It could be you! 

Would you like to participate in nursery time?  It’s a time of gentle play with play dough and story time.  It’s a light atmosphere that includes our candle-lighting service and a space that provides a joyful experience for our young ones.  Training is provided by our staff so that you know exactly what to do.  Most of our nursery volunteers commit to one Sunday a month (we have lots of openings for the 11:30 am service nursery spot and a few for the 10 am service)  and we are willing to work with your schedule. 

The benefits of doing this selfless service is that you get to have a joyful experience and introduce our youngest community members to the central ideas of our teaching, that God is light, love, peace, joy, beauty, power and life itself.  It takes a certain kind of person to do this work, you enjoy being with young ones and babies, and you are comfortable with toddlers who often have their own agenda for how things should go!  Expect to get your baby fix if you volunteer in our nursery.

Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information

Our youth, teens and young adults at the Center have all been participating in a variety of mediation practices in keeping with our Center's theme of the month, and we've had some AMAZING special guests joining us along the way to guide us.

We started the month off by practicing a simple breathing meditation together.  Week two our youth practiced some simple yoga movements while affirming lines from our class prayer such as God is Power, I am Power during warrior pose and our teens were joined by yoga instructor William Able who led them in a mini yoga session that everyone in attendance enjoyed (see more here).

Diane Topanga RScP supported by Linda Marshal RScP spent the morning of the 17th with our youth and teens leading us through some gentle heart coherence practices that had us still enough to hold a tissue paper butterfly. Then Linda took the lead supported by Diane and treated our young adult group to a more in-depth heart coherence mediation that left us all feeling peaceful and at ease.

Last Sunday we were joined by our friends Nancy Talley and Cha Cha who brought their drums and a variety of musical instruments to support us in a guided mediation. We journeyed together on a imaginary magic carpet and found our own special place. The group sharing after each class was full of a variety of visions and designs of magic carpets ~ and locations from elaborate tree houses to floating in outer space. Now our special places are available for us to visit any time we need to quiet our busy minds. 

Many warm thanks and blessings to all of our special guests for sharing your gifts and talent with us and to all our volunteers who help make our youth ministry thrive! 

Sometimes you just have to be a little goofy! These photos were taken during one of our recent youth classes in which the youth created pictures using small pieces of tissue paper to create an image or representation of where they see Spirit. The completed pieces of art ranged from beautiful sunsets, trees, oceans, flowers, rainbows to glowing sun images. It is always a joy to witness how the creative power of Spirit is demonstrated in our youth. As well as the healthy and goofy creativity that is unleashed when we play together.  Life is so Good!

Yesterday's Sunday service was a perfect way to "rap" up our month of prayer as our youth took to the stage to perform "I am" created by Z Egloff and Melissa Phillippe.  After months of practice practice practice... we shared our voices and gestures into the sanctuary and the phrase Incredible, Powerful, a Miracle, Divine rippled into the minds and hearts of all in attendance. This performance was also a demonstration of prayer that began some time ago with a desire to blend Music Ministry and Youth Ministry in a way that was fun, prayerfully conscious and enjoyible for all who participated. Thank you to all who participated in this realization of prayer ~ we are ALL that!

On the last Sunday of 2012 I had the pleasure of being witness to words and inspired intentions set forth for the New Year by the youth community within our Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa. Many of them mirrored my own intentions yet hearing them from children/youth had the effect of deepening them in my consciousness.  Several of them were shared multiple times and one in particular made me giggle.  Can you guess which one?

Love - Be more loving – Peace – Joy – Joyful – Happy – Happiness - Fun – Clarity - Respect  - Better posture – Creativity - Activity – More pie – Sweetness – Have fun with prayer – Deepen my spiritual practice – Play.

Wherever you are on this journey of Life, may these words be an inspiration to set the tone of a truly remarkable New Year.

Joy filled Blessings,

Susan Robinson, RScP

Merry Christmas was the phrase of the day on December 23rd when the children in our Youth Program were gifted the opportunity to take home an un-wrapped gift of their choice thanks to a huge donation of toys, books and puzzles from the owners of Piner Cafe in Santa Rosa. Every child (age 0-12) went home with something special. At the end of the day the remaining toys were gathered up and donated to the Roca de Salvacion community, who share our facility, so that even more children could experience the joy of this special gift. Thank you Piner Cafe for bringing smiles to the hearts of the youth of our community and a few tears of joy from their parents. 

What started as a small project in our Youth Program to send love to the students, teachers and families of Sandy Hook school, turned into Love and more Love being shared by our entire community. Pictured above are children from the 10:00 am class who started a chain reaction of a loving outpouring of kindness and support followed by many of the strings of hearts that will be mailed off to Connecticut. Our hearts are filled to overflowing with love for the sweet tenderness that has been expressed by our community. 

Thanksgiving provides us all with an opportunity to reflect on that which we are grateful for. As I sit here this Thanksgiving eve my thoughts of gratitude extend to the wonderful families and youth who I get to learn and grow with, in and beyond the walls of our beautiful Center, as well as the many volunteer's who come together every week to provide a safe, loving and nurturing environment for our youth to explore and express their unique divinity. 

Below is a picture of our latest youth ministry photo board, located in the breezeway next to the social hall. On it are photos of each area of our youth ministry participating in a variety of fall events. Over the last few weeks we have been collecting value statements from the youth that have been added to the board since this photo was taken. If you have a chance, stop by and take a moment or two to take in all in. It is sure to put a smile in your heart and fill you with a sense of gratitude.

Love and Blessings,  Susan Robinson, RScP - Director, Youth and Family Ministry

The Spirit Expressing Art show is in full bloom and if you've had a chance to look around you'll see several entries by members of our youth, teen and young adult group. Several of the pieces entered were created in our September Family service and several others were added from our budding artists personal collections, and some of them are for sale! There is even a piece that was created as an art collaboration by members of our Young Adult group. If your in the area over the next week or so plan to spend some extra time wandering around the social hall to view all the diverse creativity that abounds in our wonderful community. Below are just a few of the youth, teen and young adult entries.

On Sunday October 21st our youth program featured a lesson on uncertainty where we explored the moments in life where we experience doubt and confusion. We then added a practice of quieting our minds and bodies to make space and listen to our inner voice of intuition. Our creative project invited the youth to make a "What is that?" critter as a fun reminder that we don't always have to have the answer, yet we can trust that Spirit will guide us to the perfect choice for us. Next Sunday all youth are invited to come to the Center in their Halloween costumes for a morning of creative connection and fun. Pictured below is Phoebe, Isador and Ethan with their own versions of what is that's and a few of the class critters.