Lifespan Religious Education Conference
July 12-19, 2008
Below: Theme Speaker | Minister | Workshops
The Educated Heart:
Celebrating 100 years of Learning, Caring and Working Together
On the occasion of the 100th Religious Education Week at Star Island, we will challenge ourselves to consider how we change the world and feed our souls at the same time. As we proclaim ourselves a religion of "deeds not creeds," how do we then juggle making a differeing, making a living, spending time with our families, changing the world, and getting the laundry done? Theme speaker, the Rev. David Carl Olson, will inspire us to see social justice AT THE CENTER, not the periphery, of our faith. And guest musician Nick Page will join us for a birthday bash not to be missed!
Our featured workshop presenters, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, will give us even more real-life tools in '08 than they might have in '07, so that we can each make a difference in the world. In addition, we offer trainings for both professional and lay leaders, and workshops for all on designing worship, crafting as spiritual practice, writing and spirituality, the arts, and science and religion.
Find out about 2008 Registration Information.
Theme Speaker
 Garlands Instead of Ashes
Rev. David Carl Olson,
actor, singer, community organizer and minister of the U.U. Church of Flint, Michigan
David Carl Olson came to ministry after a professional career in musical theater. Throughout his theater career, David served as an artist in residence at numerous urban schools and community centers. In 1987 with 120 sixth graders he created an original musical about the 1912 “Bread and Roses” textile workers strike. (For more details see www.davidcarlolson.com) While minister of Community Church in Boston David was president of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization and became known as “the pastor to the workers” for his public solidarity with the downtown janitors and their union. As president of G.B.I.O., David worked to bring together religious communities of many faiths to organize for funding for education, the dignity of nursing home workers and for shared responsibility for the poorest among us.* He has also found time to address the UUA General Assembly on community organizing, lead workshops in singing, chanting and spiritual practices. He is an entertaining speaker with great energy and a passionate commitment to social justice.
Minister of the Week
Our Minister of the Week is the Rev. Carol Haag. Carol is a religious educator of long standing. She has served as a Good Officer, an OWL trainer of Trainers, on the LREDA board and in numerous other positions in teh U.U. world. She is the retired Minister of Religious Education from Summit, N.J.
Workshops
This very special seven day conference includes a daily morning theme talk, week long two hour morning workshops, afternoon adult and intergenerational workshops, and a variety of activities designed just for fun, such as informal porch chats, softball games, hikes, a talent show and polar bear swims! Morning and candle lit evening chapel services are held daily in the island’s rustic stone chapel dating from 1800. Star is also a wonderful experience for our children. Well developed morning programs for our youth entering grades K through 12 provide a rich opportunity for our younger conferees to discover the joys of community on Star. Choose from the wide variety of workshops shown here and make your reservation for a religious education experience you’ll want to come back to year after year!
 FEATURED MORNING WORKSHOP – no enrollment limit
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SERVICE COMMITTEE
Please join the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee each day this week to gain a deeper understanding of our work to advance human rights around the world, and to learn more about how you can bring that work directly into your RE classrooms.
Learn about UUSC’s many experiential education programs, from JustWorks camps to JustJourneys travel experiences. Participate in the same educational activities undertaken by youth groups that visit our office. View "Heroes of the Spirit," a documentary by an Academy Award-winning filmmaker about two of UUSC’s founders, Martha and Waitstill Sharp, only the second and third Americans of 21,000 people honored as "Righteous among the Nations" for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. After the showing, join us in discussion about how the Sharps’ legacy inspires our work to end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Learn about ways your RE students can become human rights defenders by taking part in UUSC's domestic or international efforts.
 Our presenters will consiste of a team of UUSC staff members led by UUSC President Charlie Clements, a well-known rights activist and public health physician. Come and learn how UUSC's work at home and abroad connects with the spiritual life of congregations. |
TeamWORK
Garrison Keillor once said, "The folks who came up with small group models didn't grow up in small towns." He's correct — people who grow up in small towns know that working with REAL people, warts and all, is far different from working with MODEL people who never seem to demonstrate the crankiness of the real thing. Whether self-selected or assigned, teams are made up of people trying to match mission and vision with the ins and outs of their organizations. In this workshop, we'll put models of governance and structure up against how things really function in terms of teamwork. We'll explore how to do the "work" of "teamwork" more effectively. Participants will engage with experiential learning, models and case studies to explore how the work of teams can bring the mission and vision of their congregations, districts and organizations to life.
