{"id":7850,"date":"2024-04-02T13:01:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T17:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/?p=7850"},"modified":"2024-05-28T17:51:16","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T21:51:16","slug":"your-invitation-to-books-set-free-our-all-ages-message-series-for-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/your-invitation-to-books-set-free-our-all-ages-message-series-for-may\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Invitation to \u201cBooks Set Free\u201d \u2013 Our All-Ages Message Series for May!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Note From Rev. Lee<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago we started a new tradition at WellSprings: all of our Sunday services in May are \u201call-ages\u201d services. That means instead of heading off to YouthSpirit, our younger friends stay with the adults for the whole morning \u2013 and together, we create a worship experience that is more participatory, engaging, and accessible to our friends at every age and stage of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This May, we are hoping to create as many opportunities as possible for younger WellSpringers to participate, on these Sundays \u2013 so in an effort to coordinate their interests with their parents\u2019 schedules\u2026 we\u2019ve created a sign-up sheet that families can access here<\/a>. This is open to both children and teens, and there are lots of different ways to participate: light the chalice, greet at the door, share a song, write and read a short reflection, and more. Families, if your child would like to participate, we ask that you sign up for the Sundays you\u2019re interested in no later than Monday, April 15th<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned during our Easter service<\/a>, every single one of us is a \u201cformer child\u201d \u2013 and, all of our congregation\u2019s children are \u201cfuture adults,\u201d too. Each of us shapes the world that today\u2019s children grow up in\u2026 and in our congregation, we have an even greater opportunity: to shape one of the actual communities in which our own, our friends\u2019, and our neighbors\u2019 children are raised. So many parents tell me that they come to WellSprings because they want their children to be surrounded by loving adults outside of their family, who will reinforce their family\u2019s values beyond the walls of home \u2013 and, who will support and care for them, as they grow. Our May message series is just one opportunity to do that \u2013 for all of us to share in worship together, to learn from each other across the generations, and to show our children (\u201cfuture adults,\u201d remember?) what it looks like when we truly welcome each other into beloved community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\u2026 during our May services, all you \u201cformer children\u201d may be invited to do things you haven\u2019t done in a while\u2026 to hear stories, or engage with hands-on activities; to listen closely to quiet, nervous voices; or to join in loud, boisterous laughter and play. In the process, you will get to meet some of the coolest people at WellSprings (our kids), and I hope you won\u2019t pass up that opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our theme for this year\u2019s all-ages series is \u201cBooks Set Free,\u201d and each week\u2019s service will be centered around a children\u2019s book that has been either challenged or successfully banned during the past few years, in a public library or school district in our country. You can read more about the series theme, and the list of books we\u2019ll be sharing, below: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books Set Free 
<\/strong>The books that surround us in childhood give us windows into other worlds \u2013 or reflections of our own. City kids learn about small town life. Tweens begin to imagine their future careers. Teenagers growing up in tough situations learn what healthy love can look like. With access to books, every kind of kid can find a story that helps them feel less alone. <\/strong>In our all-ages series this May, we\u2019ll set banned books free \u2013 celebrating the value and truth to be found, in every human story.

May 5 <\/strong>\u2013 The Family Book<\/em> by Todd Parr
preacher: Josie Waldman
May 12 <\/strong>\u2013 Sofia Valdez, Future Prez <\/em>by Andrea Beaty
preacher: Nick Sanchez
May 19 <\/strong>\u2013 The Proudest Blue <\/em>by Ibtihaj Muhammad
preacher: Rev. Lee Paczulla
May 26<\/strong> \u2013 When Aidan Became a Brother<\/em> by Kyle Lukoff
preacher: Rev. Lee Paczulla<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you all for taking the time to think about how you might want to participate in \u2013 or just show up and enjoy \u2013 our all-ages series this Spring. For our younger friends and their families, a reminder that if you plan to sign up<\/a>, please do so by Monday, April 15th<\/strong>, so we have time to connect with you and make plans for your service! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take care,
Rev. Lee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Note From Rev. Lee A few years ago we started a new tradition at WellSprings: all of our Sunday services in May are \u201call-ages\u201d services. That means instead of heading off to YouthSpirit, our younger friends stay with the adults for the whole morning \u2013 and together, we create a worship experience that is more participatory, engaging, and accessible to our friends at every age and stage of life.  This May, we are hoping to create as many opportunities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,115],"tags":[110,132,103,133],"class_list":["post-7850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministriesandteams","category-wellsprings-news","tag-jw","tag-youthbridge","tag-yb","tag-youthspirit","ctfw-has-image"],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Facebook-Cover-300x111.png","thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Facebook-Cover-150x150.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Facebook-Cover-768x284.png","post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Facebook-Cover-720x480.png","saved-square":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Facebook-Cover-720x720.png","saved-square-large":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Facebook-Cover-1024x1024.png","saved-square-small":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Facebook-Cover-160x160.png","saved-rect-medium":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Facebook-Cover-480x320.png","saved-rect-small":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-Facebook-Cover-200x133.png"},"appp_media":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7850"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7864,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7850\/revisions\/7864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}