Category Archives for "Religious Exploration"

Religious Exploration Update! All ages are welcome to join Ms. Leslie in the chapel after Time For All Ages (TFAA), August 3-August 31, for card games, LEGO, crafts, and fun! Our Annual Backpack Blessing will take place during TFAA on August 17th. Bring your backpack to church that morning for a beautiful UU tradition! September […]

Religious Exploration Updates! Intergenerational Picnic has been rescheduled to August, due to the NO KINGS Denver – Power to the People Activist Fair by CO 50501 and Solidarity Warriors, which many of us will be attending from 12-4. Children (ages four and older) in attendance on Sunday, June 15th, are welcome to join Leslie in […]

Last day of RE Classes (Preschool through Youth) will be held this Sunday, June 1st before we break for the summer. If you have a middle or high schooler, encourage them to attend our last session! Mark your calendars! Saturday, June 14th 11:00-1:30 Intergenerational Picnic at Great Lawn Park in Lowry (South Pavilion). We will […]

Religious Exploration News – May 22, 2025 The last day of RE Classes will be held on June 1st before we break for the summer. Mark your calendars! Saturday, June 14th, 11:00-1:30, is an Intergenerational Picnic at Great Lawn Park in Lowry (South Pavilion). We will play Field Day-style games, have a barbecue, and have […]

May 1st 5:30-7:00 pm Families with Teens CORE Circle will be held at First Unitarian. Please RSVP to Leslie at msleslie@fusden.org.  Did you know the auction on Saturday is a family friendly event? We will have a face painter, cookie decorating, a dance party, and so much more! Please let us know you will be attending to help […]

Update from Religious Exploration Thank you for your generous donations of hygiene products that were combined with the Caring Committee’s drive for Denver Human Services. The children had a blast hunting for the donations that were hidden in the basement on Easter Sunday morning. Mark your calendars! Saturday, June 14th 11:00-1:30 for our Intergenerational Picnic […]

Religious Exploration Update CORE Circle for Families With Teens: April 3rd in the community room 6:00-7:30. RSVP to msleslie@fusden.org. We are creating a community of support where joys and frustrations of raising a tween or teen can be shared in a safe space. Join us as we build connections with each other and expand the […]

Religious Exploration News Update Next Youth Program dates: April 6th and April 13th! Make sure to get your middle schooler here the first two Sundays in April as we relaunch our program and start making memories together. CORE Circle for families with teens: April 3rd in the community center 6:00-7:30. RSVP to msleslie@fusden.org

We start programming for Middle Schoolers on March 2nd, and it will be offered the first two weeks of each month. We will meet downstairs in the teen space after a Time For All Ages. Please make sure to enroll your teen using this Breeze form to help us plan appropriately. Additionally, have your teen […]

The latest news about First Unitarian’s Religious Exploration! Reminder: There will be no RE Classes this Sunday, February 9th! Instead, an intergenerational service will be held: Practicing Delight. Our children will help before the service, handing out something delightful to congregants as they enter the sanctuary and dancing and having fun throughout. You won’t want […]

Mark your calendars: Family-friendly fun: Spontaneous Talent Show and potluck on February 1st. Potluck at 5:30, show at 6:30. Please RSVP here. Click here to learn more about and register for QUUest Summer Camp for Middle and High Schoolers, which will be held July 6-12, 2025, in Casper, Wyoming. Shout Out to this week’s Volunteer Superhero, […]

Mark your calendars: Family Friendly Fun: Spontaneous Talent Show and potluck on February 1st 5:30-7:30 Click here to learn more about a UU Summer Camp opportunity for Middle and High Schoolers July 6-12, 2025, in Casper, WY. Registration starts on February 1. Shout Out to this week’s Volunteer Superhero, Maggie Pierce. Maggie is not only […]

Religious Exploration News – December 26, 2024 There will be no RE program on December 29th; families are invited to join us for an intergenerational service this Sunday. Mark your calendars: Family Friendly Fun: Spontaneous Talent Show and potluck on February 1st 5:30-7:30 Do you know any middle schoolers who would be interested in our […]

