4-5th Graders Podcast on Protection of Nature
4-5th graders did a wonderful, moving podcast about protecting wildlife last week in class! You can listen to their ideas and concerns about protecting wildlife below!
Continue readingDRE Column for May – Chaplaincy Institute Graduation and Ordination
It is with great joy and excitement that I announce that I have graduated from the Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley and have been approved for ordination as an Interfaith Minister and chaplain. The ordination ceremony will be held on September 22, 2018 in Berkeley. In the world of Religious Exploration,
Continue reading4th-5th Grade Class Podcast on Fighting Hatred!
Below is the podcast our wonderfully caring 4th-5th grade class students wrote and recorded about fighting hatred. Please check it out!
Continue readingPoetry and Gratitude – Cynthia Westby, Dir. of RE for Children and Youth
What if you woke up each morning to a poem instead of an alarm? Poet Naomi Shihab Nye, famous for her poem “Kindness” (you can read it here: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/kindness), woke her son up for years with poetry from poets all over the world. Always short, sometimes just a stanza of
Continue readingWhat is in a Name? Cynthia Westby, Dir. of RE for Children and Youth
What is in a name? Great question! I just read a wonderfully provocative book by Rabbi David A. Cooper’s book “God is a Verb: Kabbalah and the practice of mystical Judaism.” His suggestion? That we begin to think of all beings as verbs rather than nouns. So, you would see
Continue reading4th-5th Grade RE Podcast on Animal Cruelty
Listen to this fact-filled, touching podcast the 4th-5th graders made last week about animal cruelty. In it, they share the information they learned and the ways to prevent animal cruelty. Please listen and contemplate how you too can make a difference in the care and protection of animals.
Continue readingWhat is Interfaith? – Cynthia Westby, Dir. of Religious Exploration for Children and Youth
Interfaith ministry is a hot topic these days in UU circles. Starr King Seminary’s relationship with the Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute and support of double divinity degrees in UU and Interfaith is a powerful example of this keen gravitation to Interfaith. Knowing I am going to be ordained as an Interfaith
Continue readingReligious Exploration – Cynthia Westby, Director of Religious Exploration Column for January
The world is made of stories. We are all storytellers. Every day we tell stories – to our friends, families and co-workers. We share our experiences and whether we are aware of it or not, we share what we have made of these experiences in that moment. Telling our stories
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4th & 5th Grade RE Class Podcast about Hunger
This “Hunger Podcast” (below) was created by the 4th-5th Grade RE class who has been learning about fighting for social justice, most recently around the issue of hunger. They supported a food drive in November-December for the West Seattle Food Bank and now have created this podcast covering the highlights
Continue readingReligious Exploration – Cynthia Westby, Director of Religious Exploration
Happy New Year! I am so grateful to all of you for your support of religious exploration for Westside’s children and youth. Our amazing community’s gifts of teaching, contributions to the classroom supplies, and commitment of financial resources makes RE possible. Thank you! I wish for all of you a
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