LOVE WILL GUIDE US
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 10: LOVE FOR ALL CREATURES
BY REV. ALICE ANACHEKA-NASEMANN AND CATHY CARTWRIGHT
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/8/2014 2:25:40 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
What is religion? Compassion for all things, which have life. — Hindu Hitopadesha (Sanskrit collection of fables)
Animals can communicate quite well.And they do.And generally speaking, they are ignored. — Alice Walker, African American author
In this session we will focus on the third Unitarian Universalist Source expressed in child friendly language as, "the ethical and spiritual wisdom of the world's religions."
The story "The Cat" comes from the Hindu tradition and illustrates the importance of kindness to animals, reflected in the Hindu teaching of "ahimsa," or non-harm. Participants deepen their empathy for all Earth's living beings as they consider the ways they interact with animals.
NOTE: The main activity includes visiting with live animals. Arrange this in advance, first finding out about any allergies in the group and any congregational policies about live animal visitors. If you cannot host live animals, use Alternate Activity 3, Role Play, instead.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 7 |
Activity 1: Animal Talk Game | 7 |
Activity 2: Story — The Cat | 13 |
Activity 3: Live Animal Observation and Interaction | 23 |
Faith in Action: Creating a Backyard Habitat | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Sharing Joys and Concerns | 7 |
Alternate Activity 2: UU Source Constellation — World Religions | 10 |
Alternate Activity 3: Role Play | 20 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Read the story, "The Cat." Close your eyes and imagine yourself to be like Parvati, Ganesha's mother. Imagine that you are so closely connected to other creatures that you experience their pain. What would you want to say to other people? What would you want to say to other animals? Pay attention to your breathing. As you breathe in, imagine that you are breathing in compassion. As you breathe out, focus on hope for new ways of human and animal interactions. Take a moment to dedicate yourself to kindness to all other living beings and then bring your attention back to your surroundings.
SESSION PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity is appropriate when participants do not arrive in a group but arrive individually before the session begins.
Welcome children and invite them to sit down and use the materials on the work tables to create an animal or other living being. A second co-leader should greet new parents and explain the plans for the day.
Invite children to share and talk about their creations before the session officially begins.
Including All Participants
This is an excellent time for co-leaders to notice the abilities and temperament of each child. Note how they respond to you. Are they shy and reticent? Are they anxious and jumpy? Invite a parent to share any concerns and pertinent information, including information about children's allergies. Do you have a sign-in sheet? As the children settle in, co-leaders should review the names of the children attending and share any issues that may need special attention during the session.
OPENING (7 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the children in a circle. Distribute Handout 1, Ten Million Stars, or point out the words printed on newsprint. Light the chalice and invite the group to read the words together responsively.
Indicate the Night Sky display. If the group includes children who have heard the Opening before, you might invite them to explain the Night Sky, the Big Dipper, the North Star in their own words.
Or, say in your own words:
When people first began to ponder the night sky, they wondered, "What are stars and why are they there? Why do they move?" "Where did I come from? How did life begin? Why am I here?" Although the sky did not give the answers, people used the stars as symbols for their beliefs about the important questions in their lives.
When people looked at their night sky, they saw patterns and pictures in the way the stars were arranged. Thousands of years ago, the Greeks and Romans, the Chinese and Arabs, Native Americans, and other peoples all around the world named these constellations for gods they worshipped, animals they relied on, and everyday scenes from their lives.
Indicate the Big Dipper. Invite the children to discover the pattern of a dipping spoon. Say:
We call this constellation the Big Dipper. If we lived in Southern France, we would call it a Saucepan. Do you see the saucepan?
Ask the children what other pictures they see. Encourage them to imagine the constellation upside down. Tell them:
To the Skidi Pawnee Indians, this constellation looked like a sick man being carried on a stretcher.
To the ancient Maya, it was a mythological parrot named Seven Macaw.
To the Hindu, it looked like Seven Wise Men.
To the early Egyptians, it was the thigh and leg of a bull.
To the ancient Chinese, it was the chariot of the Emperor of Heaven.
The Micmac Indians saw a bear instead of the scoop, and hunters tracking the bear instead of the handle.
Now say:
People discovered how to use the stars to guide them when travelling. Knowing the constellations in the night sky helped them find the direction they wanted to go.
