March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. I believe that is the saying although I think in Syracuse it may be April that is the transitional month.

That being said there will be the promise of the returning spring in this month. For one thing March 8th begins daylight savings time remember to set your clocks forward! Also I have noticed the animals in my neighborhood are much more active. It is nice to see the re-emerging squirrels; I could skip the skunk however.

This month our RE committee and I will begin planning in earnest the guide recruitment which will begin in April. Ours is a cooperative program and this means that each family that has offspring involved in RE (nursery through high school) is expected to give eight Sundays a year in the RE Sunday school program. Although it can be hard to plan a year ahead we ask for folks to make a commitment in the spring for the next year so that we can plan our program year early enough in order to have an RE experience that is effective for our children.

Because of our growing numbers we also need more people than one parent per family. If you are interested in being an RE guide please contact me. Perhaps your grandchildren live far away and it would be nice to connect with some young folk. We would welcome your support.

March 15th our Coming of Age group will host a taco bar lunch. This will be a fundraiser for their trip to Boston in May. Thank you all who helped support their bake sale. They raised approximately $175! They need to raise approximately another $575.00. So bring your friends and bring your appetite on March 15th!

During the last week of March I will be at a Renaissance module, a continuing education event, on “Curriculum Planning in the Local Congregation.” This is one that I have been looking forward to going to for a long time. I am hoping that I will bring back useful information and new practices for our work here at May.

On March 22nd our Peace Pal class (1st and 2nd grade) will be having the first of their 2 fundraisers during coffee hour. They are raising money to erect a Peace Pole on MMUUS grounds. So far they have researched Peace Poles, talked with the chair of Buildings and Grounds and gotten approval and some nifty ideas from B&G, and gotten approval from the Board of Trustees.

March 27-29 our Teenz group is hosting a district wide youth conference here at May. We have the best group of the Teens! They are a positive contributing group in our congregation. I am so proud of the work that they do. They need some volunteers to work with overnight chaperoning and some food preparation. Please check out their table in the social hall after service where there is a sign up list.

With all this activity perhaps March does come in like a lamb and go out like a lion!

~ Jennifer Hamlin-Navias
Director of Religious Education