On Aug. 17, the Two Rivers Unitarian Universalists (TRUU) congregation revived its children’s program and featured a musical performance consisting of John Denver songs in conjunction with the sermon. Run by longtime friends and collaborators Thelma Zabel and Cindy Nett, who previously taught together at Colorado Mountain College’s (CMC) Mini College Preschool in Glenwood Springs, the children’s program will entail the youth of the congregation leading psalms and other musical performances, hands-on creative projects and a discussion-based lesson when attendees will be encouraged to explore age-appropriate questions about the Seven Unitarian Universalist Principles.
Those principles include: 1) the belief that each and every person is important; 2) that all people should be treated fairly and kindly; 3) that people should accept one another and keep on learning together; 4) that each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life; 5) that all persons should have a vote about things that concern them; 6) the importance of working for a peaceful, fair and free world; 7) caring for planet Earth — a home shared with all living things.
“What we’re hoping to do is let the children find out more about our beliefs and let them question and explore as we present them with the Seven UU Principles,” Zabel told the Sopris Sun.
According to TRUU’s website, children begin the 10am service on Sundays “with their families and then head to their own program after the opening. They rejoin the congregation at the end of the service for a closing moment.
Zabel, who in her retirement has continued to teach art classes at CMC, intends to carry over her teaching practices into her lesson planning for this program. The layout of each lesson will begin with either a book or a story focused on a topic or information about a local or famous artist whose catalog will serve as a focal point of inspiration for an activity.
“I plan to show artwork from my dear friend who has since passed away, Mary Noone, who did mountain pictures. Mary didn’t stick to what you might call traditional colors, and her work is really fun for children because it’s so colorful,” said Zabel. “You can let their minds just go wherever they want to go, with the colors of the mountains and the trees or, you know, the meadows and even the sky. So that’s what we’ll be doing, just as an example.”
According to Zabel, the lesson plans will always be flexible, due to the numbers still growing and the ages spanning from 2 to 17.
Nett first became involved with the children’s program after helping TRUU with a booth at August’s First Friday, where colored pencils and markers were passed out to youngsters who illustrated to their little hearts’ content.
“At first, it started out very slow, but then gradually more and more families and young kids showed up,” she explained. “It just reawakens that joy and connection that you have with the kids when they see something that they can put their hands on and start messing with and creating and interacting with us.”
In speaking with Paul Dankers, one of TRUU’s two music directors and its community steward, he said he looked forward to the children in the program having a chance to delve into new perspectives, while maintaining their childhood and building community.
“From my perspective, people, and especially children, need community. They need to be raised in community. It takes a village to raise a child and I think that is why so many gravitate towards a church, or something like it, in order to provide their children with the experience of being part of a community,” explained Dankers. “I think a lot of parents, especially around Carbondale, want to give their children a chance to be children, but they still want the community. TRUU threads that needle because it gives them a moral background, a moral fiber and a community that has a spiritual sense to it. But not a spiritual sense that says, ‘These are the creeds that you have to subscribe to.’”
To learn more, visit www.truu.org or stop by TRUU’s booth at September’s First Friday in Carbondale.