In the 19th century, people who were kept as slaves in the Southern states gave the Big Dipper a new name: the Drinking Gourd. This constellation became a symbol of freedom. Slaves who escaped knew they could travel at night, following the Drinking Gourd, to get to the Northern states where they would be free.
Say, while pointing to the North Star:
This one star does not move much in the Night Sky. The earth rotates and orbits around the sun, but this star, the North Star, is located directly above the North Pole, so it seems to always stay in the same place in the sky. Travelers without a map, a compass, or a GPS can use the North Star to know where they are and where they are going.
For Unitarian Universalists, love is like the North Star.
Now indicate the poster you have made of the seven Sources. Say, in your own words:
We let love and our Sources guide us, like stars in the night sky guide travelers. We use the wisdom of many Sources to help us answer the big questions about what we believe, just like ancient peoples used the stars.
Explain, or remind the children, that a "source" has to do with origin, or beginning. When we talk about the sources of our beliefs, this means we are talking about where our beliefs begin and how we get ideas. Say, in your own words:
Today we are talking about the third Source, "the ethical and spiritual wisdom of world religions." Hinduism is one of the world's religions. Unitarian Universalists believe all faiths have something important to share about love.
Distribute (or indicate, if posted) the "Love Will Guide Us" lyrics. Sing "Love Will Guide Us" together.
Collect handouts/newsprint for use in future sessions.
Including All Participants
For participants who are not fluent readers, take the time to teach the opening words and song aurally, so children can come to know them from memory.
Use an LED chalice to avoid fire hazard and to include participants who are sensitive to smoke or scents.
ACTIVITY 1: ANIMAL TALK GAME (7 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity addresses the needs of the kinesthetic (movement-oriented) learner by encouraging participants to express in movement and sound what they already know about animal communication cues and signals.
Gather in a standing circle. Ask the children whether or not animals talk. Allow a few responses. Then explain that while animals do not talk with words, they communicate in other ways. Invite the children to name a few examples (wagging tail, hissing, running away).
Tell participants you are going to play a game in which they will act out ways animals communicate. Explain that you will point to someone and give tell them an animal, and a feeling or situation. They will act it out with movement and sound. When you call "freeze," they should stop and you will point to another person and either repeat the same animal scenario or give a new one.
Play the game with these animal scenarios; add your own, if you wish. Keep the time spent on each animal brief.
Process the activity with these questions:
Affirm that Unitarian Universalists believe in the interdependent web of life. That means we are connected to animals, and we believe it is important to pay attention to their needs.
Including All Participants
Gather in a seated circle if the group includes children with mobility limitations.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — THE CAT (13 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the children in a circle in the storytelling area and show them the story basket. Say something like, "Let's see what's in our story basket this week."
Tell the group the items in the story basket will be placed on this table after the children have passed them around the circle. Take the story-related items from the basket, one at a time, and pass them around. Objects that are fragile, or which should not be passed around for any reason, can be held up for all to see and then placed directly on the table.
Name each object and ask a wondering question about each one. As items come back to you, display them on the table. Position the picture of Ganesha so children can see it while you tell the story.
Remove the sound instrument from the story basket. Tell the children that every time you tell a story, you will first use the instrument to help them get their ears, their minds, and their bodies ready to listen. Invite them to sit comfortably and close their eyes (if they are comfortable doing so). You may tell them that closing their eyes can help them focus just on listening. If someone is unable to close their eyes or sit still, invite them to hold one of the story basket items or an item from the fidget basket. In a calm voice, say:
As you breathe in, feel your body opening up with air. As you breathe out, feel yourself relaxing.
Repeat this once or twice and then say:
When I hit the chime (turn the rain stick over), listen as carefully as you can. See how long you can hear its sound. When you can no longer hear it, open your eyes and you will know it is time for the story to begin.
Sound the chime. When the sound has gone, begin telling the story "The Cat." Start with this information, in your own words:
In the Hindu religion there are many gods and goddesses. Ganesha is a god with the head of an elephant and a human body. The god Shiva is his father and the goddess Parvati is his mother. Ganesha is thought to be wise and to bring good fortune. This is one of many Hindu stories about Ganesha.
Read or tell the story.
Use the chime again to indicate that the story is over. Then, ask:
Including All Participants
Make sure everyone has an opportunity to experience the items in the story basket, whether by sight or touch.
