This is a 30-minute activity.

Materials

• A copy of Leader Resource 2, At Concord with the Emersons

Preparation

• Locate the journal entries from September 1 and September 17 in the leader resource and prepare to read them aloud.

Description

Participants reflect on Fuller's lifelong struggle to integrate her intellect and her feelings.

Read aloud from Leader Resource 2 Fuller's journal entries from September 1 and from September 17, 1842. Then, engage participants to discuss the role of feelings and of intellect in their own lives and in the life of your congregation. Use these questions as a guide:

• How are feelings and intellect reflected in communal worship in our congregation? Do you experience worship as a "feeling" experience, a "thinking" experience, or some combination of the two?
• In what ways does our congregation offer opportunities for people to recover lost emotions or recover from times when they have lost heart? Have you experienced a time when your Unitarian Universalist congregation helped you to recover after you had lost heart? Would you describe your experience as spiritual?
• How are we inclusive of both feelings and intellect in our congregation's programs for children? youth? families? adults of all ages and life stages?