LOVE WILL GUIDE US
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 14: LOVE BUILDS TRUST
BY REV. ALICE ANACHEKA-NASEMANN AND CATHY CARTWRIGHT
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/8/2014 2:33:32 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
Love is the strongest force the world possesses, and yet it is the humblest imaginable. — Mahatma Gandhi
The Reverend Margaret Barr's work to provide a non-denominational school for children in India exemplifies the seventh Unitarian Universalist Source: "Our Unitarian Universalist beliefs come from faithful words and actions that shape our Unitarian and Universalist heritage." This session introduces Indian children's games and simple greetings that participants will recognize as parallel to their own customary games and greetings.
The children explore diversity within the group by getting to know one another better; they strengthen their community as they build trust. Diversity alone is not the goal here, rather understanding that to truly include someone, we need to know who they are and where they come from.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Opening | 7 |
Activity 1: Kith Kith | 15 |
Activity 2: Story — Reverend Margaret Barr, a Unitarian Guided by Love | 13 |
Activity 3: Many Ways to Say Hello | 15 |
Faith In Action: Raise Funds for Margaret Barr Children's Village | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Sharing Joys and Concerns | 7 |
Alternate Activity 2: UU Source Constellation — Our UU Faith Heritage | 10 |
Alternate Activity 3: Parcheesi | 20 |
Alternative Activity 4: Group Ties | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Mary Pipher, a Unitarian Universalist and author of Reviving Ophelia, uses a Lakota Sioux word, tiospaye (ti-yo-spa-ye). It means "warmhearted, extended family." It signals a community where everyone belongs, everyone contributes, everyone benefits.
Do you agree that all children, including ours, need a tiospaye? A safe environment in which to explore and grow? A community beyond immediate family where adults are trusted, not strangers feared? Where the ancient stories rich with meaning are told, again and again?
Only in community do we learn the lessons of relationship. Community demands civility. When we are in regular contact with other people, what we say and do matters: Mistakes require apologies; triumphs evoke praise; sorrows evoke sympathy.
The group you are with can be tiospaye. With tiospaye in mind, center yourself in the interdependent web of caring and cooperation, grounded in tradition but not bound by it. Open your heart and mind to possibility and mystery, to the cosmos beyond the self.
SESSION PLAN
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:
The seventh Unitarian Universalist Source comes from UUs from long ago and now, whose words and deeds shape our faith heritage and whose examples can guide us to love. Today we will hear about Reverend Margaret Barr, a Unitarian minister. She started a school to help children in India find the way to 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: KITH KITH (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Played in the streets of India, Kith Kith is a game similar to hopscotch. If you are familiar with the traditional hopscotch game, you will notice differences, primarily the use of a round disk instead of a stone.
Say, in your own words:
We're going to play a well known game from India called kith kith. Kith kith means "one two houses." When Reverend Margaret Barr was gathering students for her school, kith kith would have been a common game among the children.
Explain: One person at a time plays. The disk (a plastic lid) is tossed into square one. The player jumps into the square, lands on one foot, and, bending down, touches the disk. Still standing on one foot, the player uses the other foot to tap or kick the disk into the next consecutive square. The player is out if:
The player then moves to the back of the line and, when it comes time for a second turn resumes in the square where they left off. The child who completes all the squares first is the winner.
Follow up with these questions:
Including All Participants
If any participants have mobility challenges, use an alternate activity.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — REVEREND MARGARET BARR, A UNITARIAN GUIDED BY LOVE (13 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather participants 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. Say, in your own words:
Today we are going to talk about a Unitarian minister from England, Margaret Barr. Her congregation was in India. It wasn't actually a congregation like ours. It was a school and an orphanage. There is still a Margaret Barr Children's Village in India's Khasi Hills today!
Reverend Margaret Barr is one of our faith ancestors. The way she let love guide her is part of our seventh Source.
Then, say:
When you hear the chime (or other sound instrument), 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.
Use the chime. When the sound has gone, begin telling the story.
Sound the chime again to indicate that the story is over.
Follow up with these questions:
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: MANY WAYS TO SAY HELLO (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
More than 30 languages are spoken in India. Some are tied to a religious culture (e.g., Hindu people who speak Hindi, Muslims who speak Arabic) while others are native to a region, such as the greeting word "khublei" in the story.
Have children sit in a circle. Go around the circle, handing one card to each child. As you hand out each card, say "hello" in the language on the card and have the child repeat it back to you until they can say it.
Return to your seat. Say, in your own words:
We're going to learn how to say hello in a number of new languages. I'm going to start, in English, which is also spoken in India. I'll turn to the person on my right and say "hello." They will say "hello" back and then turn to the person next to them and say "hello," who will also repeat it and turn to the next person and so on. When it goes all around the circle, the next person will begin. They will say "hello," but instead of English they will use the language printed on their card. We will go around the circle again, until everyone has said "hello" in all the languages on all our cards.
Ask for questions. Answer questions until you are sure everyone understands. Then begin.