You may wish to make fidget objects available to children who find it difficult to sit still while listening to a story or can focus better with sensory stimulation. Remind children where the fidget basket is before you begin the "centering" part of this activity. (For a full description and guidance, see Session 1, Leader Resource 4.)
Consider using rug squares in the storytelling area. Place them in a semi-circle with the rule "one person per square." This can be very helpful for controlling active bodies.
ACTIVITY 3: LIVE ANIMAL OBSERVATION AND INTERACTION (23 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather participants in a seated circle. Ask participants what they know about how one should behave around your animal visitor(s). Establish firm guidelines based on the species you will visit with. Guidelines should include:
Based on the size of your group and the species and numbers of animal visitors, you might allow the children to play with the animals in an informal, unstructured way, or structure the visit: For example, select one child at a time to interact with the animal. If your group is large, form two smaller groups and have one group observe the animals and draw pictures of them while the other group interacts with the animals. Have the groups switch half-way through your time.
Before meeting each animal visitor, ask the children what they know or expect about how this animal will communicate.
As the children interact with the animals, ask questions like:
Including All Participants
Find out whether any of the children are allergic to particular animals. If so, find a different species of animal visitor or choose an alternate activity.
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Our Unitarian Universalist beliefs come from the ethical and spiritual wisdom of the world's religions.
Description of Activity
Gather participants at work tables. Invite them each to decorate a Source Star to take home and share with their family. You might suggest they draw something they learned about or from Buddhism today. As children work, attach one star that says "We learn from World Religions" to the Night Sky.
When children are done, gather them in a circle. Say, in your own words:
Today we talked about how we learn from world religions. We learned from the Hindu faith tradition about being kind to animals.
If you wish to sing "Our Sources," distribute Session 1, Handout 3 or indicate the newsprint where you have posted the lyrics. Teach/lead the song, with a musical volunteer if you have invited someone to help. You might play the music clip of "Our Sources" for the children to sing along.
Distribute Taking It Home and thank participants.
Save the Night Sky display and the handouts/newsprint to use next time.
Including All Participants
At this age, children have a wide range of reading ability. Do not put individual children on the spot to read aloud.
FAITH IN ACTION: CREATING A BACKYARD HABITAT
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Involve your entire congregation in activities related to creating your backyard habitat, such as installing a fountain or birdbath, making birdhouses, planting food plants or providing cover. Choose a day to construct a backyard habitat on your congregational grounds.
Process the experience with questions like:
Optional: celebrate your new backyard habitat by installing a certified wildlife habitat sign (available for a fee from the National Wildlife Federation (at www.nwf.org)).
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Take a few minutes to evaluate the session with your co-leader immediately afterward, while it is fresh. Share your thoughts with any other team leaders and your religious educator. You might find it helpful to consider these questions:
TAKING IT HOME
What is religion? Compassion for all things, which have life. — Hindu Hitopadesha (Sanskrit collection of fables)
Animals can communicate quite well.And they do.And generally speaking, they are ignored. — Alice Walker, African American author
IN TODAY'S SESSION... We learned about the third Unitarian Universalist Source, in children's language "the ethical and spiritual wisdom of the world's religions." We learned what Hinduism teaches us about reverence for life and living without harming animals and heard a Hindu story about the god, Ganesha, whose mother takes the form of a cat without his knowledge. Ganesha chases and torments this cat without thinking, only to learn that he has tormented his mother. We learned about ways animals communicate without words. We practiced interacting kindly with some live animal visitors.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about... animals your family has contact with and how they communicate. Share stories of your own experiences with animals. Encourage your child to be a scientific observer, watching animals and noting their behaviors in various situations and recording their observations with pictures, in writing, or by dictating them to you. Of course, be clear that your child should not create harmful situations in order to study the result!
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try...
Family Adventure. Seek out opportunities to interact with and observe many different creatures, preferably uncaged creatures in natural settings. Visit a 4-H show or a farm to observe domesticated animals. Have you considered serving as a foster family for homeless cats or dogs? Visit an animal shelter or wildlife rehabilitation center. If you go to a zoo, investigate how the animals came to live in captivity and ways the zoo works to preserve and protect wildlife. Whenever you interact with animals, try to observe their behaviors or speak with animal educators to learn how they communicate.
