Like many other Unitarian Universalist congregations, here at USNH in the planning of worship services that are routinely offered during the course of a year, a Sunday in the spring time is devoted to Youth Religious Education, and is typically used to make a plea for the much needed teachers, adults who volunteer their time to be with our children on Sunday morning. I will not be making such a plea this morning. Instead, I want to share with you thoughts and questions that have risen out of a conversation the Youth R.E. Committee has been having for most of the two years I have been here.

The conversation occurs nearly every month in our meetings. The need for the conversation is tied to the R.E. Committee's responsibility for, and experience of, recruiting teachers for our Youth R.E. program. It is an ongoing effort. Twice a year, we must find enough adults to staff enough classes so that our children can be in manageable class sizes, and in appropriate age ranges, to experience something of meaning in the one hour we have them with us each week. Ideally we should have two adults in each room. Not only because it is a safeguard for our children, but it makes the four-month, weekly commitment to be a teacher seem more doable when it is being shared when the responsibilities are shared. This year, we were able to reduce the number of teachers needed by combining some grade levels, which also ensured that all classes had enough children in them that if two or three were absent, there were enough children still there to enjoy their time together. Still, we needed twenty-eight teachers for each semester, to cover both 9:15 and 11:15 sessions. This does not include our YRUU advisors. We were unable to meet this need either semester, leaving the R.E. Committee with the choice of canceling some classes or asking teachers to teach alone. Some of our more experienced teachers agreed to teach on their own and parents have stepped in to help when needed.

While I have painted a rather dismal picture of R.E. teacher recruitment, I think it is important to realize that our R.E. Program does account for the largest volunteer pool for a single effort at USNH. More than fifty adults volunteer to teach or be on the R.E. Committee each year. Their commitment is deep and their work is much appreciated. But this experience of never having quite enough teachers, and the process of phoning members and recruiting teachers up until and after the semester has started even, has caused the R.E. Committee to question what it is we are trying to do with our children on Sunday mornings. At times we have asked ourselves, "Is what we are doing here of true value, to our children and this community, or are we keeping the children busy so that the adults can worship? Are we providing Religious Education, or are we babysitting?" I know these questions may sound unduly negative, and you may think the answers are obvious, but I believe they are important questions that every congregation should ask of themselves from time to time in order to clarify and renew their commitment to the children of their community.

The answer to these questions can only be arrived at by asking more questions. Why do families bring their children to USNH, or to any church or synagogue, or place of worship? Why do you come to USNH? Why are you here on Sunday mornings, when you could be almost anywhere else? What do you get out of belonging to a faith community that is unique, that can't be found in other communities in your life? I believe that parents bring their children to USNH, even when their children say they don't want to be here, because somewhere along the way, because either here, or in a faith community that they once belonged to, they experienced something that was of great value to them personally, something life saving, something that can be called salvation. And they want their children to experience that, too. And I believe, that if you are here on Sunday mornings, with or without children, you have experienced the same thing. And it is our responsibility, as a congregation, not just the parents or the teachers or the R.E. Committee's, but the entire congregation's responsibility, to pass on to the children of this faith community the very gifts we have received by being here.

A couple of years ago, I was talking with the Rev. Rupert Lovely, a Unitarian Universalist minister with more than 30 years of experience, and I asked him, "What are people looking for when they come to church?" And he said, "They are looking for wholeness, or the hope of wholeness. They want to know that when life's hardships come their way, and there are many hardships in life, they want to know that there is a path out of despair, a path that they do not have to walk alone, a path on which hope and joy can be recovered." Rupert went on to say, "We fill our time in church with a lot of other things. We have committee meetings. We teach our children about being Unitarian Universalists. We have potlucks. We hold discussion groups and argue about everything under the sun. But what we are really about is creating a community, grounded in faith, that heals the brokenness in our lives."

I have been asking myself, "What do I want children to get out of being here on Sunday mornings? What life saving experience can we give our children?" And I realized, that my hopes for our children are the same as my hopes for all of you, that I don't believe what our children need to experience here is any different than what you need to experience. What I want USNH to do, for you and your children, is to help you learn to read maps, and to be like Noah's Ark. Let me explain these ideas. How can USNH help you learn to read maps?

In "Traveling Mercies", Anne Lamott tells a story of a young girl who gets lost one day. "The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where [she] lived, but she couldn't find a single landmark. She was very frightened. Finally a policeman stopped to help her. He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church. She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly, "You could let me out now. This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here." Anne Lamott reflects, "And that is why I have stayed so close to [my own church] - because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church and hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home." I think there is more that we can get out of this story than Anne Lamott points out. What we learn, do, and experience here, can help us choose the paths we take in life to begin with, so that we don't become lost, and lonely, and frightened. Your decision to be here, at USNH, is not just a decision to be a part of any faith community, but a Unitarian Universalist faith community. Unitarian Universalism offers a unique religious perspective that can guide you on your journey. Our Principles and Purposes can be seen as navigation tools; helping to plot the course we choose to follow with our actions and commitments. Reminding us of the way we want to be in life - respecting the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, aware of our interconnectedness with all of life and the earth, committed to spiritual growth and the responsible search for truth, and working for a more just and compassionate world. In this way, I believe our participation at USNH can help us find our way home, the way back to where we want to be in ourselves when we lose our direction. I had first thought of saying that I wanted USNH to give us a road map for our journeys in life. Then I thought, as Unitarian Universalists, we don't do that. We don't give absolute answers. We don't say this is the one and only way. We don't suggest that there is only one path that all must follow. And actually, life gives us the map. And our maps will be different, we all have different journeys to take, different choices to make. We will not walk through the same valleys or climb the same mountains. So what I hope we can do, and what our children will do, while we are here together, is to become so grounded in our faith, that our faith becomes a compass that will guide us where ever life's journey takes us. That our learning here will help us look at the maps of our lives and understand what the road signs mean and allow us to take the paths we truly want to be on. That the experience of being in this faith community will become a landmark which helps us keep moving in the direction we want to go and will let us know when we have veered off course, so that the path that leads to hope and wholeness can always be found.