See you on Sunday for our RE musical production of The Wish Tree! Do you know any middle schoolers who would be interested in our Youth Program? You can enroll them in Breeze using this form. Unfortunately, we do not have enough volunteers to start in January. The current projected start date for the Youth […]

Join us for upcoming fun family events! On December 20th, Solstice Eve, our children will sing a Christmas carol as part of the festivities. On December 22nd, during our Solstice Service, we will create a production written by our very own Charlotte Braud-Kern, The Wish Tree! You won’t want to miss it. Do you know […]

Religious Exploration News Families, mark your calendars! In our Solstice Eve event on December 20th, the children will sing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” participate in the Advent Spiral, create crafts with the family, and sit down for a meal together as a community. Our next intergenerational service will be held on December 22nd […]

Families, it’s already time to prepare for our Winter Solstice musical, which will be featured in our next intergenerational service on December 22nd! If your child is interested in participating, we would like you to commit to attending the following Sundays, December 1, 8, and 15, where they will learn and rehearse their parts. On […]

Religious Exploration Program Updates: Special Service and Volunteer Recognition We are looking forward to our Intergenerational service on October 27th; there will be no RE classes that morning. We have planned some fun ways to engage our littlest congregants during the Day of Remembrance service. If your family has lost a loved one (human or […]

Religious Explorations News We currently have 20 children and 5 youth enrolled in our weekly programming. It’s never too late to enroll your children! Please use this enrollment form before they will be joining one of our classes (Nursery-5th grade). We still need volunteers for all age groups in order to have a robust team, […]

  We currently have twenty children and five youth enrolled in our weekly programming. It’s never too late to enroll your children! Please use this enrollment form before they join one of our classes (Nursery Through 5th grade). We still need volunteers for all age groups to have a robust team, and the most pressing […]

Exciting news about our Religious Exploration program! Our wonderful RE Director, Leslie Harvey, got a head start on sprucing up the basement classrooms in late August. Thanks to the generous support of the FUSD board and the Utter Fund, we’ve been able to add some new furniture. We added tables and chairs in the primary […]

Leslie Harvey, the new Director of Family Ministry and Inclusion at the First Unitarian Society of Denver, recently shared a brief introduction about her background and passion for her new role. With 32 years of experience in elementary education, Leslie has worked with underserved and at-risk youth in various locations, including Los Angeles, Mexico, and […]

I Am Bad At Asking For HelpMaybe you are as well?  Or, if you are not bad at it, perhaps you made a conscious choice to get better at asking for help, or were taught from a young age how to ask for and receive help.  Wherever you are in the “asking for help journey”, […]

Embracing PossibilitiesThis will be an uncertain year.  I am certain about that much.  Our ritual ingathering service this Sunday marks the beginning of our second year to begin again in times of Covid.  Throughout the difficulties presented by virtual church, I’ve been aware of the tension between grief and hope day to day, and how […]

Spiritual Practice Makes…Let’s try an experiment.  Keep your eyes open.  Extend the index finger on each hand and hold your fingers parallel to the horizon, elbows pointed out to the sides.  Bring the fingers up to eyelevel, adjust your focus, and then bring the index fingers together until your fingertips touch.  Refocus. Practice. Do it […]

Between Too Much and Not EnoughI’ve been reminded of explorers and adventurers relying on the stars, their best equipment and knowledge to set out into the unknown with the hopes of safe passage and arrival at a new destination. Some of us are still wary of large gatherings, some of us are beyond ready to […]

Our COVID YearWhen we began our church year in the fall of 2020, we had already adjusted to online worship.  Religious Exploration staff experimented with programmatic offerings, and overall, it was a relatively quiet year. Our youth program continued to meet online.  Both the Middle School and High School groups met regularly with their volunteer […]

