Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

• Tool of the Day - saddlebags, bicycle panniers or a rucksack, or an image of saddlebags
• Participant lists of their own convictions
• Chalice and candle
• Safety matches and long fireplace matches
• Small dish for spent matches
• Candle snuffer
• Council candles (a tea light or votive candle for each participant, or some to share if group is very large)
• One tea light or votive candle of a different color
• Tray to hold council candles (preferably lined with sand)
• Woolen or other nonflammable blanket for smothering flames in case of emergency
• Optional: Glass bowl, water, and polished pebbles (for all participants, plus one extra) for alternative to council candles in tray
• Optional: Newsprint, markers, and tape
• Optional: A copy of the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook, Singing the Living Tradition
• Optional: Toolbox of Our Faith poster, clear tape, and a photo or drawing of saddlebags
• Optional: Copies of Handout 2: Courage and Conviction Letter for all participants

Preparation for Activity

• Choose closing song(s), chant(s), or reading(s) from options provided under "Description of Activity" or from those regularly used in your congregation. As needed, write the words on newsprint and post. Co-leaders may wish to use the same closing ritual for each Toolbox of Faith session.
• Optional: Decide whether you would like to incorporate an additional song into the Closing, to particularly mark today's theme. In Singing the Living Tradition, Hymn 168, "One More Step," and Hymn 396 "I Know This Rose Will Open," each speak to courage and conviction.
• Customize, print out, and photocopy the Taking It Home section for all participants.
• Optional: Customize, print out, and photocopy Handout 2: Courage and Conviction Letter for all participants.
• Prepare the chalice and lighter or matches for the Reflection. Prepare the tray of council candles, matches, safety measures, etc. for the Sharing of Joys and Concerns. Place items you will need in the center of the Council Circle.
• Decide how to introduce fire safety and emergency procedures to the group. Have needed safety materials nearby.
• Optional: Instead of using a tray of council candles for sharing, you can fill a glass bowl with water. Place polished pebbles next to the bowl. Ask children to come and drop a pebble in the water as they share. Or, you can have a floating council candle tray. Use a large glass vessel filled with water to hold floating tea lights or votive candles.

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 the Council Circle. Light the chalice. Offer words spoken routinely in your congregational worship, or these:

We are Unitarian Universalists

with minds that think,

hearts that love,

and hands that are ready to serve.

Invite participants to reflect on the story as they pass around the Tool of the Day as a talking stick. You may say:

The early Universalist circuit riders gave up the comforts of life to ride into villages and preach what they believed. What do you think kept them going in that hard work? What did they hope to accomplish? Do you think they were successful?

Has your courage ever been tested? What did you do or not do that was courageous? What did you do or not do that you wish you had done differently and with more courage?

What items would you want in your saddlebag if you were heading into our world in these days to live the courage of your convictions? How can you support others in keeping up their courage and their convictions?

Now ask participants to look at the list of convictions they have made during this session. Say:

Is there something on that list that you would hope to hold on to, even at the risk of your comfort or safety? If you are willing, share one item from your list with the group, and say a few words about what that conviction means to you.

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. Gather participants around the chalice; if it has been extinguished, re-light it.

Close with an element (meditation, benediction, song) commonly used in your congregational worship, or use 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 elect to use 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.

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. Teach the group the accompanying movements.

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 they will do to express their inner thoughts and selves. A higher-energy version of the above could involve the group repeating back, chant-style, the statement of each participant, and adding, "Go out into the world, find your convictions, and use your courage!"

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 [quality of faith, e.g., courage and conviction], I will...

Or, if you feel participants all will be willing and able to fill in their own blanks, you might have each child say:

I will fill my saddlebags with UU courage, and go out into the world and stand up for (a conviction they are willing to share with the group)!

Lead the group in responding to each participant's contribution:

Group: Go, UU, go!

If you have not yet done so, invite a participant to attach the photo or illustration of saddlebags to the Toolbox of Our Faith poster. Write "Courage and Conviction" on the poster.

Extinguish the chalice. Distribute Taking It Home handouts. If you have prepared it, also distribute Handout 2: Courage and Conviction Letter.

Thank and dismiss participants.