What a captivating and energetic Music Sunday we shared yesterday! Many thanks to my gifted colleagues, Suzanne and Jeffrey Jubenville, who invited the 5-8th graders to the service. And thanks, too, to the many singers and musicians who made the service so lively.

With only a few weeks left until the last worship service of the year, I now turn my full attention to the work of planning next year. Some of the planning is well under way, while a larger part needs to wait until Peter is on board. Jenna and Rebecca have been given planning grids and curricular materials to review for the Primary and Elementary Cluster programs. With the 2010/2011 budget approved yesterday, I will be advertising next week for an Intermediate Cluster teacher to begin in August. This is very exciting, as the children who have had professional teachers for the past three years will now have continued professionalism into the 5th and 6th grades. And in our Neighboring Faiths class for 7/8th graders we already have volunteers for the fall and winter terms (thank you, Bobbie Hodson and Tom Rich). They each need co-teachers, so if you are interested in teaching a term of Judaism (fall) or Christianity (winter), please give me a shout. Tom and Bobbie are both dedicated and experienced teachers, and just a whole lot of fun to work with!

With the incredible success of the newly-engineered 8th grade Our Whole Lives (OWL) class just behind us, next year's class moves down the avenue to Follen Church. The collaboration with Follen was near perfect, and with a little tweaking here and there, we look forward to an equally wonderful class next year. Families of next year's 8th graders will be sent a letter by the end of June, but following are a few quick details. OWL will run from mid-September to early April on Monday evenings from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Dinner will be served by parent volunteers. First Parishioners Marshall Wilensky and Megan Ladd will co-lead the class with Follenites Janet Farnsworth and Howie Bernstein. Many thanks again to this year's leaders who worked steadily to make the program excellent: Chris and Scott Kyle, Megan Ladd, Rob Schneider and Laura Tully. And a special thanks to my dear friend and colleague, Deb Zagaeski, Follen's DRE.

Coming of Age (COA) is nearly planned, too (go, Coming of Age Advisory Group!). I'm thrilled to announce that Dave Juitt, Tony Siesfeld, Deb Weiner Soule and Alison Green Will, have volunteered to lead the program. As has been done in the past, COA will be offered to 9th and 10th graders every other Sunday evening beginning on October 3, culminating in a Sunday morning worship service on May 22, 2011. There will be two off-site retreats, and we will once again have mentors involved with the youth. It is also my secret hope that Peter will want to be involved to some degree with the program, but I have yet to discuss this with him, and am trying really, really hard not to overwhelm him before he even begins his ministry with you! Alison is currently working on a draft of the curriculum we are adapting, and the advisory group meets a final time on June 21. Many thanks to advisory group members who have been diligently working together for over a year: Suzanne Adams, Dave and Laura Juitt, Tony Siesfeld, Ben Soule, Deb Weiner Soule and Alison. Great work, team!

On the community outreach front and in conjunction with Adult Programs (newly-renamed Adult Religious Education), Marilyn Campbell, Mia Roop and I are looking at two Northwest Earth Institute curricula to offer the town in the winter and spring: “Happy Children, Happy Planet,” and “Discovering a Sense of Place.” Check them out on-line at: www.nwei.org, then plan to join the discussion group next year.

After the fifth session of “Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll” last night, participants shared a wish for this film/discussion group to continue next year. Laura Tully, who co-facilitated this group, and I will discuss what might be interesting for the future. This dovetails nicely with my participation in the town's interfaith “youth stress” work.

With all of this, I'm reminded of a line from a book about construction that was a favorite of Willie's when he was a toddler (and what he used to say to us when we tucked him in at night), “more work tomorrow!” Indeed!