Keeping a Sense of Awe“Children see magic because they look for it.” – Author Christopher Moore“Only where children gather is there any real chance of fun” – Journalist and Author Mignon McLaughlinThe pandemic has been a stress across generations, even for those resilient and emerging children and youth who will be forever impacted by the […]

The Warmth of RitualLast night after dinner, as I sat at the table talking over the day with Jason, my four-year-old slid quietly away from the table and headed into a room of our house that we’ve repurposed during the pandemic.  Our two boys decided to share a room, feeling comforted by someone else being […]

Each and Every DayFebruary is Black History Month.  It is also the shortest month of the year.  So how do we honor black history makers, while recognizing that black history is relevant 365 days a year?  Can we make a February gesture without legitimizing the idea that black history is an aside to our shared […]

Show Up in Love“I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul…” We have arrived surely into the year 2021.  It is here.  I’ve pinched myself just to be sure this is not a dream, even though recently, my sleeping dreams have been […]

A Few Missing PiecesThree days ago, in a grasp at normal family time fun, the kids asked if we could do a 500 piece puzzle.  So the boys and dad poured it onto the kitchen table and started sorting.After an hour they abandoned it.  So I picked up where they left off… starting on the […]

Waiting Is Not EasyWaiting is not easy!  Mo Willems, a prolific children’s author, reminds us that waiting is really, really hard to do.  I bought this book about 5 weeks into the pandemic for my kids, and myself, as a reminder that the pandemic would eventually pass.  Yet here we are, still waiting for the […]

Locate Your Grace“To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.” – Edgar Allan PoeIt’s fall.  Again.  It feels as though it’s still March in so many ways.  But, nearly seven months have come and passed.  We’ve been subjected to the many great failures of our […]

Locate Your GraceDearest FUSD community, I am writing to you at an unconventional time.  It is 5:30 am and I am not a morning person.  I’m up because I’ve not really caught much sleep tonight anyway, and so it seems as good a time as any to write a bit about where we are as […]

Breaking Up with Social MediaOr trying to.  Maybe considering it.  Someday.Hi.  My name is Erin, and I have a problem.  I’m addicted to social media.  At first, it was the bulletin boards of AOL, then, sharing songs over a shared network.  Then it grew to having a profile on Myspace, broadcasting my love of Broadway to anyone […]

Breaking Up with Social MediaOr trying to.  Maybe considering it.  Someday.Hi.  My name is Erin, and I have a problem.  I’m addicted to social media.  At first, it was the bulletin boards of AOL, then, sharing songs over a shared network.  Then it grew to having a profile on Myspace, broadcasting my love of Broadway to anyone […]

Building Memories…“There are places I’ll rememberAll my life, though some have changedSome forever, not for betterSome have gone, and some remainAll these places had their momentsWith lovers and friends, I still can recallSome are dead, and some are livingIn my life, I’ve loved them all”  -John Lennon 1965 The Beatles released this song in 1965, since […]

“This is not school, the learning that happen here is not academic. It’s emotional and it’s social. Everything that happens in our classes is secondary and important.”-Erin Kenworthy Share0 Tweet0 Share0 To share this story, please click on the social media badges above. If you are not already logged into your account(s) you might be […]

“We are so glad that you and your family decided to check our congregation out. Welcome to our congregation and thank you for being here.”-Erin Kenworthy Share0 Tweet0 Share0 To share this story, please click on the social media badges above. If you are not already logged into your account(s) you might be prompted to […]

“Look online and check out our children and family section on the website. Or just come and visit us. We have plenty of folks ready to greet you.”-Erin Kenworthy Share0 Tweet0 Share0 To share this story, please click on the social media badges above. If you are not already logged into your account(s) you might […]

“I found this place and I’ve been in love with it ever since.”-Eddy Carroll Share0 Tweet0 Share0 To share this story, please click on the social media badges above. If you are not already logged into your account(s) you might be prompted to login to them.  Click Social Badges To Share This Story On Your […]