Now I know you all are probably familiar with the story of Noah and the ark, but I'm going to tell it a little differently than how it is usually told. There was a time, long, long ago, when the earth had become a very difficult place for people to live. There was much misery and conflict. One particular person, named Noah, wanted to create a sanctuary where all could live peacefully and be cared for. Most people had never experienced such a thing and did not believe it was possible. But Noah went on with his plans and built a huge boat that would carry them out to sea and give them a chance to rest and be safe. Noah opened the ark to all who wanted to seek refuge. Only a few people joined Noah, so they gathered up a bunch of animals and went on their journey, while the rest of humanity continued to live in misery and conflict. But the people and the animals on the ark had a different experience. Noah took great care of his guests. He made them feel wanted and welcome. He had taken them in and shown them that life could be different and all could live in peace. He had provided a sanctuary when it was most needed. But some of the birds needed to spread their wings and wanted to go back out into the world. So Noah let them go. What the birds realized was that the world had not changed much and they remembered the sanctuary in the ark, and they returned to the place that had offered them love and security. Over time, as the birds would venture out, but always returning, people outside the ark began to hear about what life was like on the ark, and they began to change the way they lived. For they would listen to the birds sing of peace and harmony, and see that the birds must truly believe that a different way was possible, because they would go back to where they had come from. As the misery and conflict on earth subsided, the birds stayed away longer and longer, and would bring back signs of peace on earth to the community on the ark. Finally the day came when the ark was able to return to shore, and all of humanity was transformed.

This is the tale of Noah's Ark that can be our story. It is the story of a community that holds and truly cares for those who seek refuge within it, and the story of a community that can transform the world by its example. Right now, our ark holds close to one hundred and twenty children in it each Sunday morning. And while we need to pay attention to how we welcome every one that walks through our doors, I believe we must take seriously our commitment to our children so that they feel wanted here and valued as part of this community, so that when they venture out into the world to spread their wings, they will want to return to the place that nurtured them, because they experienced the gift of truly being cared for by this faith community. Unitarian Universalist congregations in general have not done a good job of giving their children an experience that draws them back to our faith tradition as adults. Only ten percent of the adults in our congregations grew up as Unitarian Universalists. While it is great that so many people find their way to our communities who were not raised in them, I fear that we are failing in some way to give our youth the same quality of experience that we have, that makes us want to be here and what we bring our children here for. Somehow, we are missing the boat, or the ark, when it comes to passing on the gifts of being a part of a faith community. The R.E. Committee is trying to make changes in what we do with our children on Sunday morning, and how we do it, so that our children will want to be a part of a Unitarian Universalist faith community when they become adults. And I believe this will happen when we realize that teaching our children about this faith community is not something that can happen in a classroom on the other side of the building, a part from the life of this congregation. You do not come here because you want to learn about the history of Unitarian Universalism or other world religions. Your children won't want to come back if that is all they get here. What I believe we need to do, to give our children what we most treasure in this community, is to offer more opportunities through intergenerational activities, so that our children experience the love and caring that keeps us coming back. This is what we hoped for when we planned "Winter Institute" and offered intergenerational classes on Sunday mornings during the month of January, that the adults of this community and our youth would have an opportunity to just be together. And all who participated, youth and adults alike, had nothing but positive things to say about the experience. I think the youth felt honored that the adults would choose to be with them. And I think our twenty eighth graders who have mentors feel the same way, even when they pretend that it isn't important to them. They know that someone besides their parents here is making an effort to be a part of their life in a meaningful way. So it concerns me when we don't have enough teachers to staff our classrooms because of the message it sends our children. I have hesitated to make announcements on Sunday mornings saying we don't have enough teachers when a new semester is just around the corner, or that we can't find Youth Advisors, because I don't want the children and youth here to think they are not wanted or valued by this community, because I believe they are. By thinking outside of the box, we can creatively integrate our children, youth, and adults, into all aspects of this faith community, so that our Religious Education, worship time, committee work, and social opportunities, bring us all together and allow us to share the richness of being a part of USNH with each other and our children. And when we do this, those who venture out into the world, whether they be young or old, will carry with them the story of a loving community that gave them sanctuary, and a vision of peace and justice that can transform the world.

The Youth R.E. Committee will be hosting a conversation in two weeks, Sunday, April 28th at 4:00 pm here in the meeting room. Nursery care and programs for the children will be available for our families, but I want to encourage all of you to attend, whether or not you have children, especially those who have taught R.E. in the past or may want to in the future, and those who have served on the R.E. Committee in the past, or may want to in the future. This "State of Youth R.E. Address" is our opportunity to share with the congregation the accomplishments we have made in the last two years, the challenges we still face, and our new plan for Youth R.E. on Sunday mornings.