TOOLBOX OF FAITH
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 1: FAITH (TOOLBOX AND RULER)
BY KATE TWEEDIE COVEY
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/8/2014 7:09:40 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success. — George Washington Carver (1864-1943), horticulturist, chemist, and educator who started his life as a slave in the United States
The toolbox symbolizes our Unitarian Universalist faith. In this session, there are opportunities to reflect on what we might put in a toolbox of our faith and what tools our faith can provide. In addition to the toolbox, this session introduces a ruler to illustrate the rules and promises that are decided together. Discussion may include the nature of our faith as something we decide together. Allow time for participants to discuss the differences between deciding together versus being told what to do. Emphasize the meaning of "to covenant" as "to promise together." Participants will create their own group covenant.
This session introduces the Toolbox of Our Faith poster that provides continuity as a visual representation of the metaphorical tools used throughout the program. See the Introduction to the Toolbox of Faith program ("Before You Start") for suggestions on how to make and decorate this poster.
In advance of this session, you may wish to customize and distribute the leader resource, Introductory Letter to Participants and Families. The letter describes the Toolbox of Faith program and makes a request for donations of actual tools you will need for this and future sessions.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
ACTIVITY | MINUTES |
Welcoming and Entering | |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Story — The Difference between Heaven and Hell | 5 |
Activity 2: Eating in Heaven and Hell Game | 15 |
Activity 3: Expression Music | 10 |
Activity 4: Toolbox of Our Faith poster and Group Covenant | 15 |
Activity 5: Council Circle | 15 |
Faith in Action: Ideas | |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Take a moment and let your body and mind settle. If you are comfortable doing so, spend a few moments in peaceful meditation. In preparation for this session on faith, you may wish to reflect on how you feel about the seven Principles that our congregations have covenanted to create together.
Our Principles are not beliefs but promises to each other that we try to live up to. Aim to guide this session with the idea of covenanting in mind.
As an adult leader, your opinion may have more influence than those of participants. Therefore, your personal disclosure should not become part of the discussion unless participants ask you a question directly. In that case, be sure to preface your opinion by setting the context that each of us — adults and children — has differing opinions, and yours is one among many. Then guide the conversation away from your own opinion and allow participants to explore their own thoughts.
SESSION PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This section is intended for the time before the beginning of a session when participants arrive individually over a period of time (that is, "straggle in").
If the group arrives together from worship or another scheduled event, conduct this poster activity within the session, as part of Activity 4: Toolbox of Our Faith poster and Group Covenant.
Welcome participants as they arrive. Introduce them to the title of the program, Toolbox of Faith, and ask them to help create the poster. Have them find and cut out tools and hardware paraphernalia from hardware store ads and paste them on the border of the Toolbox of Our Faith poster.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants will learn about the tools for life that we can gain from our faith, such as courage, questioning, and love.
Participants will learn about making rules together, and learn the meaning of covenant as promises we make together.
Invite participants to sit in a circle in your Council Circle space. Light the chalice.
Indicate where the opening words are posted for any children who are unfamiliar with them. Lead the group in reciting:
We are Unitarian Universalists
with minds that think,
hearts that love,
and hands that are ready to serve.
Introduce the Tools of the Day — a toolbox and a ruler. You might ask, "What do you think makes these a Unitarian Universalist's tool and toolbox?" Allow participants to share ideas. Affirm that truly there is no one answer, and then explain that the toolbox represents our faith, Unitarian Universalism, and it is the name of the program, Toolbox of Faith.
You may say:
During our time together we will discover all sorts of different tools of our faith, things that we learn about and adopt for our own growth. Examples include the tool of courage, the tool of questioning, and the tool of justice. Each session, we will be talking about a different tool.
In this first session, the tool is a ruler. The ruler represents how we make our rules. Someone decided to use this measure of twelve inches as a standard. It may have been the length of a particular king's foot. Then, everyone agreed to use the foot as a measure.
Unitarian Universalism is a faith that values the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. Just as a ruler was once agreed upon, we try to make our rules together and vote on them together. We also try to make promises to each other. This is called a covenant. A covenant answers the questions, "Why are we Unitarian Universalists? What is it that binds us together as a congregation and a faith?"
Read or share the words that introduce the Unitarian Universalist Principles: "We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote . . ." Then tell the group, in your own words:
This is a key part of growing in faith and deepening in religious understanding. One of the sources of our faith is "direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life." This means that each of us has experience with the Spirit of Life. Because of that direct experience, rather than needing to rely solely on the experience of someone else, we each can contribute to making the rules and promises. Once again, the covenant that our congregations adopted gives us a say, or a vote, in the things that concern us. That's a tool of our faith, that ruler that each of us helps make.
Pass around the tools. As children pass them, invite them to share an experience they have had with a ruler and/or toolbox.
