From Blossoms

From blossoms comes this brown paper bag of peaches we bought from the boy at the bend in the road where we turned toward signs painted Peaches

From laden boughs, from hands, from sweet fellowship in the bins, comes nectar at the roadside, succulent peaches we devour, dusty skin and all, comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside, to carry within us an orchard, to eat not only the skin, but the shade, not only the sugar, but the days, to hold the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live as if death were nowhere in the background; from joy to joy to joy, from wing to wing, from blossom to blossom to impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

Li-Young Lee, 1986

The curriculum boxes are filled, the registrations are processed, the supplies are well-stocked… we’re ready to launch into another year of children’s religious exploration. We’re excited that this year ALL of our curricula will be accessible online, saving FUS many hours in creating binders for teachers, and saving many trees from destruction! Curricula have all been updated to utilize more current resources, to include more voices from our BIPOC communities, and to allow for greater movement and community-building in our classrooms. We’re mostly all set, except for one little thing… TEACHERS! We still have quite a few openings for teachers, without whom we are unable to offer classes.

As you probably know, FUS does not have a budget that allows for paid teachers in our CRE program. We depend solely on volunteers, and this community has always come through for us, for which we are VERY grateful! Great connections have been built among our teaching teams (which typically have four teachers), and our children have been nourished by the wise and caring guidance of our volunteers. At the time of this writing, 73% of our teachers have taught before! That’s amazing, and, I believe, a testament to the value that they see in teaching. So why do they do it? Surely there must be other ways for them to spend their time! Here are the top ten reasons that I have heard from our teachers about why they teach (not listed in order of importance or prevalence!):

1. Being around kids brings them joy! They look forward to the fun and curiosity that they are a part of when they’re in the classroom (which is roughly twice a month).