RE Voices - April 2025

April 2025

April has always been my favorite month.  Forsythias bloom in April, so do azaleas and rhododendrons (sometimes) and redbuds.  All the spring bulb flowers are well on their way to blooming.  And, most years, we get Easter.  This year is an Easter year, and this year Easter almost falls on my birthday.  We’ll be celebrating Easter at  UUSGU in our usual way, with a family service and an egg hunt and craft for the children rather than regular RE classes, and an Easter Bonnet Contest (see below for more details).  

Our theme for the month of April is joy.  Most years it is easy to feel joyful in the spring, but this year our joy must be tempered with a bit of worry for our trans friends and family members and for those in our community whose immigration status is “not a citizen”.  It is absolutely astounding that we have gone, in a mere two months, from a country where due process is a universal right to one where not even permanent residents (green card holders) and students on valid visas are safe from being snatched up and disappeared for voicing ‘inappropriate’ opinions.  Where do we possibly find joy?

One thing I know for sure.  We must try to find joy somewhere.  Giving in to despair will not help us stand up and fight for what is right.  And giving into despair will not help us to be better teachers or leaders or parents.  Recently I ran across this quote which I think is important to our current times:  “During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night.  The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for…Keep fighting, keep dancing.”  

We need to deliberately seek out joy in the warmth of a sunny day, in the smile of a happy child, in the bloom of a daffodil, and in the sparkle of water in vernal pools.  Go for nature walks.  Play 80s music crazy loud and dance in your pajamas in the living room.  Or play “Les Mis” on your car stereo and sing along. Create amazing Easter Bonnets, or fantastic protest signs.  Run for something.  Join a new organization.  Accentuate the positive as Aretha Franklin so famously sang. (I know other artists have sung this as well, but she’s my favorite.)  

I went on a nature walk yesterday with Arwen at Broadmeadow Brook nature sanctuary where we got to watch a group of pre-schoolers joyfully splashing in rain boots and waterproof overalls as they tried to catch things in their nets. It was a nice afternoon.

Coming Up in RE

This Sunday is the last Sunday in March, and we will be having our Spirit Play and Popcorn Theology for All classes.  Next Sunday (April 6th), the Spirit Play class will be visiting Beth Tikvah’s preschool Passover event, which will be taking place during our normal RE time. There will not be class for the upper elementary and middle school students.

YOUTH GROUP!

Our next Youth Group meeting is on April 6th at noon.  The youth will be planning their IRONCHEF UUSGU fundraising event for the Trevor Project on May 17th.  See the graphic at the top right for more details.  

Adult congregants, if you would like to participate in the project as a guest chef we’d like to hear from you! The youth will be asking for adults to join their teams and it always feels easier to ask when the answer is likely to be yes. You can email me at re@uusgu.org if interested, or talk to any of the youth or youth leaders (MB DeKara and Donna Maria Cameron). 

Easter Sunday Fun

Our Easter Sunday service this year will have three child-friendly activities.  

• After Time for All Ages, we’ll be going downstairs to the RE space for our traditional Easter Egg hunt.  We’ll be changing the rules up a bit, we’re asking the older children to only find a certain number of eggs for themselves (number to be determined once we know how many children there are) that they then help younger children, so that everyone ends up with an approximately equal number of eggs.  As usual, they’ll be trading the eggs for stickers, chalk, bubbles, etc.

• Once all the eggs have been collected and traded, we’ll be coming up to the Fellowship Hall to do a simple craft.  When done with the craft, the children will return to their families in the sanctuary.

• And of course, everyone is encouraged to wear an Easter bonnet for the Easter Bonnet drawing.  Prize for the under-18 competitors will be a $10 ice cream gift card.  Grownups can participate too and potentially win the chance to choose the topic of a sermon/service in the upcoming program year.