A PLACE OF WHOLENESS
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Youth
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Youth
BY BETH DANA AND JESSE JAEGER
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 7:02:37 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/tapestryoffaith.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Beth Dana is a seminarian at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, working toward a Master of Divinity. She is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist from Albany, New York, where she was active in her congregation’s religious education program and youth group. She served in various district and continental leadership roles as a youth, including as a trainer and trainer-of-trainers for the UUA’s programs in Youth Leadership Development, Youth Advising, and Groundwork (Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression). Beth has been a Unitarian Universalist religious education director, participant, teacher, curriculum designer, and advocate.
Jesse Jaeger currently a stay-at-home father to two great young Unitarian Universalists and the part-time Director of Membership and Leadership Development for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lynn. He also leads Our Whole Lives Grades 7 to 9 and 10 to 12 facilitator trainings and does independent consulting to congregations and small non-profits around visioning, leadership development and conflict transformation. Previously he spent six years as the Director of Youth Ministry at the Unitarian Universalist Association traveling around the association supporting the development youth ministry programs. Jesse has a B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Montana and a Masters of Organizational Leadership, as well as Servant Leadership Certificate, from Gonzaga University.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Copyright (C) information
The authors would like to thank:
THE PROGRAM
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. — T.S. Eliot
Unitarian Universalists of all ages are inheritors of a theological history, as well as co-creators of the future of our living tradition. A Place of Wholeness is designed to help youth develop a holistic understanding of their Unitarian Universalist faith and community, articulate what this means to them, and feel confident in living their faith with integrity.
For many youth, especially those raised in Unitarian Universalist communities, the principles, values, and theologies of Unitarian Universalism are in their bones. A Place of Wholeness is an opportunity to examine their faith journeys to better understand themselves in the context of Unitarian Universalism. Every workshop begins with the same opening reading, the last lines of which are: "We are part of this living tradition. Through it we become whole, and through us it becomes whole." It is this sense of interdependence that the program reinforces.
There are several overarching themes that structure this program. Wholeness—the primary theme of the program—is defined as the way in which our Unitarian Universalist "outsides" match our Unitarian Universalist "insides" by understanding, professing, and living our faith. Wholeness is also important in the sense that each person is integral to the wholeness of the Unitarian Universalist community. Related to the path to wholeness is the faith journey, which is an ongoing exploration much like T.S. Eliot describes in the above quote. Participants explore their spiritual journeys thus far and by applying the metaphor of migration—of birds, and of people—to their lives.
Each workshop explores a different theme of our faith by introducing its roots in Unitarian Universalism, then helping participants give it "wings" by making it their own. James Luther Adams' Five Smooth Stones of Religious Liberalism ground these themes in each workshop.
The work of Earl Morse Wilbur and other historians are reflected in six core values of Unitarianism and Universalism explored in this program. These core values include faith, love, hope, reason, freedom, and tolerance.
A Place of Wholeness begins with our Unitarian Universalist communities and the experiences and stories of the youth participants. At "the end of all [their] exploring," participants will "arrive where [they] started and know the place for the first time," understanding both their Unitarian Universalist community and the story of their faith journey. They will see themselves as an integral part of our living tradition.
GOALS
This program will:
LEADERS
To be most effective, leaders need to make connections within their congregation and have a solid knowledge of Unitarian Universalism. We recommend that leaders not be new to the congregation or at least not new to Unitarian Universalism. At least one leader who grew up Unitarian Universalist would be useful. The ideal team of leaders would include at least two adults with diversity in gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic class. Because theology and spirituality are core components of this program, pay special attention to theological and spiritual diversity within the leadership team.
Every workshop has a musical component, so it would be helpful to have someone with musical, accompaniment, and/or song-leading skills. Many of the workshops emphasize justice issues, so someone with interest in this area would be helpful as well. Finally, many workshops call on the facilitators to empower the youth to take the lead in facilitating activities. Leaders should have some experience supporting youth leadership.
Of course, very few individuals possess all of these skills, so try to assemble the best team possible. The workshops suggest ways to include other adults from the congregation in various ways. Their participation gives youth the opportunity to broaden their concept of what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist.
PARTICIPANTS
A Place of Wholeness is designed for high-school-aged youth. You may find it useful to think about the developmental norms for this age group. Not all youth arrive at each developmental stage at the same time, but knowing what to expect overall from fourteen- to eighteen-year-olds can be helpful, especially to first-time leaders.
In her book, Nurturing Children and Youth: A Developmental Guidebook (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=706) (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2005), Tracey L. Hurd discusses developmental characteristics of older youth:
No one should be excluded from A Place of Wholeness or its activities by real or perceived physical or other limitations. Inclusiveness sometimes requires adaptation, and specific suggestions for adapting activities are included under the heading Including All Participants. By changing approaches or using alternate activities, you can help ensure that every workshop is inclusive of youth with a range of physical and cognitive abilities, learning styles, food allergies, and other sensitivities or limitations.
As you plan workshops, be aware of activities that might pose difficulties for youth who are differently abled. All spaces, indoor and outdoor, need to be accessible to anyone who might be in the group. Check the width of doorways and aisles, the height of tables, and the terrain of outdoor landscapes. When meeting in small groups, ensure the accessibility of all meeting spaces.
Several activities involve reading. Allow participants the opportunity to pass on any roles that require reading. Be prepared to support young people who wish to read, but need assistance. Always be alert to group dynamics and ready to do what is needed to keep the workshops safe for participants who need assistance.
Find out about participants' medical conditions and allergies, particularly to food. Workshop 12: Wholeness suggests a celebration with food. Make sure all your youth can eat the food you plan to use.
The program mixes active and quiet, expressive and listening, and whole group and individual activities. Alternate activities can be substituted for core activities if you feel they better suit the group or if you have additional time.
In the Teacher Development section of the UUA website (at www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/teacherdevelopment/index.shtml), you will find descriptions of a helpful resource book, Sally Patton's Welcoming Children with Special Needs. (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=756) The congregation’s religious educator is another resource for adaptations to make workshops as accessible as possible.
FAMILIES
As children reach adolescence and their teenage years, their notion of family begins to expand to include their close group of friends. At the same time, the home family, whatever shape that comes in, is still a major touchstone in youth’s lives. This program is designed to include both the family and friends of participants by consistently asking participants to engage those important people in their lives around the themes and ideas they are exploring.
Every Taking It Home offers ideas for youth to lead conversations and activities with their friends and family about the topics discussed in that day’s workshop. Taking It Home also suggests ways youth can use social networking websites to engage even more family and friends in conversation. To further facilitate dialogue at home, gather the e-mail addresses of the participants’ parents so that you can send them Taking It Home after each workshop.
Faith in Action is another opportunity for family and congregational involvement. Many of the Faith in Action activities offer ideas for congregational leaders as well as parents/caregivers to interact with the youth and engage with the topics the youth are exploring. When inviting adults to participate in these projects, extend a special invitation to parents/caregivers.
PROGRAM STRUCTURE
All twelve workshops have the same basic structure. Each workshop is organized around a core theme or theological premise in Unitarian Universalism. The activities help participants define for themselves what that theme means by exploring both the roots of the idea and its contemporary Unitarian Universalist thought and practice. Each workshop challenges participants to think about what these ideas mean in their own lives and how it will or does affect their actions.
Every workshop offers alternate activities. Depending on your time and interests, you may choose to replace core activities with alternates, or add an alternate to your workshop. You may also want to use the alternate activities outside the program for gatherings involving youth such as family retreats, multigenerational dinners, or youth group meetings.
As you design your program, decide whether the group needs extra meetings to incorporate additional activities or to complete a long-term Faith in Action project. Such projects frequently involve meetings outside your regular gathering time and location. Before you commit to an extended program, obtain the support of your congregational leadership, the youth's families, and the youth themselves.
Workshop elements include:
Quote
A quote introduces the theme of each workshop and is included for participant reflection in the Welcome and Entering. Co-leaders may like to discuss the quote as part of their preparation. This reflection can help ground teachers in the workshop ideas and help them get “on the same page.” The quotes are also included in Taking It Home.
Introduction
The Introduction provides an overview of the workshop’s concepts, explains and offers suggestions about activities, and describes the workshop’s thematic connection to others. The Introduction will also alert leaders to any special preparation needed for the workshop.
Goals
Goals state general outcomes for the workshop. Reviewing the goals helps leaders connect the workshop’s content and methodologies with the four strands of the Tapestry of Faith programs: faith development, Unitarian Universalists identity, spiritual development, and ethical development. As you plan a workshop, consider the youth, the time and space you have available, and your own strengths and interests as a leader to determine the most important and achievable goals for the workshop and the activities that will best serve those goals.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives describe specific participant outcomes which workshop activities are designed to facilitate. They describe what a participant will learn, become, or be able to do as a result of the activity. Think of Learning Objectives as the building blocks used to achieve the larger goals of A Place of Wholeness.
Workshop-at-a-Glance
This table lists workshop activities in a suggested order and provides an estimated time for completing each to conduct a 90-minute workshop. The table includes all core activities from the Opening through Closing, shows Faith in Action activities, and lists alternate activities. Note that you will need to adjust or extend your schedule to fit in either Faith in Action or alternate activities.
Workshop-at-a-Glance is a guide to use in your own planning.
Keep in mind that many variables inform the time required for an activity. Large group discussion takes more time than small-group discussion. Small teams can do some activities more rapidly than large teams, but they may then require more time to share with others what they have done. Youth enthusiasm may lead you to continue an activity longer than planned, and youth disinterest may lead you to move on more quickly than you expected. When planning, remember to consider the time you will need to move participants around from one space to another and for clean up.
The time estimates for activities do not include leader planning and preparation.
Spiritual Preparation
Each workshop offers a spiritual exercise that leaders may use to prepare themselves. Taking time in the days before the workshop to reflect on its content and in the moments before the workshop to center yourself will support you in your work with youth. The process calls forth your own life experiences, beliefs, and spirituality. It can help you enjoy and provide the best possible learning experience at each workshop. Take advantage of these exercises to grow spiritually as you work with youth.
Workshop Plan
The Workshop Plan presents every workshop element in detail a suggested sequence. It also includes Faith in Action, Leader Reflection and Planning, Taking It Home, Alternate Activities, and Resources.
If you are reading A Place of Wholeness online, you can move as you wish among a workshop's elements. Each element occupies its own web page. You can click on "Print This Page" at any time. However, if you click on "Download Entire Program" or "Download Workshop" you will have a user-friendly document on your computer that you can customize as you wish, using your own word-processing program. Once you decide which activities you will use, format and print only the materials you need.
A description of various Workshop Plan elements follows:
Welcoming and Entering: Although this is not built into the 90-minute workshop time, Welcoming and Entering is a time to greet one another and familiarize the group with the theme of the workshop. Participants are invited to make a faith journal (if they are new) or to review their journal. Welcome Words – including a quote and questions – are posted for reflection and informal discussion before the workshop begins. It is a time to welcome and orient visitors and first-time participants to the program. Welcome and Entering is particularly useful if youth will enter the work space at different times. If they enter as a group, you might eliminate Welcome and Entering.
Opening: Each opening includes a chalice lighting ritual and responsive reading based on James Luther Adams’ Five Smooth Stones of Religious Liberalism.
Activities: Three to five core activities are suggested for each workshop. Activities include a materials list, preparation suggestions, description, and ideas for adaptations that may be required to meet special youth needs.
The sequence of activities has been carefully thought out, with some leading into the next. You are invited to make changes, but look through the entire workshop before you decide how to modify it.
Each workshop is also designed as a mix of the quiet and the active to involve a variety of skills and learning styles. Keep this balance in mind as you adjust the workshop to meet the group’s needs.
Every workshop includes an activity “I Believe, I Feel, I Act” which asks participants to take five minutes to reflect on what they just experienced and to write or draw in their journals. At the end of the program, they will keep this journal as a memory of the journey.
Faith in Action: Many core activities are designed to help youth apply spiritual and religious thought to real situations in their own lives. Faith in Action activities offer specific and practical ways for youth to apply their faith for the betterment of the world and their communities. Some Faith in Action activities can be completed in one meeting; others are longer-term and require the involvement of congregants or community members outside the group. While these activities are not included in the 90-minute core of the workshops, the group may easily do them on a regular basis if you meet for more than 90 minutes, if you substitute them for other activities, or if you use them outside the program, perhaps as the basis of youth group projects.
However you adapt this program, try to include some form of Faith in Action. As the saying suggests, actions do often speak louder than words, for both actor and observer.
Closing: Each closing invites participants to share brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to the workshop. The group then sings a hymn from one of the Unitarian Universalist hymnbooks, with the leader providing information about the song’s background and meaning. Musical accompaniment is ideal, but not necessary. The group reflects on how the song relates to the workshop theme and closes by extinguishing the chalice.
Leader Reflection and Planning: Co-leaders benefit from spending a few minutes discussing the workshop they have just led and planning what they will do next. This segment suggests a few discussion topics.
Taking It Home: This section provides suggestions for involving family and friends in the ideas, themes, and projects of the program. Ideas range from group discussion guides to crafts to postings on social networking sites such as Facebook (at www.facebook.com/) and Myspace (at www.myspace.com/) to encourage discussion with friends. Taking It Home cab be printed out and sent home with participants, but we also suggest you email it to participants’ parents. This helps facilitate conversation between parents and youth.
Alternate Activities: The format for alternate activities is similar to that of core activities. Consider using the alternates instead of or in addition to the core activities, or outside your regular workshop time.
Resources: This section contains the stories, handouts, and other resources needed to lead the workshop.
The Story is the full text of the workshop's central story.
Handouts are any materials to be printed and photocopied for all participants. Leader Resources may include a reading; role play scenarios for you to print and cut up; diagrams to help you plan activities; or an illustration to show the group, which you may print as a hard copy or display on a computer as a PowerPoint slide. Find Out More includes book and video titles, website URLs, and other selected resources to further explore the workshop topics.
MATERIALS
LEADER GUIDELINES
Spend time each week on preparation. Many workshops need significant preparation to make the most of the workshop experience for participants. Leader Reflection and Planning in each workshop provides good guidance on what you should be thinking about as you plan ahead.
We also encourage you to experience the Spiritual Preparation for each workshop. Journey is a central theme throughout the program. The participants will not be the only ones on a journey. You will be traveling with them, and your journey will likely bring up negative emotions from your own life. Remember this program is primarily about the young people. Spending time with the Spiritual Preparation will allow you to process your own feelings outside of the workshop and be better able to focus on the participants' needs.
IMPLEMENTATION
Workshops can be implemented either sequentially or independently (All workshops except Workshops 1 and 12 can stand on their own.). Note that there are many wonderful alternate activities that go into more depth or approach themes in different ways. If you have time throughout the year, consider spreading some workshops across multiple meetings and using more alternate activities. The following are some especially rich alternate activities:
Each workshop has at least two alternate activities, so there is plenty of material to expand this program.
Most of the Faith in Action activities connect with the congregation in some way, and all of them require some extra planning. Before starting the program, meet with the congregation's minister or religious educator and pick two or three Faith in Action activities to offer. Start planning early to involve the congregation as much as possible.
BEFORE YOU START
Read the program before you begin. Pay attention to the materials list and the activities that require extra preparation.
Take note of the following activities, which involve more materials or preparation than usual:
PRINCIPLES AND SOURCES
There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:
Unitarian Universalism (UU) draws from many sources:
These principles and sources of faith are the backbone of our religious community.
RESOURCES
A few books that might be useful are:
Nurturing Children and Youth: A Developmental Guidebook (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=706) by Tracey L. Hurd (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2005)
Welcoming Children with Special Needs (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=756): A Guidebook for Faith Communities by Sally Patton (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2004)
When Youth Lead: A Guide to Intergenerational Social Justice Ministry (Plus 101 Youth Projects) (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=757) by Jill M. Schwendeman (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2007)
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2005)
A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward An Undivided Life (at books.google.com/books?id=oRrrRQ-6UdgC&lpg=PP1&dq=A%20hidden%20wholeness&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false) by Parker Palmer (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2004)
FACILITATOR FEEDBACK FORM
We welcome your critique of this program, as well as your suggestions. Thank you for your feedback! Your input improves programs for all of our congregations. Please forward your feedback to:
Faith Development Office
Ministries and Faith Development
Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108
religiouseducation@uua.org
Name of Program or Curriculum:
Congregation:
Number of Participants:
Age range:
Did you work with (a) co-facilitator(s)?
Your name:
Overall, what was your experience with this program?
What specifically did you find most helpful or useful about this program?
In what ways could this program be changed or improved (please be specific)?
Did you enrich the program with any resources that you would recommend to others?
What impact, if any, do you think this program will have on your life going forward?
What impact, if any, do you think this program will have on your congregation going forward?
PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK FORM
We welcome your critique of this program, as well as your suggestions. Thank you for your feedback! Your input improves programs for all of our congregations. Please forward your feedback to:
Faith Development Office
Ministries and Faith Development
Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108
religiouseducation@uua.org
Name of Program or Curriculum:
Congregation or group:
Your name:
Overall, what was your experience with this program?
What specifically did you find most helpful or useful about this program?
In what ways could this program be changed or improved (please be specific)?
What impact, if any, do you think this program will have on your life going forward?
What impact, if any, do you think this program will have on your congregation going forward?
WORKSHOP 1: BEGINNING TOGETHER
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
To me, migration means movement. There was conflict and struggle. But out of the struggle came a kind of power and even beauty. 'And the migrants kept coming.' is a refrain of triumph over adversity. If it rings true for you today, then it must still strike a chord in our American experience. — Jacob Lawrence
This opening workshop introduces the program's key themes, such as journey and wholeness, and core activities such as the journaling and worship based on James Luther Adams' Five Smooth Stones of Religious Liberalism.
The central story comes from the artist Jacob Lawrence. Lawrence was born in 1917 in New Jersey to a family who had been part of the great migration of African Americans from the southern United States to the north. In 1940, Lawrence created a 60-panel painting called The Migration Series that told the story of his family and countless other African Americans who moved north looking for greater economic prosperity.
Lawrence's depiction of a physical migration has commonalities with a spiritual journey. Both are about movement and struggle and their end result may be an appreciation of the beauty of the soul and that which links us together as fellow travelers. A journey that embraces one's faith may provide the inner strength to deal with life's challenges.
Panel no. 3 is used because it evokes the migration's movement and change. It leads the viewer to ask, "Where are they coming from?", "Where are they going?", and "What are they taking with them on their journey?" Participants will ask themselves these important questions in this program.
The main activity in this workshop is journal-making. The journal will be used throughout as a reflection tool and a record of the participants' journeys long after the program ends. This activity requires many supplies. Please read the materials list carefully.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 15 |
Activity 1: Nametag Interview | 20 |
Activity 2: Story — Migration: A Spiritual Journey | 20 |
Activity 3: Making a Journal for the Journey | 20 |
Activity 4: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action 1: Founding Story Mural | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Blue Boat Home | 15 |
Alternate Activity 2: Winged Migration | 45 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
This workshop uses migration as a metaphor for spiritual journey. The story is based on Jacob Lawrence's The Migration Series Panel no. 3. Spend some time looking at this painting. Both the Phillips Collections (at www.phillipscollection.org/migration_series/index.cfm) and the Whitney Museum of American Art (at www.whitney.org/Exhibitions/JacobLawrenceMigration) have websites based on The Migration Series and Jacob Lawrence's other work. Take some time to look at these websites to see more amazing artwork by this important American artist.
As you look at Panel no. 3 and other panels in the series, what do they tell you about the experience of the African Americans who migrated from the southern United States to northern cities? What do you think their reasons were, and do you think they found what they hoped to find in their new world? What connection does this image and the others have to your own spiritual journey? What have been the joys of that journey? Have you had spiritual hardships? Have you ended up where you thought you would end up?
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As participants arrive, invite them to make a nametag. Direct them to the materials you have laid out and to the example you have drawn on newsprint. Once they have filled out their nametags ask them to tie the string on the cards and put it around their neck. Let them know that they will be using these nametags in an activity later on in the workshop.
Including All Participants
This activity could be challenging to those who have limited sight or who have motor skill difficulties that make it hard for them to write. In those cases, one of the leaders or other participants should help that participant fill out their nametag.
OPENING (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
1. Invite the group into worship. Tell participants that worship is an important way for us as Unitarian Universalist to be in faith community with one another. Worship allows us to step back and reflect on the deeper meaning of life.
2. Invite a participant to light the chalice while reciting Reading 683 from Singing the Living Tradition. Alternatively, if your congregation opens every worship traditionally with another reading, use it instead. Leave a couple of seconds of silence after the chalice lighting.
3. Sing "Gather the Spirit", Hymn 347 in Singing the Living Tradition.
4. Tell or read the story "David and Goliath."
5. When you have told the story, read or summarize the following:
James Luther Adams was a very important 20th century Unitarian theologian. Theologians specialize in the study of religious faith, practice, and experience. James Luther Adams saw that liberal religious traditions, like Unitarianism and Universalism, had their own five smooth stones like David in the Bible story. David's stones were weapons to fight off a much stronger oppressor. James Luther Adams' stones are protection of a more peaceful type. They are a core set of values and principles that help define liberal religious traditions like our own as different then the more conservative (or orthodox) religious traditions that exist around us.
6. Signal the first participant to read their part and place their stone. Repeat for all five stones. Then say:
Let all these stones be a symbol of the community we strive to build together and our wider liberal religious faith.
7. As the program progresses, invite participants to look for ways these five smooth stones show up in the discussions and activities.
8. Distribute Handout 1. Tell participants that this responsive reading is a modification of the prayer used in the opening chalice lighting. Ask participants to read the responsive reading quietly to themselves.
9. Close the worship with the follow blessing:
Blessed Spirit, hold us in community with each other as we grow together in faith. Amen and Blessed Be.
ACTIVITY 1: NAMETAG INTERVIEW (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, participants and leaders make nametags and then use the nametag information to tell each other about themselves, especially about their religious background.
1. If the group did not already make nametags in Welcoming and Entering, have them make them now. Once they have filled out their nametags, ask them to tie the string on the cards and put it around their neck.
2. Invite participants and leaders to form pairs. (Make sure one leader is paying attention to the time.) If there is an odd number, have a group of three. Have participants tell each other about what is written on their nametags. Be sure to tell them how much time they have and let them know that they will be sharing what their partner said with the rest of the group.
3. Go around the group and ask everyone to introduce their partner with the information that was on the nametag. If someone is stuck, it is okay for their partner to give them a little help.
4. Wrap up the activity by pointing out that most of the questions on the nametags had something to do with location. Explain that we will be using the metaphor of migration as a way to look at our spiritual journeys. Changing physical location has a lot to do with migration. Ask participants what they think changing spiritual locations would be like.
Including All Participants
This activity could be challenging to those who have limited sight or who have motor skill difficulties that make it hard for them to write. In those cases, one of the leaders or other participants should help that participant fill out their nametag.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY: THE MIGRATION SERIES, PANEL NO. 3 (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore the idea of spiritual journey through the metaphor of migration. Start by asking participants if they have ever been on a journey. Invite one participant to explain what that experience was like.
Then ask participants if they have ever been on a spiritual journey. If any have, ask them to describe what that was like. If they have not, ask them to share a few suggestions about what they think a spiritual journey would be like.
Explain that the group will explore the idea of spiritual journey by using migration as a metaphor. Point out the Jacob Lawrence painting you posted. Using the information from Leader Resource 4 and any other research you have done, take about five minutes to tell participants about Jacob Lawrence and the Great Migration. Explain that the image posted is part of a larger piece of work called The Migration Series, Lawrence's effort to tell the story of the millions of African Americans who left their homes in the southern United States and moved to northern cities. Emphasize the following:
Invite the group to reflect on the questions posted on newsprint:
Help the youth make connections with both the hopes and joys of a spiritual journey and the fears and pain that might be present.
Emphasize the point that spiritual journeys are really a quest for wholeness. Acknowledge that their experiences are different than those of the African Americans who were migrating to the North. Finally, ask participants if they see any connections between this migration story and the story of David and Goliath and the five smooth stones that was part of the opening worship.
Including All Participants
Someone with vision impairments might need to have another participant or the workshop leader describe the image to them.
ACTIVITY 3: MAKING A JOURNAL FOR THE JOURNEY (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Materials for Shorter Version
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants make journals.
Tell participants that they will be doing a journaling reflection at the end of each workshop, and that the journals they are making now will be used for that purpose. Using the instructions and the examples you have made, lead participants through the journal making process.
As they work, you can continue the discussion from the previous activity if the group needs more time. Make sure you leave at least ten minutes to talk about the rest of the program. Provide an overview and share what you are most excited about. Ask participants about their expectations and what they hope to get out of this experience.
Shorter Journal Making Option (10 Minutes):
Give each participant a spiral bound notebook and show them the materials for decorating the covers. Invite them to decorate the journals in a way that says something about their spiritual journey.
You still want to use this time to tell them about the program.
ACTIVITY 4: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants will now have the opportunity to reflect on what they have experienced in the workshop, then express their reflections in writing or drawing. The following is a framework for reflecting, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Ask them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
I believe that my beliefs will change during my lifelong spiritual journey.
I feel excited about the potential of movement: to grow and learn more about my faith.
I am ready to take a spiritual journey.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for and they can continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections visually.
Offer the following reflection questions related to the theme of the day: What is your expectation for the rest of the program? How do you hope you will be changed by the time the program is complete? How do you think you will be the same?
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
To close the workshop, relight the chalice. Ask for a couple of participants to share brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions. Wrap up the sharing after five minutes.
Inform participants that each workshop will close with a song. Ask them to find Hymn 188 "Come, Come, Whoever You Are." The words come from the Sufi poet Rumi, who lived in the 12th century. Ask participants what the words mean to them. Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing the song together. Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice. Distribute copies of Taking It Home, explaining that it is a list of suggestions of additional ways to explore the topics of today's workshop. Invite them to share Taking It Home with family and friends.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: FOUNDING STORY MURAL
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants learn congregational history and share it by painting a mural.
Tell the group that one of the important parts of going on a spiritual journey is knowing where you have been. Point out that many of the paintings in Jacob Lawrence's The Migration Series were about what life was like in the southern United States for African Americans. Tell the participants that in this activity, they will use the medium of painting, like Jacob Lawrence, to help the rest of the congregation know something about its history.
Introduce the member of the congregation you have invited to tell the story. The story can be about how the congregation was started or some other significant moment in its history. Look for stories involving movement, migration, journeys, or change.
After the story has been told, engage the group in a discussion of how you might be able to represent that story in a painting. Develop a plan for how it should look and then have the participants paint on the large piece of canvas. This might take more than one workshop.
While working, use the following discussion questions to process the activity:
When the painting is finished, arrange for time at a Sunday morning worship to have the participants show their work to the congregation and tell the story. Then, find a place to hang the painting with a written narrative of the story.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? What would you like to learn more about? Did participants have any interesting reactions to the content?
Go over the plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do which preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? In what ways will you adapt the workshop for your group and time frame?
TAKING IT HOME
To me, migration means movement. There was conflict and struggle. But out of the struggle came a kind of power and even beauty. 'And the migrants kept coming.' is a refrain of triumph over adversity. If it rings true for you today, then it must still strike a chord in our American experience. — Jacob Lawrence
In Today's Workshop...
We discussed the idea of migration as it relates to a spiritual journey. We did this by looking at a painting by the artist Jacob Lawrence that was part of his Migration Series. The series tells the story of the mass migration of millions of African Americans from the southern United States to northern cities.
Explore the topic further with family and friends...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: BLUE BOAT HOME (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, participants explore spiritual journey by singing and reflecting on the song "Blue Boat Home," Hymn 1064 in Singing the Journey.
Invite participants to stand in body or spirit and sing the hymn.
Ask participants what they think the song is about.
After receiving ideas from two or three participants, point out that songs can have multiple meanings. There is the meaning that is intended by the writer and there is the meaning that the song has for the listener. The meaning for the writer and listener can change depending on new experiences or new frames of mind.
Invite one of the participants to read the words without singing them. Ask a volunteer what parts of the song might help us better understand the idea of spiritual journey? If they struggle thinking of specific lines, point to the line "Sun my sail and moon my rudder as I ply the starry sea." Then ask what that line might have to say about a spiritual journey. Continue to discuss various lines if it helps participants better understand the idea of spiritual journey.
If time permits, ask them if there are any other hymns that they sing that might be useful for this discussion. If they name some, find them in the hymnbook, sing them, and look for the passages that are useful. Alternatively, note these hymns and use them as closing hymns in future workshops.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: WINGED MIGRATION (45 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
If you are using this activity as a supplemental activity and have also done the activity based on Jacob Lawrence's art, start by saying something about how there are different types of migrations. Point out that the image they viewed by Lawrence told the story of human migration. However, animals migrate as well and their story can also be compelling as a way to think about spiritual journey.
If you are using this activity as a replacement for the Lawrence activity, start by asking the participants: what might we discover about our own spiritual journey from watching birds migrate? As they share ideas, write them on newsprint.
Then show the movie or the 15-minute section that you selected.
After showing the movie, direct participants' attention to the discussion questions you have posted on newsprint:
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 1:
STORY: DAVID AND GOLIATH
The Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright (C) 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
1 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. 2 Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us"...
38 Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them." So David removed them.
40 Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. 41 The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43 The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field." 45 But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand."
48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David's hand. 51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 1:
STORY: THE MIGRATION SERIES: PANEL NUMBER 3
Jacob Lawrence The Migration Series, Panel No. 3: From every southern town migrants left by the hundreds to travel north.1940-1941 The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (C) 2009 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Reproduction, including downloading of Jacob Lawrence works is prohibited by copyright laws and international convention without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
You have two options for using this image. Your first option is to print out the image so that everyone can see it. For best results, we recommend that you use a photo printer. Your other option is to purchase a print of the image from the Phillips Collection online museum store for $7.50 (at shop.phillipscollection.org/browse.cfm/migration-panel-3-11x14-print/4,141.html).
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 1:
HANDOUT 1: RESPONSIVE READING — FIVE SMOOTH STONES
This responsive reading is based on James Luther Adams' essay "Guiding Principles for a Free Faith" in On Becoming Human Religiously: Selected Essays in Religion and Society, Max Stackhouse, ed. Beacon Press, 1976, pp. 12-20.
Leaders read the regular text, and participants read the italicized text.
We gather as Unitarian Universalists to understand, articulate, and live our liberal religion. David brought down the giant Goliath with five smooth stones, but we use our five smooth stones to build a more just, loving, and free world.
Our first stone reminds us that we are part of a living tradition in which revelation is continuous.
Together we engage in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
Our second stone reminds us that we freely choose to enter into relationship and community with one another.
Together as people of conscience, we build relationships of justice, equity, and compassion that further the wholeness of the interdependent web of all existence.
Our third stone reminds us that we have a moral obligation to work toward establishing a just and loving community.
Together we speak and act prophetically with the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
Our fourth stone reminds us that good things happen as a result of human effort.
Together, as beings with inherent worth and dignity, we creat goodness and virtue.
Our fifth stone reminds us that the divine and human capacities for achieving meaningful change are reason for optimism.
Together we may be hopeful that change will occur toward a more just, loving, and free world.
The roots of our living tradition have been developed over centuries, but new ideas and understandings are still being revealed.
Some stones are smooth and polished, while others are newly found and rough.
We are part of this living tradition. Through it, we become whole, and through us, our tradition becomes whole.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 1:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: NAMETAG
Download a high-resolution PDF (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/wholeness/nametag.pdf) for printing.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 1:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: JAMES LUTHER ADAMS' FIVE SMOOTH STONES OF RELIGIOUS LIBERALISM
Leaders should read this resource before leading the Opening.
Who was James Luther Adams?
James Luther Adams was a Unitarian parish minister, social activist, journal editor, distinguished scholar, translator and editor of major German theologians, prolific author, and divinity school professor for more than forty years. Adams was the most influential theologian among American Unitarian Universalists of the 20th century.
What are the five smooth stones?
According to Adams, the five smooth stones of religious liberalism are:
Adams' five smooth stones are explained in the essay "Guiding Principles for a Free Faith" in On Being Human Religiously: Selected Essays in Religion and Society, Max Stackhouse, ed. Beacon Press, 1976, pp. 12—20. While this book is out of print, some congregations may own it and there are also copies available from the Internet.
Scriptural origins
The idea of "five smooth stones" originates in the Hebrew Scriptures with the story of David and Goliath, as told in 1 Samuel 17. See the story in this workshop for the full text.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 1:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: FIVE SMOOTH STONES PRAYER
This prayer is based upon James Luther Adams' essay "Guiding Principles for a Free Faith" in On Becoming Human Religiously: Selected Essays in Religion and Society, Max Stackhouse, ed. Beacon Press, 1976, pp. 12-20.
Cut into five parts and give to volunteers to read in the Opening.
Part 1:
This stone embodies our living tradition,
We always learning new truths,
we are always growing in knowledge,
and revelation is never sealed.
Part 2:
This stone embodies that we are a free people,
gathering in free will to join in a spiritual journey.
Part 3:
This stone embodies our call to create a just and loving world,
to work to abolish oppression in all its forms.
Part 4:
This stone embodies this acknowledgement;
that good things do not just happen,
but instead that we work to make those things happen.
Part 5:
This stone embodies our knowledge that there are spiritual and human resources "for the achievement of meaningful change, [which] justify an attitude of ultimate optimism.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 1:
LEADER RESOURCE 4: JACOB LAWRENCE AND THE GREAT MIGRATION
The Life of Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1917. His parents had recently moved to the North as part of what is known as the Great Migration. After moving often for the first few years of his life, Lawrence and his mother ended up in Harlem, New York. His mother enrolled him in the Utopian Children's Center run by artist and educator Charles Alston. This was where Lawrence was first exposed to art and painting. As a teenager, he attended artist workshops after school and frequently visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lawrence became a key participant in the Harlem Renaissance, developing a modernist style of painting. His paintings, often narratives, explored topics over a series of panels. Early in his career, he would paint narrative panels about prominent African Americans such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Toussaint L'Ouverture.
In 1940, he received a grant to paint The Migration Series. The Migration Series is a collection of 60 panels that tells the story of the millions of African Americans who moved from the southern United States to northern cities. It is considered by many critics to be his greatest artistic achievement. The image used in this workshop comes from this series and is called Panel no. 3. The caption for this panel is "From every southern town migrants left by the hundreds to travel north."
The Great Migration
The Great Migration is a complicated story. The art historian Christopher Capozzola, writing about Jacob Lawrence's depiction of the Great Migration, states "it presents a complex account of social history that accounts for the individual agency of African-American migrants as well as the forbidding social, economic and ideological structures that shaped the world in which they acted."
The facts are that between 1910 and 1970 about six and a half million African Americans migrated from the states that made up the Old Confederacy to northern urban centers like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and New York. They were fleeing Jim Crow laws that conspired to treat African Americans as second-class citizens and contributed to brutal oppression. (Between 1880 and 1951 over 3,000 African Americans died by lynching.) They were heading toward the opportunity of more jobs and a better way of life that they read about in northern-based African American newspapers like the Chicago Defender.
However, at its core, the story of the Great Migration is a story of a people taking charge of their own future. In many ways, it is a 20th century version of the biblical Exodus story. A people facing brutal oppression rise up and resist that oppression by taking a journey to a new reality for themselves and their descendents.
The Migration Series Panel no. 3 as metaphor
So why use Jacob Lawrence's The Migration Series Panel no. 3 in a Unitarian Universalist workshop that is focused on spiritual journey? The first reason is the painting itself puts forward the ideas of journeying and change. In the foreground is a group of people, loaded with luggage, obviously heading somewhere. The notion of migration is reinforced by the flock of birds in the background also migrating. Migration is both an individual journey of transforming one's own reality, and a communal act of resistance changing the reality of a whole people.
A spiritual journey is a type of migration. We start at one spiritual reality. We are shaken out of that reality and start a journey to a new reality. Along the path, there is joy and pain, celebration and fear. Like the migrant, a person on a spiritual journey is often in community while they journey to a new reality, a new way of being. In both cases, there is the open question of whether the trip is really over, or if there is another journey ahead.
The second reason for using Lawrence's work and the story of the Great Migration is to introduce Unitarian Universalists to an important American artist and an important piece of America is multicultural history that is not often told.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 1:
LEADER RESOURCE 5: JOURNAL MAKING INSTRUCTIONS
These instructions are used with permission from Jaymi Elford. Copyright 2008 Jaymi Elford. Essay originally published at D*I*Y Planner.
Please use the following book making instructions for Activity 3, Making a Journal for the Journey.
Supplies:
Instructions:
Step 1: Fold a sheet of white unlined paper in half. If you want a smaller sized book, trim the paper down to the size you want and then fold it in half. You now have made one folio.
Step 2: Fold the rest of the sheets of paper in half to make 12 folios. You can fold the heavy cover-stock at this point as well.
Step 3: Open a folio slightly and then slide the remaining 11 folios into that one. Doing so should give you a stack of folios. This becomes the book's signature.
Step 4: Put your heavy cover stock over this folio, and now you have a book. Some of the guts of the paper will poke through your cover, so you can either trim the overhang so it matches the cover or leave it. It's all up to you and your style.
Step 5: Open the completed book. Using a pencil, mark a dot in the center of the fold.
Step 6: Now make two more dots, 2.25 inches up and down from the center dot on the fold. These will be where you punch the holes with an awl and string the thread through.
Step 7: Punch the awl through all 13 pieces of paper. If you twist the awl after it has gone all the way through, it widens the hole and smoothes it out. It's now time to sew the signature.
NOTE: If you have trouble punching holes through all 13 sheets at the same time, you may want to divide the sheets up into two piles and punch the holes in sets. Then re-stack the sheets together and push the awl through the three holes to smooth them out as a single signature.
Step 8: Measure out roughly 2.5 feet of waxed thread. Load up one of your book binding needles with the thread.
Step 9: You now have to make a choice of whether you want the leftover thread to hang on the outside or the inside of the book. If you are making a book for mostly decorative purposes, most artists choose to leave it on the outside. This decision effects whether or not you start sewing from the center of the book on the inside or on the outside. The following instructions are for a decorative book, so the leftovers will be on the outside.
Step 10: Take the needle and thread and push it through the center hole from the outside to the inside of the signature.
