Explore | Reflect | Learn

Promoting our Eight Principles

We promote our eight principles by providing children, youth, young adults, and adults an opportunity to explore, reflect, and learn in a nurturing spiritual community. Unitarian Universalist religious education offers programs for all ages, inspiring:

• Ethical growth – internalizing enduring values like justice, equity, and compassion, and gaining tools to act on them in everyday life.

• Social growth – connecting with peers and people of all ages on a deeper level. Finding acceptance among people who see beyond the superficial.

• Spiritual growth – feeling a connection with the sacred within, among, and beyond us. 

We welcome and encourage families to visit Religious Exploration, please fill out a yellow RE visitor card at the welcome table and send it with your child to class so we have any pertinent information on hand.

Registration for UUCL's Religious Exploration Program is required to help us ensure Safe Congregation Policies. We provide name tags with pronouns, need to be aware if there are allergies or medical needs, and try to accommodate accessibility needs and provide support as we are able. We also use our registration information for weekly emails, to invite you to age-specific programming and event and keep the lines of communication open.

As we strive to keep each other safe while still connecting, RE classes have resumed to meeting in person, and outdoors when possible on our lovely seven acres. We ask all participants over the age of 3 to wear masks for our indoor and outdoor gatherings.

If families prefer to participate in RE classes online, contact the RE Leaders at uucldre@uucl.org in advance, so that we may make accommodations.

We look forward to offering childcare again for toddlers. Please check with the RE Leader at uucldre@uucl.org for more information and childcare availability.

Infants may stay with their parents in the service or parents and babies are invited to use the Nursery in the classroom wing.

Our RE program includes more than classes. You might find the preschoolers singing songs about kindness, the 2nd graders engaging with a story about loss and bereavement, the 5th graders talking with a Muslim couple about Islam, the 7th graders learning about responsibility, the Middle School youth planning a visit to a Jewish Temple, and the High School youth raising money for the local homeless shelter.

Many of our programs incorporate social justice activities, worship opportunities, service trips, fellowship, and fun. Throughout the course of a year, we plan projects that involve children Globally, Nationally, Locally in the Lexington area, and benefitting our own church community. In our Coming of Age program, high school youth participate in retreats, meet with mentors, and learn more about the UU faith, culminating in a group trip to visit historic UU sites in Boston, MA. It is the goal of our RE program to foster compassion and creative thinking with hands-on learning experiences.

When meeting in person, Religious Exploration (Sunday School) for children and youth typically takes place during the worship service, which starts at 11:00 am. If you arrive 10-15 minutes before the start of the service, you can have a chance to talk to our RE leaders and see our classrooms.  

On most Sundays, there is a Children’s Time in the service when the children may come forward, then the children proceed to their classes. Parents of young children should accompany them to meet the RE leaders. Classes end at 12:15 pm, but if you need to pick your child up earlier, please let the RE leaders know.

We ask that your children, youth, and teens are dressed comfortably so that they can fully participate in the activities which could include art materials, cooking, yoga, drama, or walking on the grounds in a variety of weather. Bring a jacket if it is chilly outside!