Collect the tools and extinguish the chalice.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Through this folk tale, the participants will understand the value of cooperation, a key quality of making promises.
Introduce the story by saying that this folk tale is a version of one told in China and Japan.
Read the story aloud. Or, tell the story dramatically: To demonstrate how people ate in hell, tape a spoon to a ruler or dowel so that the entire length is longer than your own arm. When you get to the next paragraph about heaven, tape the other spoon to another ruler. Ask some participants to help illustrate the way the people ate in heaven, by pretending to feed each other.
After the story, invite participants to share their reflections and initial thoughts about the folk tale. The discussion will be continued in depth in the Council Circle.
ACTIVITY 2: EATING IN HEAVEN AND HELL GAME (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants will experience the fun of acting out a classic folk tale and embodying the spirit of cooperation that is the difference between heaven and hell.
Invite each participant to tape a spoon to a ruler. Tell them that they are now in hell and that their elbows are fused and cannot bend. Have them try to feed themselves without bending their elbows.
After a minute, tell them that their elbows are still fused but now they are in heaven. Allow time for participants to work out a way to feed each other.
Including All Participants
Be sure to avoid foods to which any participant may be allergic.
With a movement-challenged participant, you may wish to use a tea infusing spoon with a covered lid that will hold food. Or make a sign with the word "Heaven" on one side and "Hell" on the other. Allow the child who is movement-challenged to be the sign-holder. Encourage some comedy and ask them to switch it back and forth quickly and have other participants act out the appropriate feeding.
ACTIVITY 3: EXPRESSION MUSIC (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Further explore the concept of covenant, an aspect of Unitarian Universalist faith, through music.
Have the group stand in a circle and introduce the song, "From You I Receive." As you teach the words, teach the movements that accompany them:
From you I receive | Participants reach out toward others, then scoop air toward themselves at chest level — that is, receiving it. |
To you I give | Opposite from above. Participants scoop the air at chest level and push it outward to "give" to others. |
Together we share | All grasp hands. |
By this we live | Participants each make fists of strength and stack both hands together at belly button level. |
ACTIVITY 4: TOOLBOX OF OUR FAITH POSTER AND GROUP COVENANT (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants will learn about making rules together, and learn the meaning of a covenant as promises we make together, as they develop a group covenant that will be attached to the Toolbox of Our Faith poster. The combined poster serves at least three purposes. It provides a visual representation of the metaphorical tools of our faith explored in each session. It keeps the group covenant before the group each time they meet, and it provides continuity throughout the program.
Using the Principles as a guideline, ask participants to brainstorm their own group covenant. Record their ideas on the newsprint you have posted.
For example, for the seventh Principle, which addresses "respect for the interdependent web," encourage participants to think about how they will respect one another and the environment around them, including the meeting room, the congregational facility, and beyond.
Help participants formulate positive statements, such as, "We will respect the furniture and belongings in our room," instead of, "Do not break things."
Participants may wish to agree together on consequences for breaking the covenant or promises that are made to each other. It's okay to allow some humorous suggestions. You might try writing them on a separate piece of newsprint for everyone to giggle about.
When the brainstorming is done, ask for reflections. Is there anything that someone wishes to change or remove or add? Ask for suggestions of how they want to decorate and write the words. Are there some calligraphers and artists who might decorate it? Could each sentence be given to a pair of children to write it out in a creative way on a strip of paper, which you will then glue onto the poster?
Present the Toolbox of Our Faith poster you have prepared, or have participants prepare it now. Be sure to add a picture to represent this session's tools, a toolbox and a ruler, and write the word "Faith" on the poster.
Post the Toolbox of Our Faith poster and the group covenant in a prominent spot.
ACTIVITY 5: COUNCIL CIRCLE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Each session closes with a Council Circle. The goal of the Council Circle is to share our stories, listen to each other, and grow in faith together. Listening to each other is a religious act. The Council Circle includes three rituals: Reflection, Sharing of Joys and Concerns, and a Closing.
Reflection
Gather the group in a circle. Light the chalice.
Invite participants to reflect about the story of this session as they pass the Tool of the Day as a talking stick. Offer the following questions:
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
After discussion has closed, invite participants to share important things in their lives. What they share may or may not be related to the session topic and discussion.
Invite participants to light a council candle from the chalice flame as they share. If there are not enough candles, it is OK to snuff out and re-light a candle. Save the candle of a different color for last. When all who want to share joys and concerns have done so, light this candle with the words, "For all the joys and concerns that remain unspoken."
If you are using a glass bowl, water, and stones instead of council candles, invite participants to drop a stone into the bowl when they share. End the sharing by adding one last stone for unspoken joys and concerns.
Closing
Extinguish the council candles. You may extinguish the chalice now, or after your closing ritual.