Step 11: Pull the needle and string through the hole, leaving a few inches behind. This becomes what you will knot the string with to make your book.
Step 12: Put the needle into the left inner hole and pull the thread tight.
Step 13: Pass the needle and thread through the opposite right hole on the outside of the cover.
Step 14: Put the needle through the center hole from the inside to the outside one more time and remove the needle. You are all done sewing.
Step 15: Pull both strings tight to help keep your book together.
Step 16: Now tie a knot (or 2 or 3 knots together for security) where the two strings meet. Depending on how long you want the excess thread to be, you may need a pair of scissors to trim it down.
You have now finished making a very simple book. If you liked this simple journal but want to spice it up a bit more, here are a few ideas for things you can add to your first book.
FIND OUT MORE
Further reading on James Luther Adams' theology
Further information on Jacob Lawrence and the Great Migration
Further information on book making and other paper related projects
WORKSHOP 2: A JOURNEY OF FAITH
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
I was humbled, I was confounded, I saw clearly, that I had been all my life expecting good fruit from corrupt trees, grapes on thorns, and figs on thistles, I suspected myself, I had lost my standing, I was unsettled, perturbed and wretched. — John Murray (founder of American Universalism) on first listening to a sermon about universal salvation
Workshop 1: Beginning Together looked in general terms at journeys and their beginnings. This workshop focuses on faith. Participants explore faith journeys in three ways: they explore the concept of faith development; hear the faith journey story of one of our Universalist ancestors; and reflect on their own faith journeys. By moving from the abstract to the specific to the personal, youth will see their own faith journeys in the context of human and Unitarian Universalist history.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: What is Faith? | 10 |
Activity 2: Faith as a Process | 30 |
Activity 3: Story — Challenged in Belief | 25 |
Activity 4: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: Present Challenged in Belief to the Congregation | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Spiritual Autobiography | 45 |
Alternate Activity 2: Faith Development Interview | 30 |
Alternate Activity 3: Walking Meditation | 15 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
This workshop explores multiple models of faith development. Look at the developmental models presented in Handouts 1 and 2. What stage do you think you occupied during your high school years? Do you see yourself clearly in one of the stages now, or, are you more of an amalgamation of different stages? Think about the events in your life that carried you from one stage to the next. What precipitated those changes?
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today include a quote and two questions.
I was humbled, I was confounded, I saw clearly, that I had been all my life expecting good fruit from corrupt trees, grapes on thorns, and figs on thistles, I suspected myself, I had lost my standing, I was unsettled, perturbed and wretched. —John Murray (founder of American Universalism) on first listening to a sermon about universal salvation
Questions: When have you been humbled or confounded in your faith or belief system? When have you seen clearly in your faith or belief system?
As participants arrive, invite them to make a journal, review and/or add to their journal based on the Welcome Words posted, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Spend some time with visitors and first-time participants orienting them to the program and getting a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones. Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading in each workshop.
At the conclusion of the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist youth who need help with words in the responsive reading. Remember to allow participants to pass on reading.
ACTIVITY 1: WHAT IS FAITH? (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
One's faith qualifies and gives tone to one's entire way of interpreting, reacting to, and taking initiatives in the world. It is the awareness, the intuition, the conviction of relatedness to something or someone more than the mundane. — James Fowler
Description of Activity
In this activity, participants begin to explore the meaning of faith.
Ask participants: "What is faith?" Write their responses on the newsprint. Remember, brainstorming is about getting ideas on newsprint and not about evaluating the ideas. Spend about eight minutes, or until the energy winds down.
When the brainstorm is complete, flip to the page with the Fowler quote and ask one of the participants to read it aloud. First, ask participants if there are any words that they do not recognize or concepts that do not make sense to them. Then ask if they see any similarities or differences between what Fowler said and their own ideas.
Tell them that James Fowler is a developmental psychologist who has studied how peoples' faith is formed and has developed a model to help us understand that development. Let them know that you will be talking more about that model and other faith development models in the next activity.
ACTIVITY 2: FAITH AS A PROCESS (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that this activity looks at two faith development models. One was created by the developmental psychologist James Fowler. The other is a model developed by Unitarian Universalist minister and religious educator Reverend Dan Harper. Then read the following script:
Any model that makes generalizations like these faith development models have strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are that they can help us better understand common experiences. They help us describe where we have been, where we are now, and where we might go. Their weakness comes from the fact that they do make generalizations. They are models and not perfect descriptors of individual experience. So as you learn about these models you should think about how each stage resonates or doesn't resonate with your personal experience. It is possible to be in multiple places on any one of these models at one time. Each one of us has our own path, which is likely to have similarities to others, but in the end, it is our own.
Start with Fowler's model. Distribute Handout 1, Stages of Faith Development, and read through the handout. If you have a personal story about yourself, your children, friends, or friends' children going through one of these stages, you might reference it as you describe that stage. If you do not have a personal story, do not worry. Reading through the handout will be enough to give participants a basic understanding.
Next, introduce the activity that uses Reverend Dan Harper's model, which is more specific to Unitarian Universalism. Hand out the ten case statements to ten different participants. If you do not have ten participants, workshop leaders can participate. (Note: There are eight pieces of paper for eight stages, but there are ten case statements because stage six has three case statements.)
Ask the participant with the first case statement to stand near the corresponding number on the floor and read the case statement. Have the following nine participants follow suit. Once everyone has read their case statements, have them flip over the piece of paper on the floor to show Harper called the stage that their case statement represents. Stage 6 has three options, so have them read the name of each option.
Now, starting with the person who read the "Young Children" case statement, ask the following reflection questions:
After the person who read the case statement answers these questions, take a minute to allow other participants respond as well. Repeat this process through all ten case statements.
Distribute Handout 2, Faith Development Tasks. Explain that Reverend Harper believes that we all go through at least some of these faith development tasks as we grow and deepen our faith.
Read each of the tasks on the handout. After each task, ask participants to raise their hands if they think the person in their case statement is going through that particular task. Make sure to point out the less obvious people that might be doing a particular task. For example, it is pretty obvious that Anne (at the Young Children Stage) is doing the first task. However, Mary (the New Youth) and all the people who are New Adults are doing that task as well.
Conclude by asking the group to reflect in silence for a minute about the stages that apply to their own faith journeys. Participants might want to make notes in their journals.
Including All Participants
Someone with mobility issues should be welcomed to read one of the case statements. They might need to have a chair placed at their location instead of standing.
ACTIVITY 3: STORY — CHALLENGED IN BELIEF (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Ask if anyone knows the story of John Murray. If they do not, tell them that he is considered to have preached the first Universalist sermon in the United States, bringing the idea of Universal Salvation to this country. Tell them that in his life, he went on both a long literal journey, emigrating from England to the United States, as well as a long spiritual journey, converting from Methodism to Universalism.
If you have not already recruited actors, ask for three volunteers now. Give them several minutes to read the script. While they are preparing, bring the table, chairs, teapot and teacups to the center of the room.
Have the volunteers act out the short play.
Then, ask the following reflection questions:
ACTIVITY 4: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants will now have the opportunity to reflect on, then write or draw in response to what they have experienced and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflecting, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Ask them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith journey up to this point in time in these terms.
An example might be:
1) I believe that my faith is an ever-changing journey.
2) I feel challenged by my faith community.
3) I act by sharing my journey with others.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections visually if they prefer.
Offer the following reflection questions related to the theme of the day: What stage of faith development am I at right now? Where do I hope to be in ten years?
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the group in a circle and re-light the chalice. Invite participants to share brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop. After five minutes, introduce the hymn, "My Life Flows On in Endless Song." This is an early Quaker song with an American gospel tune. The third verse was written by Doris Plenn in the McCarthy era, when those who refused to sign loyalty oaths often lost their jobs. Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "My Life Flows On in Endless Song," Hymn 108 in Singing the Living Tradition. Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: PRESENT CHALLENGED IN BELIEF TO THE CONGREGATION
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants share the John Murray play (Activity 3) with the congregation.
Decide on the best time for the production. One option is to talk with the minister about doing a worship service with faith development as the theme. You could then do the play as part of the service. If your congregation has a regular talent show or cabaret, another option is to present the play as part of that event. The last option would be to do it as a stand-alone event.
Decide who is going to do what parts. If you are doing the full play, you will need more than actors. Other participants could work on costumes and props, while others could work on organizing discussion questions for afterward.
Create a production schedule so that everyone knows when their tasks need to be completed. This should include times for the actors to rehearse.
When all of the preparation is done, present the play and have fun.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? What would you like to learn more about? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content?
If you are doing this curriculum as a series, go over the workshop plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do what preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned for the workshop which activities will you add or cut? Note that one of the activities in Workshop 3 includes an optional video clip. Obtain the technology needed if you choose to show the clip.
TAKING IT HOME
I was humbled, I was confounded, I saw clearly, that I had been all my life expecting good fruit from corrupt trees, grapes on thorns, and figs on thistles, I suspected myself, I had lost my standing, I was unsettled, perturbed and wretched. — John Murray (founder of American Universalism) on first listening to a sermon about universal salvation
In Today's Workshop...
We explored faith as a developmental process that we all engage in. We did this by looking at two developmental models and acting out a scene from the life of John Murray.
Explore the topic further with family and friends...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY (45 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, participants explore their spiritual autobiography. This activity is adapted with permission from "Write and Share your Spiritual Autobiography", Search Institute, 615 First Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413. To see the original, visit http://www.spiritualdevelopmentcenter.org/Display.asp?Page=autobio.
Tell participants they have two options. The first is to draw or describe their spiritual metaphor, and the second is to write their spiritual autobiography. Explain that they will have a chance to share what they create if they choose to do so. Distribute Handout 3, Spiritual Metaphor-Spiritual Autobiography and direct them to the supplies.
After about 20 minutes, call them back together. If you have a large group you might break them into smaller groups so people have more time to share. For the next 20 minutes let them share their creations. Gather the whole group together to consider the following questions:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: FAITH DEVELOPMENT INTERVIEW (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Congregants share some of their faith journey with youth.
Invite participants to interview members of the church about their faith journey. If you have not already distributed Handouts 1, 2 and 3 in previous activities do so now. Tell participants that these handouts will give them some inspiration for crafting good interview questions. Give them a few minutes to review the handouts and think of questions. Brainstorm questions for ten minutes. Then ask each participant to pick one or two questions they would like to ask. Make sure to mark the questions that have been selected so that the same question is not used twice.
Invite the church members into the room. Introduce them to the participants and let them talk for a few minutes each about their faith journey. They can answer the two questions posed ahead of time or share in another way. Then invite participants to ask their questions.
After participants have asked their questions, let the church members ask some questions as well. Thank your guests for their time.
Variation: If you have a larger group and one hour for this activity, consider breaking the group up so that two to five participants are with each church member. Make sure that all questions are assigned to someone in each group. Ask one participant to act as a recorder. When the interviews are done, bring everybody back together and have each small group share what they heard about the church member and their faith journey.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: WALKING MEDITATION (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Youth experience a meditation on their faith journey.
Explain that participants will use a form of meditation called "walking meditation" to explore their personal faith development. Say that many different religions use walking meditation or walking prayer as a way to engage the body in a spiritual practice. In this case, we are using a walking meditation as a continuation of the journeying metaphor.
Turn on the music and follow this script:
Find a space that gives you some distance away from everyone else but is close enough so that you can still hear my voice. Make sure that you stay within your ability to hear me as we take part in this walking meditation. [Pause for a minute to let people find their space]
Once you have found your spot take three slow breaths. Feel the air as it passes through your mouth and nose and moves into your lungs. Feel it as it moves out of your body. [Pause]
Now thinking about your shoulders and back, let the tension release as you continue to breathe.
Now think about your legs. Give each one a little shake to loosen them up.
Now take your first step. Pay attention to how the pressure feels as first your heel and then the rest of your foot make contact with the ground. Focus on that feeling as you continue to walk. [Pause for the count of 10]
As you continue to walk imagine that you are walking on a path. What is the path made of? Is it the concrete of a city sidewalk or the dirt of a trail in the woods? Is it even or bumpy? [Pause for a count of 10] Now imagine that this path is a path along the story of your life.
Start by thinking of yourself as a young child. What were the earliest stories that were told to you? What did your parents or caregivers tell you about god, about right and wrong? What were the rituals practiced at home? Did you go to church? [Pause for a count of 10]
Continue to walk, paying attention to the feeling of your feet touching the ground.
Now think of yourself when you were in elementary school. Was this how old you were when you first started to go to church? Did you have friends at the church? What were the religious holidays that you celebrated? Were you told any stories from the Bible or other religious books? What did you think of them? If you did not belong to a religious community, how did your family and friends foster you spiritually? [Pause for a count of 10]
Continue walking and thinking about your spiritual and faith journey. Where are you right now? Have you had a spiritual practice? What is it? Have you questioned your faith? Have you found any answers? Continue to walk, paying attention to your feet and thinking about these questions. I will stop talking for about five minutes as you walk and think. [Pause for about 5 minutes]
Now that you have thought about your past and present, look forward to the future. Where are you going? Where do you want to be in ten years? [Pause for about 1 minute]
Slowly come back to the group. As you do, reflect on all the images and thoughts you had during this meditation. When you get back, please take a seat and stay silent until everyone returns.
Once everyone returns, stay in silence for a moment or two. Then ask the group the following reflection questions:
Including All Participants
If you have a participant with mobility issues, you will need to think about how will adapt this activity for their needs. Talk to them directly and show them the script. They will likely have ideas for how to adapt the activity to their needs.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 2:
STORY: CHALLENGED IN BELIEF
Make three copies of this story and highlight the appropriate parts for each of the actors. Although there is gender differentiation in the characters, the character's gender does not need to match the actor's gender. Parts: Old John Murray (the Narrator) Young John Murray Young Lady Two or three Christian brethren (optional)
The scene opens with the Old John Murray standing behind a small table set for tea with two chairs.
Old John Murray:
Many people call me the founder of Universalism here in the United States. That is a mighty thing to say about a simple preacher like myself so I will let other people say it. What I can say about myself is that I was not always such a true believer in universal salvation which is the corner stone of our faith. Once upon a time I was a firm and devout Methodist believing that salvation only could come through my profession that Christ Jesus was my savior. Let me tell you a story about a time when I was still a young man in England and a young woman caused me to start to doubt my Methodist beliefs.
A young lady of irreproachable life, remarkable for piety, and highly respected by the tabernacle, congregation and church, of which I was a devout member, had been ensnared. To my great astonishment, she was become a believer, a firm and unwavering believer of universal redemption! Horrible! Most horrible! So high an opinion was entertained of my talents, having myself been a teacher among the Methodists, and such was my standing in the church, that I was deemed adequate to reclaiming this wanderer, and I was strongly urged to the pursuit. The poor deluded young woman was abundantly worthy our most arduous efforts. — He that converteth the sinner from the errors of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. Thus I thought, thus I said, and, swelled with a high idea of my own importance, I went, accompanied by two or three of my Christian brethren, to see, to converse with, and if need were, to admonish this simple, weak, but as we heretofore believed meritorious female; fully persuaded, that I could easily convince her of her errors, I entertained no doubt respecting the result of my undertaking.
Old John Murray moves to the front of the table leaving room for the other actors to enter.
Young John Murray (with his Christian brethren) enters on one side and the Young Lady enters from the other. The Young John Murray watches the Young Lady with a cautious look. The Young Lady looks kind and welcoming as she pours tea and then sits motioning for Young John Murray to sit. Young John Murray sits and his Christian brethren stand behind him.
Old John Murray (cont.):
The young lady received us with much condescension and kindness, while, as I glanced my eye upon her fine countenance, beaming with intelligence, mingling pity and contempt grew in my bosom. After the first ceremonies, we sat for some time silent; at length I drew up a heavy sigh, (Young John Murray sighs loudly and starts pretend to talk adamantly) and uttered a pathetic sentiment relative to the deplorable condition of those who live and die in unbelief, and concluded a violent declamation, by pronouncing with great earnestness,
Young John Murray:
He that believeth not shall be damned!
Old John Murray exits.
Young Lady (with great sweetness):
And pray, Sir, what is the unbeliever damned for not believing?
Young John Murray:
What is he damned for not believing? Why he is damned for not believing.
Young Lady:
But, my dear Sir, I asked what was that, which he did not believe, for which he was damned?
Young John Murray:
Why, for not believing in Jesus Christ to be sure.
Young Lady:
Do you mean to say, that unbelievers are damned for not believing there was such a person as Jesus Christ?
Young John Murray:
No, I do not; a man may believe there was such a person, and yet be damned.
Young Lady:
What then, Sir, must he believe, in order to avoid damnation?
Young John Murray:
Why, he must believe, that Jesus Christ is a complete Saviour.
Young Lady:
Well, suppose we were to believe, that Jesus Christ was the complete Saviour of others, would this belief save him?
Young John Murray:
No, he must believe that Christ Jesus is his complete Saviour, every individual must believe for himself, that Jesus Christ is his complete Saviour.
Young Lady:
Why, Sir, is Jesus Christ the Saviour of any unbeliever?
Young John Murray:
No, Madam.
Young Lady:
Why then should any unbeliever believe, that Christ Jesus is his Saviour, if he is not his Saviour.
Young John Murray:
I say he is not the Saviour of any one, until he believes.
Young Lady (sips some tea and then speaks):
Then if Jesus be not the Saviour of the unbeliever, until he believes, the unbeliever is called upon to believe a lie. It appears to me, Sir, that Jesus is the complete Saviour of unbelievers, and that unbelievers are called upon to believe the truth, and that by believing, they are saved in their own apprehension, saved from all those dreadful fears, which are consequent upon unbelief, upon a state of conscious condemnation.
Young John Murray:
No, Madam, you are dreadfully, I trust not fatally, misled. Jesus never was, nor never will be the Saviour of any unbeliever.
Young Lady:
Do you think he is your Saviour, Sir?
Young John Murray:
I hope he is.
Young Lady:
Were you always a believer, Sir?
John Murray:
No, Madam.
Young Lady:
Then you were once an unbeliever, that is, you once believed that Jesus Christ was not your Saviour. Now as you say, he never was nor never will be the Saviour of any unbeliever, as you were once an unbeliever, he never can be your Saviour.
John Murray:
He never was my Saviour till I believed.
Young Lady:
Did he never die for you till you believed, Sir?
Old John Murray re-enters and stands at the front of the table.
Old John Murray:
Here I was extremely embarrassed, and most devoutly wished myself out of her habitation. I sighed bitterly, (Young John Murray sighs bitterly and pretends to talk in a dejected manner) expressed deep commiseration for those deluded souls, who had nothing but head knowledge; drew out my watch, discovered it was late, and recollecting an engagement, observed it was time to take leave.
Young John Murray and the Young Lady stand up. Young John Murray continues to look dejected. The Young Lady graciously shakes everyone's hands and thanks them for coming (silently).
Old John Murray (while the above described action goes on):
I was extremely mortified, the young lady observed my confusion, but was too generous to pursue her triumph. I arose to depart, the company arose, she urged us to tarry, addressing each of us in the language of kindness, her countenance seemed to wear a resemblance to the heaven, which she contemplated, it was stamped by benignity, and when we bid her adieu, she enriched us by her good wishes.
After saying good bye to the Young Lady Young John Murray departs with his Christian brethren. The Young Lady then departs as well, leaving Old John Murray on the stage alone.
Old John Murray (cont.):
I suspected that my religious brethren saw she had the advantage of me, and I felt that her remarks were indeed unanswerable; my pride hurt, and I determined to ascertain the exact sentiments of my associates respecting this interview. I saw, and it was with extreme chagrin, that the event of this visit had depreciated me in the opinion of my companions; but I could do no more than censure and condemn, solemnly observing, it was better to avoid conversing with any of those apostates, and it would be judicious never to associate with them upon any occasion. From this period I, myself, carefully avoided every Universalist, and most cordially did I hate them.
But of course that was not the end of the story. That young lady had sewn the seeds of doubt. Over the following months I could not get this conversation out of my mind. I talked it over endlessly with my wife and even picked up and read a pamphlet written by one of those heretical Universalist preachers. This got me to questioning my own minister and the tenets of my own faith. I began to see all the contradictions that were hidden from me before that conversation with the young lady. So finally I went to hear one of those Universalist preachers and that an experience! I remember writing to a friend shortly afterwards that "I was humbled, I was confounded, I saw clearly, that I had been all my life expecting good fruit from corrupt trees, grapes on thorns, and figs on thistles, I suspected myself, I had lost my standing, I was unsettled, perturbed and wretched." That started a long and fateful journey that included embracing and preaching the gospel of universal salvation, losing a wife, loss of faith, debtors prison, a decision to start over again in America and getting ship wrecked off the coast of New Jersey - only to get called back to preaching the good news of a loving god by a farmer. But those are all stories for another time.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 2:
HANDOUT 1: STAGES OF FAITH DEVELOPMENT
Page 1
Stages of Faith Development
Pre-Stage: Undifferentiated Faith |
Generally children from birth through about 2 years of age. Have the potential for faith but lack the ability to act on that potential. Through loving care from parents and other adults in their life young children start to build a lived experience of trust, courage, hope and love. At this stage, children experience faith as a connection between themselves and their caregiver. |
Stage 1: Intuitive-projective Faith |
Generally pre-school aged children. The cognitive development of children of this age is such that they are unable to think abstractly and are generally unable to see the world from anyone else's perspective. As Robert Keeley writes: "These children cannot think like a scientist, consider logical arguments, or think through complex ideas." Faith is not a thought-out set of ideas, but instead a set of impressions that are largely gained from their parents or other significant adults in their lives. In this way children become involved with the rituals of their religious community by experiencing them and learning from those around them. |
Stage 2: Mythic-literal Faith |
Generally ages 6 to 12. Children at this age are able to start to work out the difference between verified facts and things that might be more fantasy or speculation. At this age children's source of religious authority starts to expand past parents and trusted adults to others in their community like teachers and friends. Like the previous stage, faith is something to be experienced. At this stage it is because children think in concrete and literal ways. Faith becomes the stories told and the rituals practiced. Later in this stage children begin to have the capacity to understand that others might have different beliefs than them. |
Stage 3: Synthetic-conventional Faith |
Generally starts about the age of 13 and goes until around 18. However, some people stay at this stage for their entire life. Unlike previous stages, people at this stage are able to think abstractly. What were once simple unrelated stories and rituals can now be seen as a more cohesive narrative about values and morals. With abstract thinking comes the ability to see layers of meaning in the stories, rituals and symbols of their faith. At this stage people start to have the ability to see things from someone else's perspective. This means that they can also imagine what others think about them and their faith. People at this stage claim their faith as their own instead of just being what their family does. However, the faith that is claimed is usually still the faith of their family. Issues of religious authority are important to people at this stage. For younger adolescents, that authority still resides mostly with their parents and important adults. For older adolescents and adults in this stage, authority resides with friends and religious community. For all people in this stage, religious authority resides mostly outside of them personally. |
Page 2
Stage 4: Individuative-reflective Faith |
This stage usually starts in late adolescence (18 to 22 years old). However Robert Keeley points out that "people of many generations experience the kind of dissonance that comes with the real questions of faith that one begins to address at this stage of development." People in this stage start to question their own assumptions around the faith tradition. Along with questioning their own assumptions about their faith, people at this stage start to question the authority structures of their faith. This is often the time that someone will leave their religious community if the answers to the questions they are asking are not to their liking. Greater maturity is gained by rejecting some parts of their faith while affirming other parts. In the end, the person starts to take greater ownership of their own faith journey. |
Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith |
People do not usually get to this stage until their early thirties. This stage is when the struggles and questioning of stage four give way to a more comfortable place. Some answers have been found and the person at this stage is comfortable knowing that all the answers might not be easily found. In this stage, the strong need for individual self-reflection gives way to a sense of the importance of community in faith development. People at this stage are also much more open to other people's faith perspectives. This is not because they are moving away from their faith but because they have a realization that other people's faiths might inform and deepen their own. |
Stage 6: Universalizing Faith |
It is a rare person who reaches this stage of faith. James Fowler describes people at this stage as having "a special grace that makes them seem more lucid, more simple, and yet somehow more fully human than the rest of us." People at this stage can become important religious teachers because they have the ability to relate to anyone at any stage and from any faith. They are able to relate without condescension but at the same time are able to challenge the assumptions that those of other stages might have. People at this stage cherish life but also do not hold on to life too tightly. They put their faith in action, challenging the status quo and working to create justice in the world. Robert Keeley points to people like Gandhi and Mother Teresa as examples of people who have reached this stage. |
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 2:
HANDOUT 2: FAITH DEVELOPMENT TASKS
Adapted from an essay written by Rev. Dan Harper.
Harper, Dan. 2001. Learning Types and their Needs. In Essex Conversations: Vision for Lifespan Religious Education, ed. The Essex Conversations Coordinating Committee (Boston: Skinner House. 94-5).
First Task: Learn basic Unitarian Universalist religious skills; learn how we Unitarian Universalists do religion. Anne has learned how to come to church once a week, what a worship service is, what a hymn is, that we get religious inspiration from certain books and certain sets of words, and so on.
Second Task: Learn what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist; learn and explore our faith tradition, our Unitarian Universalist identity. Leslie and Carol learned lots of stuff about our Jewish and Christian heritage, other world religions we draw inspiration from, and our Unitarian Universalist tradition. Probably this task comes to mind first when thinking of the tasks of religious education.
Third Task: Learn to discern who we are as persons of faith, as religious beings. This task consists of at least three parts: discerning your religious identity as an individual member of this faith community, discerning your role within your faith community (which will change over time), and discerning your role in the wider world as a faithful person.
Forth Task: Engage in theological reflection; think about how you do religion and how to find the words to talk about what you think. This task often is ceded to theological schools—displayed through Kathleen's thinking about becoming a minister—but it should also be happening in congregations all the time.
Fifth Task: Having discerned who you are as a religious being and gone on to theological reflection, establish and refine your religious practices. You might learn new techniques of prayer or meditation, learn a new role in your congregation, engage in social actions or find a job consistent with your faith.
These last three tasks can become an ongoing cycle leading to continued growth and deepening of faith.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 2:
HANDOUT 3: SPIRITUAL METAPHOR-SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Adapted with permission from Write and Share your Spiritual Autobiography, Search Institute, 615 First Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413. To see the original, visit http://www.spiritualdevelopmentcenter.org/Display.asp?Page=autobio
Option 1: Spiritual Metaphor
Instructions: As you move through your life—the days and seasons, the ups and downs, the joys and hardships and lessons learned—is there an image that you use to describe the shape of life? For example, some people imagine life as a ship sailing across uncharted waters, and their faith, values, and beliefs as the wind in the sails. Others imagine it as a spiral of experiences and realizations, or as a journey over mountains and valleys. You can visualize your life as a river and describe its flow, twists and turns, depths and shallows, etc. How do you see it? Draw your image and consider using it as a metaphor throughout this spiritual autobiography activity.
Options 2: Spiritual Autobiography
Note: You don't have to answer all of the questions.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 2:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: PATHWAYS OF FAITH
This is based on an essay written by Rev. Dan Harper.
Harper, Dan. Learning Types and their Needs. In Essex Conversations: Vision for Lifespan Religious Education, ed. The Essex Conversations Coordinating Committee (Boston: Skinner House, 2001).
Lay out the pathways roughly as they are presented in the diagram below. Use pieces of paper to mark eight developmental stage points. On one side write the number and on the other write the name of the developmental stage. Use masking tape to create paths between numbers as shown below. Make sure you leave enough room for two or three people to stand at each number. Then cut the numbered case statements apart so that you can give them to different participants.
Pathways
1. Young Children
2. Children
3. New Youth
4. Long-term Youth
5. Deep Youth
6. New Adult (A. Come-outers, B. Come-inners and C. Pass-throughers)
7. Long-term Adult
8. Deep Adult
Diagram of Pathways:
Case Statements
1. Hi, my name is Anne! I come to church almost every week. The other kids and I start off in the worship service with the adults for about 15 minutes and then we head off to our religious education program. I used to have trouble sitting quietly through those first 15 minutes but my parents tell me that I have gotten much better. I am really starting to like the time with all the adults. I like the singing and the chalice lighting. The stories are really fun, too.
2. My name is Leslie. My best friend Carol and I are now ten years old and we have been coming to this congregation for a really long time. We like learning about Unitarian Universalism, about the Bible and about all those other religions. We really like telling other people about what we have learned. Just recently, Carol and I have started sitting together away from our parents during the first 15 minutes of the worship service before we head off to religious education.
3. Hey, my name is Mary. My friend Bob talked me into coming to his youth group at the Unitarian Universalist church. My parents really are not that religious so I have never been to a church. I like Bob and his friends from church seem really cool so I decided to check it out. As I have come to youth group meetings I am beginning to get what it is that Unitarian Universalists believe and I think I like it. I have not been to a Sunday service yet but maybe I will go with Bob and his family next week.
4. My name is David. I just turned 15 and I have been a part of this congregation my whole life. I know quite a bit about Unitarian Universalism and other religions from all the religious education programs I have taken. Recently I have begun to think a little bit more about what it means for me to be a Unitarian Universalist and why it is we do the things we do at church. I am not quite sure how to put it yet but I think I will figure it out.
5. My name is Bob and I love this church. I am a senior in high school and ever since I started in the youth group I have been getting my friends, like Mary over there, to come to church. I also teach religious education classes. That is really fun! This year I am teaching "Why Do Bad Things Happen?" to the fifth and sixth graders. Leading this class has really forced me to think about what I believe so that I am able to better talk with the younger kids about it. It is funny but I think teaching this class is helping me understand myself as much as it is helping the kids in the class.
6A. Hello, my name is Joel. I was raised in a pretty strict Lutheran household. I went to church all the time when I was a kid and in high school, but by the time I got to college I really started to question all the things I was being told at church. It just stopped making any sort of sense. After I graduated from college, I met Kathy who had grown up Unitarian Universalist and had been pretty involved. We ended up getting married in a Unitarian Universalist church and as I got to know the minister who married us I started to think that I might like this church. Kathy and I have started to come a little more regularly and I am starting to figure it all out. I like that I am not being told what to believe but instead I am challenged to think about my own beliefs.
6B. Hi, My name is Diana and neither my partner Jen nor I have really ever been involved with a religious community. However, I am pregnant with our first child and we have been feeling the need to find a spiritual home for us and our kids. We know that our kids will get taught about religion one way or another. That certainly happened to me when I was a kid and I do not want my kids to go through the same confusion I did. The funny thing is that as me and my partner have been attending this fellowship more often, I have found that getting in touch with my own spirituality is really important. Maybe this will not just be about the kids.
6C. Hi my name is Jeff. Two years ago I started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at the local Unitarian Universalist congregation. I had been in a bad place for years and was just starting to try to get my life together. I would often come to meetings a little early and sometimes the minister was still around so we would talk. I really liked her so I started to come to the Sunday services. It became this really important place for me to just sit and think about my life. The members of the congregation were also very nice and welcoming. At one of the summer services the minister was not there but a person from the local Zen Buddhist meditation center was leading the service. He led us in some meditation and it was like a light went off in my head. This is what I needed. I started going to the meditation and gradually stopped attending the Unitarian Universalist congregation. But I will always be grateful for that minister and the people in that congregation for helping to turn my life around.
7. Hello my name is John. My wife Kathleen is really into the church. She teaches a bunch of religious education classes and is on more committees than I can think of. I am glad Kathleen is really involved but that is just not my thing. I come to church once or twice a month. I like helping out by taking food that the church collects to the local food pantry once a month. I feel like going to the worship services are enough for me right now. I could see getting more involved later on and even taking one of the adult religious education workshops, but I do not feel like I need that right now.
8. Hi, I am Kathleen. My husband John and I have been coming to church for 15 years now. I am super involved, and my husband... not so much. But that is okay, because I do plenty for the two of us! I teach religious education classes, have been on a ton of committees, and just got done with my second stint as the board president. Sunday worship really feeds my soul and I like taking the adult religious education programs that the minister offers. One of my favorite things about volunteering at the church is getting to have deep conversations with other members. I learn and grow so much each time I have one of these conversations. I have to admit that every once in a while I think about becoming a minister myself. Maybe that will be my retirement plan!
FIND OUT MORE
Faith Development
For more information on faith development, and other developmental issues for children and youth, see Tracey Hurd's Nurturing Children and Youth: A Developmental Guidebook (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=706) (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2005).
The Church of All Ages: Generations Worshiping Together (Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2007) edited by Howard Vanderwell and published by the Alban Institute (at www.alban.org/index.aspx), is a series of essays about different aspects of building multigenerational community in churches. It includes a very good essay by Robert Keeley that summarizes James Fowler's work.
If you really want to dig deep into faith development, James Fowler's classic work on the topic of faith development is called Stages of Faith (New York: HarperCollins,1981) and can be found on most online bookstores.
The Reverend Dan Harper's essay "Learning Types and Their Needs" in Essex Conversations (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=6) is also a helpful Unitarian Universalist-specific resource.
The Life of John Murray
Two books written by John Murray and edited by his wife Judith Sargent Murray can be found on Google books for free. The first is his autobiography called Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray (at books.google.com/books?id=prpbh7e0Sw0C&dq=John%20Murray%20Autobiography&pg=PA1) and the second is called Letters and Sketches of Sermons (at books.google.com/books?id=o-BC-Bh5I40C&dq=John%20Murray%20Sketches&pg=PR3). Both offer interesting insight into the life and thinking of John Murray.
Other stories and articles about John Murray can be found at the Unitarian Universalist Association's website. (at www.uua.org/) Type "John Murray" into the Google custom search bar and click on "Go" to see what is available.
Walking Meditation
For more guidance on walking meditation techniques, visit Insight Meditation Online (at www.buddhanet.net/xmed7.htm) or watch the video at Howcast.com (at www.howcast.com).
WORKSHOP 3: ROOTS AND WINGS
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Our religious education nurtures both roots and wings; the roots of community and shared values, and the wings of the free mind and creative spirit. — Rev. Pat Hoertdoerfer, "Education for Religion as Relationship"
This workshop explores Unitarian Universalism as a living tradition with deep historical and theological roots, as well as wings of change and creativity. After learning about core values rooted in our heritage, participants will locate themselves in the continuous search for truth and meaning that is our Unitarian Universalist tradition.
Be aware that the topic of ancestry and roots may be challenging for some participants. This workshop does not ask participants to create personal family trees. It focuses on our religious ancestors. Present ancestry broadly, not as genetic heritage.
Note that one option for Activity 3, Ancestors All Around Us, includes showing a video clip. You will need to make advance arrangements if you wish to include the video.
It is important for the workshop leaders to be at least somewhat knowledgeable of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist roots. Read Leader Resource 1, Unitarian and Universalist Roots, before the workshop. You might also explore the resources in Find Out More. While it is not possible to present all of this information during the workshop, it is helpful if the leader is able to offer important background information if questions and issues come up in discussion.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Story — Ancestral Tree | 15 |
Activity 2: Understanding Our Roots | 15 |
Activity 3: Ancestors All Around Us | 20 |
Activity 4: We Can Believe Whatever We Want | 20 |
Activity 5: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: Roots and Wings Across Generations | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Embodying Roots and Wings | 10 |
Alternate Activity 2: Piecing Together History | 15 |
Alternate Activity 3: Finishing the Tree | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Spend time reflecting on your relationship to your religious roots. Who are your ancestors? What religious or cultural traditions did they share with you? Are these traditions and beliefs still part of your life? One of the challenges of exploring roots and wings is holding a balance between the tradition and culture that one inherits and the search for one's own revealed truths. How do you hold this balance? Some people reject tradition based on the idea that, as free liberal religious people, "we can believe whatever we want." What is your reaction to this statement? Be aware of the assumptions you bring from your religious upbringing in Unitarian Universalism or another faith tradition.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. They include a quote and a question.
Our religious education nurtures both roots and wings; the roots of community and shared values, and the wings of the free mind and creative spirit. — Rev. Patricia Hoertdoerfer, "Education for Religion as Relationship"
Questions: What material are your roots made of? What color are your wings?
As participants arrive, invite them to decorate a journal, review and/or add to their journals in response to the Welcome Words. Invite discussion of the Welcome Words. Orient visitors and first-time participants to the program and get a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones. Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading from workshop to workshop.
After the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist any youth that might need help with words in the responsive reading. Remember to allow participants to pass on reading aloud.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — ANCESTRAL TREE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Read or tell the story. Process the story with these questions:
ACTIVITY 2: UNDERSTANDING OUR ROOTS (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity explores core values held by Unitarian and Universalist ancestors, which have shaped our roots and wings.
Point to the six words written on the roots of the tree and tell participants that freedom, reason, tolerance, faith, hope, and love are values that run throughout our liberal religious history. These values show up repeatedly in our theologies, our Principles and Sources, and our actions in the world. Some of these values are reflected in James Luther Adams' Five Smooth Stones of Liberalism (from Workshop 1) read in each workshop. Review the Opening responsive reading and ask participants where they see these values reflected.
Distribute the quotes and actions to participants. One by one, invite them to stand or sit at the front of the room or the center of the circle and read their quote or action aloud. After each one is read, let the group discuss which root(s) they think it reflects. When they have come to an agreement, have them direct the reader to tape their paper to the appropriate root on the wall. Note that some quotes or actions may connect to multiple roots. Discuss all possible connections. Continue reading quotes and actions aloud, discussing, and posting.
Conclude the activity with these words:
Let us bring these values into our lives and the world. If these are our roots, the source of our religious life today, it is our responsibility to cultivate them, and also to shape the direction of their growth. This is the way we give our roots life. One day, we will be part of the roots, too. This is the beauty of our living tradition.
ACTIVITY 3: ANCESTORS ALL AROUND US (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, participants hear the words of Reverend Joshua Mason Pawelek on the importance of ancestors for us today.
Introduce the story by saying something like:
The following story comes from a sermon Unitarian Universalist minister Joshua Mason Pawelek delivered during the closing worship of the UUA General Assembly in 2007. Rev. Pawelek talks about ancestors, particularly our Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist ancestors, and their relevance to us today.
After introducing the story, either show the video clip or read the sermon aloud. Participants may interact with the story by proclaiming "hallelujah" when prompted.
