THE WI$DOM PATH: MONEY, SPIRIT, AND LIFE
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 10: FAITHFUL GIVING
BY PATRICIA HALL INFANTE AND DAVID H. MESSNER; DEVELOPMENTAL EDITOR: GAIL FORSYTH-VAIL
© Copyright 2013 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/30/2014 12:10:31 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. — Maya Angelou
This workshop invites participants to delve into the spiritual side of giving—generosity as a spiritual practice. The crux of the workshop is the conversation about faithful giving and the ways in which giving transforms the giver. Participants explore their own experiences and motivations through sharing their own giving stories. Participants set their own giving intentions and exchange symbolic gifts of candy coins in a concluding ritual.
If you or your participants wish to explicitly examine the rationale and values represented by leaving a gift as part of your estate plan or will, use Alternate Activity 1, Legacy Giving.
Before leading the workshop, review the Accessibility guidelines in the program Introduction under Integrating All Participants.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Opening | 10 |
Activity 1: Our Giving Stories | 15 |
Activity 2: The Seventh Generation | 20 |
Activity 3: Faithful Giving | 30 |
Activity 4: Journaling | 10 |
Faith in Action: Share the Plate | |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: Legacy Giving | 20 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Consider these reflection questions from Activity 3:
Record your responses in your journal and/or share them with your co-facilitator or another trusted conversation partner. Consider how you might share parts of your own giving story with workshop participants to stimulate conversation and encourage participants to delve deeply into their own stories.
WORKSHOP PLAN
OPENING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Welcome participants. Sound the chime and invite participants into quiet reflection as you prepare to enter a time of centering and sharing. Invite a volunteer to light the chalice as you share Reading 449 from Singing the Living Tradition.
Lead Hymn 402 in Singing the Living Tradition, "From You I Receive" or invite a volunteer to lead it.
Say that this workshop focuses on experiences and feelings about giving.
Read or tell the story "Know Yourself." Allow a moment or two of silence, and then say:
We enter into our time together deeply aware and with gratitude for of the many gifts that each of us brings to this sacred space and this holy conversation. You are a gift for which I am grateful.
Sound the chime to signal the end of the centering time.
Including All Participants
If you wish to invite the group to rise and sing, ensure that the option to remain seated is communicated. You may say, "Rise in body or spirit."
ACTIVITY 1: OUR GIVING STORIES (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Giving Stories. Invite participants to recall the circumstances of a time (or times) when they made a memorable gift or donation to their faith community (or to an organization or cause about which they are passionate). Ask them to consider whether one or more of the phrases in Handout 1 aptly describe their donation or whether they would use another phrase. Ask participants to share one or two giving stories in pairs, using the posted questions if they are helpful in telling a story. Explain that each partner will have about five minutes to share. Ring the bell or chime after five minutes to signal that it is time to change speakers. After 10 minutes, re-gather the large group and invite participants to share insights and observations. Are there phrases participants would like to add to Handout 1?
ACTIVITY 2: THE SEVENTH GENERATION (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine. — Great Law of the Iroquois
Description of Activity
Use the quote from the "Great Law of the Iroquois" as a prompt and invite participants to consider the value and impact of their giving practices on future generations. Use these questions to guide discussion:
ACTIVITY 3: FAITHFUL GIVING (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Say:
One of our deepest spiritual practices is the giving of time, talent and treasure in support of our most deeply held values.
Say you will give participants five minutes to consider the posted questions about "faithful giving" privately for about five minutes and then you will invite them to share with others. Offer them chenille stems and/or modeling compound to hold, if it will help focus their reflections.
After five minutes, ask participants to move into groups of three. Direct triads to allow each person, in turn, to share some of their reflections before in the group engages in conversation.
Allow about 15 minutes in triads, and then re-gather the larger group. Ask each triad to offer a highlight or two from their conversation. After all have shared, ask:
ACTIVITY 4: JOURNALING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to journal or use art supplies to consider:
Optional: Suggest they work with chenille stems or modeling clay if it might help their reflection.
Invite participants to save any written reflections or art work they think may help them create a financial credo in Workshop 12.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Taking It Home. Form a circle and join hands. Lead the group to sing a reprise of Hymn 402 in Singing the Living Tradition, "From You I Receive."