Close with an element (meditation, benediction, song) commonly used in your congregational worship services, or with one or more of the suggestions below. Base your choice(s) on the needs and energy level of your group. With your co-leaders, you may wish to choose the same ritual to close every session.
A. Lead the group in singing "Meditation on Breathing," Hymn 1009 in Singing the Journey: A Hymnbook Supplement to Singing the Living Tradition. Hear the simple tune online (at www.uua.org/publications/singingjourney/52328.shtml).
B. Have the group read in unison Reading 452 by Marjorie Montgomery in Singing the Living Tradition:
Life is a gift for which we are grateful.
We gather in community to celebrate
the glories
and mysteries
of this great gift.
C. Sing or say the words to "From You I Receive," Hymn 402 in Singing the Living Tradition using the movements introduced in Activity 3: Expression Music.
From you I receive | Scoop the air by reaching toward other participants, then bringing air toward yourself at chest level, that is, receiving it. |
To you I give | Opposite from above — scoop the air at chest level and push it outward to "give" to other participants. |
Together we share | All grasp hands. |
By this we live | Make fists of strength with each hand and stack one hand on top of the other at belly button level. |
D. Go around the circle — using the Tool of the Day as a talking stick again, if you like — and invite each participant to say one thing he/she will do between now and your next session that relates to promises, or covenants.
E. Sing a familiar song. Suggestions: "Thula Klizeo," Hymn 1056 in Singing the Journey; "I Know This Rose Will Open," Hymn 396 in Singing the Living Tradition; or "Rejoice in Love," Hymn 380 in Singing the Living Tradition.
F. Use this team spirit chant, "Pump It Up!"
Leader: Pump, pump, pump it up!
Group: Pump, pump, pump it up!
Leader: Pump that UU spirit up!
Group: Pump that UU spirit up!
Instead of "Pump it up!" you may use "Fire it up!" or "Keep it up!"
Pass the Tool of the Day around the circle and invite participants, one at a time, to voice a way they plan to use the quality of faith that was explored today. Guide them to say:
With my UU faith, I will . . .
Lead the group in responding to each participant's contribution:
Group: "Go, UU, go!"
If the chalice is still lit, extinguish it now.
Distribute Taking It Home handouts.
Thank and dismiss participants.
FAITH IN ACTION: IDEAS
Description of Activity
Gift of Covenant
Engage the group in creating and decorating a poster with the words of your own congregational covenant. Present the poster as a gift to congregational leadership or another group, for a group meeting space, a hallway, or another communal space.
Practicing Collaboration
Practice cooperation and collaboration with another non-profit group such as Campfire or Scouts, or with another faith community, by joining with them in a project or service.
Congregational Stewardship
Participate as a group in a congregational potluck. Offer to be servers and helpers.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Reflect on these questions and discuss them with your co-leaders:
TAKING IT HOME
It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success. — George Washington Carver (1864-1943), horticulturist, chemist and educator who started his life as a slave in the United States
IN TODAY'S SESSION . . .
This program uses the toolbox to symbolize our Unitarian Universalist faith. In this session, the group reflected on what we might put in a Toolbox of Faith and what tools our faith can provide. We used a ruler to illustrate rules and promises that are decided together, and we talked about the nature of our faith as something we build together. We discuss the meaning of "to covenant" as "to promise together." The group made their own group covenant.
This session explored two Unitarian Universalist Principles. Participants learned that we value the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large (fifth Principle), and that Unitarian Universalism affirms that we are part of an interdependent web (seventh Principle).
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about . . .
Which are harder to keep, promises (covenants) or rules? Why?
What role does "covenant" have in the way your congregation is governed?
Does your community have a covenant? Discuss the promises made together in your neighborhood, your town or city, your state, our nation. Does writing a promise down transform it into a covenant, or make it more like a "rule?"
Discuss family rules as a covenant, that is, promises made together to make it possible for each member to be safe and happy. How might promises change as children grow up and the balance of responsibility and freedom in their lives changes?
Have each member of the family share an example of how he/she uses covenants in his/her own life, outside their family time together. For example, someone may be part of a covenant at a workplace, in school, as an athlete, as a member of a sports team or musical group, or as a friend.
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try . . .
A FAMILY RITUAL
As a grace before a shared meal or for a chalice-lighting ritual, say together these words by Marjorie Montgomery (Reading 452 in the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook, Singing the Living Tradition):
Life is a gift for which we are grateful.
We gather in community to celebrate
the glories
and mysteries
of this great gift.
FAMILY DISCOVERY
See if your congregational library has or wishes to order the book (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=707) A Lamp in Every Corner: A Unitarian Universalist Storybook by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2004). This is a collection of 21 short stories that amplify and explore the seven Principles through Unitarian Universalist history and traditions, including stories about famous Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist men and women. It includes helpful suggestions for the novice storyteller and a list of further storytelling resources. Take turns reading or performing the stories in your family.