After showing the video or reading the sermon, engage participants in a discussion using the following questions:
Remind youth that not all ancestors lived long ago. If your congregation includes a memorial garden or a portrait gallery of past ministers and leaders, visit it or mention it. If you know a short story about someone represented in this space and their contribution to the congregation, share it. If you know a short story about an artifact (such as a chalice, organ, or playground) and how it came to belong to the congregation, consider sharing.
Conclude the discussion by explaining that the saints, souls, forbears, preachers, prophets, heretics, and resisters represent the wings of our Unitarian Universalist tradition because they have transported our faith to new places. But they are also roots for us, because it is on their foundations that we have grown and shaped our tradition over the years. Tell participants that they will hear stories of our ancestors throughout this program. We will often ask, "What does this story have to do with me? Am I part of the faith tradition in this story? If so, how will I carry on the traditions and values I inherited?"
Ask participants, "What actions have you taken that mirror our Unitarian Universalist ancestors?"
Including All Participants
Make sure that everyone can see and hear the video. During the discussion, encourage balanced participation and draw out quiet voices by guiding conversation and asking for new voices to speak up before others speak a second or third time.
ACTIVITY 4: WE CAN BELIEVE WHATEVER WE WANT (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity addresses the idea that, as part of a free and liberal faith, "we can believe anything we want." Participants explore this misunderstanding in relation to the fourth Unitarian Universalist Principle of a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning."
Begin by asking, "Is it true that as Unitarian Universalists we can believe anything we want?" Allow a few minutes for responses. Tell participants that this is sometimes said of our free and liberal Unitarian Universalist faith. Ask the group:
Break into groups of three for five minutes to discuss the statement "As Unitarian Universalists, we can believe anything we want." Ask participants to brainstorm personalities, beliefs, groups or actions that conflict with a Unitarian Universalist faith. Tell them to formulate these conflicts as affirmative statements. For example, "You can be a Unitarian Universalist and a Nazi." Give each small group a sheet of newsprint and markers to record their statements. Bring the groups back together and have them post their newsprint.
Explain that they will now use one statement from each group for a continuum activity. You may use more than one, as time permits. If participants had trouble coming up with statements, you can suggest the ones below. Some of these statements present obvious conflicts, but others may provoke lively discussion and disagreement:
1) You can be a Unitarian Universalist and believe that some people are predestined for Heaven and others for Hell.
2) You can be a Unitarian Universalist and believe that humans have control over the earth's resources and can do with them whatever they please.
3) You can be a Unitarian Universalist and believe that marriage should only be between one man and one woman.
4) You can be a Unitarian Universalist and support wars.
5) You can be a Unitarian Universalist and believe in a god that rewards some people and not others.
Point out the "Agree" and "Disagree" signs posted on opposite sides of the room, and explain that after each statement is read aloud, participants should place themselves along the continuum based on to what extent they agree or disagree with the statement. Invite members of the small groups to read their own statements aloud. After participants place themselves on the continuum, invite volunteers in different places on the continuum to share why they are there.
When all the statements have been read, ask participants if it is true that Unitarian Universalists can believe anything they want.
Close with a short discussion based on the question: What is meant by "free" and "responsible" in our fourth Principle promoting the "free and responsible search for truth and meaning"?
Remind participants that the "free and responsible search for truth and meaning" is rooted in our community and shared values, which affirm the inherent worth and dignity of all people (first Principle), and acknowledge our role in the interdependent web of all existence (seventh Principle).
Ask, "How does the free and responsible search for truth and meaning" relate to James Luther Adam's First Stone that says, "Revelation is continuous?"
Including All Participants
Make sure that there is adequate space for people with mobility challenges to participate in the continuum. Provide the option of sitting or standing.
ACTIVITY 5: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that this is an opportunity to reflect and write or draw on what they have learned and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflecting, but participants are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Ask them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
1) I believe that my familial and spiritual ancestors are present with me today.
2) I feel honored and privileged to have deep roots and also the freedom to explore and develop my faith.
3) I act on my beliefs and feelings by offering my own gifts to Unitarian Universalism so that I may become an ancestor.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections visually, if they prefer.
Offer the following reflection questions related to the theme of the day: What kind of Unitarian Universalist ancestor will you be? What will be your legacy?
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Relight the chalice. Invite a couple of volunteers to share brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop. Wrap up the sharing after five minutes.
Close with the song, "We Are... " by Ysaye Maria Barnwell.
Share the following background (at www.uua.org/publications/singingjourney/songinformation/93778_23.shtml): The words and music of "We Are... " are written by Ysaye Maria Barnwell, founding member of the singing group Sweet Honey in the Rock. This song is meant to convey that no matter what our race, culture or ethnicity, each one of us has been called into being and are the sum total of all who came before. In Barnwell's words, "Each and every one of us stands atop a lineage that has had at its core, mothers and fathers and teachers and dreamers and shamans and healers and builders and warriors and thinkers and, and, and... so in spite of our uniqueness, we come from and share every experience that human kind has ever had. In this way, we are one."
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "We Are... ," Hymn 1051 in Singing the Journey.
Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute copies of Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: ROOTS AND WINGS ACROSS GENERATIONS
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The following activities offer an opportunity for participants to teach and learn about their roots and wings close to home in their own congregation, while also developing intergenerational connections. Participants will interview elder members of the congregation or people who are knowledgeable about congregational and/or Unitarian Universalist history.
One-on-One Interview
This option introduces the spiritual practices of listening and gaining wisdom across generations. If the technology is available, participants may choose to audio or video record their interview rather than write notes.
Distribute Handout 1, Roots and Wings Interview Questions. Explain that participants will have the opportunity to interview an elder in the congregation or someone knowledgeable about their congregation and/or Unitarian Universalism's history about their faith journey's roots and wings. After participants read Handout 1, lead a brainstorm of additional questions based on individual interests.
Distribute paper and pens and help the youth and elders find a comfortable and appropriate space for the interview(s). If they are audio or video recording, they will need a quiet space.
After the interviews, gather the group to share what they learned about their interviewee as well as themselves.
Congregational Dialogue
This option increases the presence, visibility, and contributions of youth in the larger congregation and builds intergenerational connections.
Explain that this activity is an opportunity to teach the congregation about the Unitarian Universalist roots they learned about in this workshop and to invite the congregation to share their own roots and wings stories as part of a larger congregational dialogue. Provide newsprint and markers so that participants can draw a large version of the tree used in Activity 2, Understanding Our Roots. Cut up Leader Resource 2, Values and Actions Quotes and tape them onto the roots. Then hang the tree in a central space in the congregation (perhaps where coffee hour is held). Recruit participants to be available before and after the Sunday service to draw attention to the tree, invite people to contribute their own roots and wings, and initiate informal conversations.
The tree could be displayed for a couple weeks for people to continue to add to it, or it could be brought back to the youth room as a conversation starter.
Participants could also plan a worship service for the whole congregation that engages them in exploring the roots and wings of their own lives and Unitarian Universalism.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this program as a series, go over the workshop plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do which preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned for in the workshop, which activities will you add or cut?
Faith In Action for Workshop 4, Theology of Love, is a great undertaking: creating a rainbow flag. It calls for many materials you will need to purchase and it will take more time than most Faith In Actions. Yet, it creates a wonderful opportunity for youth to partner with others in the congregation or their community to support the rights of GLBT people.
TAKING IT HOME
Our religious education nurtures both roots and wings; the roots of community and shared values, and the wings of the free mind and creative spirit. —— Rev. Pat Hoertdoerfer, "Education for Religion as Relationship"
In Today's Workshop...
Today's story used the metaphor of "roots and wings" to talk about our faith tradition——past, present, and future. We heard and discussed a sermon by Rev. Joshua Mason Pawelek about ancestors. We learned about our roots by reading quotes and actions and connecting them with core values of Unitarian Universalism. We then explored the widely held assumption that as Unitarian Universalists "we can believe anything we want" in the context of the "free and responsible search for truth and meaning" (fourth Principle). We also reflected on how our faith leads us to believe, feel, and act when it comes to roots (tradition) and wings (living and acting).
Reflect on...
How do you live out the free and responsible search for truth and meaning? In what ways do you act as a co-creator of the future of Unitarian Universalism?
Explore the topic further with family and friends...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: EMBODYING ROOTS AND WINGS (10 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, participants use their bodies to reflect on and represent roots and wings.
Invite participants to stand as they are able, or to stay in their seat. Slowly read the following script to lead the group through an embodied meditation:
As we begin, please close your eyes. Take three deep breaths——in... and out, in... and out, in... and out. Raise your arms and stretch upwards to the sky. Reach down to touch the floor with the palms of your hands and your fingers. Slowly roll back to an upright position.
Now, feel your feet firmly planted on the ground. Notice how the ground holds you up as you push against it with your body's weight. Imagine that your feet are actually rooted in the ground. Your body is nourished by the web of roots connecting you to the ground. Pretend that your body is part of that web of roots. Move or position your body as if you are a root, and imagine you are part of that web of roots... what does it feel like? What is growing out of you? [Pause for 15 seconds] If you would like, please share a word or two aloud about how it feels. [Pause for responses]
Now move from the position of a root to the position of a wing. Move freely... in a new direction of your creation. Repeat that movement three more times, pausing in the wing position. [Pause] What does it take to become a wing? [Pause for 10 seconds]
Reflect on the movement from root to wing. What path did you follow? [Pause for 5 seconds] Imagine you are a wing... what does it feel like? [Pause for 15 seconds] If you would like, please share a word or two aloud about how it feels. [Pause for responses]
Now return to an upright position. When you are ready... slowly open your eyes and return your attention to the room and this group gathered here.
When everyone is back in their seats, lead a short discussion with these reflection questions:
Including All Participants
This activity is especially good for kinesthetic learners——people who learn best by doing and moving. People with limited mobility can participate from their seats.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: PIECING TOGETHER HISTORY (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity increases knowledge and understanding of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist female ancestors. Decide how many ancestors you will use based on the number of participants. If there are ten participants, you will use five ancestors (five names and five matching bios.) Fifteen ancestors are provided.
Distribute matching names and bios to participants so that each person has one square. Tell the participants to wander around "introducing" themselves as their ancestor, trying to figure out which names go with which bio statements. Tell them that when they find their match, they should sit down together.
Once everyone has found their match, ask each pair to read their papers aloud——one person saying "I am PERSON" and the other reading the bio statement.
If there are enough ancestors, do a second or even a third round.
Ask:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: FINISHING THE TREE (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite youth to personalize the ancestral tree. They may add additional roots, label the trunk and branches and add themselves as colorful birds. After the artwork is completed, youth may share how they feel about the additions.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 3:
STORY: ANCESTRAL TREE
By Greta Anderson.
Have you ever thought of our faith as an ancestral tree? It can be awe-inspiring to see the numerous roots and branches that make up our religious family. The "roots" of the tree are the values we hold dear, such as reason, tolerance, and freedom, hope, faith and love.
These roots have brought forth many ancestors, carrying these values out into the world. Though they have passed before us, they are still somehow with the family, kept alive in memories and stories, or the values they passed on to us. This is the trunk, from which the tree gets its strength. It is what unites us, perhaps in name, but also those very stories, memories and values that endure.
Who are the ancestors who have supported this faith? Arius and Origen, Joseph Priestley, John Murray, Hosea Ballou, Olympia Brown, Louisa May Alcott, and Susan B. Anthony. There are other, more recent UUs, too, such as Adlai Stevens, May Sarton, Kurt Vonnegut, and Whitney Young. None of these ancestors asks us to be exactly like them. Rather, the tradition they represent offers us security, inspiration, and a place to start our faith journeys—or, if you will, our flight. You know many of the traditions our ancestors stood strong for: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity and compassion in human relations; acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations; a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large; the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; and respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
The family tree of Unitarian Universalism was "watered" by various streams of thought and belief. Unitarianism holds that God is one. Universalism holds that everyone is "saved", not just a certain group. These are the two major streams of thought. But there are others. There are eastern and Pantheist traditions. These sources fed the writings of figures such as Emerson and Thoreau. More recently, there are neo-pagan streams that can awaken our senses to the natural world, and atheist streams, which can ground our thinking in rationality. All of our Sources keep the tradition alive and organic——ever growing, ever changing.
The UU community comprises the branches of the family tree, growing and changing to find the light, the multifaceted truth that we all seek.
On these branches are leaves, individual members of congregations. Each leaf is positioned at a unique place, to absorb the sunlight in his/her own way. These leaves give life to the tree even after they have fallen, nourishing the roots of our tradition with the reality of its members' truth-seeking, compassionate, justice-demanding, Nature-conscious faith.
The fruits of this tree are the writing and the music, the poetry, the conversations and the rituals that have developed as expressions of the tradition. The songs that we sing every Sunday, the lighting of a chalice, and the beautiful words we hear. The silence of our meditation. These are all fruits.
The fruits of this tree also include actions, such as the abolition movement or the work of Martha and Waitstill Sharp, who helped hundreds of Jews and other refugees escape Nazi persecution. It is also in the current "Standing on the Side of Love" campaign that is fighting oppression in all its forms, but especially oppression of immigrants and BGLT individuals and couples.
The congregation in which you find yourself is grounded, rooted in values and supported by a history of thoughtful, courageous, and unyielding people. It continues to grow and change, but will always be there to shelter and protect its members. You are the birds in the tree. You have taken in the fruits of the tree. Through music and stories and friendships and conversations and actions, you have absorbed the essence of the UU tradition, been nourished by it and what it has to give.
But the time will come for each of you to take flight. The tree and its fruits cannot tell you in what direction to fly. They can, however, give you hope, courage, sustenance, a place to look out and see the possibilities, and of course, a place to which you may always return home.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 3:
HANDOUT 1: ROOTS AND WINGS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Use these questions, along with the questions the group brainstorms, as a guide for interviewing an elder in your congregation. Remember that this is an exercise in listening. You may audio or video record the interview, or write notes on paper.
1. What is your name? Where do you live?
2. What is your religious background and background with Unitarian Universalism? Are you a lifelong Unitarian Universalist? Did you find it later in life? Did you leave and then come back?
3. As a child, what did you learn about religion? Were you told what to believe, or did you explore and develop your own beliefs?
4. How has your religious and spiritual life changed over the years?
5. Whom do you consider your religious ancestors and spiritual teachers?
6. What words and stories of religion and philosophy are you rooted in? Which are most meaningful to you?
7. What role do freedom, reason, tolerance, faith, hope, and love play in your religious and spiritual life?
8. What have been significant turning points in your life? Have your familial or spiritual ancestors shaped the decisions you have made?
9. What gifts do you bring to Unitarian Universalism? What resources do you draw upon?
10. What legacy do you hope to leave behind?
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: UNITARIAN AND UNIVERSALIST ROOTS
These excerpts are background reading for the leader, but are not used directly in the workshop. Read this so you can bring this knowledge to the activity as needed.
Earl Morse Wilbur on Unitarianism, from "The Meaning and Lesson of Unitarian History," a paper read before the Provincial Assembly of Presbyterian and Unitarian Ministers and Congregations of Lancashire and Cheshire at Liverpool, June 10, 1925:
"... the keyword to our whole history, as I interpret it, is the word complete spiritual freedom. It is toward this that from the beginning until now our leaders have consciously or unconsciously struggled; and it is this that I take it we of to-day most earnestly wish to preserve unimpaired, and to hand on confirmed to those that shall come after us. The achievement of this complete spiritual freedom has been accomplished in our history in three distinct stages. First came the revolt against the bondage to the tradition dogmas as expressed in the historic Creeds, and the substitution of new statements of Christian faith drawn directly from the Scriptures. Next in logical development the realization of a conflict, actual or possible, between Scripture and reason led to the recognition of the fact that, if the soul were to be wholly free, reason must be accepted as the supreme authority. Nearly co-incident with this second step historically, though subsequent to it logically, came the further recognition of the equal authority of other men's reason, for them, which, when put into practical effect, issued in the principle of full mutual tolerance of differing opinions."
Russell Miller on Universalism, from A Larger Hope, Volume 1, p. xxiii and xxiv:
"Eschewing the revivalism and emotional fervor which characterized so much of the nineteenth-century Protestantism, Universalist combined reason and Christian faith to propagate their version of revealed religion. The word faith is emphasized in the Professions of Faith for the significance of faith; to John Murray and his plea to go out onto the highways and byways and give the people hope and courage at a time when the orthodoxy of the time gave the people no hope of salvation; and to the reaction to the Great Awakening Camp meeting excesses for insisting on the use of reason in faith and belief."
"... Universalists stressed such principles as freedom of conscience, individual interpretation of the Scriptures, separation of church and state, the inherent worth and dignity of humanity, and the democratic faith and optimism of nineteenth-century America."
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: VALUES QUOTES AND ACTIONS
Quote 1 —The bond of fellowship in this Convention shall be a common purpose to do the will of God as Jesus revealed it and to co-operate in establishing the kingdom for which he lived and died. To that end, we avow our faith in God as Eternal and All-Conquering Love, in the spiritual leadership of Jesus, in the supreme worth of every human personality, in the authority of truth known or to be known, and in the power of men of goodwill and sacrificial spirit to overcome evil and progressively establish the Kingdom of God. ---Universalist Bond of Fellowship (1935)
Quote 2 — "We look forward to the time when the power to love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace." ---William Ellery Channing, 19th century Unitarian minister
Action 1: The American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, for many decades, supported the same social justice programs. The liberal religions realized that their beliefs were not in conflict. Believing that they might eliminate duplication of work, improve their fiscal situations, and attract more new congregants if they were a larger institution, the two organizations starting talking about joining. After years of meetings and discussions outlining plans, they merged in 1961.
Quote 3 — "If we join our dreams with the dreams of so many other people, real change is possible; and it is the task of our faith to link those dreams and make them a reality." ---Abhi Janamanchi, Unitarian Universalist minister
Quote 4 — "[Faith] is an expression of unconfined zeal of spirit. It is for unsurrendered persons. Faith tries wings, follows illusions, challenges, urges, fails, conquers. It is more than the assurance of things not seen — it is an adventure after them. Belief digs itself into the trench of creed. Faith knows no horizons, can not live in crypts, behind padlocks. Faith is for eager and audacious persons. When belief takes the place of faith, creeds become paramount. When faith is dominant, deeds become the test." ---Clarence Skinner, 20th century Universalist minister and activist
Action 2: Thomas Potter builds a chapel and waits for God to send a preacher to spread the doctrine of Universalism.
Quote 5 — "I have an almost complete disregard of precedent and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things always have been done... I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. I go for anything new that might improve the past." ---Clara Barton, 19th century Universalist nurse and founder of the American Red Cross
Quote 6 — "Freedom of each to utter means freedom of all to learn." ---Waitstill Sharp, 20th century Unitarian minister who with his wife, Martha, helped hundreds flee the Nazi holocaust.
Action 3: In 1539, Katherine Weigel is declared a heretic for her belief in one God and the humanity of Jesus. At the age of 80, she is burned at the stake in Poland for her refusal to denounce her faith.
Quote 7 — "If, recognizing the interdependence of all life, we strive to build community, the strength we gather will be our salvation. If you are black and I am white, It will not matter. If you are female, and I am male, It will not matter. If you are older and I am younger, It will not matter. If you are progressive and I am conservative, It will not matter. If you are straight and I am gay, It will not matter. If we join spirits as brothers and sisters, the pain of our aloneness will be lessened, and that does matter. In this spirit, we build community and move toward restoration." ---Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley, 20th century African American Unitarian Universalist minister and religious educator
Quote 8 — "Reason and intelligence are the most effective instruments that humankind possesses. There is no substitute: neither faith nor passion suffices in itself. The controlled use of scientific methods, which have transformed the natural and social sciences since the Renaissance, must be extended further in the solution of human problems... Reason should be balanced with compassion and empathy and the whole person fulfilled." ---Humanist Manifesto II (1973)
Action 4: In 1557, Queen Isabella issues the Edict of Toleration in the name of her son, the young King Sigismund, and her name, as his reagent. The Edict, a first of its kind, declares religious freedom for the people of Transylvania.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: VALUES QUOTES AND ACTIONS BACKGROUND
This resource includes background information on each of the quotes and actions used in Activity 2 and Alternate Activity 1. This will help you help participants make connections among the quotes, actions and value(s).
Quote 1 — Universalists made several statements of faith prior to the Unitarian Universalist principles. This quote is the Universalist Bond of Fellowship from 1935. This quote demonstrates the values of love and faith.
Quote 2 — William Ellery Channing (1789-1842) was a Unitarian theologian, preacher, and minister of the Federal Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. Channing believed in human goodness and the human potential to be like God. This quote demonstrates the values of love and tolerance.
Action 1: Through this action, our current religion of Unitarian Universalism was created. Decades of discussion concerning whether the two religions should merge were marked by arguments both for and against. Leaders on both sides considered the pros and cons carefully before committing to a merger; hence, this action demonstrates reason.
Quote 3 — Abhi Janamanchi is a Unitarian Universalist minister. He is a native of India and a member of the Brahmo Samaj, a Unitarian-Hindu reform movement. This quote demonstrates the value of hope.
Quote 4 —Clarence Skinner (1881-1949) was a Universalist minister, teacher, writer and social activist. He served as Dean of the Crane School of Theology and wrote many influential books on Universalist theology including Worship and a Well Ordered Life, which was published posthumously and from which this quote is drawn. This quote demonstrates the values of faith and freedom.
Action 2 — Thomas Potter (1689- 1777?), a New Jersey farmer, eventually welcomed John Murray to preach in his chapel and was instrumental to bringing Universalism to America. This actions demonstrate hope.
Quote 5 — Clara Barton (1821-1912) was a Universalist who served as a nurse in the Civil War battlefields and was the founder of the American Red Cross. She was also active in the movements for women's and African American suffrage. This quote demonstrates the value of freedom.
Quote 6 — Waitstill Sharp (1902-1984) was a Unitarian minister who, with his wife Martha Sharp, helped hundreds of Jews and other refugees escape Nazi persecution in Czechoslovakia during World War II. This quote demonstrates the value of freedom.
Action 3: By choosing death over conversion, Katherine Weigel's action demonstrates the strength of faith.
Quote 7 — Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley (1949-2006) who was African American, was a Unitarian Universalist minister and religious educator whose work had a profound impact on Unitarian Universalist engagement with anti-racism work. This quote demonstrates the values of tolerance and hope.
Quote 8 — The Second Humanist Manifesto (1973) is one of three manifestoes (written in 1933, 1973, and 2003) that articulate a Humanist worldview. This document was written by Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson, and signed by dozens of others. It is one of the foundational documents for Unitarian Universalist Humanists. This quote demonstrates the value of reason.
Action 4: Queen Isabella's action, which preceded her son's, King Sigismund's, Edict of Torda, demonstrates tolerance.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 4: REVEREND JOSHUA MASON PAWELEK SERMON
Video and written sermon from the closing worship of the 47th UUA General Assembly on June 24, 2007 in Portland, Oregon. This sermon excerpt is used with permission of Rev. Joshua Mason Pawelek (paw' lek) and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Show the video clip or read the following sermon excerpt aloud.
Of course, one does not preach alone: one preaches ... with those who've gone before—the saints, the souls, the forbears who articulated and preserved the preacher's tradition; the leaders who envisioned the future in which the preacher's community now lives; the prophets who challenged the tradition to transform; the heretics and resistors who said, "wait—we're not getting this right," and practiced the tradition in new forms; all those who, through the ages, carried the tradition along; all those who, through their blood, their spirit, their struggle, their love sought to pass on something of meaning and value to those who would come after. The ancestors: we carry them in our hearts precisely because they carried us in theirs. One preaches, always, with the ancestors. One worships, always, with the ancestors.
Before I go further, there is a word from the western religious lexicon I wish for us to embrace this afternoon. It is an ancestral word for those who claim Jewish and Christian heritage. It is an ancient Hebrew word or cry or shout of gratitude, praise, and joy: Hallelujah! Let me hear you say Hallelujah!
I believe it is a sign of spiritual health when we practice remembering and honoring those upon whose shoulders we rest. I believe it is a path to spiritual wisdom when we seek to know our ancestors' stories. What obstacles did they face? If they were enslaved, how did they achieve liberation? If they wandered in the wilderness, how did they survive? What was their relationship to the Most Holy? For what were they thankful? What did they pass on to us? As we know more clearly who our ancestors were, we know more clearly who we are. As we know more clearly who we are, we make ourselves ready to face the challenges of our time.
Let us, then, remember and honor the ancestors of our families, those into which we were born and those into which we were adopted —sometimes known, sometimes unknown—who struggled, perhaps, through more difficult times than ours, perhaps under more difficult circumstances than ours, so they could pass on something of value to us. We worship with them. Hallelujah!
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 5: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST WOMEN ANCESTORS
Sophia Lyon Fahs | (1876-1978) I was born in China to Presbyterian missionary parents, but my religious views changed as I became an adult, went to graduate school, and had children. In my career as an educator, I emphasized the importance of children's experience and developed a child-centered approach to religious education. The American Unitarian Association hired me in 1937 to write and edit a series of children's curricula. I didn't join a Unitarian church until 1945, but I was ordained 14 years later as a Unitarian minister. Over the course of my 101-year life I brought about a revolution in religious education. |
Clara Barton | (1821-1912) I grew up in a Universalist family in Massachusetts. I worked as a teacher and a nurse, most notably during the Civil War. I worked on the battlefields helping wounded soldiers and established an agency to gather and distribute supplies to them. For this work, I was called "The Angel of the Battlefield." After the war, I took a restful trip to Europe, where I became involved in the International Committee of the Red Cross. I returned to the United States inspired to start the Red Cross here, and in 1881 I finally gathered the support I needed to found the American Red Cross to respond to crises and national disasters like the Civil War. |
Olympia Brown | (1835-1926) I was born to Universalist pioneers in Michigan and received a strong education thanks to my father, who built a schoolhouse on our farm. In 1860, I was one of only a few women to graduate from college, and three years later was the first woman graduate of a theological school — St. Lawrence University. I was ordained as a Universalist minister, becoming the first woman to achieve such recognition by a denomination. I was active in the women's suffrage movement and was lucky to have lived long enough to vote in the 1920 election. |
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | (1825-1911) I was born to free parents in Maryland, but conditions for free blacks deteriorated when the Fugitive Slave Law took effect, so I moved north. I was a prolific published writer and poet from an early age, addressing the moral uplift and freedom from oppression for marginalized people. While living in Pennsylvania I helped slaves escape on the Underground Railroad. I also worked for women's rights, temperance, and peace. I became involved in the Unitarian church through abolitionist work, but remained involved in many ways throughout my life in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church I was raised in. |
Maja Capek | (1888-1966) I was born in Czechoslovakia but came to the United States to study library science. I met my husband Norbert in New York and worked as a librarian for several years. Around the time of World War I, we moved back to Czechoslovakia. I was ordained as a minister in 1926 and we founded the Unitarian Church in Prague, where we created the first Flower Celebration/Festival. I introduced this ritual to Unitarians in America when I went there in 1939 to lecture and raise funds for the joint Unitarian-Friends program to assist refugees. |
Julia Ward Howe | (1819-1910) I was a Unitarian poet, essayist, lecturer, and reformer. I worked to end slavery, helped to initiate the women's movement in many states, and organized for international peace. One of my lasting legacies was as author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." In response to the 1870s Franco-Prussian war, I began a peace crusade that included initiating a Mothers' Peace Day observance on the second Sunday in June. This idea spread and eventually became the Mothers' Day that you celebrate in May. |
Judith Sargent Murray | (1751-1820) I was a prominent female essayist, poet, and playwright, perhaps best known for my 1790 essay "On the Equality of the Sexes." I argued throughout my life for strong female education and for women to have a public voice. My second husband was John Murray, one of the founders of Universalism in New England. I, too, played an important role, as a religious educator and author of the first children's Universalist religious textbook. |
Beatrix Potter | (1866-1943) I was a British Unitarian author, illustrator, and conservationist. My early interests included study and watercolors of fungi, leading me to become respected in the field of mycology (the study of fungi). In my thirties, I published the children's book "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and went on to write and illustrate more than 20 children's books. When I died, I left my property to the National Trust to ensure the conservation of the Lake District in England. |
Viola Liuzzo | (1925-1965) I grew up in a poor family in the South in the midst of racial segregation. As an adult in Detroit, I was active in the Unitarian church and in local efforts for education reform and economic justice. When I saw what was going on with the Civil Rights movement in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama I decided to head south to help. I marched with thousands of others from Selma to Montgomery in support of civil rights, and as I drove a car of people home from the protest, including some African Americans, I was murdered by white supremacists. |
Maria Mitchell | (1818-1889) I was born into a Quaker family in Nantucket, MA, but later became a Unitarian. As a researcher and professor of astronomy, I discovered "Miss Mitchell's Comet" in 1847 and became the first woman member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I was also a social activist. I protested slavery by refusing to wear clothes made of cotton, and I co-founded the American Association for the Advancement of Women. |
Martha Sharp | (1905 -1999) I was a social worker and active Unitarian. My husband, Waitstill, was a Unitarian minister. In 1939, while serving the congregation in Wellesley, MA, representatives of the Unitarian Service Committee asked us to travel to Czechoslovakia to assist Jewish refugees. Over the course of the next several years, we helped almost 2,000 people — including a large number of children — flee to safety in the United States, Britain, and France. |
Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley | (1949-2006) After several years of working as a public television producer and for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, I became a Unitarian Universalist minister. I served at the congregational, district, and national levels of the UUA. I was a founding member of the African American Unitarian Universalist Ministry (which became DRUUMM, the UU organization for People of Color) and was co-editor of the book "Soul Work: Antiracist Theologies in Dialogue" (2002). |
Fannie Farmer | (1857-1915) I grew up in a Unitarian family that valued education highly. After suffering a paralytic stroke at the age of 16, I could no longer go to school, so I took up cooking to pass the time. As an adult, I enrolled in the Boston Cooking School to learn about cooking and nutrition. I eventually rose to be the school's principal. I wrote multiple cookbooks and taught cooking and nutrition. I was the first person to write recipes with exact measurements. |
Florence Nightingale | (1820-1910) I grew up in a wealthy British Unitarian family, and went against their wishes by educating myself in the art and science of nursing, rather than staying at home. As a nurse, I cared for people in poverty and became a leading advocate of improved medical care and more sanitary medical conditions. I trained and supervised nurses to care for soldiers during the Crimean War in Turkey. In addition to working as a nurse, I was a talented writer and mathematician in the area of statistics. |
Maria Baldwin | (1856-1922) I was born in Cambridge, MA. I am a Unitarian, an educator, and a reformer. When I took the job of principal at the Grammar School of Cambridge in 1889, I became the first African American woman principal. I introduced many education reforms over the years such as new teaching methods, art classes, and hiring a school nurse. While teaching I always remained a student, taking classes at Harvard University and other nearby colleges. I lectured and spoke widely on issues such as women's suffrage, poverty, and history. |
FIND OUT MORE
Websites
Books
Wright, Conrad. A Stream of Light: A Short History of Unitarianism (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=646). Boston: Skinner House, 1989.
WORKSHOP 4: A THEOLOGY OF LOVE
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; andeveryone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. — 1 John 4:7-8
This workshop explores Unitarian Universalism's theology of love focusing on "agape" love. Agape is defined as an unselfish, spiritual, non-sexual love for another; "brotherly" love; or like the love God has for humankind.
Our Unitarian Universalist theology of love has its roots in Christian ideas of universal salvation. Universal salvation is based on the belief that God's love for humankind is so great that he sacrificed his son, Jesus Christ, and this great act alone saved all of us from eternal damnation. This view contradicted orthodox views that it was predetermined that a small number of people (the elect) would go to heaven and the rest of humankind were damned to hell. This workshop addresses how the idea of universal salvation has evolved for Unitarian Universalists and how remnants of this belief are still present in our Principles.
Participants explore the historical foundations of this belief, as well as how love plays out in their everyday lives. They also explore what our theology of love says about evil.
This workshop asks "What does a theology of love cause us to do?", "How should we be in the world if we think universal love is important?", and "What are our congregations doing right now to live out a theology of love?"
The Faith In Action is a large undertaking. If your group decides to complete it, you will need additional time, materials and help from the congregation and/or community.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: An Experience of Love | 15 |
Activity 2: The Roots of a Theology of Love | 30 |
Activity 3: Story — The Pride Rainbow Project | 5 |
Activity 4: Love as Action | 20 |
Activity 5: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: The Rainbow Banner Project | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Lectio Divina | 30 |
Alternate Activity 2: Meditation on Loving Kindness | 10 |
Alternate Activity 3: Love in the Media | 45 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
This workshop explores a Unitarian Universalist theology of love. Love is a powerful force in our lives, so as workshop leaders it is important to do some thinking about how love has impacted you. Both Alternate Activity 1, Lectio Divina, and Alternate Activity 2, Meditation on Loving Kindness, offer spiritual practices that can prepare you for this workshop. You might choose to reflect on the following questions:
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and questions.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; andeveryone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. — 1 John 4:7-8
Questions: How do you know love? What have you done for love?
As participants arrive, invite them to decorate a journal or add to their journals in response to the Welcome Words you have posted. Spend time with visitors and first-time participants to orient them to the program.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones. Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading in different workshops.
After the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist youth that need help with words in the responsive reading. Always allow participants to pass on reading aloud.
ACTIVITY 1: AN EXPERIENCE OF LOVE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants think about what love means to them and how it operates in their lives.
Give everyone a chocolate kiss candy. Tell them not to eat the chocolate yet. Ask participants to find a partner. If you have an odd number, have a group of three. Also, if you have a fun process of pairing up this would be a good time to use it. One example would be to ask everyone to line up by birthdate without talking and then have them count pair off with the person next to them.
Explain that this workshop explores a Unitarian Universalist theology of love. Love is interpreted in many ways. In this activity, they will explore love as a feeling.
Invite participants to think for a moment of a time when they felt loved. Then ask the following questions:
Ask participants to take turns sharing their stories with their partners, for about five minutes each.
Let the pairs know when five minutes has passed so that they can switch to the second speaker. When time is up, tell them to give their partner their candy kiss as a thank you for sharing.
Regather the whole group.
Invite brief sharing:
ACTIVITY 2: THE ROOTS OF A THEOLOGY OF LOVE (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore the historical roots of a theology of love in Unitarian Universalism and connect those roots to our Principles and the stated mission or covenant of their congregation.
Point out that the first activity looked at love as a personal feeling that one has for others and that one receives from others. Add that love is an important religious idea as well. When we talk about love in religion we sometimes use the word "agape". Agape is a love that is an unselfish, spiritual, non-sexual love for another; or "brotherly" love. This workshop explores a Unitarian Universalist theology of love and what it means for us as people of faith.
Either read or summarize the information in Leader Resource 1, Roots of a Theology of Love.
Distribute Handout 2, UUA Principles, and the handout you made with the congregation's mission statement and/or covenant. Ask for volunteers to read each of these aloud to the group.
Explain that although the Principles are a covenant between Unitarian Universalist congregations and the Unitarian Universalist Association, many people feel the Principles represent UU values to live by. The mission statement or congregational covenant are ways the people in this congregation have agreed to be together.
Point to the quotes that you have posted. Explain that these quotes include some of the biblical sources used by theologians to help justify the idea of God's love and universal salvation. Other quotes come from the writings of Universalist and Unitarian theologians and statements of belief voted on by early Universalist and Unitarian religious organizations. Still others come from other faith traditions that are frequent sources of inspiration to Unitarian Universalists. Each of these quotes has a connection to a Unitarian Universalist theology of love.
Ask participants to spend the next few minutes reading the quotes and identifying ideas that can now be seen in contemporary Unitarian Universalist Principles and congregational mission statements and/or covenants. Invite them to take time to reflect on each quote. Give participants markers (for newsprint) or pens (for handouts) to underline words or phrases that resonate with them. Give participants 10 to 15 minutes for this activity.
Bring the group back together. Offer the following reflection questions:
After the discussion, make the following point:
Many early Universalist thinkers like Origin and even John Murray felt that, even though all of humanity would eventually be saved because of the love of God, non-believers and sinners would spend some time before salvation in a hell-like place as punishment for their misdeeds. Later Universalists, like Hosea Ballou, did away with the whole idea of hell, instead believing that people who sinned and did evil would live in a kind of hell in this world. This presents an interesting question for us today. If the belief in the "inherent worth and dignity" of all people is one of the modern expressions of our theology of love, how does this relate to the presence of evil in our world? Putting it in more stark terms, how do we respect the inherent worth and dignity of a Hitler, of the people who perpetrate genocide in Darfur, or the people who flew planes into the twin towers on September 11th?
Ask people to pair up with someone near them to discuss this question for about five minutes, then invite them to share their thoughts with the group. If it does not come up, mention that though we all have worth, it does not mean all human actions are worthy or good. We all have the potential for both good and evil. Ask:
ACTIVITY 3: STORY — THE PRIDE RAINBOW PROJECT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants hear a story about a group of Canadian Unitarian Universalist youth acting out of love to help bring marriage equality to Canada.
Tell participants that this story is about a group of Unitarian Universalist youth, very much like them, who decided to try and make a difference in their country. Ask them to reflect, while the story is being read, on what about Unitarian Universalist love would cause these young people to do what they did.
Tell or read the story.
Invite participants to share their reflections. Note that this story ia about more than one type of love: a romantic love that motivates people to partner and marry, and the agape love the youth demonstrated by supporting the right of all individuals to express this romantic love fully.
ACTIVITY 4: LOVE AS ACTION (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants graphically depict how a theology of love is, and can be, lived out in their congregation.
Start by summarizing what you have done so far in the workshop. Participants talked about how love feels and looked at the historical roots of a Unitarian Universalist theology of love. They looked at biblical text and the writing of past Universalists and Unitarians and connected those writings to important contemporary Unitarian Universalist texts. They listened to a story about a group of Unitarian Universalist youth who demonstrated a theology of love in their actions.
Tell them that they will now look at the actions of their church and their own actions to see how this theology of love is, and can be, lived out in their lives.
Show the big piece of paper you have prepared with the picture of your congregation. Ask them to spend the next five minutes working together to draw all the things the congregation does inside the church and out in the community that demonstrate a theology of love. Tell them that they can use pictures, symbols or words to describe these things.
After five minutes, ask participants to focus on those things that the congregation could be doing, whether an expansion of something that is ongoing or a whole new project. After another five minutes, ask them to draw themselves into the picture. They can draw themselves doing something that they already do that is related to a theology of love, or they can draw something that they could do. Give them about five minutes.