Family Discovery. Read these children's books based on true stories to learn more about animals and their capabilities:
The Chimpanzees I Love: Saving Their World and Ours by Jane Goodall
Koko's Kitten by Dr. Francine Patterson
Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, Paula Kahumbu, and Peter Greste
What Does the Crow Know? The Mysteries of Animal Intelligence by Margery Facklam
A Family Ritual. As a family, create a blessing or prayer for animals. List your hopes and wishes for the animals of your acquaintance, as well as the animals of the world. A good way to start a blessing is the word: "May ... ," followed by a list of your hopes and wishes. End the blessing with "Amen" or "May It Ever Be So." Write the blessing and use it repeatedly at bedtime or at some other time, or you might prefer to create new blessings every day.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: SHARING JOYS AND CONCERNS (7 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity invites children to experience a ritual enacted in many Unitarian Universalist congregations. Sharing joys and concerns can deepen a group's sense of community. It gives participants a chance to share a portion of their lives in a unique way, encourages listening to others and, in many cases, makes a link with the adult worship experience.
Introduce the concept of sharing joys and concerns by saying something like:
As a community of caring people who are kind to each other, we want to know what has made you very happy or what has made you sad. You are invited to put a flame on one of these felt candles, place it on this felt board, and then share your joy or concern. Everyone in the room is asked to listen with respect. You do not have to say anything at all, if you do not want to.
Invite the children to come forward one at a time. As children share, listen without comment.
Variation
Instead of sharing their joys and concerns, invite children to light a candle and, if they wish, answer a question. A question to fit this session might be "What is an animal you know well and what is one thing you know about what they like or don't like?"
Including All Participants
If any children are reluctant to stand to address the group, allow them to speak joys and concerns from where they sit or invite them to light a candle silently.
This sharing circle can be a vital part of congregational ministry. Many congregations have in place a safe congregation policy in the event a participant reveals they are being hurt by someone. Alert your religious educator, minister, or Board president to any troubling issue that arises in this sharing.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: UU SOURCE CONSTELLATION — WORLD RELIGIONS (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Use this activity with your Opening to add additional Source constellations to your Night Sky.
Tell the children:
Our Sources are the way we are guided as Unitarian Universalists to help us live our faith.
Ask the children if they remember (or know) what a "source" is. Allow a moment for responses. Then, explain that the definition of source you are looking for has to do with origin, or beginning.
Distribute the UU Source Constellation handout. Say, in your own words:
Today we are talking about our third Source, wisdom of the world's religions. Unitarian Universalists learn from Hinduism and other religions of the world— Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and many more—that have messages about love. To help us learn from world religions, we have a constellation named in honor of this UU Source. Some stars can be connected to look like a spiral. Can you find it in our Night Sky?
Give children time to look for the spiral. As children find it, let them show you by tracing with a finger on their own handouts.
Distribute gold and silver stars. Have children stick gold stars on the outlined stars and silver stars on the solid stars on their handouts. Then, invite them to pencil the spiral by connecting the gold stars. Tell them they may take home their own World Religions constellations.
Light the chalice.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: ROLE PLAY (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Describe a scenario and assign volunteers to play the characters. In large groups, you can assign more than one child to be the same animals. In small groups, you can leave out some of the characters.
Explain that improvisation means they get to make up their own lines and actions as they go and in this drama all creatures can speak. They should try to act as they animal they are assigned.
Guide the characters to enact their drama with questions like:
As time allows, reassign characters to try different parts or enact a second dramatic scenario.
When you are done, debrief with questions such as:
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 10:
STORY: THE CAT
(C) Uma Krishnaswami, 2006 in The Broken Tusk: Stories of the Hindu God Ganesha (Little Rock: August House, 1996). Reprinted by permission of the author.
When Ganesha was a small child, he often amused himself by playing on the forested slopes of Mount Kailasa. Sometimes he would invent games, pretending to be a great king and leading imaginary warriors into battle. Once, having nothing to do, he said to his mother Parvati, "I have nothing to do."
Parvati looked surprised. "Nothing to do, with the mountains for your playground?" she remarked. "When my spirit is unsettled, or when my soul needs new vision, I sometimes go where the wild creatures go, to see the world though their eyes."
"I'll go out now," decided Ganehsa, "but I will go hunting."
