January 2025
Happy New Year!
Who knows what 2025 is going to bring us? We’ve already had one year full of unprecedented challenges in 2024--and I’m pretty sure we won’t have a less interesting year in 2025.
One of the many things that happened at the end of this year was the death of former President Jimmy Carter. When I was quite a little girl, back in 1976, my mom volunteered for the local office of Carter’s campaign. This is a memory that I have mostly because there is a photo of it; we went and held signs outside one of the local polling places. I wore my itchy plaid parka that had fake fur around the hood. Mom had made me a poster that had a photo of Amy Carter on it and it said something like “Please help her daddy go to the White House”. Until a few days ago, I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about this month’s theme, leadership, but reading various obituaries of Mr. Carter has given me some inspiration.
Popular history has Jimmy Carter down as a failed president, especially if you read histories written by those who are on the red side of the aisle. He was a very innovative president. He put solar panels on the White House. He appointed more women and people of racial and religious minority groups to government office than his 20th century predecessors, combined (let alone the 18th and 19th century ones). He started the Department of Education--without which our nation’s schools would likely still be quite close to ‘separate but equal’. He helped to negotiate the Camp David Accords, which brought relative peace to the Middle East that lasted for quite a few years. He began the work of nuclear disarmament that continued throughout the Reagan years and culminated in the 1990s.
A number of different factors--high inflation, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and others--meant that he was not re-elected in 1980, but it wasn’t until after he left office that Carter truly began the work of leadership. Because leadership doesn’t just mean being on top and telling people what to do. Especially the Christian concept of servant leadership, which is what Jimmy Carter exemplified his whole life. He taught Sunday School. He fought to eliminate the Guinea Worm (which is a really horrific parasitic disease that you shouldn’t Google if you don’t have a strong stomach). And he built houses for people who needed a place to live. He was still working on Habitat for Humanity job sites when he was 98 years old. May we all strive to be leaders like Jimmy Carter.
Upcoming RE Programs
We’ll be starting January off with a spirited multi-generational service celebrating Kwanzaa. Rev. Daniel will be leading this service--it’ll be different for me to not be the one driving the multigen service for once. On January 12th we will be in our age-level classrooms. The older children (grades 4 and up) will be trying out the Popcorn Theology for Kids curriculum and discussing how jealousy and anger can affect our belief in the worth of every person. There may be a very messy activity in which cans of seltzer represent our anger. January 19th will be a session of EPIC, in which we will hopefully be able to finish making our Caring Space and all the students will be able to finish their mailboxes. On January 26th, while the adults are upstairs celebrating Jazz Funeral, we will have a one-room classroom about the things we want to remember about 2024, and things that we want to leave behind as we go forward into 2025.
Youth Group on January 19th!
Yes, you read that right! On January 19th all youth grades 8 and up (7th grade if you have an older sibling in YG) are invited to join Donna Maria Cameron and MB DeKara in the Youth Room from noon to 3 p.m. for food and activities. I don’t know exactly what has been planned, but I do know that it will be great! Please RSVP to re@uusgu.org if you will be attending. We need a count of people to make sure there will be food for everyone, and if you have food allergies or sensitivities make sure to let us know that as well.
All-Church Potlucks
Our next all-church potluck will be held on January 17th at 6:00 p.m. The theme will be Practicing Leadership. All families are invited to attend. If your last name starts with A-G please bring salad or app, H-P bring a main dish, and Q-Z bring dessert. No RSVP needed.
In addition, there will be a Movie Night Potluck sponsored by the Accessibility and Inclusion Ministry on January 24th starting at 6:30 p.m. The movie CODA will be viewed. The film is rated PG-13 for sexual situations, strong language, and drug use, so I would only recommend this event for families with youth, and then only with parental guidance. There is an RSVP sheet for Movie Night on the Social Action bulletin board in the Fellowship Space, or you can email carolinemalley@hotmail.com .
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