After the picture is completed ask everyone to sit back and look at the group's work. Invite each participant to briefly describe one of the pictures they drew of themselves. Ask if anyone learned something new about their congregation. Point out the actions that youth and/or the congregation could be doing. Might one or more of these activities make a good Faith in Action? Did anyone draw or write about the congregation giving service to the community? Discuss if there is a difference between serving the community out of love versus serving out of obligation. What are some of the feelings associated with these two approaches? Can you turn feelings of obligations into feelings of agape love? How?
ACTIVITY 5: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants will now have the opportunity to reflect and write or draw on what they have learned and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflecting, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Ask them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider how love affects their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
1) I believe that love is an important part of my faith.
2) I feel the need to express my love through action.
3) I act out of love by helping collect food for the hungry.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections visually if they prefer.
Offer the following reflection question related to the theme of the day: What does love cause me to do in the world?
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Relight the chalice. Invite volunteers to share some brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop. Conclude the sharing after five minutes.
Close with the song "Standing on the Side of Love" Hymn 1014 in Singing the Journey. This song was written by the Reverend Jason Shelton to honor UUA President William Sinkford's and other Unitarian Universalists' work for marriage equality. Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing. Invite participants to share the ways they stand on the side of love in their everyday lives.
Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: THE RAINBOW BANNER PROJECT
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants build a giant pride rainbow banner and envision how to use that banner to help fight for justice for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people.
Tell or read the story, "The Pride Rainbow Project." Invite everyone to do what this group of youth from Canada did and make a giant pride rainbow banner. Review the different steps of the project and have volunteers commit to specific tasks.
After everyone has their tasks, but before they get started, point out the newsprint you have posted. Tell participants that as they work they should talk with each other about what kinds of action they can take with the banner to bring greater justice and equity to GLBT people. When they come up with a good idea they should write it down on one of the pieces of newsprint.
Once you have given these instructions set them to their tasks.
As the project nears its end, some people may not have anything to do. Ask these people to go through the list of action ideas and start to group similar ideas together. Once the similar ideas have been grouped, tell everyone they each get three votes. They can vote by using a marker to draw a dot next to the top three ideas that they would like to see happen. Collect the top two or three ideas and discuss how to make these happen.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this program as a series, go over the workshop plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do which preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned for in the workshop outline which activities will you add or cut?
TAKING IT HOME
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; andeveryone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. — 1 John 4:7-8
In Today's Workshop...
We explored the Unitarian Universalist theology of love. We did this by first looking at our own experiences of love. Then we distinguished romantic love from agape love. We looked at the historical roots of a theology of love. We explored how this theology is put into action by listening to a story about a group of Unitarian Universalist youth from Canada who created a giant rainbow pride banner and used it to witness for marriage equality in Canada. We illustrated the ways our congregation expresses love and dreamed of new ways to do so.
Explore the topic further with family and friends...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: LECTIO DIVINA (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity uses an ancient religious practice of Christian monastics called Lectio Divina (Latin for divine reading). This spiritual practice will draw participants into deep reflection about some of the source texts relating to the Unitarian Universalist theology of love.
Read or summarize the following script. If distributing Handout 3, Lectio Divina, you can do that now as well.
In this activity, we will be using an ancient Christian monastic religious practice called Lectio Divina to go deeper into some of the text that is at the foundation of a Unitarian Universalist theology of love. Lectio Divina is Latin for "divine reading" and Christian monks have used this practice for centuries to gain a deeper understanding of the Bible and other writings that are important to them. We are not Christian monks, so the practice does not hold the same meaning for us as it does to them. Yet, we can still gain some insight from this practice.
Lectio Divina has four stages or moments. They are lectio, meditatio, oratio and contemplatio.
In the first moment, lectio, you should just sit and read and re-read the text. Do this slowly and pay close attention to the meaning of each word and the meaning of the whole sentence and passage.
Keep reading it until a word or short phrase (no more than 3 or 4 words) catches your attention. Once this has happened, you have entered the second moment called meditatio.
Stay with these words and think about them deeply. What do they mean in the context of your life? What do they say that could teach you something new or more profound about yourself? Spend some time in this moment and just be with these words.
Then it is time to enter the third moment which is oratio. In this moment open your heart up to whatever you feel connects you to the rest of the Universe: God or Goddess, Nature, the Spirit of Life, love for all humankind. In that space, ask yourself what these words are calling you to do. How are you different because you have read these words? Again spend some time in this moment.
The last moment, contemplatio, is kind of a release and celebration. Christian monks think about it in terms of basking in the love of God and the pleasure of deeper understanding. This should be a relaxing moment, taking the time to just feel rather than think.
When you enter into this spiritual practice, try to spend three or four minutes in each moment. Christian monks will spend hours or even days in each moment. But that takes practice, so for right now let us just try this out.
Distribute Handout 1, Source Text for a Theology of Love. Ask them to pick one of the quotes to use in the exercise you have just described. Tell them that once they find a quote they like, they should find a quiet place to sit and do the practice.
If possible, let them finish naturally. It can be disruptive to get called back to the group if you have not finished on your own. Encourage those who are done early to be quiet and let the others finish. After all have completed the practice, gather everyone and offer the following reflection questions:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: MEDITATION ON LOVING KINDNESS (10 MINUTES)
Description of Activity
In this activity participants use a traditional Buddhist meditation technique called the Metta meditation, Meditation on Loving Kindness.
Explain that participants will consider love from a Buddhist perspective. Explain that for practicing Buddhists, this meditation has different meanings than for those who are not Buddhist. We are not "pretending" to be Buddhist in this activity — we are using tools from the Buddhist tradition to help us explore love from our Unitarian Universalist perspective.
Tell them that a common meditation technique is called the Metta meditation or Meditation on Loving Kindness. It is a meditation that has its roots in the Pali Canon, which is an important book in Buddhism.
Ask participants to find a comfortable place to sit, such as a chair or on the floor. Read the following:
As you settle down, close your eyes and slow your breathing. Take slow and deliberate breaths. Be conscious of the air traveling in and out of your nose. Bring your focus to that space just at the boundary of your nose and outside of your body. Feel the air move in and out as you breathe. If you lose concentration on that spot, that is okay. Just calmly bring your attention back. [pause for the count of 20]
Now, bring your thoughts to a time when you felt really good about yourself. You were in a place you felt safe, you were happy and life was good. It should be a time when you felt love and kindness for yourself. What did that feel like? How did it feel in your head, your heart, your arms, your legs? Cultivate that feeling. Be in that feeling. Let it spread all over yourself. [pause for a count of 10]
Imagine this feeling as energy radiating out from you. As you do so, picture someone who is close to you. Not a romantic partner or a person of romantic interest, but just a good friend. Let the energy of your loving kindness radiate out to this good friend of yours. [pause for a count of 10]
Continue to imagine this feeling radiating out from your body. Now imagine someone with whom you have no relationship. Maybe someone you pass at the bus stop or in the hallway but never talk to. Let the energy of your loving kindness radiate out to this person. [pause for a count of 10]
Continue to imagine this feeling as energy moving out of your body. Now think of someone with whom you have a difficult relationship. Not your worst enemy, but someone with whom you are out of sorts with right now. Let the energy of your loving kindness radiate out to this person. [pause for a count of 10]
Now imagine this energy encompassing all four of you. Feel it wrapping around yourself, your friend, the stranger, and the person who is giving you difficulty. Imagine that it is feeding you all with positive warmth and strength. [pause for a count of 10]
See this energy pulsing around all four of you and watch it slowly, ever so slowly, pulse out over the room you are in right now. And then slowly out to the surrounding neighborhood, then to the city, and then the state. Feel it pulse out over the whole country and then around the whole globe. Finally feel it pulse out to the entire universe. Sit in this moment. [pause for a count of 30]
Ever so slowly and quietly return to your body and when you are ready open your eyes.
Invite participants to just sit with their feelings for a moment. If anyone would like to share their experience, create the space for them to do so. Tell participants that this meditation is something they can practice at any time or place when they feel the need to recoonect with the spirit of love.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: LOVE IN THE MEDIA (45 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants will look at how love is portrayed in the mass media in the form of a TV sitcom. They compare that portrayal with their own experiences of love and how love is understood in a Unitarian Universalist faith context.
Explain that love is often a central theme in mass media, especially in TV sitcoms. Tell participants that you have picked one of your favorite TV sitcoms for the group to watch and analyze. Tell them a little bit about why you like this sitcom and why you think this episode fits the theme of love. Then, draw their attention to the reflection questions you have posted on newsprint. Ask them to consider these questions as they watch the show.
Show the sitcom episode, then lead a discussion with these reflection questions:
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 4:
STORY: THE PRIDE RAINBOW PROJECT
By Christine Michell.
It started off as an idea for a cool "dramatic" youth group social justice project: Making a giant pride rainbow banner in support of same sex marriage in Canada—and maybe getting a world record in the process. Soon there were four of us in the planning group—Erin, Sanford, Cora, and myself, Chris, and we spent the first year planning, tossing ideas around, and advertising, as well as collecting some fabric and making some half-hearted attempts at cutting and sewing.
In the summer of 2004, nearly a year after the idea was first conceived, we made our very first piece—about 6 feet long, in the 6 colours of the pride flag. Our group was finally in place (Em joined us, so we now had a core group of five) and we knew what we wanted: To prove that there was real support for equal marriage everywhere in Canada, even in relatively conservative Alberta. Once we had that first piece in place and the details of how to make the banner, we started holding sewing bees to actually create sections of the banner throughout the school year. My mum (who became our biggest supporter and helper) taught us quilting tricks that made the banner look better and made it more efficient to put together. We even made a set of instructions so that other youth groups could make sections of the banner—and some did!
Throughout the fall and winter, we took a section of the banner to several protests and rallies in support of equal marriage. In February 2005, when we had 196 feet completed, we set ourselves an ambitious but achievable goal — 500 feet by April. We planned a party for April 9, to celebrate reaching this goal. We had a flurry of sewing bees (including several over spring break), but finally, just days before the party, my mum sewed all the individual pieces together into four long sections that could be connected by Velcro and we had met our goal! The party was great, an excellent way to relax and celebrate our success. There were speakers and live music and the walls of the hall were covered in the banner!
The organizers of the Annual Conference and Meeting of the Canadian Unitarian Council (ACM) asked us to bring the banner to the ACM in mid-May—to which I naturally replied "Sure, how long of a piece should we bring?" and they said "All of it!" Once I was sure they recognized that it was now 500 ft long, we agreed to ship the pieces from Calgary to Hamilton, Ontario, by bus in two large plastic bins.
It took 70 youth, junior youth, and adults to carry the banner into the ingathering ceremony, and we had to wind it back and forth quite a bit around all the participants in order to fit. Everyone was on their feet and there were few dry eyes in the room. It was the first time the whole banner had been put together and seen all and once, and it was an amazing experience. At the closing ceremony someone made a motion to take up a spontaneous collection in order to send the five of us to Ottawa to demonstrate on Parliament Hill in support of Bill C-38 (the Equal Marriage bill), and $2,400 was collected from the 600 conference participants—enough to buy our five plane tickets.
In June 2005, the five of us travelled to Ottawa with all 500 feet of the banner, and had a rally on Parliament Hill. The next day we toured the Parliament buildings, got taken for lunch with an NDP Member of Parliament, and watched Question Period. By July 20, 2005 Equal Marriage became law across Canada.
Over the summer pieces of the banner were featured in Pride parades across Canada. We set up "chapters" in each region of Canada, so that the pieces could continue to be used at parades and other events, including rentals for weddings.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 4:
HANDOUT 1: SOURCE TEXT FOR A THEOLOGY OF LOVE
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. — 1 John 4:7-8
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your hear, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." — Matthew 22:35 - 38
If, upon a return from any of your little visiting excursions, you should behold some beautiful addition to your apparel, or some advantageous alteration in the disposition of the furniture of your chamber, you would take it for granted the hand of affection had been employed, though you was not a spectator of its beneficent operations: So, when you behold the effects, of love, manifested in rain, sun-shine, seed time and harvest, you ought to conclude there is a power divine, thought to you invisible; and further, that that power is all good, all gracious, and all mighty. — Judith Sargent Murray (1782)
Hope looks for the fulfillment of the divine requirements in all whom they are binding. Then will the whole family of [humanity] be filled with love to God and each other; and all hatred, and strife, forever done away. Every wanderer from the fold of the Great Shepherd shall return; and when the last shall be brought in, there will be joy in heaven, unspeakable and full of glory. — Hosea Ballou (1851)
O'Spinner, Weaver, of our lives,
Your loom is love.
May we who are gathered here
be empowered by that love
to weave new patterns of Truth
and Justice into a web of life that is strong,
beautiful, and everlasting. — Barbara Wells,
Love is the spirit of this church,
And service is its law.
This is our great covenant:
to dwell together in peace,
to seek the truth in love,
and to help one another. — James Vila Blake (1894)
I invite you to remember that it is your hands that do the work of love in the world. These hands may hold another's hands. These hands may type emails to politicians, sign cards of consolation and congratulation. These hands may patiently teach, quilt works of beauty or write words urging peace. These hands may bathe children, feed elders, nurse the ill, work the earth, organize communities. These hands clasp in prayer, open in release, grasp in solidarity, clench in righteous anger. These hands are God's hands, your hands, our hands; a great mystery of flesh and intention, a great potential of embodied love. — Christine C. Robinson, Meditation on Hands
Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will. — Buddhist Parable of the Saw
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 4:
HANDOUT 2: UUA PRINCIPLES
We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 4:
HANDOUT 3: LECTIO DIVINA
Copy this and give it to participants or write it on newsprint and post.
Moment | Task |
Lectio | Slowly read and re-read the text. Pay attention to each individual word and what it means and what the whole sentence or phrase means. |
Meditatio | Let your mind be attracted to one word or short phrase (no more the three or four words). Slowly read and re-read these words. What meaning to these words have in the context of your life? |
Oratio | Open your heart to God, Ultimacy, the Spirit of Life, Nature or whatever you feel connected to beyond you. Meditate on these questions: What does the meaning of this text and its context in my life cause me to do? How am I different because I have read this text? |
Contemplatio | Sit in the silence of the moment. Christian Monastics would call this moment feeling the love of God and appreciation for deeper understanding. |
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 4:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: ROOTS OF A THEOLOGY OF LOVE
Read or summarize in Activity 2, Lectio Divina.
We will start by saying a little about what we mean by "theology.". Merriam-Webster defines theology as "the study of religious faith, practice, and experience; especially: the study of God and of God's relation to the world." So when we say we are looking at the roots of a Unitarian Universalist theology of love, we are looking at how the idea of love has become part of our religion. Using Merriam-Webster's language we are studying how love is part of our "religious faith, practice and experience."
It is also important that we understand what we mean by love. In The Four Loves, author and Christian thinker C.S. Lewis explored the different types of love that humans experience. He described affectional love—the love experienced among family members how you would feel toward your parents or siblings. He described friendship love as the feeling associated with your feelings toward close friends. He described eros as the type of love you experience if you are "in love with someone." There is a sexual component but it is also much more then that. The fourth type of love he described is charity or agape. This is the type of love that we are focusing on in this workshop. It is a universal love that some might feel toward God and feel that God returns. It is a universal love that we might feel toward our neighbors (both near and far) or toward all living beings. It is unconditional and not dependent on reciprocal feelings. It is a love that motivates people to take care of the weak and sick and to work for peace.
Our Unitarian Universalist faith comes from many different places. In this workshop we will be looking at our theology of love primarily through the lens of our Christian Universalist heritage.
In early Christian communities, there was a debate about who would be "saved" and who would end up in hell for eternity. On one side there were those called "Exclusivists." They believed that only those who believed that Jesus Christ died for their sins, followed the teachings of Jesus, and thus were Christians would be saved from going to hell after they died. All those who were not Christians and those who did bad things would be excluded from this ultimate salvation and end up in hell to suffer for eternity.
On the other side of this debate were theologians like Origen of Alexandria who lived from 185 to 254 C.E. Origen and others believed that God was ultimately a loving God. The idea of a loving God shows up repeatedly in the Christian scriptures. One of the clearest statements of a loving God we used as the quote for this workshop:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; andeveryone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. — 1 John 4:7-8
This statement, which speaks to God's saving grace for all humanity, became the foundation for the idea of universal salvation. Origen was one of the most important early theologians to argue that God is too loving to condemn anyone to an eternity of suffering in hell. Eventually this view of universal salvation lost out and was declared heretical by the established church leadership.
However, the ideas of universal salvation were not permanently lost. Like many early Christian ideas that were declared heretical, universalism made a comeback during the Protestant Reformation. Several radical preachers in England and other parts of Europe resurrected these ideas and in turn influenced John Murray and George de Benneville who later brought Universalism to America.
Christian Universalism is not the only source of a theology of love in our Unitarian Universalist faith. While most of Christianity rejected universal salvation, the idea of a loving God was embraced by Unitarian Christians as well. This is why we find the mention of a loving God in the American Unitarian Association's Statement of Belief from 1853.
Of course, love as a philosophical or theological concept is not limited to Christianity. The idea of a loving God is important in both the Jewish and Islamic traditions. Eastern traditions, such as Buddhism, talk about the idea of "Loving Kindness" not as an attribute of a god, but as a positive state of being that must be cultivated to attain ultimate enlightenment. All of these traditions have had some impact on our modern thinking about love.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 4:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: RAINBOW BANNER INSTRUCTIONS
Used with permission from Christine Michell.
Make several copies so that people doing different tasks can have a copy while working. Make sure you read through the entire set of directions before starting. This is a complicated multi-step process and you will want to make sure you understand every step. It is also highly recommended that if you do not have a lot of sewing and quilting experience, find someone in your church who does.
Materials:
Fabric in 6 colors (with the following specifications)
Instructions
STEP 1: IRONING
STEP 2: CUTTING
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CUTTING NEW CLOTH
1) Start with a manageable length of fabric to work with (about 2 yards or less) — cut it to be manageable if necessary. This will make everything else easier. You can also do this before ironing.
2) Fold in half lengthwise to bring the finished edges (selvages) together, and smoothing the fabric flat on the table. (2 layers of fabric at this point)
3) Fold in half end to end, bringing the rough-cut ends together. (4 layers)
4) Fold lengthwise again to make the width fit on the board. (8 layers)
5) Square off ends with the straight-edge and rotary cutter. This is easy, using the grid on the cutting mat to line up the fabric, and then line up the straight edge along a grid-line across the fabric. Always try to line up two perpendicular edges along the grid to make sure the corners will be square. Take the guard off the rotary cutter and carefully press the cutter through the layers of fabric and along the straight-edge. You probably want a friend to help you hold down the straight-edge so it doesn't move while you're cutting.
6) Undo last fold
7) Fold fabric in half end to end again, bringing folded end to line up with the freshly-cut ends. (8 layers) The length of the fabric should now fit on the cutting board.
8) If the salveges do not line up perfectly, you may wish to straighten the selvage edge by lining up most of the salveges along a grid line, and just cutting off the bits of the selvage that stick out.
9) To cut the first 11 inch strip, line up the selvage edges with a line close to the side of the board. Use the straight edge and rotary cutter to cut parallel to, and 11 inches away from the selvage edges. Remove the resulting two finished strips to go to the serging stage.
10) If there is at least an 11-inch (doubled) width left, then cut another 11 inches from the newly-cut edge, to give you two more strips for serging. If the fabric was 45 inches wide to start, this will be the case.
11) If there is not 11 inches of folded fabric, then (to leave the least wastage) short strips need to be cut across the fabric instead. Use rotary cutter and straight edge repeatedly to cut as many 11-inch strips in the other direction as possible.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING OLD CLOTH
1) Find the edge that appears to be the straightest. Line it up as closely as possible along one of the guiding lines on the cutting mat. Use the straight-edge and cut along the line. This edge should now be straight. This is similar to straightening the selvages as in Step 7 above.
2) Line this new straight side up along a guideline, and square off the ends as described in Step 4 above.
3) The rest of the procedure is the same as above.
STEP 3: SERGING - MAKING LONG STRIPS
1) Make sure to get instructions on the use of the serger before you begin. (Or, enlist the help of an expert!)
STEP 4: SERGING — MAKING A BANNER PANEL
1) Serge the long sides of the strips together in rainbow sequence (R_O_Y_G_B_P) to make one long panel. Remember right sides (with no serger stitching showing) together! Each colour strip of the finished panel should be about 10 inches wide.
2) Once you have each strip attached, you may realize that not all strips were the same length. With a rotary cutter and a straight edge, cut off the end of the longer strips so the panel has all colours the same length. If the end you cut off is more than a couple of inches, it is probably worth it to keep that fabric and incorporate it into the next strip of that color.
NEXT STEPS
At this point you are done. If you have the interest and the time you can connect several of these banners together and make one really big banner as the Canadian youth did. Or, you can stick to your one piece of banner.
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FIND OUT MORE
Roots of a Unitarian Universalist Theology of Love
Many of the early Universalist original writings can now be found online and give some helpful insight to their ideas about universal salvation and a loving God..
The website Religion Facts (at www.religionfacts.com/) has an interesting article on Origen of Alexandria (at www.religionfacts.com/christianity/people/origen.htm).
Of course, the notion of agape love is not unique to Universalism. Explore this theme further by reading Agape Love: A Tradition Found in Eight World Religions, by John Templeton (West Conshohocken PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 1999).
UUA Standing on the Side of Love Campaign
The Unitarian Universalist Association has started a major advocacy campaign called Standing on the Side of Love (at www.standingonthesideoflove.org/). The goal of this campaign is to promote the inherent worth and dignity of all people by talking on issues of exclusion, oppression and violence based on identity.
Lectio Divina
The Cistercian monk and prior of the Tarrawarra Abbey in Victoria, Australia, Michael Casey has written a book and Lectio Divina called Sacred Reading: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina. Lingouri, MO: Lingouri/Triumph Press, 996. There are several online sites about this practice, including Introduction to Lectio Divina (at www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html).
Loving Kindness Meditation
The website Beliefnet (at www.beliefnet.com/) has an alternate script for the Loving Kindness meditation (at www.beliefnet.com/Health/2000/07/Opening-The-Heart.aspx?p=1) that also includes an audio recording of the script.
WORKSHOP 5: HOPE
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
In the depths of my soul
There where lies the source of my strength,
Where the divine and the human meet,
There, quiet your mind, quiet, quiet.
Outside let lightning reign,
Horrible darkness frighten the world.
But from the depths of your own soul
From that silence will rise again
God's flower.
Return to yourself,
Rest in yourself,
Live in the depths of your soul
Where the divine and the human meet.
Tune your heart to the eternal
And in the depths of your own soul
Your panting quiets down.
Where the divine and the human meet,
There is your refuge. — Words by Norbert Capek, Czech Unitarian and creator of the Flower Festival, composed in Dresden Prison, 1942
This workshop explores sources, meanings, uses, and expressions of hope. Experiencing the Unitarian Universalist Flower Festival and learning about its Unitarian roots serves as a springboard for the activities in the workshop. Note that what we commonly call the Flower Communion was originally called the Flower Festival or the Flower Celebration by Czech Unitarians. According to the daughter of the ritual's creator (Norbert Capek), her father named it a Festival or Celebration because he did not want to confuse his congregants with the term communion, which had many connotations from the Christian tradition.
Participants reflect on their own sources of hope and how they handle seemingly hopeless personal, societal, and global situations. The alternate activities provide opportunities for deeper spiritual exploration, creativity, and fun. Please note that the Faith in Action activities require extra planning and coordination with congregational leadership in advance of the workshop.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Perspectives on Hope | 15 |
Activity 2: Story — The Flower Festival | 20 |
Activity 3: Responding With Hope | 35 |
Activity 4: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: Sharing Hope | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Guided Meditation — The Stone | 12 |
Alternate Activity 2: Hope Haikus | 25 |
Alternate Activity 3: Worry Dolls | 25 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
For Unitarian Universalists, hope is part of our religious outlook, and it is part of what drives our work for the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. In preparation for this workshop on hope, as the opening quote suggests, "quiet your mind, quiet, quiet." Reflect on that place in the depths of your soul where the divine or Spirit of Life and the human meet and a flower rises up. Is the divine or Spirit of Life a source of hope for you? Do you draw more on humanity's capacities? Or is it the meeting of the two that gives rise to hope in you? What other sources of hope do you draw on to motivate your work for world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all? Participants will likely have a variety of answers to these questions, which creates a wonderful opportunity for learning and inspiration.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and questions.
In the depths of my soul
There where lies the source of my strength,
Where the divine and the human meet,
There, quiet your mind, quiet, quiet.
Outside let lightning reign,
Horrible darkness frighten the world.
But from the depths of your own soul
From that silence will rise again
God's flower.
Return to yourself,
Rest in yourself,
Live in the depths of your soul
Where the divine and the human meet.
Tune your heart to the eternal
And in the depths of your own soul
Your panting quiets down.
Where the divine and the human meet,
There is your refuge.
—— Words by Norbert Capek, Czech Unitarian and creator of the Flower Festival, composed in Dresden Prison, 1942
Question: What is hope? What is the flower of hope that rises from the depths of your soul?
As participants arrive, invite them to choose a flower and place it in one of the vases in preparation for Activity 1. They may also decorate a journal, review and/or add to their journal based on the Welcome Words, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Spend some time with visitors and first-time participants to orient them to the program and getting a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
If youth did not do the Welcome and Entering activity, invite them to take a flower and place it in the vase in the center of the room. You will come back to the flowers later in the workshop.
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones. Lead the group in the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading from workshop to workshop.
After the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist any youth that might need help with words in the responsive reading. Remember to allow participants to pass on reading.
ACTIVITY 1: PERSPECTIVES ON HOPE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity sparks discussion about the meaning of hope for Unitarian Universalists.
Begin by inviting a participant to read aloud the following quote from John Murray, one of the founders of American Universalism:
You may possess only a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. Give them not Hell, but hope and courage. Do not push them deeper into their theological despair, but preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.
Explain that John Murray wrote this to counter theologies that he believed focused too much on Hell and encouraged despair because of the way God was portrayed. Instead, he preached the kindness and love of God in order to foster hope and courage. The theology of universal salvation——that all people will be saved, and none will go to Hell——was the foundation of his preaching and of Universalism.
Tell participants that this theology of hope is a part of the Unitarian Universalist living tradition to this day, and has been expressed by Unitarian Universalists and non-Unitarian Universalists alike in a variety of ways.
Tell participants that they will now read, then discuss, a series of quotes about hope. Distribute Handout 1, Hope Quotes, and invite participants one by one to read a quote aloud, making sure to identify the source.
When participants have heard all of the quotes, ask for a few moments of silent reflection.
Then ask the group: In your experience, what does it mean to have hope?
Lead a ten minute discussion in response to this question and the quotes shared.
Conclude by thanking everyone for sharing their perspectives so that all can deepen their understanding of hope.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — THE FLOWER FESTIVAL (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity introduces the Unitarian Universalist Flower Festival as an expression of hope.
Distribute Handout 2, Flower Festival Readings. Ask how many people have ever participated in a Flower Festival at a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Invite those who have participated in the ceremony to throw out a word or phrase about the experience.
Explain that they will have the opportunity to participate in a Flower Festival, which began when they entered the meeting space, took a flower, and placed it in a vase, offering something beautiful to the group gathered.
To set a context, read or ask a volunteer to read aloud the story, "The Flower Festival."
Tell participants that they will recreate this meaning-filled ritual with a service including the original prayers of Dr. Capek. Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and hold hands in a circle (or stay seated in a circle and join hands). Explain that when Capek conducted his Flower Festival in Prague, he would say a prayer or blessing over the flowers. Read or ask a volunteer to read the flower festival prayer from the handout.
Explain that it is time to share in the Flower Festival. Ask that they approach the vase one or two at a time, quietly and reverently, with a sense of how important it is for each of us to address our world and one another with gentleness, justice and love. Ask them to select a flower—different from the one they placed in the vase—that particularly appeals to them, and when taking it, to notice its particular shape and beauty and recognize that it represents a gift of life from someone else in the room. The beauty of the flowers is also a symbol of hope. Share this Unitarian Universalist ritual of oneness, love, and hope in silence.
Once everyone has chosen a flower and returned to their place, invite participants to speak into the silence the name of someone who gives them hope. They could name someone famous for their good works or someone from their congregation or a personal hero. Hold space during this sharing for quieter members of the group to speak by allowing for silence, or by saying "if there is a voice among us that has not yet spoken, but would like to, please do" before closing the sharing.
Point out that one way we are together in worship is by singing together. Introduce the African American hymn "There Is More Love Somewhere," by saying it is a message of hope, expressed in this song by African Americans, but felt and expressed in many ways by many different marginalized communities. Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "There Is More Love Somewhere," Hymn 95 in Singing the Living Tradition.
Close the Flower Festival with additional words by Capek in Handout 2, which have been adapted into a responsive reading. Leaders read the regular text, and participants read the italicized text. Alternatively, invite half of the group to read one part and the other half to read the response.
Observe a few moments of silence to signal the end of the ceremony. Thank the participants for participating in a Flower Festival. Now take some time to reflect on the experience. Present the following questions for discussion:
After five minutes, close by emphasizing that the Flower Festival was Norbert Capek's attempt to bring hope and beauty to his congregants. Today, we too can bring hope and beauty to our own lives and to a world where too many people experience the hopelessness of oppression and persecution.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities. Assist any youth that might need help with words in readings.
ACTIVITY 3: RESPONDING WITH HOPE (35 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Youth explore personal experiences and sources of hope to draw on in the face of devastation, despair, and injustice in the world.
Begin by saying that, like Norbert Capek and his community, we may all experience hopelessness at times. There is devastation, despair, and injustice in our world, and we experience adversity and sadness in our lives and relationships. Nevertheless, James Luther Adams reminds us with his fifth smooth stone, that there are human and divine/spiritual resources available that justify hope and optimism.
Direct the group's attention to the news stories/photos posted around the room.
Explain that they will explore the current events posted with the goal of identifying sources of hope in each situation. Divide participants into four groups, and have each group begin at a different story. Groups will rotate around the room, spending five minutes at each station. Tell them to spend the first minute or two reading the story, looking at the photo, and understanding the situation. Spend the remainder of the five minutes reflecting on the sources of hope in each situation, including: 1) the human skills, capacities, or resources, and 2) the divine or spiritual resources of their faith. Ask them to brainstorm resources and record them on the newsprint. After five minutes, signal the groups to move to the next story and repeat the process, recording their discussion on the posted newsprint next to the recordings of the last group. When the groups have made their way through all the stories, invite them to return to their seats.
Spend the next 10 minutes reviewing, clarifying, and discussing the sources of hope brainstormed from the stories. Address one story at a time. Ask a volunteer from each group to explain what they wrote on the newsprint, or as the leader, summarize and make connections among the groups' recordings as a prompt for discussion.
Close by saying that this activity demonstrated how, together, we can find internal and external sources of hope in the face of seemingly hopeless situations.
Including All Participants
Ensure adequate space for participants to move around near and between each story. Provide the option of standing or sitting at each station.
ACTIVITY 4: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants now have the opportunity to reflect and write or draw on what they have learned and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflection, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Ask them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
1) I believe that hope results from human and spiritual capacities working together.
2) I feel confident in my human capacity for hope.
3) I act on my beliefs and feelings by meditating when confronted with seemingly hopeless situations, which helps me summon the optimism to take action.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections graphically, if they prefer.
Offer the following reflection questions related to the theme of the day:
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite a couple of volunteers to share brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop. After five minutes, close with a song, "Color and Fragrance," words and music by Norbert Capek. The song was translated by Paul and Anita Munk and the English version is by Grace Ulp. Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "Color and Fragrance," Hymn 78 in Singing the Living Tradition.
Invite youth to reflect on the theme of hope as it relates to the words of the hymn.
Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: SHARING HOPE
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The following activities are an opportunity for participants to share a message of hope with their congregation and the larger community.
Option 1: Lead the Flower Festival
This faith in action activity brings the Flower Festival that participants experienced in this workshop to the larger congregation, and is an opportunity for them to take an active role in worship leadership. Many congregations already celebrate a Flower Festival each year, but not all of these include youth involvement and leadership. Collaborate with the congregation's worship leader(s) to plan and lead a Flower Festival for the larger congregation. Try to involve as many youth as possible in readings, music, and actions. Resources include: "The Flower Communion (at www.uua.org/documents/zottolireginald/flowercommunion.pdf)" by Reginald Zottoli; Handout 2, Flower Festival Readings (which draws from the first resource); the Unitarian Universalist hymnbooks Singing the Living Tradition and Singing the Journey; and the traditions of the congregation. If there are neighboring congregations that celebrate the Flower Festival, connect with youth there, find out if they have any resources to exchange, and invite them to be involved in the service.
Option 2: Plant a Hope Garden
Planting a garden is an act of hope. A gardener plants with faith that their efforts will yield new life. While the planters may not get to enjoy the garden in its full-grown beauty immediately, they are planting for the future and for the good of the environment. As a group and in conversation with the congregational leadership, participants can decide where they would like to plant the garden. Recruit parents and other volunteers from the congregation to help with and be present at the planting. As a group, organize a ritual or ceremony to honor the hopefulness of the occasion.
The hope garden could also become part of the life of the congregation. Families with new babies might plant a new seed or seedling to symbolize their hopes for the child. Families that experience a death could plant new life to symbolize the hope their loved one gave to the world.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this program as a series, go over the workshop plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do what preparatory tasks? Is there research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned for in the workshops which activities will you add or cut?
Be aware that the next workshop includes a panel of congregation members sharing their spiritual practices. If you have not already done so, arrange for two or three congregants to participate.
TAKING IT HOME
In the depths of my soul
There where lies the source of my strength,
Where the divine and the human meet,
There, quiet your mind, quiet, quiet.
Outside let lightning reign,
Horrible darkness frighten the world.
But from the depths of your own soul
From that silence will rise again
God's flower.
Return to yourself,
Rest in yourself,
Live in the depths of your soul
Where the divine and the human meet.
Tune your heart to the eternal
And in the depths of your own soul
Your panting quiets down.
Where the divine and the human meet,
There is your refuge. — Words by Norbert Capek, Czech Unitarian and creator of the Flower Festival, composed in Dresden Prison, 1942
In Today's Workshop...
We looked more closely at James Luther Adams' fifth smooth stone—the divine and human resources that justify hope and optimism. We shared and explored different perspectives on hope and experienced the Unitarian Universalist Flower Festival as an expression of hopefulness. We brainstormed sources of hope available to us in the face of seemingly hopeless personal, societal, and global situations. We also reflected on how our faith leads us to believe, feel, and act when hopeless and hopeful.
Reflection Questions:
Explore the topic further...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: GUIDED MEDITATION — THE STONE (12 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity is a guided meditation written by Sienna Baskin from Blessing to All Beings: an anthology of spiritual writing by and about Young Religious Unitarian Universalists.
If the chalice is not already lit, ask a volunteer to light it.
Arrange participants in a loose circle, so that everyone has space around them and a clear view of the chalice. Invite them to find a comfortable sitting position. Then lead the following guided meditation, speaking slowly and leaving space for silence and reflection.
Take a few moments to arrive and enjoy this space together. [pause]
Now focus all of your attention on the chalice flame. Imagine that the flame is an eye, and that you are seeing and meeting a very steady gaze.
Start humming, so that it resonates inside and out. [begin humming so that others will follow]
Imagine that the hum has opened a great cavern in your body and that you are a tiny explorer peering into its depths.
At first, all is darkness, but soon your eyes adjust and you see that the walls and floors are sparkling with jewels of all colors. Behold this wonder. [pause]
Now through the tiny opening, you throw a slender, strong rope.
You slowly lower yourself deep, deep into the cavern by climbing, hand over hand, down the rope.
Now you are completely surrounded by open space and the soft glitter of the jewels.
You hold yourself aloft by the strength of your arms, but in your awe, you feel entirely safe. [pause]
Looking all around, you see beneath you a small stone that shines brighter than all of the rest.
You fix your sights on this stone.
All of the glittering fades away as you descend toward this stone.
See it as you gaze at the chalice flame. [pause]
"One of those stones is precious
It can change everything.
It can make the darkness shine.
It's the light switch for the whole country.
Everything depends on it.
Look at it... touch it... "
(From "Further In" by Tomas Transtromer, New Collected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 1992))
[pause]
Leave your stone. And climb, hand over hand, out of the cavern, never looking back.
Now you know what is inside of you — what you carry around inside of you.
It is the immense treasure that is your creativity, the simple stone that is your soul. [pause for a few moments to let people bring their focus back to the group]
Invite participants to turn to a partner. Explain that each person has one minute to describe the simple stone they just saw. What color and how big was it? Was it smooth or rough? How did it make you feel to see this stone?
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: HOPE HAIKUS (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
I like fresh water (5) — set the scene
It makes me feel good inside (7) — expand on the theme
It removes my fear (5) — round it off
Description of Activity
Participants compose haikus about hope and create a hopeful haiku flower arrangement to share with the congregation and/or decorate the meeting space. Explain what a haiku is and how to write one:
A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that does not rhyme, but follows a pattern of three lines. The pattern is:
Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables
Haiku usually are about nature and everyday things and situations, but for our purposes today the topic will be hope.
Distribute paper and pens. Tell them to begin by writing the word hope, and then listing words that come to mind that are related to hope. Then put the words into three lines. Draw the group's attention to the example posted on newsprint. Explain that the 5-syllable first line should set the scene; the 7-syllable second line should expand on the theme by expressing a feeling, making an observation, or recording an action; and the 5-syllable third line should round off the haiku. Give participants 10 minutes to work on their hope haikus. Assist as needed.
After 10 minutes, invite each person to share their haiku aloud with the rest of the group. Distribute the strands of ribbon and invite them to write their haiku on the ribbon, leaving about three inches on one end blank so that they can tie the ribbon to a flower stem. When they finish writing on the ribbons, they can tie them to the stem of a flower.