Ganesha looked around outside the hut. He picked up a stout stick and a large flat rock with sharp edges. He tied the two together with lengths of vine. Brandishing his make-believe axe, he ran off, leaping down the mountain trails, shouting with glee, "I am the greatest hunter of all! Wild animals, run for your lives!"
Ganesha stopped and looked about him. "But what shall I hunt?" he said. "I need an animal to hunt."
Suddenly a cat darted out from behind a rock and ran off down the trail.
"Aha!" cried Ganesha. "I'm going to pretend you're a tiger, and I'm going to hunt you!" And he raced off after the cat.
The cat ran down the mountain, mewing with fright. But Ganesha was too caught up with his game to notice her fear. He had convinced himself she was a ferocious tiger, and he was determined to hunt her down.
When he caught up with her, he grabbed her by the tail and pinned her to the ground, shouting, "Now I've got you, you evil tiger!"
The poor cat was too afraid to do anything but lie very still. She could not even meow. She shivered and quaked, and all of a sudden Ganesha noticed that his fearsome prey appeared to have surrendered completely.
Sulkily, he let go of the cat's tail, and she ran off as fast as she could.
"That was no fun at all," muttered Ganesha, as he picked himself up and went back home. When he got there, he was surprised to find that his mother Parvati was covered with scratches and bruises, as if rocks and boulders had cut her skin and thorns had pierced her cheeks.
"Amma, what happened to you?" asked Ganesha, forgetting the disappointments of his own day.
"You did this to me, child," said Parvati to Ganesha. "Don't you remember?"
"I did?" Ganesha was horrified. "No I didn't. I would never hurt you like that."
Parvati said, "Think back. Did you hurt a living creature, only a little while ago?"
Ganesha was about to deny this terrible accusation completely, but then he remembered the cat. He looked at the ground in shame. He hung his head lower and lower until his big ears drooped down to his chest and his trunk slumped on the earth.
"I was that cat," said Parvati. "Remember this for all your life. When you hurt any living creature, you hurt me."
Ganesha hugged his mother sadly. "Forgive me, my mother," he said. "I did not mean to hurt you."
"Ah, but did you mean to hurt the cat?" asked Parvati.
"No," said Ganesha. "Yes—I mean no, no, I didn't. It was only a game."
"For you, perhaps," said Parvati. "But as you can tell, it was no game for me. Take care that in your play you do not injure others or cause them grief and fear."
"Yes, Amma," promised Ganesha. After that he took special care to be gentle to the wild creatures of the forests and streams, as you must, too, for any one of them could be Parvati in disguise.
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 10:
HANDOUT 1: UU SOURCE CONSTELLATION: WORLD RELIGIONS
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 10:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: UU SOURCE CONSTELLATION ANSWER SHEET: WORLD RELIGIONS
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 10:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: SOURCE STAR: WORLD RELIGIONS
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 10:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: ROLE PLAY SCENARIOS
Scenario 1: The setting is a pond in the woods that is drying out in a very hot year.
Characters (adapt this to your local habitat as appropriate):
Frogs (who eat mosquitoes and need water for their eggs and tadpoles to survive)
Female Mosquitoes (who need blood to lay eggs & whose larvae need water to survive)
Water Snakes (who eat frogs and need water to survive)
Human Children (who witness the drying out pond and need to decide how they will respond in the situation)
Scenario 2: A stray cat with kittens needs a home.
Characters:
Parents (who aren't sure they want a cat)
Cat (stray that needs a home)
Kittens (strays that need homes)
Mouse (who already lives in the house with her babies)
Dog (who already lives in the house)
Human Children
Scenario 3: Baby bird falls out of its nest.
Characters:
Baby Bird (has fallen out of nest)
Baby Bird's Brothers and Sisters (still in nest)
Mother Bird
Father Bird
Large Predator bird (hungry)
Worms (or other insect the birds might eat)
Human Children
FIND OUT MORE
Ganesha and Hinduism
Find more stories about Ganesha in The Broken Tusk: Stories of the Hindu God Ganesha retold by Uma Krishnaswami (Little Rock: August House Publishers, 1996).
The website Religion Facts (at www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/index.htm) offers information about Hinduism. The BBC website (at www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/) has information about Hinduism, as well.
Unitarian Universalism and Animal Justice
Read The Souls of Animals by the Rev. Gary Kowalsk (Stillpoint Publishing, 1991).