Youth Curriculum, 11-30-25
Announcements:
Parents, if your youth or teen is planning to share music in one of our upcoming holiday services, please have them bring their list of song ideas to class this Sunday. Our music team is excited to collaborate with them and help shape a beautiful, joyful offering for the season. Thank you for supporting their creativity!
Curriculum Overview:
This week, youth explore Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus, discovering how intelligence, emotion, and sacredness appear in forms very different from our own. As we finish our month-long journey—moving from decoding likes and dislikes, to practicing the Four Agreements, to discerning opinion vs. truth, and deepening gratitude for our kith and kin—students will prepare to share what they’ve learned in our 5th Sunday Youth/Adult Service. Their Creature Compassion Cards, along with insights from previous lessons on non-judgment, open-mindedness, spiritual truth, and interconnectedness, will come together as a collective presentation celebrating the Oneness and diversity of all life.
November Theme: Rooted in Love – Seeing the Sacred in All Life
Week 5 Value: The Soul of an Octopus – 5Th Sunday Youth/Adult Service
Affirmation: “I honor the sacredness in every being.”
Spiritual Lesson:
In The Soul of an Octopus, Montgomery describes surprising stories of emotional connection, intelligence, and playfulness in a creature people often misunderstand. The Science of Mind teaches that all beings, no matter how unfamiliar, express the One Life. When we release assumptions and choose compassion, we learn to see with new eyes—eyes that witness Divine Intelligence in unexpected places and forms. This week invites youth to recognize that sacredness is not limited to what is comfortable or familiar; rather, the Divine expresses through all life, even when its ways of being differ from our own.
Spiritual Practice: Seeing With New Eyes
Youth begin by gently closing their eyes and picturing a creature they find unusual or intimidating. As they breathe slowly, they imagine softening any judgments they hold and welcoming curiosity instead. With each inhale, they repeat silently, “I welcome understanding,” and with each exhale, “I choose compassion.” They then visualize the creature surrounded by peaceful, warm light.
Active Listening: Book/Music/Video
- Book: “The Soul of an Octopus” by Sy Montgomery
- Music: “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong
- Music: “Colors” by Black Pumas
Creative Expression: Creature Compassion Cards
Youth and teens each create a small illustrated card featuring a creature—real or mythical—that they want to honor with compassion and curiosity. They draw or collage an image of the creature and then write a quality that this being embodies, such as resilience, intuition, adaptability, flexibility, or creativity. On the card they also add a simple affirmation like, “I see the Divine in all life,” or “Every creature has wisdom to share.”
Connecting: 5th Sunday Youth/Adult Service
Today our children and teens will share what they’ve explored this month in Youth Class, culminating in our theme: Grateful for Kith & Kin — The Web of Belonging.
This week, inspired by The Soul of an Octopus, our youth discovered that belonging isn’t only about who we know — it’s about how we sense the world, how we listen, and how deeply connected we truly are. Today, they’ll show us how curiosity, intuition, and even non-judgment can help us feel the many threads of connection that hold us.”