The hopeful haiku flower arrangement can be displayed for the congregation during coffee hour, or in the meeting space. If using fresh flowers, once the flowers have died you can save the ribbons and weave them together into a strand of hope.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: WORRY DOLLS (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants learn about and make their own worry dolls. Begin by asking the participants if any of them have ever used worry dolls. If someone has, ask them to describe it. Explain that worry dolls originate in the Mayan traditions of Guatemala. They are little wooden dolls dressed in colorful clothing. In Guatemala, a person will tell the doll a worry or a problem they are having and then put it under their pillow overnight. While they are sleeping, the doll will make their worries go away, help the person sleep, and leave them more hopeful.
Explain to the group that they will now have an opportunity to make their own worry doll. Distribute Handout 3, Worry Doll Instructions and go over them with participants showing them the supplies they will need. As they are making worry dolls, circulate around the group assisting as needed.
When everyone is finished making their worry dolls, lead a discussion using the following questions:
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 5:
STORY: THE FLOWER FESTIVAL
Adapted from The Flower Communion: A Service of Celebration for Religious Liberals by Reginald Zottoli with permission from the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, which first published this resource in The Communion Book, edited by Carl Seaburg.
The Unitarian Universalist Flower Festival service was created by Dr. Norbert Capek [pronounced Chah-Peck] (1870-1942), founder, along with his wife Maja V. Capek, of the Unitarian Church in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He introduced this festival to the church on June 4, 1923 as a ritual of togetherness and hope. Capek turned to his surroundings—the countryside—and created a simple service using flowers and nature. It is for this reason that this workshop refers to the ritual as the Flower Festival, rather than Flower Communion as it is more commonly known. It was originally called the Flower Festival or the Flower Celebration by Czech Unitarians. According to the daughter of the ritual's creator, her father intentionally called it a Festival or Celebration because he did not want to confuse or alienate his congregants with the term communion, which had many connotations from the Christian tradition. On the last Sunday before the summer recess of the Unitarian church in Prague, all the children and adults participated in this colorful ritual, which gives concrete expression to the humanity-affirming principles of our liberal faith.
When the Nazis took control of Prague in 1940, they found Dr. Capek's gospel of the inherent worth and beauty of every human person to be—as Nazi court records show—"...too dangerous to the Reich [for him] to be allowed to live." Dr. Capek was sent to Dachau, where he was killed the next year during a Nazi "medical experiment." We know from his writings that even in the concentration camp, Capek's hope for the world endured.
In 1940, during a tour of the United States, Maja Capek brought the Flower Festival to the Unitarian church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, Maja was unable to return to Prague due to the outbreak of World War II, and it was not until the war was over that she found out about her husband's death. Nevertheless, the message of human hope and decency conveyed in this ritual lives on through the Flower Festival, which is widely celebrated today.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 5:
HANDOUT 1: HOPE QUOTES
Make copies of this handout for all leaders and participants.
Quote 1: "Just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings." — Elie Wiesel (b. 1928), writer, activist and Holocaust survivor
Quote 2: "Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence." — Lin Yutang (1895-1976), Chinese writer and inventor
Quote 3: "The resources (divine and human) that are available for the achievement of meaningful change justify an attitude of ultimate optimism." — James Luther Adams (1901-1994), Unitarian minister and theologian
Quote 4: "Despair? Did someone say despair was a question in the world? Well then, listen to the sons of those who have known little else if you wish to know the resiliency of this thing you would so quickly resign to mythhood, this thing called the human spirit." — Lorraine Hansberry, African American playwright
Quote 5: "Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man." —Freidrich Neitzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher
Quote 6: "Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of Hope — not the prudent gates of Optimism, which are somewhat narrower; nor the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense; nor the strident gates of Self-Righteousness, which creak on shrill and angry hinges... ; nor the cheerful, flimsy garden gate of 'Everything is gonna be all right.'" — Victoria Safford, Unitarian Universalist minister
Quote 7: "No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There's too much work to do." — Dorothy Day (1897-1980), journalist, activist, and founder of the Catholic Worker movement
Quote 8: "Though the morning seems to linger
O'er the hill — tops far away,
Yet the shadows bear the promise
Of a brighter coming day." — Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Iola Leroy (1892)
Quote 9: "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. — Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl (1952)
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 5:
HANDOUT 2: FLOWER FESTIVAL READINGS
Background — Reginald Zottoli
Prayer — words of Norbert Capek
Responsive Reading — adaptation of words of Norbert Capek
Used with permission of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association.
Flower Festival Prayer:
Infinite Spirit of Life, we ask thy blessing on these, thy messengers of fellowship and love. May they remind us amid diversities of knowledge and of gifts, to be one in desire and affection, and devotion to thy holy will. May they also remind us of the value of comradeship, of doing and sharing alike. May we cherish friendship as one of thy most precious gifts. May we not let awareness of another's talents discourage us, or sully our relationship, but may we realize that, whatever we can do, great or small, the efforts of all of us are needed to do thy work in this world.
Flower Festival Responsive Reading:
In the name of the Providence which implants in the heart of the seed the future of the flower, and which implants in our hearts that unrest which will not be quenched till people live lovingly with each other, we bless these flowers.
In the name of the highest, in which we move and take our being, and in the name of the deepest, which makes father and mother, sister and brother, lover and loner who they are, we bless these flowers.
In the name of the prophets and sages who sacrificed their lives to hasten the coming of the reign of mutual respect, we bless these flowers.
Let us renew our resolution, sincerely, to be as of one with each other, regardless of the barriers which estrange.
May these flowers be for us the sign of the glory and variety to which we aspire, knowing the whole while that we are One Family, the Family of Spirit and Nature.
In this holy resolve may we be strengthened by the spirit of love, that we ourselves may bloom, bloom in splendor of a joyful life. Amen.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 5:
HANDOUT 3: WORRY DOLL INSTRUCTIONS
Follow these instructions to create your own worry doll. When you are finished, tell your worries or problems to the doll and place it under your pillow overnight. When you wake up you will have slept better and will be more hopeful!
1. Create the doll’s body. You will need small, still materials to form the “skeleton”: matchsticks, or twigs, clothespins, pipe cleaners, or garbage bag ties. The latter two items are easy to use because you can attach body parts by twisting ties or pipe cleaners together instead of gluing. Create a torso and head about one inch long. Create legs and arms and attach to the torso. Cut small pieces of fabric (burlap and cotton work well) to cover the entire body. Glue the fabric tightly to the body.
2. Clothe the doll. Cover the bottom of the doll’s body, from waist to legs, with a light coating of glue. Pick out a color of embroidery thread or cut small strips of the patterned cloth. Wrap the material around the doll, making either a skirt or pants. Let dry. Do the same for the top of the body, creating a shirt or blouse. Wrap the fabric around and under the arms several times to secure it. Let dry.
3. Head and face. Use the markers to draw features on the face. Dots for eyes, nose and a few dots for the mouth can suffice. Draw hair with markers or glue on small pieces of yarn for hair.
FIND OUT MORE
Books
Henry, Richard. Norbert Fabian Capek: A Spiritual Journey (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=658). Boston: Skinner House, 1999.
Loeb, Paul Rogat. Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1998) and The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear (New York: Basic Books, 2004) These books present a spiritual approach to activism and hope for a better world. The second is a collection of essays, poems, and stories from a variety of political leaders, activists, and writers.
Websites
Movies
Try a couple of hopeful movies. Consider Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), a movie based upon Lorraine Hansberry's play, or Slumdog Millionaire (2008).
WORKSHOP 6: NURTURING THE SPIRIT
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
I walked through my house in the dark, found my piano, and that was my prayer: May I not drop out. It was not written, but prayed. I knew more than anything that I wanted to continue in faith with the movement. — Carolyn McDade, about the night she wrote "Spirit of Life"
In this workshop, participants explore spirituality and spiritual practices. The story centers on the creation of the Unitarian Universalist hymn, "Spirit of Life," a powerful expression of spirituality in our lives.
Activity 3, Circles of Spirituality has two implementation options. If space is limited, do the activity using newsprint on the wall. If you have space, however, we encourage adding movement by laying out the circles on the floor. It adds an element of motion to the workshop. Note that the Faith in Action activity involves planning and implementing a spiritual practice fair for the congregation. It empowers the participants as leaders and provides a great multi-generational program for the whole congregation.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Story — Spirit of Life | 10 |
Activity 2: What is Spirituality? | 20 |
Activity 3: Circles of Spirituality | 40 |
Activity 4: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: Spiritual Practice Fair | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Hymn Singing as a Spiritual Practice | 45 |
Alternate Activity 2: Spiritual Practices | 35 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Start your spiritual preparation for this workshop by reading the words to "Spirit of Life," Hymn 123 in Singing the Living Tradition. What does the song tell you about spirituality? Why do you think this is one of the most popular songs sung by Unitarian Universalists in worship?
Next, think about your own spiritual practices. Do you have a regular intentional spiritual practice like meditation or prayer? Are there activities that are part of your day-to-day life that you consider spiritual? Is teaching religious education or going to Sunday services part of your regular spiritual practice?
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and questions.
I walked through my house in the dark, found my piano, and that was my prayer: May I not drop out. It was not written, but prayed. I knew more than anything that I wanted to continue in faith with the movement. — Carolyn McDade, about the night she wrote "Spirit of Life"
Questions: Do you pray? If you do, what is your prayer? If you do not, in what way to you see yourself as spiritual?
As participants arrive, invite them to personalize a journal, review and/or add to their journal based on the Welcome Words posted, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Orient visitors and first-time participants to the program and getting a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones. Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading from week to week.
After the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist any youth that need help with words in the responsive reading.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — SPIRIT OF LIFE (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants are introduced to the ideas of spirituality and spiritual practice through the story of how the hymn "Spirit of Life" was written and how it is used in Unitarian Universalist congregations today.
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing Hymn 123 "Spirit of Life" from Singing the Living Tradition.
After the song, present the story or invite a participant to read it. After the story, ask another participant to read the words of the song. Then lead a brief discussion with the following questions:
Including All Participants
Invite participants to rise in body of spirit to sing the hymn.
ACTIVITY 2: WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY? (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore different meanings of spirituality by responding to quotes from around the world.
Start by pointing out that Carolyn McDade experiences spirituality in many different ways. She experiences it through social justice work, through participating in a women's spirituality group, and by writing and performing music. Even in one person's experience, we can see the diverse forms spirituality takes.
Tell participants that they will look at what spirituality means from the perspective of youth around the world. Explain that the quotes posted on newsprint came from a series of focus groups conducted by The Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence. Hand out three dot stickers to each participant.
Distribute Handout 1, What is Spirituality? Participants may read the quotes from the handout or the posted newsprint. Invite participants to take turns reading the quotes aloud. Ask them as they read/listen to the quotes to think about which one resonates with them the most and speaks most clearly to their experience of spirituality.
After all the quotes have been read, invite them to place their dots on the three quotes that are closest to their experience. If none of the quotes seem to fit, they can write what spirituality means to them on a blank sheet of newsprint.
When everyone has placed their stickers next to quotes and/or written their own, read aloud the new quotes written by participants. Read the quotes that received the most dots. Lead a discussion with the following questions:
Conclude this activity by telling participants that it is okay if they are having a hard time articulating what it means to be spiritual and what spirituality is. Spirituality is a lifelong developmental process that will change within them as their lives goes on. Participants may find that their understanding of spirituality may also change throughout their lives.
ACTIVITY 3: CIRCLES OF SPIRITUALITY (40 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore the different ways they experience spirituality in their lives.
Remind participants that they just looked at what spirituality means from their own perspective and from the perspective of youth around the world. These quotes demonstrated that many parts of our lives and actions can be spiritual.
Ask the participants to spend the next five minutes writing in their journals in response to the question: "When was a time that you felt spiritual?"
After they have finished writing, read or summarize the following script. As you describe each of the four internal circles, write the name of that circle on the newsprint or place the paper with the name of that circle in the corresponding place on the floor.
As you can see, I have drawn a diagram of five circles on the newsprint (or on the floor). These circles represent the different ways, areas, or places that many people experience spirituality. The first is Personal: this area includes things like meditation, reading, personal prayer, or journaling. The second area is Communal: this area includes things like group worship, making and eating a meal with friends or family, deep conversations with family or friends, teaching or playing. The third area is Organizational: this area can include such activities as political organizing or social justice work, volunteering, church governance or even a career or job. The final area is Environmental: this can include watching a sunset or sunrise, camping, or hiking, experiencing the changing seasons and stewardship of our earth's resources.
Now take a moment to look at what you wrote in your journal. In which circle does your experience of spirituality fit? It might fit in just one of these circles, or it might fit in two, three, or all four. Once you have identified which circle or circles your experience falls in, write a brief description of your spiritual experience on the newsprint in the area that you think it fits. [If you are using the alternate method, ask them to stand in the space that they think it fits and verbally tell people about their spiritual experience.]
After everyone has written something on newsprint, ask for volunteers to read the responses. After they are done, ask the following questions:
To conclude, write the words "Engaged Spirituality" in the appropriate space on the diagram (or place the piece of paper with the words on the floor in the appropriate space). Then unveil the engaged spirituality quote and ask a participant to read it. Read or summarize the following script:
You will notice that the circle for engaged spirituality goes around all of the other circles. The idea of engagement with spirituality has two basic dimensions. The first is that engaged spirituality should be an intentional practice of finding spiritual nourishment. The second is that engaged spirituality should also have an outward focus. Spirituality is not just about the individual. In the words of Janet Parachin, engaged spirituality is also the engagement "in activities that move the world toward peace, justice, greater compassion, and wholeness."
There is a moral or ethical component to spirituality. The personal experiences of spirituality are a place of regeneration and healing that allow us to go back out into the world and create justice. Think back to why the song "Spirit of Life" was written. Carolyn McDade was feeling tired and burned out and she wrote it as a prayer to find internal strength to continue in the struggle for justice.
There is a second moral or ethical component as well. That is that we need to be spiritually responsible. If we are going to take on spiritual practices of another culture or faith, it is important to learn about those practices—where they came from, who practices them, and how to do them correctly. There are also spiritual practices from some cultures that are appropriately practiced only by that culture. For example, many spiritual practices that come from indigenous or Native American cultures have deep roots in the history and identity of specific peoples. Many of those indigenous cultures also have a history of oppression and near extinction at the hands of white colonial cultures. People from indigenous cultures see it as a continuation of this oppression to have people from outside their culture practicing some of their rituals. Therefore, to have an engaged spirituality that is actively seeking justice it is important that we understand these histories of oppression and understand which spiritual practices are appropriate for use by others and which are not.
Ask participants if they have any questions. If they have any questions that you do not feel prepared to answer, you can direct them to some of the resources listed in Find Out More.
ACTIVITY 4: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants will now have the opportunity to reflect and write or draw on what they have learned and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflecting, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Invite them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
1) I believe that I am a spiritual person.
2) I feel a sense of wonder about the world.
3) I act by starting a regular spiritual practice.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections visually, if they prefer.
Also offer the following reflection question related to the theme of the day: What does spirituality mean to me?
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite brief reflections from the journaling exercise about beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop. After five minutes, introduce the song, "Meditation on Breathing" by Sarah Dan Jones with the following background from the Singing the Journey website:
"Meditation on Breathing" is actually the chorus to a longer song called "When I Breath In" written by Sarah Dan Jones right after the tragedy of September 11th.
Ask participants how they would breathe in peace and how would they breathe in love. Ask how this relates to what you have discussed about spiritual practices. Then, invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "Meditation on Breathing" by Sarah Dan Jones, Hymn Hymn1009 in Singing the Journey.
Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: SPIRITUAL PRACTICE FAIR
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants bring what they have learned to the rest of their congregation by organizing a spiritual practice fair. This is a great opportunity for participants and church members to be introduced to a variety of spiritual practices.
Invite participants to plan a spiritual practice fair for the congregation. Welcome the director of religious education, minister or other guest you invited to talk about spiritual practices in the congregation.
Ask participants to think back to the spiritual practices they identified in the workshop.
Post the newsprint sheets with the names of the four areas of spirituality. Ask them to think of spiritual practices in each of those areas that they would like to learn about. Remind them that brainstorming is about getting ideas out, so any idea is a good one and they should not discuss or critique ideas at this time. Lead a brainstorm for each of the circles of spirituality.
After they brainstorm practices for each area, give each participant twelve dot stickers. Invite them to vote on which spiritual practices they want to focus on for the spiritual practice fair. Let them know that they can distribute their dots as they would like—clustered in one area, or spread around the different circles. This process should make clear that one or two practices in each circle are their favorites.
The next step is brainstorming people to lead workshops at the fair. The number of workshops will depend on the availability of workshop leaders and the size of your congregation, but aim for two workshops in each of the four areas of spirituality. Focusing on the top two practices in each of the spirituality circles, identify people who could lead workshops on those practices. Remember that workshop leaders also include the youth themselves. The person that you invited to help (DRE or minister) should help generate ideas. The process should generate a list of at least eight people who can lead a workshop on a spiritual practice.
The final step in the planning process is to set a date for the fair and divide into teams to implement the logistics. Consult with church staff about timing. Here is a list of suggested implementation teams:
Once implementation teams have begun their work, it is just a matter of getting all the tasks done. Youth are perfectly able to plan and implement a fair like this, but it is important that facilitators play a supportive role by keeping track of the tasks, the people responsible for getting them done, and the progress being made. This may be the first time some youth have ever done something like this, but another youth may have planned dozens of events like this and will be able to coach others. The goal is to empower the youth to take charge of the fair as much as possible.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this curriculum as a series, go over the workshop plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do what preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned for in the workshop outline which activities will you add or cut?
TAKING IT HOME
I walked through my house in the dark, found my piano, and that was my prayer: May I not drop out. It was not written, but prayed. I knew more than anything that I wanted to continue in faith with the movement. — Carolyn McDade, about the night she wrote "Spirit of Life"
In Today's Workshop...
We explored the meaning of spirituality and how spirituality operates in our lives. We looked at the song "Spirit of Life" and thought about what it tells us about spirituality and spiritual practice. We also looked at the Circles of Spirituality and how different spiritual practices relate to each other and help make us whole.
Explore further with family and friends...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: HYMN SINGING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE (45 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore how the singing of hymns can be a spiritual practice.
Explain that the group will explore how music, specifically hymn singing, can be a spiritual practice. Introduce the guest you have invited and ask them to share their experience with music at the church and why they got involved. Have participants introduce themselves to the guest as well.
Ask your guest to share what the top two or three hymns are in the congregation and why they think they are sung so often. Invite the group to sing those hymns.
Then, ask participants to name their favorites. Sing three or four of those hymns as a group.
Lead a discussion with the following questions:
After 10 to 15 minutes of discussion, ask the guest to name ways that the youth might be involved in the music ministry of the congregation.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: SPIRITUAL PRACTICES (35 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants experience a spiritual practice and get to know a member of their congregation in a deeper way.
Explain that some members of the congregation are joining the workshop today to share their spiritual practice.
Begin with introductions of the participants. Then ask the presenters to introduce themselves, including how long they have been part of the congregation. Have presenters share briefly why (not how) they participate in their spiritual practice.
Then, divide participants into small groups to meet with a presenter for about 15 minutes to teach about their spiritual practice.
After 15 minutes, bring the groups back together. Acknowledge that 15 minutes is only enough time for a taste of the spiritual practice that can be a lifetime's work. Invite a participant from each small group to briefly describe what they learned. When all of the small groups have shared, ask the presenters these questions:
Close by thanking the presenters and pointing out the materials the presenters have brought for participants to experience each of the spiritual practices more deeply.
Including All Participants
Some spiritual practices will not be possible for all participants. Be aware of the different abilities in the group and plan to have at least one spiritual practice accessible to everyone.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 6:
STORY: SPIRIT OF LIFE
Based on excerpts from Kimberly French's UU World Fall 2007 article Carolyn McDade's spirit of life. Additional sources include Chris Walton's UU World article General Assembly Report: Delegates Take a Global View at Quebec
"Spirit of Life" by Carolyn McDade is one of the most often sung hymns from Singing the Living Tradition. In 2007, Kimberly French interviewed Carolyn McDade about "Spirit of Life" for an article in UU World magazine. This is an excerpt describing the night she wrote the song:
Like much of McDade's music, the genesis of "Spirit of Life" was a very personal one. Late one night in the early 1980s, she was driving her close friend Pat Simon home from one of those meetings. In UU tellings of the story, it has been called a church social-justice meeting, an anti nuclear-power demonstration, and a remembrance of Harvey Milk, the openly gay San Francisco city supervisor who was assassinated in 1978—versions that may work well to make a sermon point. But McDade says it was a meeting for Central American solidarity, probably at a college.
What she remembers most clearly was the feeling she had. "When I got to Pat's house, I told her, 'I feel like a piece of dried cardboard that has lain in the attic for years. Just open wide the door, and I'll be dust.' I was tired, not with my community but with the world. She just sat with me, and I loved her for sitting with me."
McDade then drove to her own home in Newtonville. "I walked through my house in the dark, found my piano, and that was my prayer: May I not drop out. It was not written, but prayed. I knew more than anything that I wanted to continue in faith with the movement."
The song started as a prayer by a woman who was trying to stay in faith with a larger social justice movement. But "Spirit of Life" slowly grew into a life of its own. The song spread to Unitarian Universalist congregations, and when the Unitarian Universalist Association published Singing the Living Tradition in the early 1990's, "Spirit of Life" was included. It had become an important hymn for Unitarian Universalists.
For many Unitarian Universalists, this hymn is a regular part of coming together. A creative Unitarian Universalist added hand signals. Some churches use "Spirit of Life" as part of their weekly worship ritual—as the chalice lighting or as part of the closing. It has also been sung as a prayer for strength. As hundreds of Unitarian Universalists gathered to prepare for the banner parade at the 2003 Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly, a man from Colorado experienced a heart attack in the middle of the crowd. As medical first responders worked to save his life, the others gathered spontaneously broke into singing "Spirit of Life."
"Spirit of Life" began as a prayer by a single woman with no intention of it becoming a hymn for a religious movement. However, that is exactly what happened to it. In the hymn we sing, "Roots hold me close; wings set me free." In this case, the roots are the prayerfulness that is at the center of the song's creation, and the wings are all of us who sing it and spread it throughout our faith community.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 6:
HANDOUT 1: WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?
Reprinted with permission from "What Does Spirituality Mean? Young People Speak Out" by Search Institute (R). Copyright (C) 2006-2009 Search Institute (R), Minneapolis, MN; www.search-institute.org. All Rights Reserved.
What does spirituality mean?
Youth from around the world answer this question:
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 6:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: CIRCLES OF SPIRITUALITY
Print with the diagram on one side and the text on the back.
Personal Sphere:
Communal Sphere:
Environmental Sphere:
Organizational Sphere:
Engaged Spirituality:
"Engaged spirituality involves living a dual engagement: engaging with those resources that provide spiritual nurture and engaging with the world through acts of compassion and justice. Engaged spirituality is not an either/or prospect, but a conscious and intentional commitment to engage both the nurturing and the active aspects of religious faith." — Janet W. Parachin
FIND OUT MORE
Appropriate Cultural Sharing
Because Unitarian Universalists draw from so many cultural sources, it is important to think deeply about the context of the spiritual practices we draw from and the difference between appropriate and inappropriate cultural borrowing. The difference is not always clear. Here are resources that you might find helpful.
Engaged Spirituality
In Engaged Spirituality: Ten Lives of Contemplation and Action (at #v=onepage&q=&f=false) (St. Louis, Mo: Chalice Press, 1999), Janet W. Parachin has collected the writings and stories of ten spiritual leaders who model engaged spirituality. Gregory C. Stanczak's Engaged Spirituality: Social Change and American Religion (at #v=onepage&q=&f=false) (Piscataway NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006) is much more academic but is also helpful in understanding engaged spirituality. Portions of this book are available online.
WORKSHOP 7: REASON
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
My religious superstitions gave place to rational ideas based on scientific facts, and in proportion, as I looked at everything from a new standpoint, I grew more and more happy, day by day. — Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 19th century Unitarian suffragist and author of The Woman's Bible
The use of reason is a defining part of Unitarian Universalism as a liberal, humanistic religion. The core activities of this workshop explore the meaning and role of reason in religion, connecting it with the many sources of knowing that religious people draw on. The alternate activities engage diverse learning styles through movement and delve deeper into the sources of religious truths and decision-making.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: What is Reason? | 10 |
Activity 2: Story — Reason, Science, and the Question of God | 15 |
Activity 3: Hot Chocolate River | 25 |
Activity 4: Responding to Injustice | 20 |
Activity 5: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: Reasoned Debate | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Using Reason | 25 |
Alternate Activity 2: The Dance of Reason and Spirit | 15 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Reason is a power of our minds that helps shape our development and our decision making. Reflect on the role of reason in your life. How important is reason for you? What sources of knowledge do you draw on? Alternate Activity 2 explores the "dance" between reason and spirit. Unitarian Universalists are sometimes accused of being too rational, and this "dance" refers to the attempt to balance the power of reason with our experiences of beauty, love, and mystery. To what extent does this characterize your religious journey? Is one dance partner more dominant than the other in your life? You and the participants may lean more in one direction more than the other. Be aware of your own reactions as well as those of participants, and encourage open and loving dialogue about the differences.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and a question.
My religious superstitions gave place to rational ideas based on scientific facts, and in proportion, as I looked at everything from a new standpoint, I grew more and more happy, day by day. — Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 19th century Unitarian suffragist and author of "The Woman's Bible"
Question: How does reason based on scientific facts lead to a happy life?
As participants arrive, invite them to decorate a journal, review and/or add to their journals based on the Welcome Words, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Orient visitors and first-time participants to the program and get a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones from Workshop 1. Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading from workshop to workshop.
At the conclusion of the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist any youth that might need help with words in the responsive reading. Remember to allow participants to pass on reading aloud.
ACTIVITY 1: WHAT IS REASON? (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
A matching game explores the meaning of reason for Unitarian Universalists.
Explain that the group will explore the definition of reason through a matching game. Tell them that they will work in pairs to see who can correctly match all the words and definitions the fastest. The words include "reason" and other terms that can be difficult to understand. Tell them that as soon as they are done matching, they should raise their hands.
Distribute Handout 1, Vocabulary of Reason, face down and tell them when to turn their papers over and begin working with their partner.
When the first pair has raised their hands, ask them to share their answers. If they are correct, they win! Invite questions from the rest of the group. If the first group to raise their hands did not match correctly, continue to the next pair until you find one that has matched all the words and definitions correctly.
Explain the importance of reason in Unitarian Universalism past and present. Read or adapt the script from Leader Resource 2, Reason and Unitarian Universalism. Invite discussion and encourage youth to speak to the role of reason in their lives.
Close by telling the group that in this workshop, they will explore ways that reason is used to reach a variety of religious conclusions.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — REASON, SCIENCE, AND THE QUESTION OF GOD (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity is a fictitious forum between Linus Pauling and Charles Hartshorne that is designed to explore the use of reason and science in religion and the question of God's existence.
Welcome the group to a fictitious forum set in the late 1970s on the topic of "Reason, Science, and the Question of God." The panelists are: Linus Pauling (1901-1994), a chemist, humanist, and peace activist; and Charles Hartshorne [pronounced Harts-horne] (1897-2000), a process philosopher and theologian. Explain that you will serve as the moderator of the forum, and then ask for two participants to volunteer for the roles of Linus Pauling and Charles Hartshorne. Give volunteers nametags and copies of the story. Ask them to sit in the chairs.
Present the fictitious forum using the story script.
At the conclusion of the forum, thank the volunteers.
Point out that this forum illustrates how the work, activism, religious involvement, and ethical orientation of both Pauling and Hartshorne are informed by reason and science, yet they reached very different conclusions about the existence of God. Pauling was an atheist, and Hartshorne was a theist.
Belief in God is just one example of a theological question that reason may inform.
Ask participants to raise their hand if they use their minds—reason, logic, and intellect—in forming their religious beliefs and perspectives. Then ask participants to raise their hand if they are atheists, or don't believe in God/gods. Now ask participants to raise their hand if they believe in a god/gods of some kind. Then ask them to raise their hands if they don't know whether or not they believe in the existence of God/gods of any kind. Invite discussion on the diversity of beliefs within the group when all likely use reason to reach different religious beliefs.
Share the following quote from A History of Unitarianism, Vol. 2 by Earl Morse Wilbur:
Of course it is inevitable that free minds guided by individual reason and conscience, and influenced by different factors, should often reach differing conclusions, and it is natural that having reached them they should conflict with each other... Now there are but two ways in which such conflicts may be resolved. The parties may abandon the hope of mental freedom and submit to the judgment of another, or else they may waive the effort to think alike as futile, or at all events incidental, while they agree nevertheless in working for the ends they have in common. [page 487]
Pauling and Hartshorne had common ends and ethical goals originating with their use of reason and conscience as guides. Ask participants to raise their hands if they want their lives and work to contribute to a more loving, fair, and peaceful world. Explain that this is the two men's common end.
Say to participants:
Sometimes we encounter people with religious beliefs different from ours and we may ask ourselves, "How can any sane person believe that?" Our use of reason may not bring us to the same conclusion, but that does not mean that the other person does not have reasonable explanations for believing as they do. As Unitarian Universalist, we use reason as a tool for shaping our own religious beliefs—not as a weapon to destroy the beliefs of others. Francis David, 16th century founder of the Unitarian church in Transylvania, famously said, "We need not think alike to love alike." Four hundred years later, Pauling and Hartshorne remind us of the truth of this statement.
ACTIVITY 3: HOT CHOCOLATE RIVER (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the group on one side of a rope. Explain that in front of them is a hot chocolate river that is too hot to swim across, too deep to walk across, and too wide to jump across. The challenge is to get everyone across the river by using the marshmallows that you provide for them. Give the group two "marshmallows" to begin with. Tell them that the other challenge is that the river's current is so strong that the marshmallows will float away if someone is not holding them down with a hand, foot, or other part of their body. If anyone touches or falls into the hot chocolate river, they have to start over. Tell them that every time they get another person across the river, you will give them another marshmallow.
Leave the group to work and reason together to get everyone across the river, keeping an eye on them to make sure that they remember the rules—marshmallows must have a hand/foot/body part on them at all times, and anyone who touches the hot chocolate must go back.
When everyone has made it across the river, congratulate them on overcoming the challenge. Lead a discussion using the following reflection questions:
Including All Participants
This activity may be difficult for participants with limited mobility. Consider adapting it so that there are bigger "marshmallows" or choose not to use this activity if all participants cannot participate.
ACTIVITY 4: RESPONDING TO INJUSTICE (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity pairs reason with faith as a catalyst for creating justice and gives participants a tool for responding to injustice with reason. Begin by sharing the following words by Melissa Harris-Lacewell from her 2009 General Assembly Ware Lecture:
We [Unitarian Universalists] are determined to use the power of reason to identify the inequalities and injustices in our world. We are determined to marshal evidence as a tool in our work for fairness. But we must be equally determined to stamp out cynicism with hope, to fight hate with love, and to refuse to lose our faith.
Tell the group that reason is a powerful tool for social justice work. As Harris-Lacewell points out, reason helps us identify injustices and gather evidence that points us in a direction toward justice. But with the overwhelming evidence of injustice in the world, hope, love, and faith are important motivators to keep us moving. Without hope, love, and faith we have little reason to think that a just world is possible. This is why James Luther Adams' fifth smooth stone of religious liberalism affirms that there is reason for hope because the human and divine resources to achieve change are available.
Ask the group to brainstorm injustices. Encourage them to be specific—e.g. instead of "racism," write "white students being treated better than students of color at school;" or instead of "heterosexism," write "laws that define marriage as being between one man and one woman." Write their ideas on newsprint.
Ask participants to choose a couple of these injustices that they encounter most often and think about how they might use reason to respond to them. Distribute paper and pens so that they can write notes. Discuss the following reflection questions:
After five minutes, tell the group that they have the opportunity to create Reason Wallet Cards. Ask, "Have you ever encountered a situation of injustice and, in the moment, were too emotional to offer a response?" Explain that the wallet cards are something that they can carry with them to remind them of the rational arguments they would make to support their beliefs about situations of injustice.
Distribute the pieces of card stock you have prepared and give participants time to write the situation of injustice on one side and their reasoned response on the other. The reasoned response does not need to be a "speech" of full sentences, but could be a few notes or bullet points that they would want to include in a response. If there is time, invite a few volunteers to share their wallet cards.
Thank the participants for bringing their faith and reason to bear on these issues of injustice, and encourage them to use the wallet cards in their day-to-day lives.
ACTIVITY 5: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants will now have the opportunity to reflect and write or draw on what they have learned and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflecting, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Ask them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
1) I believe that reason is one tool for faith development.
2) I feel confident in my faith perspectives when I use reason to reach them.
3) I act on my beliefs and feelings by questioning what I am told and using reason and experience to develop my own perspectives.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections visually, if they prefer.
Also offer the following reflection questions related to the theme of the day: What role does reason play in your day-to-day life? How might its role change after participating in this workshop?
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Ask for volunteers to share brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop.
Introduce "Praise the Source of Faith and Learning" by Thomas Troeger and William Albright with the following background from Between the Lines, edited by Jacqui James (Boston: Skinner House, 1998):
This song was written by Thomas Troeger, a professor at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. The music was written by William Albright, a Unitarian Universalist, who was commissioned by the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan for their 125th anniversary. This song weaves together science and faith, reason and wonder, emphasizing that it is possible and even necessary for religion to have all of these.
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "Praise the Source of Faith and Learning" by Thomas Troeger and William Albright, Hymn 158 in Singing the Living Tradition.
Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: REASONED DEBATE
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
One definition of reason is "the faculty or power of acquiring intellectual knowledge... by argument" (Dictionary.com). Therefore, one way of putting faith in action is by acquiring knowledge and engaging in reasoned debate. Explain that participants will practice using their reason to reach a conclusion and then put it into practice through debate. Remind them that this practice requires keeping an open mind to listen and learn, as well as bringing their own knowledge and experiences to bear.
The issue to be debated is: the death penalty.
Divide participants into two teams, and assign debate arguments to each team: the first argues for the death penalty in some situations and the second argues against the death penalty in all situations. Remind everyone that they may need to put their personal opinions aside and argue as strongly as possible for their team's position.
Distribute Handout 2, Debate Preparation Steps. Ask for volunteers to read the steps aloud.
Then give the teams 30 minutes to prepare for the debate if only using the resources on hand. If you wish to give participants longer to prepare their case, encourage youth to take the materials home, confer with their teammates, and be ready to debate during your next meeting.
After 30 minutes, gather the teams back together and ask each team spokesperson to share their three-minute argument.
After each team has had a chance to speak, ask for clarifying questions. Make sure that participants understand that this is not a time to offer responses.
After clarifying questions, give the teams 15 minutes to meet again to develop responses to the other team. Then do a go-around again, giving each team a chance to offer their response. After this round is over, thank everyone for engaging in reasoned debate.
Lead a short discussion with the following reflection questions:
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? Did participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this program as a series, go over the plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do what preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned in the workshop outline, which activities will you add or cut?
TAKING IT HOME
My religious superstitions gave place to rational ideas based on scientific facts, and in proportion, as I looked at everything from a new standpoint, I grew more and more happy, day by day. — Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 19th century Unitarian suffragist and author of The Woman's Bible
In Today's Workshop...
We explored the meaning of reason and its importance for Unitarian Universalists. We participated in a fictitious forum between Linus Pauling and Charles Hartshorne to demonstrate how reason and science can be used to reach very different perspectives. We applied this to our own lives and social justice work by practicing the use of reason. We also acknowledged the many sources of wisdom that work with reason in the process of developing beliefs and making decisions.
Explore the topic further...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: USING REASON (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity explores how to use reason when approaching religious and theological issues.
Explain that when using reason to reach conclusions or make decisions, one draws (consciously or unconsciously) from various sources of knowledge.
Draw the group's attention to the sheet of newsprint with Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience listed on it. Tell the group that these are the four sources and lenses through which to interpret truth according to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Albert Outler, who did research on Wesley in the 1960s, named these the "Wesleyan Quadrilateral." For Wesley, Scripture or the Christian Bible was the sole source of truth. Tradition was a lens through which to view the Bible, Reason was the way to evaluate and interpret Tradition, and Experience was the way to apply and test truths in practice. Wesley believed that none of these sources could be used independently, but instead must be used together with Scripture as the primary authority.
Remove the top sheet of newsprint and move it to the side so that the group can see the second sheet with Reason, Experience, Tradition, and Scripture listed. Explain that Unitarian Universalists do not use the Wesleyan Quadrilateral for guidance in the same way that Wesley did. We are more likely to emphasize Reason and Experience, though all four can be found in our Sources. Point out that we do not share one scripture, but rather draw from many Sources. Draw the group's attention to the sheet of newsprint with Reason, Experience, Tradition, and Scripture listed next to the corresponding Sources. Ask for volunteers to read each source aloud.
Then ask the group: What other sources of knowledge do you draw from when reasoning? Write their responses on the second sheet of newsprint under the four already listed. Examples might include: science, family, friends, a minister, emotions, intuition, politics, and specific scriptures or writings.
Invite participants to take out their journals. Ask them to identify three of their most deeply held religious beliefs and to list them each on a separate page in their journals. After two minutes, ask them to apply the following three questions to their three beliefs. Give them 10 minutes to write.
After 10 minutes, conclude the journaling and tell the group that if they did not finish or want more time to work on this they can do so during the journal reflection time at the end of the workshop, or sometime after the workshop is over.
Close by saying that Unitarian Universalism is a non-creedal religion, meaning that we do not have a creedal statement from a higher authority telling us what to believe. Instead, we engage in a process that uses reason as a tool to develop our own beliefs and faith, and that we covenant to walk this journey together. Tell the group that they have just engaged in part of this lifelong journey.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: THE DANCE OF REASON AND SPIRIT (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity builds on a metaphor about the "dance" between reason and spirit, and explores it through dance and movement.
Begin by sharing the following quote from Reverend Sarah Lammert, a Unitarian Universalist minister:
Perhaps it is this tension between reason and intuitive or spiritual expression that will forever play its way through the dance of [Unitarianism Universalism]. How do we use the power of reason—including all that science and philosophy have to offer—alongside the "AHA" of our experiences of beauty, of love, and of mystery? This is the dance we are privileged to sway to, and I encourage us all to step lively, and embrace this free religious journey.