Helen Biship has consulted with Unitarian Universalist congregations on organizational issues all over the United States. She worked for The Mountain near Highlands, NC, for nearly five years, served as District Executive in Central Midwest District of the Unitarian Universalist Association for eight years after earning a doctorate in organizational leadership, and has served on congregational, district and not-for-profit boards. She is also a Credentialed Regligious Educator at the master's level and has developed extensive resources for religious educators, administrators and lay leaders. She is currently developing an online curriculum for lay leaders as Director of Starr King School for the Ministry's "Seminary for the Laity" program. Her background includes work in genetics, medieval and Renaissance music, and distance learning. She and her partner, Susan Grider, have five children and enjoy spending time with their six grandchildren.
CREATIVITY AND OUR UU SPIRITUALITY
Creativity and the spirit are intrinsically one. As UUs and as educators, we know the importance of creativity and spirituality in our daily lives. We also know how easily both are blocked. Through journaling, drawing, poetry, music, theater games, and dance, (each optional of course), we will foster the magic of imagination, the joy of being alive and together. Drawing from such books as Julia Cameron's, The Artist's Way, Shaun McNiff's, Art Heals, How Creativity Cures the Soul, and Michael Gelb's How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci, Nancy will blend in her own creativity, spirit, and humor to lift us off the ground. No experience necessary. Song and laughter throughout. Spouses most welcomed.
The Rev. Dr. Nancy Jay Crumbine is a Unitarian Univeralist minister, a professor at Dartmouth College, a writer, actor, and public speaker. She is the author of Humility, Anger, and Grace, Meditations Towards a Life that Matters.
THE POETRY OF MARY OLIVER
This workshop will combine the pleasures of reading and reflecting on the poems of Mary Oliver with the learning of a simple method for facilitating similar classes in adult religious education classes. Each day of this week we will read and discuss poems selected by the class from Oliver’s New and Selected Poems, Volume I. (NOTE: Class participants should have a copy of this book.) The object of this class will not be the academic dissection of the poems, but rather the seeking of life-meaning through them.
Bruce Bode is in his fourth year as the minister of the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Port Townsend, Washington. He is very much looking forward to a return to Star after an absence of several years, and plans to come with softball glove in tow.
SCIENCE AND RELIGION FOR UU EDUCATORS (& Others)
This workshop will focus on the many ways in which the relationship between science and religion affect us as religious educators. How are we to teach about Principle 7's ecological values within a framework of our UU faith tradition in a way which is adequately supported by the life sciences? This workshop doesn't assume a background in science, just a willingness to think about the issues in an open-minded way.
John Maxwell Kerr has taught chemistry, physics, logic and theology at Winchester College and lectured in Science and Religion at Oxford University for twelve years. He is currently doing research for a book on Science and Religion as reflected in English Poetry.
WORSHIP FOR ALL
Participants in this experiential workshop will create and present worship in 4 categories: children, youth, young adult, and intergenerational. Community building, cultural respect, personal spiritual practices, art, journaling, singing, music, and meditation will be interwoven into our sacred time during RE Week. Together we will learn the value of worship and how it relates to community building while taking time to appreciate our spiritual development as an added enrichment to the experience.
Nan Moore is a participant in Pastoral Visitors Training program at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a Youth Advisor and Spiritual Development trainer for the UUA.
Afternoon Activities
An Afternoon on Star offers so many possibilities!
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WITH NICK PAGE!
1908 marked the very first Religious Education conference on Star Island, and here we'll be one hundred years later — still learning, growing, and challenging ourselves together. To make it a party, we decided to sing in our 100th anniversary in rare form, with guest host and songleader, Nick Page. Nick will join us for a Thursday afternoon workshop and an evening festivity of song and celebration. Nick is a well-known Boston based musician and founding director of the Mystic Chorale, committed to the expression of every voice, so you'll want to be there to join in. He is also no stranger to Star Island, having been Music Director from 1979-1981, and a hugely popular theme speaker for a previous RE conference. We're looking forward to having him back to raise the roof on our 100th year anniversary, and you won't want to miss it!
YOUNG ADULTS WORSHIP AND COMMUNITY
The Young Adult community on Star (those 18-35) grows every year and is an important part of our intergenerational family. We will be offering a Young Adult workshop, opportunities for Young Adult worship and community building.
GATHERING OF MEN
Lead by Rich Elliot
PEACE BY PIECE: CRAFTING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
($15 materials fee)
CURRICULUM DEVELOPERS' GROUP
Lead by Rev. Helen Zidoweki
SILVER JEWELRY WORKSHOP
Lead by Cheryl Clucky, enrollment limited. ($15 materials fee)
THEME SPEAKER TALK-BACK WITH DAVID CARL-OLSON
UUSC TALK-BACK AND DISCUSSION
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
"Promise Mass Children" will offer a one-day training in legislative action.
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