When the group has completed the activity, ask children to pass their cards back to you. Process with these questions:
Variation
To take this simple game to the next level, see if someone can remember all the ways to say "hello."
Including All Participants
Be aware of children with any reading difficulty. Take the time to give clear oral instruction to each child when you give them their card.
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Our Unitarian Universalist beliefs come from examples of faithful belief and action from our Unitarian Universalist heritage.
Description of Activity
Gather the children 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 today about our Unitarian Universalist faith and its history, or things children who live in India might like or do. As children work, attach one star that says "We learn from Our UU Faith Heritage" to the Night Sky.
When children are done, gather them in a circle. Say, in your own words:
Today we learned about the Unitarian minister Margaret Barr. She started a school in India where children from different religions learned to read together, and learned to be guided by love. We can learn from Rev. Barr's example of faith and action. That is our seventh Source: Examples we might follow from the women and men and congregations who were Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists before us whose actions were guided by love. We can learn from them how our faith guides us in love.
Lead the children to say together:
Our Unitarian Universalist beliefs come from faithful words and actions that shape our Unitarian and Universalist heritage.
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: RAISE FUNDS FOR MARGARET BARR CHILDREN'S VILLAGE
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Organize a fundraising project to raise support for and awareness of the Margaret Barr Children's Village in India's Khasi Hills. The fundraiser could span several months, for example, if you are collecting items like ink cartridges. Or, plan a one-time fundraising activity for after a worship service.
Suggestions:
There are many possibilities for fundraisers and they do not need to be elaborate. Celebrate the amount collected by the group, even if it seems small.
After the fundraiser, invite those who participated to tell the congregation about Margaret Barr and the contemporary children's village, perhaps as a Story for All Ages.
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
Love is the strongest force the world possesses, and yet it is the humblest imaginable. — Mahatma Gandhi
IN TODAY'S SESSION... the children learned about our seventh Source of Unitarian Universalism, "faithful words and actions that shape our Unitarian and Universalist heritage." The group heard a story about Rev. Margaret Barr, a Unitarian minister from England who travelled to India and started a school for children of all religions to attend together. When she arrived, she noticed most of the schools were parochial, attended only by children of their respective religions. She met Mahatma Gandhi and he supported her endeavor.
The group played Kith Kith, an Indian game similar to hopscotch. They learned to say "hello" in a variety of India's languages.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about ... other Unitarians and Universalists who have shaped our religious heritage and modeled being guided by love. Check out the Famous UUs website (at www.famousuus.com/) and consult its extensive list when your child needs to write a biography for school.
Ask your child about:
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try ... talking at home about creative conflict resolution. What are some ways to communicate when conflict arises in the family? Having this discussion when there is no conflict will engage everyone in a calm way.
A Family Game. Play Parcheesi, the official board game of India.
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 "Do you know of a UU, from long ago or now, whose actions made a difference for others because they were guided by love?"
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. It will be important to alert your religious educator, minister, or Board president to any troubling issue that arise in this sharing.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: UU SOURCE CONSTELLATION — OUR UU FAITH HERITAGE (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 seventh Source, the examples we can learn from of people and communities who were Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists before us—our faith heritage from UUs from long ago and now who were guided by love. Their beliefs and their actions can show us how to let love guide us. This Source is symbolized by our UU symbol, a chalice.
Give children time to look for the chalice. 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 chalice by connecting the gold stars.
While they are working, ask children if they know of any Unitarian Universalists who have made a big difference in their lives or in a larger way for people around the world. You might say:
I bet you do know about some Unitarian Universalists who have made a big difference. One was Beatrix Potter, who wrote all the wonderful stories about Peter Rabbit. Another was Fannie Farmer; she wrote a recipe book that showed how to cook something so it tastes the same each time, by using measurements. One was Charles Darwin. Who knows why we remember Charles Darwin?
They all had something to share, guided by love. When we remember them, that can help us live guided by love, too. We are proud they are part of our UU faith heritage.
Tell them they may take home their own UU Faith Heritage constellations.
Light the chalice.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: PARCHEESI (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The national game of India is Parchisi, known as Parcheesi to Americans. Known as Pachisi, Parchisi, Parchesi, and Twenty-Five, it is a descendent of the older game of Chaupar.
Arrange two to four children around each game board. Explain the game:
Parcheesi is a race between two, three, or four players moving pawn pieces around a board. Each player starts from their home base and races the others to a shared center.
Each player has four matching pawns. The game starts with each player's pawns in their home circle.
Players roll two die when it is their turn and move their pawns by following these guidelines:
Invite the children to begin playing.
With a few minutes left, ask children to finish their games and help gather the pieces and put away the Parcheesi sets. Re-gather the group and process with these questions:
Including All Participants
Most children this age will be understand the game's rules and goal, even if they have never seen it before, while some may quickly grasp the strategic opportunities. As with any game of competition, the excitement level can accelerate quickly. Have an adult "coach" at each table. Be aware of children who cannot tolerate loud noise or overstimulation.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 4: GROUP TIES (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Give everyone a length of yarn and ask them to hold it up. Say:
As you see someone holding up the same color, go and tie two of your ends together to make a longer length. As you find your whole group, you will form a line. Each person should keep holding part of the yarn.