Explain that for many Unitarian Universalists, there is a tension between the use of reason and the intuitive or spiritual aspects of religion. Reverend Lammert describes this tension as a dance. Break participants into groups of four or five and tell them they have the opportunity to express this tension through dramatic movement or dance. Ask: What does the dance between reason and spirit look like? How can Unitarian Universalists "step lively"? Give the group(s) 10 minutes to work together to create a dance piece. After 10 minutes, have the group(s) present.
Including All Participants
This activity may be more challenging for people with limited mobility. If there are participants who are not able to move around freely, make sure that the group(s) include roles for everyone in their dance piece.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 7:
STORY: REASON, SCIENCE, AND THE QUESTION OF GOD
Sources used: Encognitive.com on YouTube. "Linus Pauling: Nature of the Universe."
Marshall Klarfeld. "Linus Pauling speaks." on YouTube.
Charles Hartshorne. Man's Vision of God and the Logic of Theism. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1964.
Unitarian Universalist Historical Society. "Charles Hartshorne."
Unitarian Universalist Historical Society. "Linus Pauling."Online.
The following script has three characters—the moderator (a workshop leader), Linus Pauling and Charles Hartshorne (participant volunteers). Imagine yourself in the 1970s, being filmed for a televised forum on "Reason, Science, and the Question of God." Get into character as much as you can. The more dramatic, the better!
MODERATOR: Good morning and welcome to the forum entitled "Reason, Science, and the Question of God." Our distinguished panelists are Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist and peace activist, and Charles Hartshorne [pronounced harts-horne], a philosopher and theologian. Our forum today will explore the lives, work, and activism of Pauling and Hartshorne and the ways in which science and reason inform their religious and theological perspectives. Linus and Charles, thank you for being here. The first question is, "What is your religious background and how does it inform your current work?" Linus, we'll begin with you.
PAULING: Thank you for having me here today. I come from a German Lutheran background, though my parents were never very active church people so I didn't have a strong affiliation. Rather than becoming a machinist as my parents wanted me to, I was intent on becoming a research chemist, so that is exactly what I did. I have been doing research in chemistry and molecular biology and writing books about my work for decades. I also taught at Caltech for more than 30 years. My more recent work, however, is antiwar activism. I have found strong support among the Unitarians in Los Angeles. In fact, in 1954 I addressed a crowd of over 1,000 people at the Los Angeles Unitarian Church about the dangers of nuclear bombs. My wife Ava Helen and I eventually joined the Los Angeles Unitarian Church "because it accepts as members people who believe in trying to make the world a better place."
MODERATOR: Charles?
HARTSHORNE: It is a pleasure to be here today. Thank you for inviting me. I grew up with liberal Christianity, which taught me that Scripture is inspired but not flawless, that evolution and belief in God do not contradict each other, and that God's love is more important than God's power. My father refused to believe that God had control over every detail of the universe. These beliefs all inform my work in the area of process philosophy/theology today. I am suspicious of anyone who gives authority to any one book, church, or person. I believe that freedom and reason must be the tools of religious people. While I study the nature of God, I'm not very active in church these days. My daughter attends the Unitarian church in Chicago, but I have better things to do. At my wife's urging, I have attended Unitarian churches, and have become quite fond of the minister in Austin, Texas. Unitarian churches are the only ones I will support financially.
MODERATOR: What role does science play in your religious perspective? Charles, it's your turn to begin.
HARTSHORNE: Reason and logic, which are both scientific tools, are the foundation of my philosophy of the existence of God, which I believe is both sensitive to values and aligned with the sciences. I believe that the relationship of God to the cosmos is like the relation of a person to the cells of their body—"the world is God's body."
MODERATOR: Linus?
PAULING: I like to understand the world. I like to learn about new ideas. I like to think about problems, look at them in different ways, and finally get an answer to them. Chemistry is an experimental science. I deal with the world as I perceive it, and approach both science and religion from an experimental perspective.
MODERATOR: Is there an ethical component to your work? Linus, we'll begin with you.
PAULING: During the Second World War, I used my scientific expertise for military research and development, but following the war, I became increasingly concerned about the further development and possible use of atomic weapons. My wife is a pacifist and has influenced me in that direction. I began to realize the great dangers confronting us — that the atomic bomb could end the world as we know it. Therefore, I began traveling around giving speeches, circulating petitions, and protesting (along with Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell) the testing of nuclear weapons. I was honored in 1962 to receive a second Nobel Prize — the first one was for chemistry, and this one was for peace. My basic philosophy is oriented to the diminution of suffering in the world. My basic ethical principle... [is] that decisions be made that will increase happiness.
MODERATOR: Charles?
HARTSHORNE: To me, ethical means being motivated by concern for the interests of others. I believe that love is a measure of ethics because love is "action from social awareness." Therefore, God is absolutely ethical because God is perfectly loving, and we humans must try to be nearly as ethical and loving.
MODERATOR: Now, the last question of the forum: Do you believe in God? Charles?
HARTSHORNE: Absolutely. I believe in a God that is a creative and moving power open to human influence. I come from the perspective of panentheism — God is not identical with the world, but God is also not completely separate from the world. God transcends the earth, but the world is also contained within God. From a scientific perspective, this makes sense to me.
MODERATOR: Linus?
PAULING: No, I do not. I have no interest in the mystical aspects of religion. My discipline is to explain everything back to the beginning of the universe. If you ask me what there was just before the Big Bang, I cannot explain that to you. If you wish to believe in a God as the creator, please do, as we cannot explain what there was just a millisecond before the Big Bang.
MODERATOR: Linus and Charles, thank you for joining us today for this forum on "Reason, Science, and the Question of God." We appreciate your taking the time to share with us your reasoned perspectives and work on these critical issues for our time.
PAULING and HARTSHORNE: Thank you.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 7:
HANDOUT 1: VOCABULARY OF REASON
The source of these definitions is Dictionary.com
With a partner, match the following words and definitions by writing the number of the definition next to the corresponding word.
Analysis _____ | 1. The science that investigates the principles governing correct or reliable inference. |
Inquiry _____ | 2. This process is a method of studying the nature of something or of determining its essential features and their relations. |
Logic _____ | 3. The mental powers concerned with forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences. People do this by direct understanding, predicting, generalizing, comparing, and arguing. |
Rationality _____ | 4. The exercise of reason. |
Rationalization _____ | 5. The process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises. |
Reason _____ | 6. A seeking or request for truth, information, or knowledge.. |
Reasoning _____ | 7. To invent plausible explanations for acts, opinions, etc., that are actually based on other causes. |
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 7:
HANDOUT 2: DEBATE PREPARATION STEPS
Follow these steps to prepare for a reasoned debate.
Debate Issue: the death penalty
Step 1: Identify sources of knowledge on this issue. You might want to refer to the brainstorm developed earlier in the workshop.
Step 2: Reflect on what you know about this issue and what you have experienced related to this issue. What knowledge comes out of that experience?
Step 3: Gather information! Use whatever resources are available to you.
Step 4: Seek input. What do others think about this issue?
Step 5: Weigh the information you have gathered. What makes sense to you? What does not?
Step 6: Piece together, through discussion, what you know, what you have experienced, and the information you have gathered to come to a conclusion.
Step 7: Write a statement to share in the debate that argues the conclusion you have reached. Make sure that the statement includes some information about your sources and the process of reason you went through. Keep the statement to three minutes or less.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 7:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: VOCABULARY OF REASON DEFINITIONS
The source of these definitions is Dictionary.com.
This list of definitions is a guide for the workshop leader to use during Activity 1, What is Reason?, exploring the meaning of reason as opposed to similar concepts.
Analysis (2): This process is a method of studying the nature of something or of determining its essential features and their relations.
Inquiry (6): A seeking or request for truth, information, or knowledge.
Logic (1): The science that investigates the principles governing correct or reliable inference.
Rationality (4): The exercise of reason.
Rationalization (7): To invent plausible explanations for acts, opinions, etc., that are actually based on other causes.
Reason (3): The mental powers concerned with forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences. People do this by direct understanding, predicting, generalizing, comparing, and arguing.
Reasoning (5): The process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 7:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: REASON AND UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISM
Material about reason in Unitarian Universalism today comes from "Engaging Our Theological Diversity," the 2005 report of the Unitarian Universalist Association's Commission on Appraisal. Definitions of humanism come from William R. Murry's Reason and Reverence: Religious Humanism for the 21st Century (Boston: Skinner House Books, 2007).
Read or adapt this script for Activity 1, What is Reason?, to explain the importance of reason in Unitarian Universalism past and present.
Reason is a mental capacity that humans use to explore and understand the truth and meaning of the world. It is sometimes contrasted with authority, tradition, intuition, emotion, superstition, and faith. In 2005, the Unitarian Universalist Association's Commission on Appraisal conducted a study of our theological diversity, and found that while we agree that reason is a necessary part of religious exploration, we disagree as to whether reason is enough or whether we need to use other human capacities beyond reason.
Reason emerged as an important component of liberal religion in the 19th century, when scientific developments began playing a larger role in the way people understood the world. Nineteenth century Unitarians believed that God gave humanity reason so that we could understand right and wrong and use it to understand God and the world. In reaction to traditional Christianity, Unitarians said that the use of science and reason to question and theorize was more reliable than what they considered "religious superstitions." They also applied reason to studying the Bible and scriptures.
Today, Unitarian Universalists continue to value reason as a tool for inquiry and decision-making. However, they also value some of the capacities that reason is commonly contrasted with—faith, tradition, emotion, experience, and intuition. In fact, one could argue that reason is a tool used to verify Unitarian Universalist faith, to reflect on intuition and experience, and to act as the "wings" of Unitarian Universalist tradition. There are diverse perspectives within Unitarian Universalism about the importance of each of these concepts in religious life and this diversity is reflected in our Principles and Sources.
One of these Sources is "humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn against idolatries of the mind and spirit." Many Unitarian Universalists identify with humanism. There are many types of humanism—Christian humanism, Jewish humanism, Unitarian Universalist humanism, religious humanism, and secular humanism. Generally, humanism "refers to the affirmation of the worth and dignity of every person, a commitment to human betterment... the necessity for human beings to take responsibility for themselves and the world," and the use of critical thinking and reason for religious exploration (William Murry, Reason and Reverence). Humanists emphasize the importance of human life here and now in this world, rather than looking toward a heavenly realm. Religious humanism operates within a religious community and is "open to mystery and more likely to respond with reverence and gratitude at the wonder of being alive" (Murry, Reason and Reverence). There is a spiritual dimension to religious humanism and there doesn't need to be a conflict between humanism and spirituality. Early Christian liberal William Ellery Channing believed in intellect and reason as means of cultivating human goodness, and Joseph Priestley believed that human progress was made possible through human thinking and human efforts. During the 20th century, Unitarian Universalist humanists were instrumental in the development of three Humanist Manifestos, which articulate the basic humanist perspective. Today there are many Unitarian Universalist humanists, and humanism has deeply influenced Unitarian Universalist Principles, Purposes, and Sources.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 7:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: SOURCES VISUALS
Use the following guide to prepare two newsprint sheets for Alternate Activity 1, Using Reason.
Newsprint Sheet 1:
Scripture Tradition Reason Experience |
Newsprint Sheet 2:
Reason Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science... Experience Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder... Tradition Words and deeds of prophetic women and men... Scripture Wisdom from the world's religions... |
FIND OUT MORE
Websites
Books
Murry, William R. Reason and Reverence: Religious Humanism for the 21st Century (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=654) (Boston: Skinner House Books, 2006).
WORKSHOP 8: FREEDOM
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. — Nelson Mandela
Freedom is central to Unitarian Universalism's "free faith" and is inextricably linked with other core values—the use of reason, tolerance of difference, love, hope for change, and faith. James Luther Adams' wrote that "all relations between persons ought ideally to rest on mutual, free consent and not on coercion." His second stone is "establishment of a just and loving community."
This workshop explores freedom struggles in Unitarian Universalist history to the present day, making connections with freedom and liberation movements in other cultures and communities. Participants consider what they, as Unitarian Universalists, can learn and contribute.
Activity 4, Freedom Songs, requires advance notice to participants to select songs about freedom that they appreciate. Plan to email or otherwise communicate with the group early. The Faith in Action activity puts into practice the idea that with freedom comes responsibility, or as Nelson Mandela said, the call to "live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." Through doing this we become truly free and whole.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Many Kinds of Freedom | 10 |
Activity 2: Story — Viola Liuzzo, To Freedom Land | 10 |
Activity 3: Three Stories of Religious Freedom | 20 |
Activity 4: Freedom Songs | 30 |
Activity 5: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: Community Action Project | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Liberalism and Liberation Theology | 20 |
Alternate Activity 2: Freedom for All | 25 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
For a long time, music has been a powerful way for people to both celebrate and express their desire for freedom. Find a song that you like with a freedom or liberation theme. Sit down and listen to it. Play it through a few times. What is the song telling you about freedom? What does your choice of songs say about your views of freedom? What are your experiences of freedom, or freedom denied? Are there freedoms that you take for granted?
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and questions.
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. — Nelson Mandela, former South African President, anti-apartheid activist, and advocate of democracy
Questions: How does the way you live respect and enhance the freedom of others? How do others respect and enhance your freedom?
As participants arrive, invite them to personalize a journal, review and/or add to their journal based on the Welcome Words posted, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Orient visitors and first-time participants to the program and get a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones (Handout 1 from Workshop 1). Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading from workshop to workshop.
After the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist youth that need help with words in the responsive reading. Remember to allow participants to pass on reading aloud.
ACTIVITY 1: MANY KINDS OF FREEDOM (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants identify different types of freedom and reflect on their own experiences of freedom.
Explain that freedom has been an important principle to Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists throughout our history. Say that today's workshop looks at some of this history and asks them to think about how they live out the principle of freedom in their own lives.
Ask participants, "What freedoms do you experience?" Write their responses on one sheet of newsprint.
Then ask, "What freedoms do you not experience?" Write those on a separate piece of newsprint.
Ask the group to compare the lists. Use the following refection questions to lead a discussion:
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — VIOLA LIUZZO, TO FREEDOM LAND (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity tells the story through words and song of Viola Liuzzo, a white Unitarian Universalist who fought and died for the civil rights of African Americans.
Begin by telling participants that, as they explored in Activity 1, there are many kinds of freedom. Viola Liuzzo, a white Unitarian Universalist, was working alongside African Americans for their rights as full citizens and freedom from discrimination during the Civil Rights Movement. She was putting her faith in freedom into action. Invite the participants to listen as you share the story of Viola Liuzzo. Read or tell the story, while your co-leader or a volunteer sings the song lines interspersed throughout.
After presenting the story, lead a short discussion with the following reflection questions:
ACTIVITY 3: THREE STORIES OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore times in history that Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists took action to expand religious freedom. It challenges participants to look at areas where they themselves, or people in their community, lack freedom and what they might do about it.
Start by explaining that they will be looking at three stories of religious freedom. The first comes from Unitarians in the 1500s. The second is from Universalists in the 1700s. The third comes from Unitarian Universalists in the 1990s.
Use Leader Resource 1, Three Stories of Religious Freedom, to present the stories as you have planned.
After the stories are read, break participants into groups of three or four to discuss the following questions:
Invite all participants back into the large group. Ask youth to each share one reflection on freedom that came up during the discussion.
ACTIVITY 4: FREEDOM SONGS (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Youth explore the theme of freedom and liberation through music. The thirty-minute time estimate may be low; it will take approximately five minutes per participant.
Point out that people have expressed their deepest desires for freedom through music for a long time. Many of today's gospel songs were originally sung by enslaved Africans; many folk songs were originally sung by laborers; and anti-war songs were sung by protesters of the Vietnam War.
Remind them of the songs that they have picked. Tell them that you made a CD of all the songs for each of them. Explain that after the group listens to each song, the person who selected that song will have two or three minutes to share what they think the song is about. When you have listened to all the songs, lead a discussion using the following reflection questions:
ACTIVITY 5: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants now have the opportunity to reflect and write or draw on what they have learned and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflecting, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Ask them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
1) I believe that everyone should be free.
2) I feel privileged to be part of a community that values freedom.
3) I act on my beliefs and feelings by working with others to bring about freedom for all.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections visually, if they prefer.
Also offer the following reflection questions related to the theme of the day:
How does Unitarian Universalism inform the way you view or experience freedom? How does Unitarian Universalism call you to work for the freedom of all? When you have joined with a Unitarian Universalist community to work towards freedom?
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
To close the workshop, ask for a couple participants to share brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop. Wrap up the sharing after five minutes.
Tell participants that Unitarian Universalists have many favorite songs about freedom. Some are in our hymnbooks, and are drawn from various sources and traditions. Ask them to name any that they know or have sung. Introduce the song, "Building a New Way" by Martha Sandefer and Jim Scott, a song that calls for building a new way of peace and freedom for all. Many of the well-known freedom songs are African American spirituals from the times of slavery or the Civil Rights era of the 1950s and 60s. This song, however, is more recent, reminding us that the struggle for freedom continues.
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing Hymn 1017 in Singing the Journey. Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute copies of Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: COMMUNITY ACTION PROJECT
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Throughout this workshop, participants have been exploring freedom. This Faith in Action project gives participants an opportunity to develop and implement a plan to take action to expand freedom in their community. Below is a five-step process leading to action.
Listing Issues
Ask participants: If someone has been denied their freedom or liberty, is it our responsibility to do something about it? Discuss this question for about five minutes.
Point out that in this workshop they have been asked to think about times and places where freedom has been denied. Ask them to name these times and places where freedom has been denied, and list them on newsprint. It is possible that they will start with times in history like slavery or the Holocaust. It is okay to list these, but encourage them to also name times and places that are current and located in their community.
Once they have brainstormed a list, ask: Which of these situations can we do NOTHING about? This is a trick question. There should not be an issue one can do nothing about. For example, if slavery is on the list and your congregation is located in New England or one of the states that made up the Confederacy, it is possible that your congregation's ancestors, or even the church itself, profited from slavery. Does your church have a responsibility to address those actions? Or, if the Holocaust is on the list, participants can do something by learning more about it. Learning more is an action that we can take with just about any situation where someone's freedom has been denied.
Criteria for selection
Tell participants that they will create and implement a plan to do something about one of the issues they listed. Explain that the next step is to identify criteria for choosing an issue to address. Lead the group in brainstorming the criteria they would use. For example, it must be a local issue, or an issue that relates to youth. List the criteria on newsprint.
Once you have a list of criteria, determine which criteria are most important to the group by using a process called multi-voting. Hand each participant three dot stickers. Explain that they will vote on the criteria most important to them. Tell them they can place their dots on two or three different criteria, or if they feel strongly about one of the criteria, they can put all their dots on one.
When participants are done, tally up the dots for each criteria.
Selecting the issue
Using the same multi-voting process described above, ask participants to vote for the issues they would like to address. Remind them to think about the criteria they prioritized.
See if there is a clear winner. Sometimes one issue will stand out with the most votes. If this is the case, ask participants if this is the issue they want to act on. If you have two or three issues with about the same number of votes, the group can vote only on these few options with one vote each.
Action Planning
The next step is making an action plan. Ask participants to think of specific actions they can take related to the issue. It is important that they should be actions that are attainable for your group. Traveling to Darfur to work in a refugee camp might be exciting, but taking part in a letter writing campaign to get your congregation's bank to divest from companies doing business in Darfur might be a more attainable project.
The group may identify one big action or a few smaller ones. If they choose several smaller actions, they might break into small working teams for the next step.
Distribute Handout 4, Action Planning. Either in the large group or in the smaller working teams, brainstorm a list of tasks needed to make the action happen. When a list has been written, work with participants to put the tasks in the order they need to be done. Ask participants to fill in their own handout as you discuss what needs to be done with each task.
Making It Happen
The last step is implementation. Talk with the congregation's director of religious education and the minister about the project. Communicate with the congregation's social action committee (or equivalent). Make a plan with participants for how they will check in about the tasks each is responsible for. And finally, have a great time!
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? Did participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this program as a series, go over the plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do what preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned for in the workshop outline which activities will you add or cut?
TAKING IT HOME
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. — Nelson Mandela, former South African President, anti-apartheid activist, and advocate of democracy
In Today's Workshop...
We learned about the historic struggle for religious freedom that Unitarian Universalists have been a part of. Through story and song, we learned about Viola Liuzzo, whose courageous work for freedom led to her death. We also made connections between freedom struggles throughout history and our own lives, reflecting on ways in which we do or do not experience freedom.
Explore further with family and friends...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: LIBERALISM AND LIBERATION THEOLOGY (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity explores the encounter between liberal religion and liberation theology in Unitarian Universalism through art.
Explain that the group will explore the differences and similarities between religious liberalism and liberation theology in their approach to freedom. Religious liberalism emphasizes freedom of belief. Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion partly because we do not have a creed, or a statement of belief that all members must agree to. Liberation theology is a school of Christian theology, especially present in Latin America, which emphasizes the biblical call to liberate people from political, social, and material oppression. James Luther Adams, whose five smooth stones of religious liberalism we reflect on at the beginning of each workshop, advocated liberalism that works for social transformation in much the same way that liberation theology does. Both liberal and liberation theology emphasize human freedom, but there are some key differences between them. The Reverend Mark Morrison-Reed, a Unitarian Universalist minister, African American, and author of Black Pioneers in a White Denomination and In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby, calls liberalism and liberation two distinct models of freedom. Liberalism focuses on providing opportunities for individuals to be free, while liberation is an ongoing struggle to create and restore relationships that free people and communities from systems of oppression.
Ask the group: What people or groups can you think of that have struggled for liberation — spiritual, physical, and political freedom? Invite responses. Reinforce that the groups that have historically struggled for this type of freedom, such as people of color, ethnic minorities and poor people, have been systemically marginalized.
Many Unitarian Universalist ministers and theologians have suggested that liberal attempts to work for human freedom are not enough, and that we have much to learn from liberation theology. Distribute Handout 1, Perspectives on Liberal and Liberation Theologies. Explain that each quote addresses the question:: How can we learn from liberation theology so that our liberal tradition can engage in more liberating and transformative work for freedom?
Ask for volunteers to read each quote aloud. Then lead a discussion with the following questions:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: FREEDOM FOR ALL (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity uses images of freedom in Diego Rivera's mural "Pan-American Unity" to explore parallel freedom movements in North and South America and encourages participants to relate it to their own experience of parallel freedom movements. This is a good activity to follow Activity 4, Liberalism and Liberation, which introduces liberation theology and its connection to Unitarian Universalism.
Draw the group's attention the mural. Explain that it is called "Marriage of the Artistic Expression of the North and of the South on this Continent," but is more commonly known as "Pan-American Unity." The artist, Diego Rivera, painted it in 1940 because he believed that "in order to make an American art, a real American art, this will be necessary, this blending of the art of the Indian, the Mexican, the Eskimo, with the kind of urge which makes the machine..."
Rivera was one of the most prominent Mexican painters of the 20th century, and was strongly influenced by the Mexican Revolution (1914-15) and the Russian Revolution (1917). He believed that art should empower working people to understand their histories, and should be accessible to all, which is why many of his murals are painted on public buildings, like this one, which is at the City College of San Francisco. Rivera's art is informed by liberation theology.
Tell the group to focus in particular on Panels 2 and 4 of the mural. These two panels include images that represent freedom and liberation as well as oppression and violence.
Divide participants into two groups, and assign one group Panel 2 and the other Panel 4. Distribute Handout 2, Pan-American Unity — Panel 2, to the first group and Handout 3, Pan-American Unity — Panel 4, to the second. Invite them to look closely at their panel and discuss the role of freedom and oppression in the images with the following questions:
Spend time with participants, helping them identify images. This mural is very complex and it is likely that they will have questions.
After 12 minutes, invite the groups to share their panel and explain its significance. Ask the groups what parallels they see between the different freedom struggles represented. Conclude by saying that, as this mural demonstrates, there have been and continue to be many parallel freedom struggles in different communities throughout history. Invite participants to continue reflecting on the freedom struggles they experience in their lives and communities, and how they relate to each other to achieve freedom for all.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 8:
STORY: VIOLA LIUZZO — TO FREEDOM LAND
Adapted from a story by Jessica York. The song is an African American spiritual.
This story is best told in pairs. One volunteer sings the song at the beginning and later in the story, while the other volunteer narrates the story. The song lyrics are in quotes at the beginning, and in parentheses at the end of sentences later in the story.
"Ain't gonna let nobody
Turn me 'round
Turn me 'round
Turn me 'round
Ain't gonna let nobody
Turn me 'round
Gonna keep on a-walkin'
keep on a-talkin'
Walking up to freedom land" — words of an African American spiritual
The protesters sang and chanted on the 50 mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The Black people of Selma had tried to march earlier in the month to demonstrate for African American voting rights and in remembrance of Jimmy Lee Jackson, a young Black man who had been killed a few weeks before during another peaceful protest. However, the earlier protest was called off when the marchers were met by police officers who beat them and imprisoned many. Now the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was leading a new protest march to the State Capitol and marchers planned to let nothing stop them. Among these marchers were hundreds of Unitarian Universalists.
The marchers' numbers had grown by over 20,000. Many people saw the televised coverage of Bloody Sunday, when the first march was brutally attacked. Many had heard the call from Reverend King for lovers of justice to come to Selma and join the march. One of the many who saw and heard was Viola Liuzzo, a 39-year-old white woman. She went to Selma to support the cause of civil rights. Her car was in Selma, too, being used to pick up the old and weak who started the march, but could not finish. After the march, she helped carpool supporters to the airport, bus, and train stations for their journey home. But Viola herself would not be going home.
Home for Viola was Detroit, Michigan. Once, it had been Pennsylvania, where she was born. Then Tennessee and then Georgia. Her family moved to where her father and mother could find work, which wasn't always easy. Viola's family struggled. Yet as hard a time as her family had, Viola could see that the Black people in Tennessee and Georgia had a much harder time. Viola asked herself questions about why some people had so much wealth and others had so little. She wondered what the color of a person's skin had to do with whether they would be a hard worker or a good student. When her family moved to Michigan, she thought it would be better there.
However, in Michigan, she encountered segregation like she had never seen before. She saw how White people and Black people lived in two different worlds and she wondered why people thought she couldn't be friends with Black people.
All that thinking helped Viola shape firm opinions about what is right, wrong, and fair. Once she made her mind up, nobody was going to turn her around!
So she worked for economic justice and education reform in Detroit. She worked for civil rights with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) alongside her Black friends. When she did not see her beliefs and values reflected in the Catholic Church she attended, she left and joined the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit.
When Viola saw what was happening in Selma and heard Reverend King's call, nothing was going to stop her from doing what she believed she had to do: to go down to Selma and support the march. As a mother of five children, Viola had many responsibilities at home. So once she made up her mind to go, she called her husband and told him her plans. He was worried.
"Viola, it might be dangerous." (Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'round)
"I know, ------" she replied.(Turn me round)
"Viola, you might get killed", he said. (Turn me round)
"I know", she answered. (Turn me round)
Before anyone else could try and talk her out of it, Viola was in her station wagon and heading to Alabama.
She held hands with Black people and White people, crossed the bridge and marched three-strong. (I'm gonna keep on a walking)
She offered her car to be used as needed. (I'm gonna keep on a talking)
Later that night after the march was finished, Viola was helping marchers get home. As she and Leroy Moton, a Black civil rights worker, drove along Highway 80, a car full of white supremacist men from the Ku Klux Klan began following and threatening her. She became frustrated, and started singing freedom songs at the top of her lungs. Twenty miles later, the men were still on her tail, and along a lonely stretch of road they pulled up next to her car and shot her. They shot Viola and killed her because she was a white woman trying to help Black people claim their civil rights. (Walking up to freedom land)
They thought this would stop the Civil Rights Movement, but like a mighty tide, it kept on rolling toward freedom. Many people were outraged by Viola's murder and put more pressure on their legislators in Washington, DC to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Viola's dedication to her values and sacrifice helped ALL people get a little closer to freedom land, as the American Civil Rights Movement has been an inspiration for oppressed people all over the world. She is the only White woman honored on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama and a plaque in her honor hangs at the national headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston, Massachusetts.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 8:
HANDOUT 1: PERSPECTIVES ON LIBERALISM AND LIBERATION THEOLOGIES
Sources: James Luther Adams. On Being Human Religiously (Boston: Skinner House Books, 1976)
Essex Conversations: Visions for Lifespan Religious Education (Boston: Skinner House Books, 2001)
Jack Mendelsohn. Being Liberal in an Illiberal Age: Why I Am a Unitarian Universalist (Boston: Skinner House Books, 2006)
Fredric John Muir. A Reason for Hope: Liberation Theology Confronts a Liberal Faith (Carmel, CA: Sunflower Ink, 1994)
Paul Rasor. Faith Without Certainty: Liberal Theology in the 21st Century (Boston: Skinner House Books, 2005)
James Luther Adams: Adams' second smooth stone of religious liberalism is that "all relations between persons ought ideally to rest on mutual, free consent and not on coercion." He believed that the freedom to come together with others can be a "dynamic institutional force for social change or for resistance to it." But, he clarifies that "freedom... involves more than freedom of choice. Many people entertain attitudes in favor of freedom, but socially effective freedom requires participation in associations that define or redefine freedom and that attempt to articulate or implement that freedom in a specific social milieu." (On Being Human Religiously, 56-7)
Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley: "What liberalism and liberation have in common is that each is engaged in a project to extend human freedom, but liberalism's approach is inadequate, in part, because of its tendency to view freedom in the abstract — without exploring a critical question: freedom for whom to do what?" (Essex Conversations, 28-9)
Fredric John Muir: "... there is an urgent need for Unitarian Universalists to translate personal, community, and Association beliefs (like the Principles and [Sources]) into the language of liberation theology in order to make clear our support for the liberation of life." (A Reason for Hope, 58)
Paul Rasor: "While we can and should draw on the resources and insights of other traditions such as liberation theology, liberal theology must speak first to the tradition it serves, which is basically a middle-class religious tradition. We must ask: In what ways are we implicated in the social structures of oppression? What are our various privileges in the current social structures, and how are they connected with, even dependent on, the suffering of others? How might our own practices unwittingly perpetuate the oppressive structures we are seeking to overturn? How can we use our privilege to effect change and alleviate suffering? What are we willing to give up?" (Faith Without Certainty, 163)
Jack Mendelsohn: "The evils of society burn a hole in the soul, say liberationists. We have a gut reaction, a kind of upset that can never been adequately expressed by the liberal's 'decent concern'... If liberalism is to arise from whatever malaise withers it... it must be a liberalism that knows, not just a decent concern for oppression, but a personal experience of it and a profound sense of agony and outrage. In brief, it must be a liberalism ecstatic enough and disciplined enough to celebrate, demand, organize, institutionalize, suffer for, and exult over profound social and individual change." (Being Liberal in an Illiberal Age, 5)
Rebecca Parker: "The liberation of humanness is not simply a matter of casting off an oppressor. It involves re-collecting, re-discovering, and re-engaging powers of the soul that have been silenced, suppressed, split off, or denied by dehumanizing social systems...In our time, the challenge is to form educational programs in our congregations through which people develop their capacities to experience the world critically, and engage in it constructively, for the sake of greater fullness of life for all people." (Essex Conversations, 214)
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 8:
HANDOUT 2: PAN-AMERICAN UNITY — PANEL 2
All rights reserved. Unauthorized public performance, broadcasting, transmission or copying, mechanical or electronic, is a violation of applicable laws. (C) City College of San Francisco. www.riveramural.com
Included in this panel are the following people and scenes. Can you identify them? Which of these relate to freedom and oppression?
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 8:
HANDOUT 3: PAN-AMERICAN UNITY — PANEL 4
All rights reserved. Unauthorized public performance, broadcasting, transmission or copying, mechanical or electronic, is a violation of applicable laws. (C) City College of San Francisco. www.riveramural.com
Included in this panel are the following people and scenes. Can you identify them? Which of these relate to freedom and oppression?
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 8:
HANDOUT 4: ACTION PLANNING
Task What are the specific things you need to do to accomplish your project? | Resources What resources do you need in terms of money, people, and material? | Responsibility Who is primarily responsible for getting this task done? | Due Date When will it need to be done by? |
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 8:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: THREE STORIES OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
This story draws from the following sources:
Edict of Torda, from the Ministerial Fellowship Committee Reading List.
King Sigismund, Frances David and Edict of Torda entries from Wikipedia.
Independent Christian Church Unitarian Universalist in Gloucester, MA. History Webpage.
Charles Howe. The Larger Faith: A Short History of American Universalism (Boston: Skinner House Books, 1993)
Unitarian Universalist Association. The UUA and the Boy Scouts of America: A Continuing Struggle for Inclusiveness.
Edict of Torda — 1568
In the 1500s, as the Protestant Reformation rolled across Europe, a young prince named John Sigismund took power in Hungary. He appointed as his court preacher a man named Frances David. David was a religious reformer who had rejected the idea of the Trinity that was an important theological teaching in both the Catholic Church and many Protestant reform movements such as Lutheranism and Calvinism. David believed that there was no evidence in the Bible of a Holy Trinity made up of the Father (God), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Ghost. Instead, he believed that God was the only divine being, that Jesus was God's human representation on earth, and that there was no Holy Ghost. This belief was known as Unitarianism and David founded the Unitarian Church in Hungary.
Sigismund and David also both believed that there should be an open debate about religious ideas. At his court, Sigismund hosted debates between Unitarian, Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist theologians. In 1568, Sigismund also announced what is called the Edict of Torda. The text of this edict is as follows:
His majesty, our Lord, in what manner he—together with his realm—legislated in the matter of religion at the previous Diets, in the same matter now, in this Diet, reaffirms that in every place the preachers shall preach and explain the Gospel each according to his understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well. If not, no one shall compel them for their souls would not be satisfied, but they shall be permitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve. Therefore none of the superintendents or others shall abuse the preachers, no one shall be reviled for his religion by anyone, according to the previous statutes, and it is not permitted that anyone should threaten anyone else by imprisonment or by removal from his post for his teaching. For faith is the gift of God and this comes from hearing, which hearings is by the word of God.
The Edict of Torda was one of the earliest expressions by a European government affirming people's right for religious freedom. Shortly after the Edict of Torda was announced, King Sigismund was forced from power. A more religiously conservative king replaced him and Frances David was put in prison, where he eventually died.
Universalist Church of Gloucester, Massachusetts — 1786
While the American Revolutionary War was fought and the United States was formed, much was changing in the religious landscape as well. At that time in New England, the Congregational church was the dominant church in most cities and towns. In fact, they were state sanctioned and had the ability to collect taxes for the upkeep of their churches. In some towns the parish minister and town mayor were the same person.
In 1779, the first Universalist Church in America was established in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and they called John Murray to be their first minister. However, the members of this church, along with members of other churches in Gloucester, were forced to continue to pay taxes to support the Congregational parish in the town. Members of the Universalist Church and the Baptist Church refused to pay the taxes. In 1782, the town of Gloucester seized property from the Universalist Church for repayment of what they saw as the taxes that were due.
The Universalist Church sued the city so that they would no longer be required to pay taxes to support the Congregational Church. In 1786, the Supreme Judicial Court of the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts agreed and ruled that the Universalists and the Baptists should not be required to pay those taxes. This case helped set the precedent for the separation of church and state, which was eventually enshrined in the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights in 1791.
Unitarian Universalist Association and the Boy Scouts of America — 1992
There has been a long history of Unitarian Universalist young men taking part in the Boy Scouts of America and of Unitarian Universalist congregations hosting Boy Scout troops. However, the Boy Scouts began actively excluding agnostics and atheists as well as gay men and boys from the scouts. In response to this exclusion the Unitarian Universalist Association's Board of Trustees passed the following resolution:
WHEREAS the By-laws of the Unitarian Universalist Association affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; and
WHEREAS the Unitarian Universalist Association Board and numerous General Assemblies have affirmed the rights of gay, bisexual, and lesbian persons to participate fully and equally in the life of their communities; and
WHEREAS the Boy Scouts of America have expressly declared a policy of discrimination against gay scouts and leaders, and have refused to modify that policy even after expression of concern by the Unitarian Universalist Association Youth Office as well as by numerous other individuals and organizations across the United States; and
WHEREAS the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America has recently reaffirmed its policy requiring all boy scouts to affirm a duty to God; and
WHEREAS the Boy Scouts of America have issued written materials which declare the Unitarian Universalist Association to be a chartered organization of the Boy Scouts of America, and have stated that all chartered organizations follow the Boy Scout's ideals, policies, and principles;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Association express to the Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America its disapproval of the Boy Scout of America's policy of discrimination against gay and atheist scouts and leaders, and further advise the Boy Scouts of America that the Unitarian Universalist Association has not been and is not now a charter organization of the Boy Scouts of America, and ask that all written materials and Boy Scouts of America's records should be corrected immediately to remove any reference to the Unitarian Universalist Association as a chartered organization; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Religion and Life and Love and Help materials have been revised to include educational materials dealing with the conflict between the values of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Boy Scouts of America; and that the awards be administered by local congregations. The Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns shall provide additional educational materials about the Boy Scouts of America's objectionable policies on gay scouts and leaders and duty to God with the existing materials; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Unitarian Universalist Association Administration shall utilize the World, REACH packet, and Faith in Action, to inform Unitarian Universalist congregations and others about the conflicts in values between the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Boy Scouts of America; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Unitarian Universalist Association explore possible coalitions with other organizations who share our concern with the Boy Scouts of America's policies to develop effective strategies to seek appropriate changes in those policies.
The practical effect of this resolution is that the Unitarian Universalist Association revised the Religion in Life manual that Unitarian Universalist Boy Scouts follow to earn their religion badge. This revision expressed the Association's opposition to the policies of the Boy Scouts of America. This led to the BSA's withdrawal of its authorization for the Unitarian Universalist Religion and Life manual and badge. The Unitarian Universalist Association's attempts to have the UU Religion in Life award reauthorized failed, and UU Boy Scouts are not authorized to wear the UU Religion in Life badge on their uniforms.
