursery staff have grown up at UUSE, and are equipped with loads of experience, patience, and creativity to keep our youngest UUs safe and engaged. Families are always welcome to tour and stay in the nursery at any time.
Spirit Play (Pre-K/Kindergarten): “Jesus Goes to Jerusalem” - Spirit Play children start in their classroom at 11 AM. This Sunday’s tale is about the story of Easter. Easter happens in the spring when nature comes back to life, the trees get leaves, flowers bloom, and birds lay their eggs. Easter eggs, like eggs on Passover, remind us of the rebirth of the earth and the new life coming.
Spirituality & Religion (Grades 1-5): “Easter” - This Sunday our elementary youth will hear a simple story of Easter and the legacy of Jesus. The group will discuss Jesus and the things he taught, especially the importance and power of love. Participants will illustrate a page for their Sacred Books with imagery and colors inspired by the day’s lesson and Spring season.
Anti-Racism (Grades 6-8): “Signs in Spanish” - Our junior youth will create Garden Level signage in Spanish to supplement the existing signs in English. The lesson is in radical hospitality, self empowerment for our Spanish-speaking youth and caregivers, and an act of inclusion and love of diversity.
High School Youth Group: Volunteering at the Covenant Soup Kitchen - Those who have signed up to volunteer at the soup kitchen in Willimantic this Sunday should meet at UUSE no later than 7:45 AM! Bring a lunch, wear closed toed shoes, pull hair back/wear a hat, and leave valuables at home. Please see the email from Michelle for more details and permission slips. I’m excited for this!
SAVE THE DATE:
THIS SUNDAY, Apr 13: Author event with UUSE’s S.J. Taylor! She will read an excerpt from her latest book, which will appeal especially to our older elementary and teenage youth. This event is after service and CYM programming
Sat, Apr 19: UUSE attends Kamora’s Cultural Corner’s “Thinking and Doing Day: Take Back the Land.” Please visit https://kamorasculturalcorner.com/ to learn more about KCC, a new (to us) partner in guiding our children, youth, and families about community engagement at a grass-roots level. Register to attend this free event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/2025-thinking-and-doing-days-3893073. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions!
Sun, Apr 20: Easter Egg Hunt between services, beginning at 10:30 in the Memorial Garden.
Sat, May 3: May Fair at UUSE! 10AM-2PM
Sun, May 18: Flower Communion Service, Community Potluck, & UUSE Annual Meeting
Sun, May 25: NO CYM programming, Memorial Day Weekend
Sun, Jun 1: Affirmation Sunday Service
Sun, Jun 8: CYM Field Day and final ‘24-’25 CYM Stakeholder’s Meeting in the field
Sun, Jun 15: CYM Sunday Service
Sun, Jun 22: UUA General Assembly (interested in attending as a family? Shoot me an email & more details to come.)
With Love and Gratitude,
Emmy Galbraith
dcym@uuse.org
Cell: (860)576-7889
CYM Committee Members:
Desiree Holian-Borgnis, Chair
Michelle Spadaccini
Paula Baker
Sudha Sevin
Rhona Cohen
Committee email: uusecym@uuse.org
Angela Attardo, CYM Program Assistant
CYMAsst@uuse.org
Director of Children and Youth Ministry's Monthly Column for April
The Space Between Winter and Spring
The energetic body becomes very loud right before a death. It could be the death of a habit, a pattern, or a physical body. The body is scared because it doesn't know what’s on the other side of the death. The dying sounds like alarm bells, frightening blood work, doubting thoughts. Plants wilt, yellow, and decay.
My pagan spiritual beliefs ensure me that after a death there is rebirth, as natural as sleeping and waking. This is fitting with the Spring Equinox upon us. I feel death loudly right now, with deafening silence heard through other places than the ear. Hospice nurses report a supreme peace that takes hold at the moment a death occurs. It may be a fraction of a second, or it may be the gift of hours or even days. Science and medicine mark the point of death in different ways, by brain function, heartbeat, breath. I'm defining death here as the moment the energy leaves its past host.
There is a pause, a stillness, that point in between death and birth where all that exists is source. In yoga it is that space between the inhale and exhale. Its that place we eagerly try to access throughout our lives, or perhaps play hide-and-seek with, from one life to the next, from one season to another.
When the birth of a being happens, there is a cry once again. A baby's first scream is a universal sign of health and hope, and life. Still a scream, but treated with such different emotion and meaning than the scream of death. In this magical space between Winter and Spring, may we be as brave as a child with the urge to claim their life. May we embrace it with fertile minds and bodies to grow what we need this Spring, for ourselves and our communities. May we use this moment to connect with source and manifest. This is my Springtime blessing for us all.
Emmy Galbraith (she/her/hers)
Director of Children and Youth Ministry