Tapestry of Faith: Exploring Our Values Through Poetry: A Program for High School Youth

Activity 4: In Search Of Beauty, Part 2

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Pens or pencils and journals

Description of Activity

Participants find out if their sensitivity to beauty was heightened by the meditation and/or discussion.

Tell the group they are going on another hunt for beauty. Say,

This time, take with you the calm and awareness from our meditation and the gentle reminders from the poem(s) we have talked about today. Retrace your steps to the places you visited before. Your mission is the same as before: to look for beauty. In your journal, make a list of what you find. Return in five minutes.

When participants reconvene, invite volunteers to say what they found this time. Lead a discussion, using these questions:

  • What did you see that was new? (Add to the list you started in Activity 1.)
  • How was your search affected by the meditation? By the poem and discussion?

Finally, help participants reflect more deeply on beauty, poetry, and faith. Ask:

  • What, if anything, changed between your first and second hunt for beauty?
  • Why did (or didn't) your observations change?
  • How does Unitarian Universalism help us see beauty? Does worship play a role in appreciating beauty? In what other ways does congregational life relate to beauty?
  • What do we need to cultivate within ourselves in order to be continually "surprised by beauty"?