In 2000, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Boy Scouts of America's right to bar gay scouts and scout leaders in the Boy Scouts by a narrow 5 to 4 vote. After this decision, the Unitarian Universalist Association called for a halt to all public funding for the Boy Scouts and the revocation of the Boy Scouts' Congressional charter. Many Unitarian Universalist churches that once hosted Boy Scout troops began to disallow the use of the property for Boy Scout activities while others have stayed involved. Unitarian Universalist young men who are involved with the Boy Scouts still use the Religion in Life manual to earn their religion badge even though it is not officially recognized by the Boy Scouts of America. A young gay Unitarian Universalist who was also an Eagle Scout founded an organization call Scouting for All to fight for a change in policy by the Boy Scouts of America. It is a fight that continues to this day.
FIND OUT MORE
Websites
To further explore the Diego Rivera mural "Pan-American Unity," the City College of San Francisco's Diego Rivera Mural Project (at www.riveramural.com/) has a resource-filled website, including detailed images of the mural.
For more information about the Unitarian Universalist Association's relationship with the Boy Scouts of America you can visit this page: The UUA and the Boy Scouts of America: A Continuing Struggle for Inclusiveness (at archive.uua.org/news/scouts/). It includes history about the relationship, other resolutions that were passed by the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and copies of some of the letters that went back and forth between the two organizations.
Books
Two books that explore liberal and liberating faiths and consider the role of Unitarian Universalism in these two movements are: A Reason for Hope: Liberation Theology Confronts A Liberal Faith by Fredric John Muir (Carmel, CA: Sunflower Ink, 1994) and Black Pioneers in a White Denomination (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=553) by Mark Morrison-Reed (Boston: Skinner House, 1994).
Charles Howe's book The Larger Faith: A Short History of American Universalism (Boston: Skinner House, 1993) goes into more detail about early Universalist history including the story of the Gloucester Universalists suing for religious freedom.
WORKSHOP 9: TOLERANCE
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. — Audre Lorde, writer, poet, and activist
The idea of tolerance has always been central to the Unitarian Universalist faith. This is true as early as 1568 with King Sigismund's Edict of Torda, which was one of the earliest expressions of religious tolerance. Today tolerance has evolved beyond tolerating differences to celebrating them.
Although celebrating pluralism is central to our faith, it is one of the hardest values to live out in the world. This workshop explores this challenge through one difference among us: that of race. Our history is full of people and institutions taking on racism and working to end it in the greater world and within our own faith community. However, our history is also full of stories of falling short of this ideal and falling down in opportunities to support the rights of others. This experience of successes and failures in living up to ideas is very human. We can do something great and then do something awful, but our hope in this workshop is to show that we keep moving forward. In order to do justice to this topic, the story is longer than usual.
One caution as you get ready to lead this workshop: Issues of oppression can be difficult and emotional. This is especially true for people who have faced oppression in their lives or who harbor some guilt for past actions. It is important to be aware of those emotions and be supportive. In Find Out More there is a link to the website of Teaching Tolerance, a helpful resource in leading this workshop.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Tolerance — Radical for Its Time | 10 |
Activity 2: Story — Unitarian Universalist Racial Justice Timeline | 30 |
Activity 3: The Other Perspective | 15 |
Activity 4: (In)Tolerance and Being Yourself | 15 |
Activity 5: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: Congregational Timeline | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: The Lunch Room | 25 |
Alternate Activity 2: Creating Multicultural Community | 40 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Find a quiet space and light a chalice. Remember that the flaming chalice symbol was developed in an atmosphere of intolerance during World War II. Today, it represents the warmth of caring community and the spirit of love and tolerance.
Reflect on the role of tolerance, pluralism, and multiculturalism in your life. Ask yourself:
Reflect on your expectations for this workshop. What difference do you hope it will make in the lives of participants? What difference do you think it might make in your life? How will you help youth explore these issues in a way that is both safe and challenging?
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and a question.
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. — Audre Lorde, writer, poet, and activist
Question: Where in your life has difference (between you and another person, or within a community) been positive and celebrated?
As participants arrive, invite them to decorate a journal, review and/or add to their journals based on the Welcome Words posted, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Orient visitors and first-time participants to the program and get a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones, from Workshop 1. Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading from workshop to workshop.
At the conclusion, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist any youth that need help with words in the responsive reading. Remember to allow participants to pass on reading aloud.
ACTIVITY 1: TOLERANCE — RADICAL FOR ITS TIME (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore both the historical and contemporary meanings of tolerance within Unitarian Universalism.
Start by asking participants to brainstorm what they think of when they hear the word "tolerance." Write responses on newsprint.
Then ask them to brainstorm what they think of when they hear the phrase "celebrating pluralism." Again, write responses on newsprint. If participants are not sure what pluralism means, offer them the following definition:
Pluralism is the idea that different cultures, belief systems and/or identities are equally valid and that no one is better than or more important than another.
Then ask them to look at the two lists and discuss what they see as the differences or similarities between the two concepts.
After a brief discussion summarize with the following:
Next to "celebrating pluralism," "tolerance" can seem a little antiquated. However, in its time it was a very radical position to take. Theologically, the idea of tolerance is born out of our Unitarian Universalist understandings of love and freedom. In an earlier workshop, we talked about how some early Christians believed that God's love was so great that all would eventually be saved no matter what their beliefs or actions. This later became the core belief of our Universalist forebears. Our understanding of freedom goes back to the Unitarian roots planted by Transylvania King Sigismund and his Edict of Torda. King Sigismund believed that everyone had the insight to choose their own religion and he made religious freedom the law of his kingdom.
Central to both the idea of freedom and universal love is the idea of tolerance. For religious freedom to work, all belief systems must be seen as having validity. Universal love embraces everyone in all our diversity. Both religious freedom and universal love were radical ideas—and still are to some. In its time the idea of tolerance was radical. During the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Inquisition, people were put to death for espousing a belief that was different from the orthodox doctrine. Intolerance can lead to hateful violence—against Jews in Nazi Germany, against Native Americans in American history, against BGLT people today, to name a few examples. Tolerance is a good thing, but not necessarily the ultimate good.
In many ways, our forebears' belief in tolerance allows us to take the next radical step. Today, we do not just tolerate pluralism, we celebrate it. As Unitarian Universalists we embrace differences that we believe enrich us and makes us stronger. When we encounter someone from a different culture, background or belief system it is an opportunity for us to learn and grow.
"Celebrating pluralism" is related to the concepts of diversity, multiculturalism and anti-oppression. "Anti-oppression" acknowledges that we need to work against the forces of injustice that keep us divided against one another. "Multiculturalism" reminds us to affirm and support the diversity among us. As we pursue these values, we move further toward "establishing a just and loving community," James Luther Adam's third stone of liberal religion.
Invite participants to share their experiences with multiculturalism and anti-oppression. If it is helpful, share these definitions:
Close with the following ideas:
Tolerance, celebrating diversity and working against oppression are challenging practices. This workshop explores these values as we look at our history of successes and shortcomings as a faith. We will also look at how we can move forward to continue to celebrate that pluralism that makes us stronger.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST RACIAL JUSTICE TIMELINE (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Begin the story by saying the following:
In this activity, we will construct a timeline of Unitarian Universalism's transformation as it attempts to transform the world. The topic is racial justice, and you will learn about situations where Unitarian Universalists worked for racial justice, and times when we fell short. A similar timeline could be constructed for any number of issues—including BGLT rights, women's rights, immigration issues, economic justice, and religious tolerance. It is important to recognize that none of us as individuals, nor the larger movement, is perfect. Knowing we are not perfect, we are more willing to accept this lack of perfection in others—a practice called humility. What we do not have to tolerate, however, is resistance to justice. Many of you have probably heard the quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that "the arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice." These words originally came from 19thcentury Unitarian minister Theodore Parker, who wrote: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one... And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice." As a humanist faith, we believe that laws, beliefs, and cultures bend when we band together and apply pressure. Unitarian Universalism's relationship with race and racism is ongoing and changing. Sometimes we fall short, but we keep on trying to change ourselves and to change the world.
Explain that the timeline focuses on three different time periods—the mid-1800s, the 1960s, and the 1990s-2000s. Be sure to contextualize these time periods:
In the mid-1800s, the enslavement of Africans was an urgent political, social, and religious issue. Unitarians and Universalists were on both sides of the debate—some were slave owners and slavery supporters, while others were ardent abolitionists.
During the 1960s, Unitarian Universalists were active in the Civil Rights Movement, but also experienced controversy within our movement around Black empowerment issues.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Unitarian Universalists mobilized for racial justice and worked for personal and institutional transformation, but we continued to experience internal controversy and racism as a movement.
Ask the group for six volunteers to read aloud short first-person narratives from each of these time periods, and the role of Unitarian Universalists in each particular story.
Distribute copies of the story. Explain that they will read the narratives aloud in chronological order. After each narrative, participants will have an opportunity to ask the character in the story questions. However, the "character" will not answer the questions because we do not know what their answers would be. This is simply an opportunity to put the questions out there and to "wonder."
After all the stories and questions, lead a discussion with the following points:
Point out the complexity in these stories and how they portray disagreements and divisions. For example, the Clapp sermon about slavery connects what is happening to enslaved Africans to what is happening to white women in the United States and to laborers in northern factories. The stories from the mid-1800s set up stereotypes about northerners and southerners, whereas not all northerners were abolitionists and not all southerners supported slavery. Bill Sinkford's story shows how disagreements can occur even within families. After pointing out some of these dynamics, invite comments and responses. Encourage the group to notice other complexities and to reflect on them.
ACTIVITY 3: THE OTHER PERSPECTIVE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity helps participants practice tolerance of many perspectives.
Begin by inviting participants to reflect:
Think about a time when you witnessed someone take a stand on an issue that was counter to what you believe or would advocate. Perhaps you thought it was an irrational, hateful, or ill-informed perspective. Reflect on why you think someone might take that perspective or stand on the issue.
Distribute paper and pens or pencils, and tell the participants that they have about seven minutes to write a letter or statement as if they were that person. Make an argument from that person's perspective, imagining what you think they would say and how they would justify their stance.
After seven minutes, ask a couple of volunteers to briefly explain the situation and share what they wrote.
After a few people have shared, ask the group: should we tolerate these perspectives? Are some beliefs intolerable? How should we decide where to draw the line separating what is tolerable from what is intolerable? Invite discussion about the writing exercise, how it felt, and the role of tolerance in these situations.
ACTIVITY 4: (IN)TOLERANCE AND BEING YOURSELF (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity addresses identity, assimilation, tolerance, and self-expression. Participants reflect on times that they have found themselves in intolerant environments, and how they have hidden or expressed themselves in different ways.
Begin with the following introductory explanation:
We all, at some points in our lives, find ourselves in environments that are intolerant of who we are. Some people choose to hide parts of their identity because of this, knowing that it may be unsafe for them to express themselves fully. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people often find themselves in this situation, "closeted" because of fear of expressing who they really are. Immigrants, or people whose culture differs from the dominant one may hide parts of their culture or way of life in order to fit in. People who come from poor or working class families may try to hide this part themselves and appear otherwise. People whose religious ideas are in conflict with traditional or established religion may not be honest about what they believe, or may try to express their beliefs in an anonymous way. People with unorthodox religious beliefs are often called heretics, and when they are persecuted and killed for their beliefs, they become martyrs. Some of our Unitarian ancestors were among those labeled heretics, and while we claim them proudly today as setting the stage for greater religious freedom, the religious intolerance they experienced was dangerous and repressive. These are just some examples of people who are not able to express their full selves because of intolerant environments. They are forced to hide some parts of themselves, and choose to express others, making it difficult to live with wholeness and dignity.
Lead a short discussion with the following questions you have written on newsprint:
Write the term "safe space" on a blank sheet of newsprint. Explain that it refers to a tolerant and welcoming place where people can be who they truly are and not have to "disown" parts of themselves. Participants may have heard of this concept before, especially in the context of youth groups.
Ask them to share their understanding of "safe space." Ask, "What are the qualities of "safe space?" Where is this "safe space" and with whom do you share it? Write their responses on newsprint.
Now invite participants to imagine a safe space where they could fully live out all their identities. What would that safe space look like? How would it feel to be able to embrace every part of themselves?
Close by encouraging participants to seek a safe space if they feel in an intolerant place. They can seek out safe space through their congregation, with trusted friends, with school counselors or clubs, or at youth or community centers in their local area. Point out the local resources you have posted on newsprint and ask everyone to write them in their journals. Close by thanking the participants for being open in their reflection and sharing.
ACTIVITY 5: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants will now have the opportunity to reflect and write or draw on what they have learned and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflecting, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful.
Suggest they make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
1) I believe that Unitarian Universalism is a religious community that is tolerant and welcoming of diverse identities and theologies.
2) I feel welcome and able to be myself in most areas of my life.
3) I act by celebrating pluralism and trying to create safe spaces for others.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections visually, if they prefer.
Offer the following reflection questions related to the theme of the day: When was a time that you have helped to celebrate the diversity of yourself and/or your community? When was a time that you acted intolerant of someone else and/or some other community? Might you act differently today?
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
To close the workshop, ask for brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop. After five minutes, introduce the song, "Building Bridges," by sharing the following background, from the Unitarian Universalist Association website (at www.uua.org/publications/singingjourney/songinformation/93778_2.shtml): Elizabeth Cave, a British Quaker, discovered this song at Greenham Common, which was a peaceful sit-in at a nuclear energy plant in England in 1983. Ask participants to read the words and say why they think it relates to the topic of tolerance.
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "Building Bridges," Hymn 1023 in Singing the Journey.
Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: CONGREGATIONAL TIMELINE
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This Faith in Action activity builds on Activity 2, Unitarian Universalist Racial Justice Timeline to construct a congregation-specific social justice timeline. It can be done just with the youth or with the whole congregation and is meant to be a learning experience for all involved about the role of tolerance and intolerance throughout the history of the congregation. A large part of the time required for this workshop involves research, but the actual timeline creation activity will take about 45 minutes.
Introduce the project to the group, explaining that they will have an opportunity to reconstruct a timeline of the history of tolerance/social justice and intolerance in their congregation. The first part of the project is research, and the second involves putting together the timeline and discussing it.
Suggest the following sources of information—the congregation's historian or archivist, archives and written records, the congregation's website, the minister and religious educator, elders in the congregation, members of the justice committee, and the participants' own experiences. Encourage them to reflect on their own experiences of tolerance and intolerance in the congregation, and to research the years before they were born.
Lead the group in a brainstorm of topics they might research and include in the timeline. If they do not suggest these topics, add:
Give the group an opportunity to do research. This could be built into the time allotted to the activity, with prior arrangements to have access to archival and people resources, or it could happen between meetings.
Once the group has gathered historical facts, events, people, and movements of significance within the congregation, have them write these on the timeline. Remind them to write items that represent tolerance and social justice on the top half of the timeline, and items that represent intolerance or oppression on the bottom half. Emphasize that there is no need to repeat items, so make sure to read what is already there before writing what you have in mind. Give them about 15 minutes to do this. Tell them that if they finish writing their items before the time is up, to read what others wrote. After 15 minutes, go through the timeline from left to right, and ask each participant to share what they wrote.
Lead a discussion using the following questions:
Including All Participants
Even though the timeline covers years before the participants were born, encourage them to use all of the sources available to them, including their own experiences in the congregation.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this curriculum as a series, go over the workshop plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do what preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned for in the workshop outline which activities will you add or cut?
Be aware that the next workshop (Workshop 10, Our Covenantal Faith) includes an activity where the minister of the congregation meets with youth. If you have not already done so, make arrangements with the minister. Also, the Faith In Action for Workshop 10 is complex and requires advance planning and cooperation from congregational leaders.
TAKING IT HOME
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. — Audre Lorde, writer, poet, and activist
In Today's Workshop...
We explored issues of identity, tolerance, and intolerance. We learned about the historical and theological beginnings of tolerance in Unitarian Universalism and how this connects with today's efforts to celebrate diversity, pluralism, and multiculturalism. We heard personal accounts of racism and work for racial justice from the history of Unitarian Universalism, and reflected on why people take certain stances on racial justice issues. We also reflected upon how being in tolerant and intolerant environments leads us to express or to hide certain parts of our identities and cultures. This workshop's quote by Audre Lorde encourages us to recognize, accept, and celebrate differences in the spirit of tolerance and the activities in this workshop helped us move in that direction by reflecting on our own actions and the actions of others.
Explore further...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: THE LUNCH ROOM (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity explores how tolerance and intolerance lead to divisions in settings like the school lunchroom and how participants can cross boundaries and build bridges.
Ask participants to raise their hands if they have experienced a school lunchroom or other setting where they and their peers have broken off into separate groups, cliques, and tables. Most participants will likely raise their hands.
Distribute blank sheets of paper and pens. Ask youth to take a couple of minutes to draw their school lunchroom, indicating who sits at each table and what kind of boundaries exist. Be sure that they locate themselves in the drawing.
Ask a few volunteers to share their drawings with the rest of the group.
Lead a discussion with the following questions:
Distribute another blank sheet of paper to each participant. Ask them to draw what a tolerant, welcoming lunchroom would look like. Encourage them to draw based on their vision, to be realistic for their particular setting, and to take into account reasons for both separations and bridge-building.
Ask them if there might still be tables for particular groups or purposes (e.g., those who speak or would like to practice speaking a particular language).
After about five minutes, ask for volunteers to share their new drawing. Say that there are times when we all want to be with people with whom we have something in common: people who share our identities. Problems occur when we feel we do not have a choice, or if we associate only with people who are "like us."
Ask if anyone has ever participated in "Mix It Up Day" at school. If not, encourage youth to find out more about it by reading Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
Some participants, such as home-schooled youth, may not be able to draw from a lunchroom experience for this activity. Ask them to think of other places such as summer camp.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: CREATING MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY (40 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The following is adapted from an activity originally developed by Laura Spencer for the Unitarian Universalist Association's Mosaic Project, a two-year process to explore how our faith can better support youth and young adults of color.
Every person is a distinct individual with individual needs and gifts. As we increase the diversity of a group through age, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, ability status, economic status, etc., we increase the complexity of the group. The goal of creating a Multicultural Community is to create a culture that welcomes and affirms the breadth of this diversity. The following activity explores diversity and creates multicultural community.
Who are you?
Distribute Handout 2 and point out the drawing supplies available.
Share the following instructions:
Creating Sacred Community
Read or summarize the following script.
On each of your papers, you have a representation of who you are. What makes us who we are is a complex mixing up of our identities, our experiences, our cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and the ways that we relate to the world. One of the keys to building a sacred community is to celebrate and honor our differences. We celebrate our differences by understanding that those differences are what makes us unique, that we can learn and continually grow by interacting with those who see and experience the world differently. Our differences also can put barriers between us. We honor our differences by identifying the ways in which those differences pull us apart. We then can have open and honest conversations about how we might overcome those barriers and build a stronger community.
For example, someone who is introverted might have a harder time expressing their ideas in a larger group. This is especially true if the group has many extroverts. But if the extroverts work to understand what the introverts need to be able to express themselves, then the extroverts have a better chance of learning the amazing things the introvert knows.
Another example comes from the racial justice timeline we did earlier in this workshop. Throughout history, people of color have faced oppression from white dominated institutions. This is true even within our religious movement. The result is that there are barriers between people of color and white people that have built up over centuries. However, as a religious community, if we name those barriers and begin to understand why they are there, we can work to pull those barriers down and be more fully in community with each other.
When we work to celebrate and honor our diversity in this way, we build sacred community. Sacred community is one where each person is able to participate fully and bring their full selves into the community. It embodies and lives out our Unitarian Universalist Principles.
Who are we?
Divide participants into groups of four. Ask them to share their representations with each other. Ask them to listen to each other and pay attention to ways in which their fundamental nature is supported by or challenged by the natures of others. They should note these, and when everyone has shared, they should share their observations about how their identities support or challenge each other.
Next give each small group the newsprint you prepared from Leader Resource 1. Give the following instructions:
Spend a few minutes discussing what your small group needs to be able to create sacred community. Write your responses on newsprint. Each small circle represents one member of the community. The large circle is the sacred community you are striving to create. Try to graphically show, by words or images, how you as individuals and as a group can be together to create a sacred community.
Then point out the discussion questions you have written on newsprint and posted:
Point out that it is important that everyone be willing to risk asking for what they need. Everyone should also think about ways their identities may have given them advantages over others in the group, and how they might need to give back some of that advantage.
Sharing the Learning
Give the small groups about 20 minutes to work together then bring them back to the large group. Ask each group to share what they created. To wrap up, ask the group what insights they gained from this activity.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 9:
STORY: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST RACIAL JUSTICE TIMELINE
Copy the story, and distribute the individual narratives to participants to read aloud.
Eliza Cabot Follen
My name is Eliza Lee Cabot Follen. In the early 19th century, I was an active member of abolitionist societies in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts along with my husband, a Unitarian minister. I wrote about the abolition of slavery, and am most well-known for my anti-slavery children's literature. Many of my stories tell of slave children and their mothers who rebelled against the slave masters for the sake of their children. I also wrote pieces like "A Letter to Mothers in the Free States" (1855), which calls on white mothers to "come to the rescue of this land" by telling their children about the wrongs of slavery, fostering in them a sense of justice, and shaping the next generation to save America's democratic principles. In "How Shall Children Do Good?" (1844) I addressed what free children can do about slavery, trying to arouse sympathy and empathy in order to shift their view of slaves as the "other." I have received criticism for voicing my abolitionist views, but children's literature was a less threatening way to express anti-slavery and liberation messages. By fostering understanding in this way, my readers moved one-step further toward abolishing slavery.
Reverend Theodore Clapp
My name is Reverend Theodore Clapp. From 1822 to 1856, I preached in New Orleans at the Strangers Church and was one of the first Unitarian ministers in the Southern United States. One day I read a pamphlet by my friend and fellow Unitarian on the evils of slavery. I could not stand idly by and let a Northerner, even the esteemed Reverend Channing, castigate our way of life in the South. Here is a portion of the sermon I preached that next Sunday:
There is but one unfailing good; and that is, fidelity to the Everlasting Law written on the heart, and re-written and republished "in God's Word." In this discourse, I shall confine myself to a single topic, what is the right — the true — the good — on the grand theme of inquiry already proposed? And first, I shall examine the question, are there any passages in the Sacred Scriptures by which slavery is condemned or prohibited. I mean by slavery "the being compelled to labor for another, without one's own consent."
It is an indisputable fact, that slavery was universal among that chosen, peculiar people of God, whose history is given in the Old Testament, during the long period, beginning with the first generation after the deluge, and terminating with the destruction of the Jewish nation and polity by the Romans. The most elaborate investigation of the Old Testament Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi, authorizes one to affirm, that there can be found therein no language, which fairly interpreted amounts directly, or indirectly, expressly or by implication, to a reprobation of slavery. This fact furnished a decisive refutation of the doctrine that the principles of religion taught by inspired men prior to the time of our Saviour, forbid the making, holding, buying and selling slaves. The venerable patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others, of whom we read in the book of Genesis, were all slave-holders. In all probability, each possessed a greater number of bond-men and bond-women than any planter now living in Louisiana or Mississippi.
At the time our Saviour appeared and commenced his public labors, slavery was universal among the Jews. If it had been, in his opinion, a monstrous evil — the greatest of wrongs, - a thing clearly criminal and irreligious, - must he not have condemned it without qualification or reserve? If the modern doctrine be sound, Jesus should have said to the master, "your slave is your equal;" "you must immediately set him to liberty;" "you cannot justly hold property in man;" "it is wicked in the sight of God for you to do so;" "it is an infringement of the natural rights of the slave." Not a syllable analogous to this is uttered by our Saviour. If the institution were wrong; if it were a scandalous sin; if it were a daring outrage upon the first principle of right and freedom... could our Saviour, with the evidence of such a flagrant abuse all around him, have remained in silence on such a momentous subject, without pursuing a course revolting to every candid, honest mind and glaringly inconsistent with one grand object of his mission — the exemplification, and complete establishment of a perfect system of morals.
Now later in life I did begin to regret this position. As I observed the slaveholders in my congregation I began to see that slavery did evil things to them and caused them to do evil acts. But that did not change my belief that the North should stay out of Southern business.
Reverend Richard Leonard, March from Selma to Montgomery
On March 6, 1965, the TV news showed peaceful protesters in Selma, Alabama, being beaten and tear gassed by the police. The next day Martin Luther King asked for as many clergy as possible to come to Selma to support those seeking equal rights. One tenth of all the Unitarian Universalist clergy in the United States answered his call, a higher percentage than any other major religious group. I went thinking I could at least be an observer and a set of feet for whatever marching was called for, and that I would be home in a few days at most.
The next eighteen days were filled with speeches, marches, threats of violence against the marchers, the killing of UU minister James Reeb, and eventually the successful historic march from Selma to Montgomery, which led Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
I have said to many youth groups since writing my book Call to Selma that leadership can be thrust on anyone in an emergency, and to be ready for that fact. Many Unitarian Universalists responded to this call to march, White and Black people together, witnessing and protesting the injustice being perpetrated.
Reverend William Sinkford, the Black Empowerment Controversy
My Story
In 1968, the General Assembly in Cleveland, OH followed the killing of Martin Luther King by less than two months. Many American cities had erupted in violence in the days and weeks after the assassination. Unitarian Universalists responded by committing $1,000,000, which was a lot of money back then, toward Black economic development. We were in the forefront in our response. It was only later that national Black leaders called for financial reparations.
The money was to be given over four years and the funds were to be distributed by a group of Black UUs (The Black Affairs Council or BAC). It was the decision that BAC would distribute the funds that led to what we now call the Black Empowerment Controversy. Unitarian Universalists had been in the forefront of the civil rights struggle in many communities and on the national stage. Integration was the goal, Blacks and Whites together. BAC, with its Black only membership, seemed to many White, and some Black UUs, to be a retreat to a segregated past. Integration vs Separatism was the argument which erupted in many congregations and many families, mine included.
In preparation for the 1969 Boston GA, congregations were asked to consider the motions on the agenda, including a motion to continue funding Black economic development through the Black Affairs Council. A new "integrationist" mixed race group (Black and White Action or BAWA) had formed and wanted to distribute the reparations money. At my home church, First Unitarian in Cincinnati, OH, the debate got heated.
Both sides believed they stood in the right. Names were called, friendships were strained or broken, feelings were badly hurt. I was on a Fellowship in Greece that year. I heard about the controversy from my mother's frequent letters which often included newsletter clippings. My mother was an ardent BAWA supporter. At age 57, integration had been her goal all of her life. So strong were her feelings that she decided to be a delegate to the Boston General Assembly.
I returned to the United States just prior to that GA. Mother and I met in Boston and the family feud began. I was a strong BAC supporter. The language of Black Power would speak to me a few years later. I sported a big afro. Mother and I were diametrically opposed.
We argued over meals and on sidewalks near the GA hotel.
Hindsight being 20/20, I'm sure I was using the issue as the final assertion of my independence from my mother. I felt deeply about the issue, of course, but some of the things I said in anger came from a different place. I know I hurt my mother deeply, so deeply that we were not able to talk about those days for over twenty years.
The GA became heated. Many Blacks and some white supporters (including the whole youth delegation) walked out and met at the Arlington St. Church. Finally, the vote was to continue the BAC funding for one more year but only half the promised $1,000,000 was ever committed. Both BAC and BAWA tried to raise money at the congregational level, which just renewed the hard feelings. The controversy was so divisive that most congregations simply stopped talking about race.
Youth from the Belmont Massachusetts Unitarian Universalist Church
In the summer of 2006, my friend Herman Taylor III was shot and killed in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Boston. Herman, or HT3 as we called him, was an African American kid from a tough neighborhood who got to come to our school in the suburbs through a program called METCO. Herman was great person and a lot of fun to be around. And even though we came from very different backgrounds, he was good friends with me and many of the other members of my church youth group at the UU Church of Belmont.
When I heard that Herman had been shot and killed I was devastated. I could not understand what had happened. Then I heard that Herman was the 37th murder in Boston. (By the end of the year there were 73 murders.) What I realized was that whereas I had never known anyone who had been murdered, the fear of getting killed must have been an everyday reality for Herman and his friends back in his home neighborhood.
So my youth group and our church decided that we needed to do something. We worked with Herman's family and other religious leaders in his neighborhood. Together we planned a march through Grove Hall where he was shot to help bring attention to the issue of violence in inner city neighborhoods. We scheduled it for during the evening rush hour on September 11th to get as much attention as possible.
We also set up the HT3 Peace Fund in Herman's honor. Money raised for this fund help create educational opportunities for kids like Herman. It also funds on-going anti-racism work based on the 'village model. This means that it funds projects that help prevent violence by connecting youth to extracurricular activities, part-time work and anti-violence training.
I am proud of the work that my youth group and church have done but I really wish that we could have done it before Herman was shot.
Reverends Hope Johnson and Barbro Hansson
The Thomas Jefferson Ball
HOPE: In 1993, I was at a meeting at Community Church of New York, my home congregation, with all who were heading to Charlotte, North Carolina for General Assembly. I asked about the main event and was told it was the Thomas Jefferson Ball. That was fine. The description went on to say: "Come in period dress." Ouch!!! I recall hearing my twin sister Janice Marie Johnson, who, like me, is of African Caribbean descent, ask: "Well, what am I supposed to wear?"
BARBRO: Though I was president of the Thomas Jefferson District at the time, I had no part in planning the Thomas Jefferson Ball at the 1993 General Assembly in Charlotte, NC. However, during the last few weeks before GA, I was told that there may be a potential problem with the ball.
HOPE: Aside from Community Church, there were others, including the UU Women's Federation,who tried to get the GA Planning Committee and others to make the theme a "teachable moment" one way or another. Unfortunately, no one listened to us so we descended on Charlotte knowing where every costume house was located. We knew that we had to dosomething. The opportunity presented itself when I went to an African American UU Ministers meeting and was asked to speak at GA about how people of color felt about the ball. I said yes, not realizing that I would need to change the statement that I had been asked to read because it was not inclusive enough of Unitarians Universalists of all colors and ethnicities. When I read the re-written statement I was nervous and afraid that Moderator Natalie Gulbrandsen would put down her gavel and cut me off but all went well. I said all that I had to say and I knew that it made a big difference.
BARBRO: Even as GA began, many people did not know much about the problem surrounding the Thomas Jefferson Ball. At the first Plenary session, when Hope Johnson began to read the letter of protest on behalf of African American Unitarian Universalists, I was as stunned as everyone else. Three thousand plus Unitarian Universalists held a collective breath and you could hear a pin drop. I remember thinking to myself, "Wait a minute. That is Thomas Jefferson you are speaking about, the name sake of the T.J. District." The collective silence lasted for only a brief moment before the big assembly hall began to sound like an angry beehive. My choice could have been to remain anonymous in the sea of GA delegates and wait for others to sort it all out. Instead, my conscience called me to take action and I stepped up on stage where a small group of leaders had gathered. That is how I became one of 13 people who were asked by the UUA Moderator to reflect on what had happened and report back to the Plenary session later. We walked off stage, found a small room where we stood together in a circle and there we opened up to each other. I was deeply moved by the open and honest sharing of feelings. It was the most profound experience I had ever had. After a little while, we agreed that what had happened was ultimately a good thing. In a democratic faith, we must be able to listen to the pain and anger that is real. We also agreed that no event should be canceled and that each person must come to their own decision about how to respond and which events to attend.
HOPE: The ultimate outcome is that though the Thomas Jefferson Ball took place, we were told we could come in period dress, or not. The important point was that everyone knew more than they had before about the reality of racism beyond and within our beloved movement.
BARBRO: I had been selected to be the first person to speak when we reported back to the delegates. The tension was extremely high. As I spoke with my Swedish accent, I could see the tension give way to relief. I felt as if the words I spoke came from far beyond. Afterwards, while some people expressed disappointment and anger at what we had decided, most people were profoundly relieved that the problem had not resulted in a massive walk out.
HOPE: This incident was a defining moment for me in my life as a Unitarian Universalist. I met my sister Barbro Hansson through this difficult experience. I had found a faith home that was willing to grapple with the tough stuff. I knew then that this faith was mine and that I would stay no matter how hard it gets. I've since entered into UU ministry and there is no turning back.
BARBRO: Personally, I felt a sense of pride in having been part of something big, an event that I began to understand as part of an important turning point in Unitarian Universalism. It was also the point at which I felt called to become a UU minister. Before leaving Charlotte, Hope Johnson and I bumped into each other. It was a meeting of two women, heart to heart, and the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 9:
HANDOUT 1: TELL ME YOUR NAME, THE ONE YOU CALL YOURSELF
This handout was developed by Laura Spencer as part of the Mosaic Project, a two-year study about how the Unitarian Universalist Association can better support youth and young adults of color.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 9:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY DIAGRAM
This diagram was developed by Laura Spencer as part of the Mosaic Project, a two-year study about how the Unitarian Universalist Association can better support youth and young adults of color.
Draw the diagram on pieces of newsprint. You will need one diagram for every four participants.
FIND OUT MORE
WORKSHOP 10: OUR COVENANTAL FAITH
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
A covenanted free church is a body of individuals who have freely made a profoundly simple promise, a covenant: We pledge to walk together in the spirit of mutual love. The spirit of love is alone worthy of our ultimate, our religious loyalty. So, we shall meet often to take counsel concerning the ways of love, and we will yield religious authority solely to our own understanding of what these ways are, as best we can figure them out or learn or remember them, together. — Alice Blair Wesley, Unitarian Universalist minister
Covenant is about relationship and community, and Unitarian Universalism affirms the value of relationship, community, and interdependence. In this workshop, participants explore the meaning of covenant in general and for Unitarian Universalists, how it is practiced and lived, and how to reconcile when relationships are broken.
Alternate Activity 1, Right Relationship and Reconciliation, can be a powerful activity for youth. Because of the time it requires, it is not a core activity. Consider adding extra time and including this in place of Activity 4, Unitarian Universalist Covenant.
Note that the Faith in Action activity requires a few months of planning to arrange a worship service exchange with a neighboring congregation.
Overall, this workshop reinforces that Unitarian Universalists come together freely to practice our humanity in a covenantal faith community, and that there are many ways this manifests in our individual and congregational lives.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: The Meaning of Covenant | 15 |
Activity 2: Story — Recovery, Rebuilding, and Rebirth of New Orleans | 25 |
Activity 3: We Are All Connected | 5 |
Activity 4: Unitarian Universalist Covenant | 25 |
Activity 5: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: Congregational Exchange | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Right Relationship and Reconciliation | 60 |
Alternate Activity 2: Covenant Art | 40 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
This workshop is about the concept of covenant and the forms it takes in Unitarian Universalism. Take some time to reflect on covenantal relationships in your life. This could include marriage, congregational membership, participation in a small group that uses a covenant, or other relationships. What do these relationships mean to you? What promises do you make, and what are the joys and challenges of being part of them? What happens when covenant is broken?
Covenant is an abstract concept. Spend some time thinking about the concrete ways it plays out in your life so that you can help youth do the same.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and a question.
A covenanted free church is a body of individuals who have freely made a profoundly simple promise, a covenant: We pledge to walk together in the spirit of mutual love. The spirit of love is alone worthy of our ultimate, our religious loyalty. So, we shall meet often to take counsel concerning the ways of love, and we will yield religious authority solely to our own understanding of what these ways are, as best we can figure them out or learn or remember them, together. ---Alice Blair Wesley, Unitarian Universalist minister
Question: In what ways is a congregation a covenantal community?
As participants arrive, invite them to decorate a journal or add to their journals based on the Welcome Words posted, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Orient visitors and first-time participants to the program and get a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones. Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading.
At the conclusion of the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist youth that need help with words in the responsive reading. Remember to allow participants to pass on reading aloud.
ACTIVITY 1: THE MEANING OF COVENANT (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Youth explore covenantal relationships.
Introduce today's theme of covenant by asking a volunteer to define the word. Help participants understand that a covenant is an agreement or a promise. Tell the group that they will explore different types of relationships based on a covenant, then compare and contrast them with the covenant at the foundation of Unitarian Universalist communities. Ask for examples of relationships based on a covenant. Offer examples as needed, such as the relationship between God and the Israelites, marriage, congregations, youth groups, and small group ministry groups. Write all the examples on newsprint.
Explain covenant by reading or adapting the following script:
In the Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament, there are many covenants—between God and the Israelite people, and between God and individuals like Abraham and Moses. The Israelites kept their covenant with God by being in right relationship with one another and living in ways they believed God wanted them to live. These covenants may be written on stone tablets, or symbolized by natural occurrences such as rainbows. The Hebrew Bible is a collection of stories about the Israelites and their attempts, failures and successes, to keep covenant.
The concept of covenant that we live in Unitarian Universalism today comes from these roots. In old New England, churches looked at the Bible stories and decided that they could live faithfully with one another and with God, leading them to reject the rule of kings and adopt a form of democracy. But rather than being accountable to a superior God, we are in covenant with one another as equals and faith seekers. A sense of God or the Holy is part of this covenant for some people, but not for all. As James Luther Adams' second smooth stone reminds us, as religious liberals we freely choose to enter into relationship with one another — this is the foundation of covenant.
Ask the group: Given this explanation of covenant, what is the difference between a covenant and a creed? Invite responses. Emphasize that the key difference is that a creed is a statement of belief that all people adopt as members of a community, whereas a covenant is a statement of promise that community members make to each other and which serves as the reason for coming together. A covenant is open to change as a community evolves. Remind the group that James Luther Adam's second stone says "Relationships are consensual and never coerced." How does this relate to a notion of covenantal relationships?
Divide participants into small groups and assign each of them one of the covenantal relationships brainstormed. Give each group a sheet of newsprint and a marker, and tell them they have four minutes to answer the following questions you have posted on newsprint:
After four minutes, ask the small groups to share their answers in the large group.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — RECOVERY, REBUILDING, AND REBIRTH OF NEW ORLEANS (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Tell participants that there are many layers of often unspoken covenant that operate in our lives, and these covenantal relationships call us to act. The role of Unitarian Universalists in New Orleans' recovery, rebuilding, and rebirth after Hurricane Katrina illustrates the complexity of covenant.
Ask for four volunteers to participate in the storytelling by reading quotes from New Orleans Unitarian Universalists. Give each person a copy of the story, with their assigned quote highlighted. Then distribute the slips of paper from Leader Resource 1, Unitarian Universalists' Role in New Orleans Recovery.
Tell participants that you will let them know when it is time to read their slip of paper, and that they should read them one at a time but in no particular order.
