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Young Adult News
A monthly newsletter of the UUA Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries October 2009 - Issue 73
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| Upcoming Events |
SpiritUUal Recenter
October 16-18, 2009
Marietta, OH
CONTRIBUTE
October 23-25, 2009
Rockford, IL
CONtinuum
November 6-8, 2009
Tacoma, WA
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UUA Internship Opportunity
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Ever thought about getting to work at UU headquarters in Boston? Need something to put on your resume? Been wanting to deepen your UU spirituality? Have some extra hours to spare? You can gain all of that and more through a January-May 2010 paid internship for the UUA's Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries. Please read more about the commitment and benefits, as well as application details. Apply by December 1, 2009! |
Apply to be GA Young Adult Chaplain
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Are you interested
in an exciting leadership opportunity? Want
to go to General Assembly 2010 in Minneapolis, MN?
The
General Assembly
Young Adult Caucus
staff
is looking for a
certified
chaplain
to be part of their
team for the 2010 General
Assembly in Minneapolis,
MN. Find out the details and apply by November 2, 2009! |
| Contact the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries |
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Greetings from the Director
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For thousands of Unitarian Universalists this Sunday,
October 4, is Association Sunday 2009! Association Sunday is an opportunity of Unitarian Universalists
to come together to celebrate our collective voice and influence the world. We
can do more together than we can do alone.
The theme of this year's Association Sunday is Growing Our Diversity. Collections at
congregations on Association Sunday are pooled to support important initiatives
that will strengthen our congregations and our Association as a whole. Based on
feedback from members like you, your generous contributions at Association
Sunday 2009 will benefit the following initiatives:
- Expand the Building the World We Dream About curriculum and associated resources and
training.
- Support congregations that
are working to create a Unitarian Universalism that is racially, culturally, and
economically diverse; a part of this support will be in the form of
grants.
- Enable UU congregations and
districts to minister effectively to youth and young adults who identify as
people of color or multiracial, and to their families, in the areas of spiritual
development, racial/cultural identity development, and leadership
development.
I am thrilled that you selected to support these
initiatives. I believe they are crucial to building a strong and relevant
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations prepared to minister to the
needs of future generations.
When we come together to celebrate in our congregations,
it gives us cause to think on the many folks who cannot meet together in a
physical congregation including thousands of Unitarian Universalist college
students and other young adults who might not have access to the transportation
needed to reach a congregation. If you are one of those folks seeking a
spiritual community, I encourage you to check out Church of the Younger Fellowship, a virtual
Unitarian Universalist community for young adults that provides access to all
sorts of resources like sermon podcasts, small group ministry resources, and
more. If you are able to get to a congregation for Association Sunday, by all
means, please get there, worship, connect, and celebrate. I know you will be
inspired to reach deep in your pockets to support these initiatives crucial to
the future of our shared faith and community.
Lastly, if you one of those folks who can make it to a
congregation, especially if you are a minister, director of religious education,
or member of a caring team, please call or email the recent high school
graduates from your congregation, ask how they are, and remind them that they
are missed and loved in what will always remain for them a welcoming spiritual
home. Your call can make all the difference!
In faith,
Erik B. Kesting
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From the Associate for Ministry to Youth and Young Adults of Color
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Hi Family,
As I write this article, I am holding in my prayers all the
people in the Southeast U.S. and the South
Pacific Islands
who survived flooding and the tsunami that struck in September. I am also
holding in my prayers all the people who are living with the anxiety of not
knowing the whereabouts of loved ones or how they will rebuild their lives.
According to my Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling,
anxiety can be explained as "A psychic response of dread or fear to a vague,
unspecified threat. Anxiety as a psychic
condition is experienced by all human beings, although it may be trigged by
different sources for different persons.
There are different types of anxiety and various theories about it, but,
at its core anxiety signals the threat of a fundamental loss or
separation."
Anxiety has become an ever increasing presence in our
lives. The increasing strength of hurricanes
and wild fires; the continuous loss of life in Afghanistan and Iraq; the
financial insecurity that many of you and your families' are experiencing due
to unemployment or underemployment are all valid reasons to feel anxious.
We all have different levels of tolerance and ways to cope
with anxiety. While some people choose
to meditate, others abuse legal and illegal drugs. Some people choose to become physically or
verbally abusive, while others withdraw emotionally. Over eating becomes an option for many
people, and for others rejection of food.
The way you deal with your anxiety will affect every aspect
of your life. Therefore, I encourage you
to become more aware of what you are feeling and what your body is
communicating to you. When you feel
butterflies in your stomach, tightness in your neck or shoulders, pain in your
lower back or suffer frequent headaches, I suggest you acknowledge what you are
feeling physically and process/reflect on what is causing your discomfort. Awareness and being proactive will go a long
way in lessening your anxiety.
As always I would love to hear from you. You can message me on Facebook at Monica Cummings, email me at mcummings@uua.org or leave a comment for me
on the YaYA of Color blog at http://uuyayaoc.blogs.uua.org/.
Living My Faith,
Rev. Monica
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Not Too Late to Register for the Interfaith Youth Core Conference in Chicago
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Who: Religious
leaders, educators, researchers, student
leaders, community activists, civic leaders, media professionals,
funding professionals, policy influencers and more.
What: Leadership in a Religiously Diverse World is Interfaith
Youth Core's 6th Conference on Interfaith Youth Work. Interfaith Youth Core
is a Chicago-based international non-profit building a movement of young leaders
committed to building cooperation across lines of religious difference. The
Conference is international in scope and gathers all of the faces of the
interfaith youth movement: interfaith activists, scholars, policy makers,
religious leaders, foundation representatives, media professionals and, of
course, young people!
When: October 25
- 27, 2009
Where: The
Conference is co-hosted by Northwestern University's Center for Civic Engagement
and will take place at the Norris Student Center on Northwestern's Campus.
Why:
Interfaith dialogue and action is
deeply important to our faith and grounded in our religious values. Our
theological diversity and historic interfaith activism call us as Unitarian
Universalists to lead our religiously pluralistic society toward peace. IFYC has
a small scholarship fund set aside to offset registration costs for deserving
conference attendees. Please email Amber Hacker at amber@ifyc.com for
more information. If you are a Unitarian Universalist wishing to attend this
conference and need financial assistance to do so, please contact
Erik Kesting at ekesting@uua.org.
Details and registration are available online.
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