Children's Worship

Why Worship with Children?

Worship is an integral part of our Lifespan Growth and Learning program. Children and youth have a spiritual need for ritual which honors their sense of wonder and awe at life, and reinforces both their individual spirit and their connectedness to community and to all life. Communal worship is the central spiritual practice of Unitarian Universalism, and including our children in this experience is important to by the congregation.

In our busy society, our children’s schedules leave little time for centering and reflection. Worship service for them as well as for adults may be the only time of the week for a break from constant, hectic activity.

Parents can support your child's participation by modeling worshipful behavior, assisting their child in following the order of service, discussing the topic after service, and by expressing the importance of worship in their own lives.

September Worship Calendar for Children

September 12th   Ingathering Multigenerational Worship Services, 9 AM & 11 AM  Rev. Paige Getty & Carla Miller, Director of Lifespan Growth and Learning                               We celebrate re-gathering our full UUCC community for the church/school-year by celebrating the principles of our faith in a rainbow version.

September 19th, 26th, and Oct. 3rd  Time for All Ages  Children join their families in worship for the first fifteen minutes of service at 9 and 11 AM.

October 10th Our First Children's Chapel of the Year!   9 AM & 11 AM , Carla Miller & Vicky and Scott Beck of the UUCC Creature Connection Animal Ministry                          This special children's worship celebrates St. Francis, the patron saint of animals and our relationship to animals.

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Time for All Ages

Children participate in the first 15 minutes of our regular Sunday worship services. During this time, there is a welcome from the minister or worship associate, the chalice lighting, an opening hymn and the "Time for All Ages" piece, which may be a story, a song, a meditation or a brief discussion. These become important rituals of the children's weekly experience of the congregation. The children and their teachers are then sung away to their classes. 

Worshipful Elements within the Classroom

Each LGL class opens with a chalice lighting, and closes with closing words and a closing ritual.  In their classrooms, children have an opportunity to share "Joys & Sorrows" just as the adults do in service, as well as to participate in the day's lesson.

Children's Chapel

Several times each year, the children from all Sunday morning classes gather for age-appropriate worship celebrations which include the standard elements of the order of service in a 20-30 minute worship designed more specifically to suit the developmental needs and interests of children. Still in a spirit of worshp, we break into small group activities which expand the theme of the chapel in more interactive and creative ways, and then gather for closing words, extinguish our chalice, and "pass the squeeze" in our closing circle.

Multigenerational Worship

We gather as a whole community of many generations to worship together several times each year.  These celebrations usually center on holidays such as Christmas Eve and Martin Luther King's Birthday, or on special Unitarian Universalist ritual traditions such as the water communion and flower communion.