TOOLBOX OF FAITH: SESSION 1:
STORY: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL
Adapted by Elisa Pearmain from a Japanese and Chinese folk tale.
To tell the story dramatically, tape a spoon to a ruler so that the entire length is longer than your own arm to demonstrate how people ate in hell. When you get to the next paragraph about heaven, tape another spoon to another ruler. Give spoons to two participants. Invite them to pretend to feed each other to illustrate the way the people ate in heaven.
Long ago there lived an old woman who had a wish. She wished more than anything to see for herself the difference between heaven and hell. The monks in the temple agreed to grant her request. They put a blindfold around her eyes, and said, "First you shall see hell."
When the blindfold was removed, the old woman was standing at the entrance to a great dining hall. The hall was full of round tables, each piled high with the most delicious foods — meats, vegetables, fruits, breads, and desserts of all kinds! The smells that reached her nose were wonderful.
The old woman noticed that, in hell, there were people seated around those round tables. She saw that their bodies were thin, and their faces were gaunt, and creased with frustration. Each person held a spoon. The spoons must have been three feet long! They were so long that the people in hell could reach the food on those platters, but they could not get the food back to their mouths. As the old woman watched, she heard their hungry desperate cries. "I've seen enough," she cried. "Please let me see heaven."
And so again the blindfold was put around her eyes, and the old woman heard, "Now you shall see heaven." When the blindfold was removed, the old woman was confused. For there she stood again, at the entrance to a great dining hall, filled with round tables piled high with the same lavish feast. And again, she saw that there were people sitting just out of arm's reach of the food with those three-foot long spoons.
But as the old woman looked closer, she noticed that the people in heaven were plump and had rosy, happy faces. As she watched, a joyous sound of laughter filled the air.
And soon the old woman was laughing too, for now she understood the difference between heaven and hell for herself. The people in heaven were using those long spoons to feed each other.
TOOLBOX OF FAITH: SESSION 1:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: INTRODUCTORY LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS AND FAMILIES
Before the Toolbox of Faith program begins, customize this letter for your program and distribute to participants' families as a handout, mailer, or group e-mail. You may like to do this several weeks ahead of the first session, to give families time to gather real tools they can contribute to the program.
Dear [name of participant] and Family,
What do duct tape, a hardhat, sandpaper, and a magnifying glass have to do with religious education? They are some of the real tools that we will use in the Toolbox of Faith program as symbols of the tools we use to be Unitarian Universalists. For example, we will use duct tape to reflect on being flexible in our faith; we will use a hardhat to represent being resilient in our faith; and we will use sandpaper to illustrate how to smooth out rough spots with humor in our faith. Welcome to the Toolbox of Faith program!
In Toolbox of Faith, you may learn how to play the Cloak and Dagger game, how to make a compass and a duct tape lunch bag, and what Athenian ostracism meant in classical Greece. (It's like being "voted off the island," 4000 years ago!). You will hear intriguing, thought-provoking stories about some of the important qualities of our faith, and have Council Circle discussions to reflect on how we live our Unitarian Universalist faith in our everyday lives.
NOTE: We will need several of each of the following tools to use during our sessions. Please let us know if your family can donate or lend:
SESSION 1: Toolbox and Ruler (Faith)
SESSION 2: Magnifying Glass (Questioning)
SESSION 3: Compass (Integrity)
SESSION 4: Duct Tape (Flexibility)
SESSION 5: Mirror (Reflection)
SESSION 6: Paintbrush (Expression)
SESSION 7: Chalk (Democratic Process)
SESSION 8: Hammer (Power)
SESSION 9: Canteen (Spirit of Life)
SESSION 10: Saddlebags, such as bike panniers or backpacks (Courage)
SESSION 11: Listening Tool, such as an auto mechanics' listening tool, a stethoscope, large seashells, or even a spy listening toy (Listening)
SESSION 12: Sandpaper (Humor)
SESSION 13: Gloves (Love)
SESSION 14: Flashlight (Justice)
SESSION 15: Level (Atonement)
SESSION 16: Hardhat (Resiliency)
Please contact us if you can lend some tools. Thanks!
We look forward to seeing you on [first session day, date, at time and place] to begin the program.
(Co-leader names and contact information)
FIND OUT MORE
For an introduction to our faith, check out some of the pamphlets that may be available in your congregation or from the Unitarian Universalist Association online bookstore (at www.uuabookstore.org/showproducts.cfm?FullCat=51).
For stories about the Principles, see if your congregational library has or wishes to order the book, A Lamp in Every Corner: A Unitarian Universalist Storybook by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=707) (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2004), a collection of 21 short stories about Unitarian Universalist history and traditions, famous Unitarian Universalist men and women, and the seven Principles. It includes suggestions for the novice storyteller and a list of storytelling resources.