MINISTER’S BLOG — This month we honor and bless our children as they begin a new school year. As the children return to school they face the excitement, the challenges, the potential successes and failures in the new academic year. They may happily reconnect with old friends and make new ones. Or, they may experience unexplained rejection by their peers. Being a child is a mixed bag of perceptions and emotions. It is hard work some days. Childhood can be fun, frightening, lonely, empowering, exciting and degrading all in one afternoon. Do you remember?
However, the hard work of growing up can be made easier when children have the love, respect and ongoing support of parents and other caretakers who encourage them to discover their own unique identity and qualities.
The famous cellist, Pablo Casals wrote, “Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?
We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work–we must all work– to make the world worthy of its children.”
Our Unity youth programs are strong participants in teaching children and teenagers that they have the capacity for greatness because they have the Christ Spirit within them. Every child or teen who comes to UDB is loved, respected and supported while being taught life-enriching spiritual principles that will sustain and guide them all through life.
Our teachers and youth sponsors are dedicated to being a presence of love and empowerment for every child/teen who participates in our youth ministries. They see their role as supporting each child’s unique expression while teaching him/her inner life skills: listening to their hearts, verbalizing what they hear, communicating their needs and how they can best meet them from a foundation of spiritual principles.
The mission of our Youth Education ministry is the same as our co-founder, Myrtle Fillmore, who wrote: “Our mission is not to entertain the children, but to call them out. To always be entertained is to be dwarfed and dependent. To be “called-out” is to follow the soul’s harmonious unfoldment.”
Please join us in affirming for our UDB children and all the children of the world: You are beloved children of God. You are loving, wise, healthy, safe and happy. In the sunshine of God’s loving care, you are free to develop according to the Divine Pattern of perfection within you.
The UDB community honors and loves children everywhere and gives thanks for the great possibilities within each one.
— Rev. Carmen Zappi