Midweek Message May 14, 2026

Bridging

May is a hectic time for parents of school aged kids!  Our hands are ready for a break, we are clapping pretty much all of the time.  Choir/band/orchestra concerts, performances both comedic and delightful, final games of all of the sportsballs and their accompanying awards ceremonies, and various other events where we are present and supportive.  We’re providing team snacks, filming events for posterity and/or out of town grandparents, photographing or bringing home various sculptures made of things that could or could not be science projects, or was that art?  We don’t know! Because they seem to have grown mold?!

And at FUUN, it is no different, and also, quite different. We are celebrating and clapping!  And we do it in very thoughtful, very ritualized ways.

We started May with our Coming of Agers sharing their Credos with us after a year of thinking about themselves, their beliefs and who and how they want to be.  This will continue to happen for all of our teens during one of their High School years, on a rotating 4 year basis.

Last Sunday was our annual Flower Ceremony/Communion and it connects us to our rich history both here and abroad.  And it is always so beautiful!

This Sunday, our High School Seniors will enact Bridging.  If you’re new to Unitarian Universalism, Bridging is the pinnacle of the rituals of childhood.  We start when they are young with child dedications, and are sure to give our newest children a rose blessing with a real rose with no thorns.  Watch for the beautiful symbolism of these teens becoming Emerging Adults - receiving a rose with thorns because we have prepared them to handle trials of life.  

Bridging, in the wider UU world, used to be called Cliffing! (!!) And it felt like that - like falling off a cliff. We just sort of expected to see them again when they had kids.  Now we know that we need community support for a lifetime, and the bridge is meant to symbolize moving from life as a teen, to life as an emerging adult. This year, FUUN sent care packages to our Emerging Adults off at school.  And we are putting into place a fabulous person to help with supporting both our Youth and our Emerging Adults.  (Did you know that those two positions together actually spell YEA? !!)  You’ll hear more about this exciting development on Sunday morning.

Also on Sunday, you’ll notice artwork from our Pre-K through 8th graders on display in the Sanctuary.  These are some samples of what our kids created together this year.  Take a minute after the service is over to wander our gallery of values on display.  Ask some kids about them!  And join us in the social hall for some celebratory cake for our Bridgers.  We take this time to celebrate with them because they have been and will still be ours.  I’m ready to clap a little more for these soon-to-be Emerging Adults.  Join me in giving them a hand as they Bridge into their futures!