Last Day of Sunday School
Nov. 22nd, 2004 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenite0Yesterday was my last day teaching UU Sunday school. I'd volunteered to cover the "helping others" unit. The curriculum material got tossed immediately. Have two students hold a third in their arms so they can understand what it's like to be oppressed? They're middleschoolers. They understand oppression. From both sides in a few cases. The prepared lecture was heavy on "Some people and countries are richer than others. This is a Bad Thing and should be stopped." I pulled together some appropriate parables and other Bible references with help from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
celticdragonfly and made up a rough outline to guide me. Only had three students show up, usually it's more than a dozen, but it made for a more intimate discussion.
I started with the current church charity goal, the Heifer Project, to illustrate how you can't just help people at random, it has to be useful. The boys came up with what a family had to have to make use of the heifer--fodder, land, knowledge of what the animal needs, and enough healthy people to do the labor to take care of it. I also pointed out that they needed to be secure in their ownership of the heifer or there'd be no incentive to work hard. From there we went to a comparison of poverty in India and America, how Bill Gates became the richest man in the world ("Is that fair?" "No!" they all said. Good UU kids.), what charities he's supporting, how North America went from much poorer than India a thousand years ago to much richer now, and the moral significance of giving charity proportional to your resources. I don't know how much of it took, but I mostly held their attention and got across the points I wanted to make--charity has to be useful, not just for show, hard work has to be rewarded, and wealth is created, not just redistributed.
Then I let my fellow teacher and the RE director know I was quitting. It's not just the teaching, though trying to work with that curriculum is frustrating and I hate teaching conscripts. Usually I'm teaching professionals who want to drag as much information as possible out of me. I haven't gotten political flack at the church though that's mostly from keeping a low profile. The negatives haven't been as bad as I'd feared but that's just rubbing in the lack of positives. There's not much interest in spirituality at this church. Sometimes even worse is the lack of interest in doing things well. The classic example is whenever a gospel song comes up as a hymn. Most of the congregation will start clapping, whether they have any sense of rhythm or not, so the song's so badly screwed up that it's painful forcelticdragonfly to listen to it. Other parts of the service tend to be much more "well, I'm here to check this box" than "done well for the Glory of God." One of the things we wanted from joining the church was to have a source of guidance for our kids, figuring we'd have an easier time countering the PC junk here than a theology we don't agree with. But if they're going to teach "it doesn't matter if you do a good job or not, just do something and we'll all praise you" I don't want them inflicting that on our kids. Things worth doing are worth doing well, gorammit.
Not that we're swearing to never darken their door again, we're just looking for other options. Well,celticdragonfly is looking for options while I watch the kids. But sometimes it seems like we won't fit in anywhere. Sigh.
Speaking of doing things well--we went to see The Incredibles last night. Whee. Great stuff. I loved it. A bit intense for Maggie I think but she didn't complain. There was one moment that truly horrified me--the wide shot of Bob's cubicle farm spreading horizon to horizon. My windowless matrix is about the same except they use a slightly lighter shade of grey. Or maybe that's the lighting. Yeah, I felt for him wanting to get out of there.
Great movie.
Oh, they had the new Star Wars trailer. "Yes . . . I can feel the nerd rising inside you." I want to see it . . . I've actually skipped #2 up to now even though the glimpses I've had of the battle scenes looked cool. But the battle scenes in this one I think I want to see on the big screen.
celticdragonfly and made up a rough outline to guide me. Only had three students show up, usually it's more than a dozen, but it made for a more intimate discussion. I started with the current church charity goal, the Heifer Project, to illustrate how you can't just help people at random, it has to be useful. The boys came up with what a family had to have to make use of the heifer--fodder, land, knowledge of what the animal needs, and enough healthy people to do the labor to take care of it. I also pointed out that they needed to be secure in their ownership of the heifer or there'd be no incentive to work hard. From there we went to a comparison of poverty in India and America, how Bill Gates became the richest man in the world ("Is that fair?" "No!" they all said. Good UU kids.), what charities he's supporting, how North America went from much poorer than India a thousand years ago to much richer now, and the moral significance of giving charity proportional to your resources. I don't know how much of it took, but I mostly held their attention and got across the points I wanted to make--charity has to be useful, not just for show, hard work has to be rewarded, and wealth is created, not just redistributed.
Then I let my fellow teacher and the RE director know I was quitting. It's not just the teaching, though trying to work with that curriculum is frustrating and I hate teaching conscripts. Usually I'm teaching professionals who want to drag as much information as possible out of me. I haven't gotten political flack at the church though that's mostly from keeping a low profile. The negatives haven't been as bad as I'd feared but that's just rubbing in the lack of positives. There's not much interest in spirituality at this church. Sometimes even worse is the lack of interest in doing things well. The classic example is whenever a gospel song comes up as a hymn. Most of the congregation will start clapping, whether they have any sense of rhythm or not, so the song's so badly screwed up that it's painful for
celticdragonfly to listen to it. Other parts of the service tend to be much more "well, I'm here to check this box" than "done well for the Glory of God." One of the things we wanted from joining the church was to have a source of guidance for our kids, figuring we'd have an easier time countering the PC junk here than a theology we don't agree with. But if they're going to teach "it doesn't matter if you do a good job or not, just do something and we'll all praise you" I don't want them inflicting that on our kids. Things worth doing are worth doing well, gorammit.Not that we're swearing to never darken their door again, we're just looking for other options. Well,
celticdragonfly is looking for options while I watch the kids. But sometimes it seems like we won't fit in anywhere. Sigh.Speaking of doing things well--we went to see The Incredibles last night. Whee. Great stuff. I loved it. A bit intense for Maggie I think but she didn't complain. There was one moment that truly horrified me--the wide shot of Bob's cubicle farm spreading horizon to horizon. My windowless matrix is about the same except they use a slightly lighter shade of grey. Or maybe that's the lighting. Yeah, I felt for him wanting to get out of there.