Give the children time to tie up in color groups. Then, call out (for example) "Blues, tie to Reds." Direct two children at the ends to tie their two lines together.
Keep joining groups until everyone is standing in a circle together, each child still holding part of the yarn.
Explain that the circle of yarn represents a way they, too, are connected through their time together, and yet we are different (diverse) just like the different colored yarns. Ask:
When everyone has had a chance to share, go around the circle with scissors. Cut a length for each child by cutting between the knots, so each length includes two colors of yarn tied together. Invite children to tie their lengths on their wrists as a reminder of their time together.
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 14:
STORY: REVEREND MARGARET BARR, A UNITARIAN GUIDED BY LOVE
Adapted from "Margaret Barr Teaching Trust" in A Stream of Living Souls by Denise Tracy. Used with permission.
A stone struck Margaret in the leg. "Ow," she said. She turned to see where the stone had come from.
Crowds of children—young children—faced each other angrily. A British woman, Margaret watched, not understanding the words they spoke, only understanding their fear and hatred.
"They are calling each other 'filthy, dirty, stupid' and much worse. It is obvious they hate each other," said the translator.
"What else is happening?" Margaret asked.
"There are three groups of children. One group is Muslim. One is Christian. One is Hindu. They go to separate schools. They have been taught to fear and hate each other," the translator replied.
"Education does this?" Margaret questioned.
"Schools in India are based on religion. You choose which school you attend depending on your beliefs. Missionaries are often teachers and they teach that the Christian religion is better than any other religion. The Hindus and Muslims of India teach the same. So religion is a source of great tension," the translator sighed.
"You have to be carefully taught," she thought. "What would it have been like if I had been raised to despise all people who were different from me?" As a Unitarian, she couldn't even imagine it.
Margaret was in India to work with Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi's most important work was teaching people how to read. Many people, children and adults, did not know how to read or write. Gandhi knew that if people were literate, then they could learn about the world; if they could learn about the world, then they would know more about each other; if they knew more about each other, then they would learn compassion. Gandhi knew compassion would save the world from hate. This is why Margaret, a Unitarian minister, was working with Gandhi. She believed in his message of compassion.
One day Margaret said to Gandhi, "Instead of schools based on religion, let's start schools where all religions are taught. We can focus on reading, but we can also focus on the message of love and compassion." And Gandhi agreed.
"If I were to start this school, I would bring a universalist point of view to all the lessons. I would teach that living a life of love is the path to God, no matter what god you believe in. Love is a teaching for everyone, whether they follow Brahma, Buddha, or Jesus," Margaret said to Gandhi. And Gandhi agreed.
"I would like to teach all children that being kind to each other is as basic as reading. It is common in all religions. Then they can grow up to be good Hindus and Muslims and Christians," Margaret said. And Gandhi agreed.
And so, with the help of many Unitarian and Universalist friends, Margaret Barr opened a school and an orphanage in a small town in the Khasi hills of northeastern India. She traveled back and forth from England, raising money. Every time she returned, they would greet her with "Kubhei, Kong Barr. Kubhei!"
Whenever she got discouraged, she would remember the crowds of children she had seen, calling names and throwing stones. She would say to herself, "If I can teach one child love and compassion, that child will teach one family. If a child can teach one family, then that family could teach one village. If one family can teach a village, then that village could teach an entire nation. Then there will be no more hatred in the world."
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 14:
HANDOUT 1: UU SOURCE CONSTELLATION: OUR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FAITH HERITAGE
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 14:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: UU SOURCE CONSTELLATION ANSWER SHEET: OUR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FAITH HERITAGE
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 14:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: SAY HELLO CARDS
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 14:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: SOURCE STAR: OUR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FAITH HERITAGE
LOVE WILL GUIDE US: SESSION 14:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: SOURCE STAR: OUR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FAITH HERITAGE
FIND OUT MORE
Read about A. Margaret Barr (Annie Barr) (at www.uupcc.org/docs/Annie_Barr_brochure.pdf) on the website of the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council.
A brief biography of Rev. Barr on the website of Britain's Unitarian Women's League (at www.unitariansocieties.org.uk/womensleague/womhistory1.html) reads, in part:
In 1932, hearing that a minister was needed to serve the little group of Unitarian churches in the Khasi Hills of Assam in north-east India, she wrote to the Committee responsible for making the appointment: "Here I am: send me." However the committee refused to send a woman to such a lonely post. So Margaret got herself a teaching job in Calcutta and began to pay unofficial visits to the Khasi Hills. Eventually, through sheer determination, she won: in 1936 she was given official charge of the churches there.
Unitarian Universalist Catie Scudera maintains a website about the recently created Margaret Barr Children's Village (at cmskhublei.wordpress.com/about-the-childrens-village-faq/) in India's Khasi Hills.
The Unitarian Inter-Faith Fellowship of India published Y. Surrendra Paul's biography, Margaret Barr: A Universal Soul, in 1978.