Invite participants as they are moved to select a candy and offer it to another participant while saying the words, "You are a gift for which I am grateful." After every person has had an opportunity to give and to receive, say:
Unitarian Universalism is a gift for which we are grateful. May our generosity today be the fuel that ensures a bright flame of faith for generations to come.
Extinguish the chalice.
FAITH IN ACTION: SHARE THE PLATE
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Work with appropriate leaders and committees in your congregation to start a Share the Plate practice, in which the Sunday worship offering is regularly given to organizations or local community partners whose goals and values your congregation wishes to support. A Share the Plate practice provides rich opportunities for collaboration between the ministry/worship team and the social justice team in your congregation. Offer information about Share the Plate from the UU World article (at www.uuworld.org/life/articles/2390.shtml) and suggestions such as these:
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Make a time for reflection and discussion with your co-facilitator after the conclusion of the workshop. Consider these questions:
TAKING IT HOME
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. — Maya Angelou
Examine your records of financial giving for the past six months or year. What is the total amount you have given in that time? Is it more or less than you expected? What gifts did you feel especially passionate about? Is there a cause or a group you have not given to but wish you had? Calculate your giving history and assess how it intersects with your deepest values and the values of Unitarian Universalism. Consider what changes you would like to make, related to giving, to more closely align your passion and your values with your financial practices. If appropriate, invite your partner or other family members into this conversation.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: LEGACY GIVING (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Say:
One way to "pay it forward" is to make provision in your will for a financial gift to your faith community or another organization about which you feel passionate. Some of you may have already considered financial gifts when writing a will; others may not have has this experience. For the purpose of this activity, let's assume that you have made such a provision in a legal document. Who would be the recipient of such a gift? How would you explain your gift in non-legal terms to those who will read your will?"
Invite participants to take a few minutes and compose a note, poem, drawing, or another expression of their hopes and dreams for the gift, and the reasons they have for leaving this financial legacy. After about 10 minutes, invite participants, as they are moved, to share what they have created.
THE WI$DOM PATH: MONEY, SPIRIT, AND LIFE: WORKSHOP 10:
STORY: KNOW YOURSELF
Retold by Sarah Conover and Freda Crane in Ayat Jamilah: Beautiful Signs: A Treasury of Islamic Wisdom for Children and Parents (Boston: Skinner House, 2010). Used with permission.
Kan ya ma kan: there was and there was not a man known far and wide for his generosity. One day, sitting with his friends sipping coffee in the village square, a poor woman approached him with a small request for money to feed her child.
"Of course!" he replied, and without hesitation plucked coin after coin out of his pocket, piling them into the woman's hand until they spilled on the ground.
Overwhelmed with this show of kindness, the woman began to weep. She bowed her head in gratitude. "May Allah bless you, Sir. You have saved my child's life." She carefully placed the coins in a small cloth sack. Glancing up a last time, she thanked him with a frail half-smile.
When she was out of earshot, the man's friends probed him with questions: "Why did you give her so much money?" asked one.
"That was foolish. Don't you think she will tell all her friends?" asked another.
"A line of beggars will be at your door tomorrow morning!" warned a third.
"Just yesterday, you gave your zakaat, your charity," said a fourth. "You weren't obliged to give her any. Why did you do it?"
The generous man kept silent until their indignation ran its course. At last they quieted down.
"While such a poor woman may be pleased with just a little money from me," said the generous man, "I couldn't have been." He looked from friend to friend. "Unless I give her what I am able to, I won't be happy. She may not know me, but I know myself."
And the group of men, thoughtful and contrite, said no more about it.
THE WI$DOM PATH: MONEY, SPIRIT, AND LIFE: WORKSHOP 10:
HANDOUT 1: GIVING STORIES
Download a high-resolution PDF (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/wisdom/clouds.pdf) for printing.
FIND OUT MORE
"All In (at www.uua.org/giving/awardsscholarships/stewardshipsermon/)" by Rev. Peter Friedrichs, recipient of the UUA 2013 Stewardship Sermon Award
"Sharing the Plate Increases Giving (at www.uuworld.org/life/articles/2390.shtml)" by Donald Skinner, UU World, July/August 2003
Giving--The Sacred Art: Creating a Lifestyle of Generosity by Lauren Taylor Wright (Skylights Publishing, 2008)
The Generosity Path: Finding the Richness in Giving (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1864) by Mark V. Ewert (Boston: Skinner House, 2013)