Great movie.
Oh, they had the new Star Wars trailer. "Yes . . . I can feel the nerd rising inside you." I want to see it . . . I've actually skipped #2 up to now even though the glimpses I've had of the battle scenes looked cool. But the battle scenes in this one I think I want to see on the big screen.
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It's not just U.U.
Date: 2004-11-22 10:56 pm (UTC)So now I'm in an evangelican Methodist church (thanks to my husband) and my irritable refrain is: Would it kill you to sing a hymn once in a while?
Seriously, if you want some help doing Sunday School stuff I could always hook you up with my dad (RAdm. Ret. Ted Almstedt) who works with middle school kids at his church--really building a Sunday School ministry that age from the ground up--v. little institutional support that he didn't create himself!
Re: It's not just U.U.
Date: 2004-11-23 11:53 am (UTC)A week and a half ago I checked out a local Lutheran church. Small place, VERY friendly. And the HYMNS! They actually started services with hymns by requests, sang 3 hymns not scheduled, good SINGABLE ones.
It was a bit of a shock to me to find out not all Protestants had the same attitude towards singing in services as the Lutherans do.
UU ...
Date: 2004-11-22 11:48 pm (UTC)It's too bad that it appears impossible to find a middle ground ... even the CFUU (Conservative Forum for Unitarian Universalists) was twisted, being filled with strange birds who for some reason really wanted to be UU, but whose world-views might as well have been Southern Baptist (the last time I ran into anti-Evolutionists of such zeal, they were Promise Keepers!).
Options
Date: 2004-11-23 07:42 am (UTC)If UU is your cup of tea, but this particular UU congregation is making you nutsy, look into "Unity" which is somewhat in the same vein. I have only known two people who were Unity members, but both are fine, creative, interesting women, with personal philosophies that are grounded and moral. The first one was my daughter's "Big Sister" (Big Brothers/Sisters of America organization) there in Foat Wuth. Let me know if you need more info.
Re: Options
Date: 2004-11-23 11:42 am (UTC)In theory, we ought to be fine with Unitarians. If I fill out those questionnaires on beliefs and priorities and such, I always come out Unitarian as the top one. But, as my Dad quoted to me recently when I was discussing this with him recently, "In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."
What it's stated that they're like on paper and what they've been like in our experience of reality have been quite different. And I am certainly FED UP with the political stuff. Went somewhere else a week and a half ago - I loved that their flyer said "We don't CARE who you voted for in the election."
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 07:49 am (UTC)Go thou and get this book (library might have it, too): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0824511530/qid=1101224693/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-9349981-7940923
My choir director in FW used to say that the Episcopal Church was "the last bastion of good church music." I'm not sure about that, but I've experienced less crappy music in Episcopal Churches than anywhere else. But then, I'm a liturgical sacramentalist in my church style, so the Piskies suit me fine.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 11:45 am (UTC)I grew up Lutheran, with a heavy emphasis on music, and good music. I tried attending one Episcopal service here once, which felt pretty cold and unwelcoming to newcomers, but I may have picked a bad time.
Don't know from Catholic music...
Date: 2004-11-23 04:19 pm (UTC)That said, the title made me laugh because the only Catholic I know really well is my best friend: And she's an international-award-winnning vocalist!
Re: Don't know from Catholic music...
Date: 2004-11-23 09:50 pm (UTC)Overall, we're no better or worse than we used to be.
The bad, in my opinion, is the jazzing up or "modernizing" of church music and liturgy. I'm a traditionalist about those things - not so traditional about other doctrinal matters, but about my music, yes.
DV
Lutheran Church and good music...why, thanks
Date: 2004-11-23 02:41 pm (UTC)I'm thoroughly enjoying getting back to sung liturgy, at St. Patrick's Episcopal here. (No lutheran closer than the one you grew up in). They have a stated tradition of NOT talking before church - you're supposed to come in and focus on prepairing your mind for the service. Once we got to meet folks informally, they were very friendly. However, it does seem to be the cultural common set with Garrison Keeler's Lake Woebegon folks. There are no gushing welcomers here - they are all over at First Baptist (thank the saints!)
Re: Lutheran Church and good music...why, thanks
Date: 2004-11-23 03:11 pm (UTC)The minister commented on the guests that had come to give a presentation - "we know they're not Lutheran, they sat in the front!" The Baptist guy who'd been talking to me before services turned around to look at me - in the back row - and smilingly whispered "we know you're Lutheran!"
And as far as "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" - Mom, you usually had me help HANG the curtain. I know what to appreciate! I remember listening to the pianist at the Rancho Palos Verdes UU church make a run at Rhapsody in Blue for a recessional - bad choice, really, nobody got up to leave, they all sat to listen to it - and knowing I was hearing minor errors that others there would never hear.
Proud of Karl
Date: 2004-11-23 02:43 pm (UTC)