Tell the story of how Unitarian Universalists are living covenant in the recovery, rebuilding, and rebirth of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
When you finish telling the story, ask the group:
Including All Participants
Try to give every participant a role in telling the story, but also give them the option to pass if they do not want to read aloud.
ACTIVITY 3: WE ARE ALL CONNECTED (5 MINUTES)
Description of Activity
This short, fun activity from the website of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (at www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3687), helps youth understand the need for interdependence and cooperation. Participants experience what it is like to make a group promise of trust and dependence. This activity is best with 10-14 people and there must be an even number of people. If there is an odd number of youth, a leader may participate.
Invite the group to stand in a circle and count off by twos (1-2, 1-2, etc.). Instruct them to hold each other's wrists around the circle and spread out so that their feet are about shoulder length apart. Tell them that some people will lean in and some people will lean out, but that they must all hold each other up and maintain the circle. Invite them to make a verbal promise of interdependence and cooperation to one another.
Tell them that all "ones" should lean in towards the middle, keeping their body straight without bending at the waist. All the "twos" should lean out from the middle without bending at the waist. The group should then try to balance itself so that the "ones" are leaning in as far as they can and the "twos" are leaning out as far out as they can.
When the group has successfully balanced the circle, tell them to switch so that the "ones" lean out and the "twos" lean in.
After the game, say that covenants are generally taken very seriously, not like the bit of fun we just shared. However, you might use that experience to extrapolate about how we act in covenant. Ask the group the following questions:
Including All Participants
This activity is not appropriate for groups that include members with limited physical mobility.
ACTIVITY 4: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST COVENANT (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity addresses implicit and explicit covenants in Unitarian Universalism. Begin by explaining that there are two types of covenant — explicit and implicit. Explicit covenants are written and adopted by a group of people, and implicit covenants are agreements that are implied or unspoken.
Ask the group: What do Unitarian Universalists covenant with each other? Invite participant responses and write them on newsprint. Encourage them to think of both explicit covenants (e.g. the congregation's covenant or the seven Unitarian Universalist Principles) and implicit covenants (e.g. we do not "out" gay members in the community or we welcome many theological perspectives). Be sure to point out that the Unitarian Universalist Principles are a covenant among congregations, but many UUs apply them to their lives and church relationships. Participants might ask if there is an implicit or explicit covenant among members of this workshop.
Introduce the group to the congregational leader or district staff member and explain that they will explore how and why Unitarian Universalist congregations, including their own, develop explicit covenants. After the guest has shared, invite the youth to ask questions and identify where, in their experience in the congregation, they see covenant lived.
After the discussion, go around the room and give everyone a chance to briefly answer the question: What gifts or promises do you bring to Unitarian Universalist covenant?
ACTIVITY 5: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants will now have the opportunity to reflect and write or draw on what they have learned and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflecting, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Ask them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
1. I believe that covenant is important for building relationships.
2. I feel welcomed as part of the Unitarian Universalist covenantal community.
3. I act on my beliefs and feelings by promising to uphold the covenants I am part of.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops.
Offer the following reflection question related to the theme of the day: Reflecting on your own actions in your congregation, which ones uphold or strengthen covenant, and which ones break or weaken it?
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
To close the workshop, ask a couple of participants to share brief reflections from the journaling exercise about their beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop. Wrap up the sharing after five minutes.
Introduce the song, "Here We Have Gathered," written by Alicia Carpenter, a Unitarian Universalist professional singer and songwriter.
Invite youth to read the words silently. Do any lyrics remind them of our understanding of covenants?
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "Here We Have Gathered," Hymn 360 in Singing the Living Tradition.
Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: CONGREGATIONAL EXCHANGE
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity is an opportunity for participants to live the covenant that Unitarian Universalist congregations make with one another to encourage spiritual growth in our congregations, build toward the goal of world community, and acknowledge and respect the interdependent web of which we are a part. By collaborating with another congregation to offer a meaningful worship service, the group is embodying the covenantal connection among Unitarian Universalist congregations.
Three months before the service
Leading up to the service
One week before the service
The day of the service
After the service
Including All Participants
Make sure that all participants have a role in the service. Encourage youth to share what their gifts and strengths are and to have them bring that to the service in some way. Some youth may be great speakers, and others may want to do more "behind the scenes" work, such as designing the order of service, choosing hymns or readings, or working the sound system.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this curriculum as a series, go over the plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do what preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned in the workshop outline, which activities will you add or cut?
TAKING IT HOME
A covenanted free church is a body of individuals who have freely made a profoundly simple promise, a covenant: We pledge to walk together in the spirit of mutual love. The spirit of love is alone worthy of our ultimate, our religious loyalty. So, we shall meet often to take counsel concerning the ways of love, and we will yield religious authority solely to our own understanding of what these ways are, as best we can figure them out or learn or remember them, together. — Alice Blair Wesley, Unitarian Universalist minister
In Today's Workshop...
We explored the meaning of covenant and the different type of covenantal relationships. We examined the role of covenant at many levels in the rebuilding, renewal, and rebirth of New Orleans Unitarian Universalist congregations after Hurricane Katrina. We felt the importance of interdependence and community in our bodies through playing a trust-building game. Then we explored the ways covenant operates in Unitarian Universalism—within our congregation, between congregations, and in the larger Unitarian Universalist movement.
Explore further with family and friends...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: RIGHT RELATIONSHIP AND RECONCILIATION (60 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity addresses the times when people break covenant and need to rebuild relationships, and offers guidelines for when these situations arise. If using all five role-play scenarios, the activity will take about one hour. If you have a smaller group and use fewer scenarios, the activity will take less time.
Begin by acknowledging that there are times when individuals break their promises, fall out of right relationship, and forget the covenant they have made with others. When covenant is broken, the people involved usually have a desire to reconcile and rebuild right relationship. On a sheet of newsprint, draw a line down the middle creating two columns. At the top of one write Reconciliation, and at the top of the other write Right Relationship. Ask the group what they think is meant by Reconciliation. Write their responses in the corresponding column. Then ask the group what they think is meant by Right Relationship. Write their responses in that column. If it does not become clear through the brainstorm, make the distinction that reconciliation is the process through which people create and recreate right relationship. Share the following James Luther Adams quote:
Church is the place where we practice what it means to be human.
Say that as human beings we often make mistakes, and as a covenantal community church is a place where we can make mistakes, practice and learn, seek forgiveness, and work to restore covenant. This is our promise to one another.
Distribute Handout 1, Practicing Reconciliation, and read the introduction together. Be sure that participants are clear about the distinction between apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation. You do not have to go over the rest of the handout in detail, but encourage participants to bring it home as a tool. If you have time, review the main points and headings. Mention that the handout is a resource for the next part of the activity.
Break into groups of five people, and give each small group a role-play scenario. Tell them that they will have ten minutes to prepare to act out scenarios of broken covenant and hurt relationships. Point out the instructions on the scenarios you have given them. Every person should have a part or role. They should not try to problem-solve or reconcile during the role-play, because the large group will do that together for each scenario.
After ten minutes, bring the small groups back together and have them present their scenarios one-by-one. After each scenario is presented, use the following questions for discussion:
Conclude the role-plays by acknowledging that reconciliation is not possible or appropriate in every situation. There are many different situations in which they may find themselves, including some that have established covenants or relationships and some that do not. It is up to them to evaluate the situation and figure out what is best.
Invite participants to share experiences in their lives when they have been out of right relationship. Did they reconcile, or did they choose not to? How did they go about it? Facilitators might want to share a personal experience. Make sure that whatever you share is appropriate to discuss with youth, and do not mention specific names without the person's permission.
Close by asking the group: Why is reconciliation a covenantal issue? Invite responses from the group. If the participants do not bring these points up, please add them:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: COVENANT ART (40 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Youth reflect artistically on the covenant that they as Unitarian Universalists make to affirm and promote our seven Principles.
Begin by directing the group's attention to the seven sheets of newsprint around the room. Ask someone near each sheet to read aloud the words written at the top. Tell them that for the next 25 minutes they will be depicting in words and images how they personally live out that Principle and how they live it out together in community such as a youth group or congregation. Read aloud the guiding questions you have posted and invite participants to respond to the questions with their art:
Encourage participants not to spend too much time on one Principle, but to try to contribute to the artwork for all seven.
After 25 minutes, ask participants to tape the seven newsprint sheets to the wall. Review together each one, inviting a couple of participants to share their action words and images.
After the workshop, consider posting this either in the youth room or somewhere else in the congregation as a reminder and an inspiration. If posting publicly, write an explanation of the activity to post next to the group's work.
Including All Participants
If some participants are not confident about their artistic skills or would rather contribute in some other way, encourage them to focus more on writing action words around the border of each newsprint, or to use the magazines to make a collage.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 10:
STORY: RECOVERY, REBUILDING, AND REBIRTH OF NEW ORLEANS
Information and quotes for this article are drawn from UU World magazine, InterConnections, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), the Center for Ethical Living & Social Justice Renewal (CELSJR), Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalists (GNOUU), and a conversation with Jyaphia Christos-Rodgers (Chair of the CELSJR Board).
Suzy Mague's words are from the Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalists website (GNOUU.org).
Reverend Jim VanderWeele's words are from the Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalists website (GNOUU.org).
Reverend Melanie Morel-Ensminger's words are from the Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalists website (GNOUU.org).
Jyaphia Christos-Rodgers' words are from an article in the UU World (April 7, 2008).
The leader reads the regular text and participant volunteers read the quotes in italics. Be sure to distribute the slips of paper from Leader Resource 1, Unitarian Universalists' Role in New Orleans Recovery.
This is the story of Unitarian Universalists in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005. Covenant is about relationship, and this story illustrates the web of relationships within and around the Unitarian Universalist community that was galvanized by the physical and emotional brokenness reeked by the hurricane. Sometimes we talk about covenant as something explicit—spoken, or written—but the covenants in practice here are simply mutual expectations of support based on a relationship of faith. Unitarian Universalists came to the aid of one another because they recognized their connection to one another.
Unitarian Universalists lived covenant within the New Orleans area congregations by staying connected.
Suzy Mague, president of Community Church UU in New Orleans, Louisiana: The UU Community has been part of my personal recovery from the very beginning. Feeling like a plant torn up by its roots, not knowing the whereabouts of people I loved or the condition of our home, I logged on to my e-mail on my son's computer—and there was the [Community Church] e-mail group, already up and connecting us with each other. Through the long weeks of exile, we kept in touch and even received sermons from Rev. VanderWeele.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, almost 2,000 lives were lost and homes were destroyed or severely damaged due to winds and flooding. In New Orleans, 80% of the city became flooded, and in some places, the floodwaters remained for weeks. The members of the three New Orleans congregations—North Shore Unitarian Universalists in Lacombe, and Community Church UU and First UU Church of New Orleans—scattered around the country to family, friends, shelters, and strangers who welcomed them into their communities. Ultimately, the three congregations lost at least 40 percent of their members, though numbers are increasing again a few years after the hurricane. But their members kept in touch from afar, the ministers reached out to congregants to keep track of them, and they gave sermons online or by conference call.
As residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast scattered, people at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, Louisiana became full-time caregivers providing aid to evacuees—UUs and non-UUs—and channeling volunteers from outside the area. While serving as caregivers, they found that they needed a way to care for themselves as well, so they formed Small Group Ministry covenant groups. About 60 percent of the congregation participated in 20 of these groups.
Unitarian Universalists in greater New Orleans lived covenant by working together.
Reverend Jim VanderWeele, minister of Community Church UU in New Orleans, Louisiana: My first sight of [Community Church] post-Katrina was from a boat—we had eight feet of water for three weeks. It's been a long road back, and we still have a long way to go, but the culture of abundance, generosity, and mutual support we are creating in [Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalists (GNOUU)] holds promise that together, we can make a difference in this community.
Before Hurricane Katrina, there was little formal relationship between Unitarian Universalist congregations in New Orleans, but the storm brought them together. Immediately following the storm, First UU and Community Church UU worshipped together, in the words of Rev. Marta Valentin who was minister of First UU at the time, "to share resources and to support each other and to get to know each other." First UU and Community Church UU partnered with North Shore UUs in Lacombe to form Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalists (GNOUU), whose partnership and collaboration has been integral to the recovery efforts.
Unitarian Universalists lived covenant by reaching out from around the country to work with New Orleans Unitarian Universalists.
Reverend Melanie Morel-Ensminger, minister of First UU Church of New Orleans: I'm a New Orleans native who returned to my church and my community after Katrina to be part of the rebuilding. The support and continuing interest of our partner churches have been invaluable throughout this recovery process.
Unitarian Universalists from around the country:
[Invite participants to read aloud, one at a time but in no particular order, the actions you have handed out on slips of paper.]
Developed formal congregational partnerships with Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalists.
Raised millions of dollars for Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalist congregations to rebuild, as well as for community organizations aiding in the recovery.
Housed people who were forced to evacuate the Gulf Coast area.
Helped evacuees find housing, jobs, and health care while away from home.
Provided emotional and spiritual support.
Paid for one New Orleans church's mortgage for a period of time.
Sent hundreds of volunteers to New Orleans to help with rebuilding.
Coordinated volunteers.
Started programs to train volunteers in construction skills.
Provided training for volunteers on the role of race and class in the rebuilding and recovery of New Orleans.
Provided trauma ministry.
Picked up fallen trees.
Answered phones at the Baton Rouge church.
Educated and raised awareness about the situation in New Orleans and how people can help.
Helped evacuees take care of their pets.
Wrote poems and songs.
Made films.
Prayed.
Helped evacuees resettle in New Orleans.
We are an Association of congregations who covenant to support one another.
Unitarian Universalists lived covenant by contributing to the Greater New Orleans community.
Jyaphia Christos-Rodgers, member of First UU New Orleans and board chair of the Center for Ethical Living & Social Justice Renewal: We've become much better known in the community because we've been working with so many social justice groups... More people know who we are now. They see us as true allies. Our challenge now is to maintain and build on that.
New Orleans area Unitarian Universalists founded the Center for Ethical Living & Social Justice Renewal (CELSJR) and the New Orleans Rebirth Volunteer Program, which exist "to contribute to the holistic rebirth of Greater New Orleans and the Gulf Coast Region through programs and services that promote social, racial, and economic justice" (source: CELSJR website). The Center for Ethical Living is a nonprofit organization through which the congregations host forums on public ethics, health education, and other issues. The Rebirth Center works with community partners to connect volunteers to rebuilding opportunities. It also helps them understand and process the context in which they are working.
The recovery, rebuilding, and rebirth of New Orleans post-Katrina has been advanced through the work of many Unitarian Universalists acting on our relationship of faith with one another and living out our covenant.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 10:
HANDOUT 1: PRACTICING RECONCILIATION
Adapted from Paula Cole Jones, "Reconciliation: A Community Building Practice," 2003. Used with permission.
Without reconciliation, there is no future together. — Desmond Tutu
When we engage in reconciliation, we invite change that will shape the future of a relationship.
Reconciliation is a word that evokes different meanings and images. It is important that we make a distinction between apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The following definitions are from Webster's Dictionary.
Apology is "a formal justification, defense, excuse; an admission of error accompanied by an expression of regret. It implies an attempt to avoid or remove blame or censure."
To forgive is "to cease to feel resentment against."
To reconcile is "to restore friendship or harmony or to settle or resolve differences."
Another word that helps us understand what it is to reconcile is transform. To transform is "to change the composition or structure of, to change in character or condition."
Apology alone is not enough. A friend of mine once asked, "Who is an apology really for? What does it do for the injured party? Is it to relieve the burden of the person who caused the injury?" Apology sometimes shifts the burden from the person who has extended a hand to the injured party in that they now hold the responsibility of accepting the apology with no commitment to changing the conditions that caused the problem. With apology, the person who caused the injury may never know the impact of their actions.
A new beginning can result from reconciliation where the parties, through their encounter and commitment to change, create a better future.
Apology followed by forgiveness can be an act of generosity, but still may not lead to change. It does not mean that the other person understands the problem and it may not complete the work of establishing a sense of trust and confidence.
Reconciliation transforms the individuals and the present by bringing the parties to a new consciousness about the way they see, treat, and represent each other.
We constantly have a choice to either avoid or claim the chance to build trusting, long lasting, and productive relationships.
AVOIDING | |
Avoidance | Silence, denying the problem |
Negative Projection | Buttons easily pushed, preoccupation with the problem, complaining about the other person, justifying own actions |
CLAIMING | |
Encounter | Communicating with the person, shift from judging and defending to listening and sharing |
Apology, Forgiveness | Empathizing with the other person |
Personal Resolve | Moving from focus on the issue to focus on learning and growth |
Mutual Resolve | Trust that the other has resolved and moved from focus on the issue to focus on learning and growth |
Right Relations | Hold each other in esteem and are accountable for communication and new behavior |
As you think about a practice of reconciliation, ask yourself the following questions.
Personal Reconciliation What am I to do? Why am I doing it? Whom will it impact? When will I do it? Where will I do it? How will I do it? | Group Reconciliation What are we to do? Why are we doing it? Whom will it impact? When will we do it? Where will we do it? How will we do it? |
What am I to do?
Why am I doing it?
When do I do it?
Where do I do it?
Whom will it impact?
How do I do it?
1. Create lists: One has names of people with whom you need to reconcile. The other has names of people with whom you have done or begun reconciliation. The lists keep your commitment tangible and help you decide when the time is right to reconcile with specific people. Drawing a line through names on the first list and adding them to the other as you begin reconciliation with people will provide a sense of growth.
2. Understand your motivation: You must be genuine. If you find yourself preoccupied with a difficult relationship, try to do an honest assessment to understand the feelings that are motivating your concerns.
3. Shift your attention: Ask yourself what you need to let go of so you can shift your attention away from your sense of hurt, betrayal, frustration, guilt, or avoidance to a commitment to be in conversation. This will put you more at ease so you can think about what effect you and the other person are having on people around you, whether you have a personal, professional, or faith community relationship.
4. Decide how to raise the issue: How to raise the issue is not always clear. Remember that this is an exchange with someone who is likely to have negative feelings, too. You have no idea how the other person will react. This is the part that feels risky and can prevent you from the needed encounter. I use the word encounter because raising the issue is not a matter of going in with a solution, but of facing the person with an openness to understand his/her experience and find solutions together, knowing that people experience the same things differently.
It is often helpful to have a conversation with someone else about the frustration you feel before reconciling with a particular person. This can help you gather courage to face the issues, understand the other person, and restore the relationship. The discipline is to become aware of your intentions so you do not enter the conversation with the goal of justifying your actions.
5. Encounter the person: One can sometimes resolve a strained relationship without addressing the cause of the strain with the other person. Try letting go of your negative reactions, and see if you can achieve a functional relationship without bringing old baggage into your interactions. More often, though, you will need to reconcile directly with the other person. Sometimes you just take a deep breath and let the current moment be the time.
6. Make a new commitment: After airing the issues, make a commitment to change. This may be a personal commitment that they can trust you not to speak negatively of them to others; and that you will come to them when you feel a need to go deeper. It can also be a commitment that you make together about more specific changes.
7. Bring closure on the past: You might want to write a closing statement that gives you the words to say it is over and you are moving forward. This reminds you to leave the conflict in the past.
8. If your efforts fall short: Go to the list of Avoiding and Claiming Behaviors (above) to see where the process is stuck. Re-examine your own role first, and begin working from that point. You must be honest with yourself along the way.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 10:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS' ROLE IN NEW ORLEANS RECOVERY
Compiled from articles in UU World.
Cut the handout so that there is one action on each slip of paper. Tell participants ahead of time that you will let them know when it is time in the story to read the action aloud. When it is time, invite those with slips of paper to read their actions aloud, one at a time and in no particular order.
Developed formal congregational partnerships with Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalists.
Raised millions of dollars for Greater New Orleans Unitarian Universalist congregations to rebuild, as well as for community organizations aiding in the recovery.
Housed people who were forced to evacuate the Gulf Coast area.
Helped evacuees find housing, jobs, and health care while away from home.
Provided emotional and spiritual support.
Paid for one New Orleans church's mortgage for a period of time.
Sent hundreds of volunteers to New Orleans to help with rebuilding.
Coordinated volunteers.
Started programs to train volunteers in construction skills.
Provided training for volunteers on the role of race and class in the rebuilding and recovery of New Orleans.
Provided trauma ministry.
Picked up fallen trees.
Answered phones at the Baton Rouge church.
Educated and raised awareness about the situation in New Orleans and how people can help.
Wrote poems and songs.
Made films.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 10:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: RECONCILIATION ROLE PLAYS
Role Play 1:
Jill and Chris are members of the First UU Church youth group. At the beginning of the year, the youth group established a covenant that included a commitment to confidentiality. Because of this covenant, Jill felt safe to share with the youth group about her mother's recent diagnosis of cancer. The next week in school, someone came up to Jill and said, "Hey Jill! Chris told me your Mom is really sick." Jill felt betrayed that Chris had told others about her mother's illness.
Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the larger group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.
Role Play 2:
Taylor and Hannah are good friends. Hannah has a twin sister Lori, but they have very different interests and don't tend to hang out with the same people. One day Taylor is over at Hannah's house and is invited to have dinner with the family. Taylor gets into a conversation with Lori and they really hit it off. The next week, Taylor and Lori begin hanging out after school and eventually go on a date. Hannah finds out about what is going on, and realizes why Taylor hasn't been hanging out with her as much during or after school lately.
Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the large group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.
Role Play 3:
Dylan had to leave for a couple of hours during the school day for a doctor's appointment. When Dylan wasn't in class, Heather started a rumor that Dylan had gotten in trouble and was sent to the principal's office. When Dylan got back to school after the appointment, people were acting strangely around him, giving him "knowing" looks, and giggling. When Dylan's friend, Lex, found out why Dylan was really gone from class, Lex approached Heather and called her out for starting the rumor about Dylan.
Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the large group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.
Role Play 4:
Noel was sitting at the school lunch table with a bunch of friends eating and chatting. The conversation turned to their Phys Ed class that morning, where they had done a timed mile-long run. A couple of people at the table who are known as strong athletes in the school began ridiculing their classmates who couldn't run as fast, calling them slow and lazy. Noel sat listening to this conversation, becoming more and more upset and offended.
Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the large group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.
Role Play 5:
Rob hung out with a group of friends over the weekend, and at the end of the night, he fell fast asleep. Some of his friends were still awake and goofing around. When they noticed Rob asleep and drooling on his pillow, they started putting things on his face and taking photos of him. When Rob woke up the next morning he had no idea what had happened. The next week he got an automated email saying that someone had posted a photo of him on Facebook/MySpace/Twitter. When he went to see what it was, he discovered a series of embarrassing photos of him sleeping, but had no way of deleting them without approaching his friends who had taken them.
Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the large group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.
FIND OUT MORE
WORKSHOP 11: SPEAKING FAITH
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Say your truth - kindly, but fully and completely. Live your truth - gently, but totally and consistently. Change your truth easily and quickly when your experience brings you new clarity. — Neale Donald Walsch, author of the series "Conversations with God"
Throughout this program, participants have been seeking to understand Unitarian Universalism and connect it to their lives and experiences. Their journals have been an important tool for synthesizing all that they have learned. This workshop builds on what they have learned and makes a connection between understanding, professing, and living one's faith.
The writing of a faith statement is the core activity. Recognize that for many youth, not to mention for many facilitators, this may be difficult. It involves synthesizing a lifetime of experiences into a short statement. Be gentle with yourself and with participants, encouraging them to begin with what they know. Explain that there is no "perfect" statement.
After composing a faith statement, youth practice sharing this statement with others. The opening quote for this workshop emphasizes that it is important to say our truths, and this is why we spend time clarifying and articulating our faith. Once we have clarified and articulated our faith, it is important to live and practice it. However, faith is not static. Faith can and should change as we have new experiences and come to new understandings. This is why Unitarian Universalism is a living tradition.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Story — Religious Identity in a Diverse World | 25 |
Activity 2: Faith Statements | 50 |
Faith in Action: Your Congregation Speaks Out | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Unitarian Universalist Values Skits | 60 |
Alternate Activity 2: Shaping Unitarian Universalism | 25 |
Alternate Activity 3: Faith Statement Role Plays | 45 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Think about how you describe Unitarian Universalism and what your faith means to you. Do you have a faith statement or elevator speech? If you do, consider sharing it with the group. If you don't, consider writing one along with participants during this workshop.
Reflect on the importance of understanding and professing your faith in your life. What difference does it make that you are a Unitarian Universalist? How do people respond to your religion? Do you ever have trouble articulating what it means to you? How does your upbringing—in Unitarian Universalism or another religious community—affect the way you explain your faith?
It will be helpful to answer these questions for yourself before the workshop, because these are the same questions you will be asking of participants. For many Unitarian Universalists, their faith identity profoundly shapes how they live in the world. It is important to be able to reflect on and express this significant part of our lives.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and a question.
Say your truth - kindly, but fully and completely. Live your truth - gently, but totally and consistently. Change your truth easily and quickly when your experience brings you new clarity. —Neale Donald Walsch, author of the series "Conversations with God"
Question: How do you live your personal truth?
As participants arrive, invite them to decorate a journal, review and/or add to their journal based on the Welcome Words posted, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Orient visitors and first-time participants to the program and get a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones, from Workshop 1. Lead the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading from workshop to workshop.
At the conclusion of the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist youth who need help with words in the responsive reading. Remember to allow participants to pass on reading aloud.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — RELIGIOUS IDENTITY IN A DIVERSE WORLD (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity uses the stories of two young people to explore the challenge and the importance of articulating one's faith in interaction with peers of diverse religious backgrounds.
Explain that participants will hear two personal stories about understanding and articulating faith. The first story is from Eboo Patel who, as a young person, struggled to find language to explain his Muslim faith and to understand others' faith at his religiously diverse school lunch table. Out of his journey to more powerfully understand and profess his faith came the Interfaith Youth Core, a national organization that he founded and leads.
The second story is from Mary Ellen Giess, a young Unitarian Universalist who grew up outside Philadelphia and now works for the Interfaith Youth Core.
Ask for two volunteers, one to present each story. Give them copies of the story and have them read the stories aloud.
Note that in these stories, young people did not have the language to ask questions or explain their own faith in religiously diverse settings. Therefore, differences were unexplored, questions were unasked, and deeply held beliefs were not expressed.
On a sheet of newsprint, lead a brainstorm of questions that participants have been asked about Unitarian Universalism and/or their faith—ones that they have had answers to and ones that they have not. After the group has listed several questions, split participants into small groups to discuss the brainstormed list and to collectively provide their best answers to share with the large group. Encourage them to draw on their knowledge of and personal experience with Unitarian Universalism to respond to the questions in an authentic way. Reassure participants that their answers will vary and that is fine. After about 10 minutes, bring the groups back together and ask them to share their answers. Encourage participants to remember these questions and responses as they develop their faith statements in Activity 2.
ACTIVITY 2: FAITH STATEMENTS (50 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants develop their own faith statements.
Tell the group:
Over the course of this program, we have explored the history, values, and theologies of Unitarian Universalism through a variety of activities, and reflected on what that means for us personally and as a group. Now, as a culmination to this journey we have taken, we will write our own faith statements. Sometimes these statements are called "elevator speeches"—a short "speech" that you could say in the time it takes to go a few floors in an elevator to someone who asks you "What is Unitarian Universalism?" The faith statement you will create is not just to tell others, but also to clarify for yourself what your faith means to you. If you identify as Unitarian Universalist or if you do not, you can draw on many elements of our living tradition as well as the beliefs, feelings, and actions you recorded in your journal.
Distribute Handout 1, Sample Faith Statements, and have volunteers around the circle read each statement aloud. Then ask the group:
If no one mentions it, add that the statements are quite short—usually two or three sentences. They should be something that you can easily remember (with practice) on the spur of the moment if asked. Also, mention that the statement is meant to be spoken, so it's important to make sure that it sounds like something you would say.
Tell the group that before writing their faith statements, they will do a collective brainstorm to get them thinking about what to include. On a sheet of newsprint, brainstorm words or phrases that they would use to describe Unitarian Universalism or their own faith. Post this brainstorm, and encourage participants to refer to it if they find it helpful. Distribute the participants' journals. They can do the faith statement writing process in their journals, or they can do it on a separate sheet of paper and then copy the final version into their journals.
Give participants 15 minutes to work on their faith statements. Circulate to offer assistance as needed, and if anyone has trouble, encourage them to write what first comes to mind and then revise it. Once they have words down on paper, it may seem easier.
Now let participants practice sharing their statements. You can do this in the large group or divide into pairs or small groups. After 15 minutes, ask the group to take a few minutes to revise, edit or build on their statements.
Lead a short discussion on what it would be like sharing about their faith in both Unitarian Universalist and in multi-religious settings. What about in hostile environments, or in groups where no one knows about Unitarian Universalism? How might they adapt their statements for various situations? Why do some people believe it is important—not just to individuals, but for the future of our faith—for Unitarian Universalists to speak out about their faith?
Close with the following words from the Reverend William Sinkford, former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, who publicly called on Unitarian Universalists to articulate an "elevator speech":
Your elevator speeches may be very different from mine. Hone them. Put a name to what calls you, and to what you find yourself called to do in response. Practice telling it to others. This is an exercise that can only help deepen our faith; and with a firmer grounding in those depths, I believe we will be better able to reach out to others. We have Good News for a world that badly needs it.
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
To close the workshop, ask participants how they are feeling after the challenge of articulating and sharing their faith. Go around the circle so that everyone has a chance to share, with the option of passing. Encourage participants to be brief.
Close with a song, "Now Let Us Sing," Hymn 368 in Singing the Living Tradition. Ask participants how the words to this song reflect on the themes of today's workshop. Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "Now Let Us Sing."
If you plan to do the Faith in Action for Workshop 12: Wholeness, participants will need to choose stories to present. Add additional time to the Closing for this.
Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: YOUR CONGREGATION SPEAKS OUT
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This Faith in Action expands Activity 2, Faith Statements, to the whole congregation. Youth will collect congregants' elevator speeches and work with congregational leaders to share them with the rest of the congregation as well as the larger community through the Internet. This is an opportunity for youth to practice leadership, to build multigenerational community, and to contribute to the outreach of the congregation.
Begin by describing the project to the group. Tell them that this project involves gathering the elevator speeches and faith statements of members of their congregation and sharing them with both the congregation and the larger community in the form of videos, audio recordings/podcasts, and/or text. Emphasize that this is a chance for them to build community within the congregation, get to know more adults in the congregation, and reach out to those who might want to learn about Unitarian Universalism and their congregation through the elevator speeches they provide on the congregation's website. Explain that there are a few areas of preparation work that will need volunteers:
Explain that the questions they will ask congregants are, "What is Unitarian Universalism to you?" and "Why are you a member of this congregation?" Ask for volunteers who are willing to do the interviewing. Make sure ahead of time that they know how to use the recording technology. Youth might work in pairs, with one interacting with the congregant while the other handles the recording equipment. They can alternate roles in conducting interviews.
Schedule a gathering, or a series of gatherings, to bring congregants together to be recorded. After collecting the elevator speeches, edit them and put them on the website with the help of the congregational staff and leaders.
Including All Participants
There are many different tasks in this project including technology, logistics, outreach and publicity, and interviewing. Help match participants' interests and skills with the tasks, so that everyone has a role in the project.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this program as a series, go over the workshop plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do what preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned for in the workshop outline which activities will you add or cut?
Note that Workshop 12: Wholeness, includes a celebration. If you choose to do this activity, you will want to plan early, especially if you choose to invite families to participate.
TAKING IT HOME
Say your truth - kindly, but fully and completely. Live your truth - gently, but totally and consistently. Change your truth easily and quickly when your experience brings you new clarity. — Neale Donald Walsch, author of the series "Conversations with God"
In Today's Workshop...
We talked about understanding, professing, and living your truth. Through the stories of Eboo Patel and Mary Ellen Giess, we looked at the challenge of articulating our faith in a pluralistic world. We then took what we have learned over the course of this program and created our own personal faith statements, to clarify for ourselves and to help us articulate to others what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist.
Explore further...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST VALUES SKITS (60 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity is a fun way of articulating the core values explored in the program. It should be done after participants create their own faith statements.
Explain to the group that they will be divided into six small groups, and each small group will be assigned one of the core values of Unitarian Universalism—freedom, reason, tolerance, faith, hope, and love. Each skit should be about three minutes long. Direct participants to the three guidelines posted on newsprint.
Break participants into six groups and give each group one of the value index cards. Explain that this card tells them which value their skit will focus on and that somewhere in the skit they must use the line "As a Unitarian Universalist I value [insert value name] because... "
Invite the groups to imagine a real-life situation—past, present, or future—where this value might come into play, and to develop a skit around that situation. Skits can be humorous or serious.
Tell the groups that they have 20 minutes to prepare. If there are other spaces available, encourage them to go there to plan and practice. Circulate around the groups to offer assistance, remind them of the guidelines, and let them know how much time they have left.
After 20 minutes, gather the small groups and invite them to present their skits. After each skit, lead a short discussion with these questions:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: SHAPING UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISM (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity is a tangible expression of what Unitarian Universalism means to participants.
Gather the group around a table and give each participant a ball of clay/dough. Invite them to knead it around in their hands for a minute to soften, stretch, and shape it. Then ask them to split it into three separate balls. Tell them that during this activity they will be shaping their clay to represent their understanding of Unitarian Universalism.
Invite them to take one of the balls of clay, reflect on our Unitarian Universalism roots, then create a visual and tangible representation. Give them four minutes to work. After four minutes, invite participants to share what they created. Have everyone put their sculptures in the center of the table.
Next, invite the group to take the second ball of clay and think about what Unitarian Universalism looks like now. Ask them: If someone asked you to explain Unitarian Universalism using this ball of clay, what would you make? Give them four minutes to work. After four minutes, invite participants to share what they created. Have everyone put their sculptures in a ring around the first set of sculptures.
Lastly, invite the group to take the third ball of clay and envision where they want Unitarian Universalism to go in the future. Ask them: What is your vision for Unitarian Universalism and how will you be its "wings?" Give them four minutes to work. After four minutes, invite participants to share what they created. Have everyone put their sculptures in another ring around the first and second sets of sculptures.
Invite youth to share about their sculptures.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: FAITH STATEMENT ROLE PLAYS (45 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants practice articulating the Unitarian Universalist identity expressed in their faith statements.
Ask participants to think about questions people have asked them about faith that they have or have not been able to answer from a Unitarian Universalist perspective. Record these questions on newsprint.
When they have finished brainstorming, tell the group that each person has three votes, which they can indicate by drawing checkmarks next to the questions they want to use and try to answer. They can put their votes next to different questions, or all next to the same one. After everyone has voted three times, mark the top five questions and use these for the role-play activity.
Divide into two groups, with one group forming a circle facing outward and the other group forming a circle facing the inner circle. Each person should have a partner, so if there is an uneven number of participants, a leader can participate.
Explain that every person will have a chance to answer every question. Encourage them to speak from their own experience as Unitarian Universalists and from what they have learned, using their faith statements as much or as little as they would like.
The inner circle will begin by answering the first question, and then they will alternate, so the outer circle will answer first for the second question. After the question is posed, they will have one minute to offer their response, and then switch. Let them know when it's time to switch by posing the question again. After the inner and outer circles have answered a question, ask the inner circle to rotate one person to the right. Follow the same process for the rest of the questions.
When the role-plays are finished, let participants go back to their seats. Lead a short discussion with these questions:
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 11:
STORY: RELIGIOUS IDENTITY IN A DIVERSE WORLD
The quotes from Eboo Patel are from Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation by Eboo Patel (Boston: Beacon Press, 2007), pp. xviii-xix; Copyright (C) 2007 by Eboo Patel. Reprinted by permission of Beacon Press, Boston.
The story of Mary Ellen Giess was written by Mary Ellen Giess and used with her permission.
Eboo Patel
In the introduction to his book Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, Eboo Patel shares the following story:
Change happens internally before it takes place in the world. My transformation was catalyzed by a moment of failure.
In high school, the group I ate lunch with included a Cuban Jew, a Nigerian Evangelical, and an Indian Hindu. We were all devout to a degree, but we almost never talked about our religions with one another. Often somebody would announce at the table that he couldn't eat a certain kind of food, or any food at all, for a period of time. We all knew religion hovered behind this, but nobody ever offered any explanation deeper than "my mom said," and nobody ever asked for one.
This silent pact relieved all of us. We were not equipped with a language that allowed us to explain our faith to others or to ask about anyone else's. Back then, I thought little about the dangers lurking within this absence.
A few years after we graduated, my Jewish friend reminded me of a dark time during our adolescence. There were a group of kids in our high school who, for several weeks, took up scrawling anti-Semitic slurs on classroom desks and making obscene statements about Jews in the hallways. I did not confront them. I did not comfort my Jewish friend. I knew little about what Judaism meant to him, less about the emotional effects of anti-Semitism, and next to nothing about how to stop religious bigotry. So I averted my eyes and avoided my friend, because I couldn't stand to face him.
A few years later, he described to me the fear he had experienced coming to school those days, and his utter loneliness as he had watched his close friends simply stand by. Hearing him recount his suffering and my complicity is the single most humiliating experience of my life. I did not know it in high school, but my silence was betrayal: betrayal of Islam, which calls upon Muslims to be courageous and compassionate in the face of injustice; betrayal of America, a nation that relies on its citizens to hold up the bridges of pluralism when others try to destroy them; betrayal of India, a country that has too often seen blood flow in its cities and villages when extremists target minorities and others fail to protect them.
My friend needed more than my silent presence at the lunch table.
He concludes the introduction to Acts of Faith saying:
This is a story of returning to faith, of finding coherence, of committing to pluralism, and of the influences I owe my life to.
This "moment of failure" was the precursor to self-discovery, strengthening his own faith identity, and searching for an interfaith youth movement that combines faith and social action. When he didn't find what he was seeking, he created it himself—the Interfaith Youth Core.
Mary Ellen Giess
Mary Ellen Giess shares this story about her Unitarian Universalist upbringing and the struggles she faced during college to hold onto and articulate her faith in the face of opposition.
Growing up, my parents and I were active in a Unitarian Universalist congregation outside of Philadelphia, which was an integral part of my upbringing and felt like a home away from home. I remember my Coming of Age experience vividly, and the empowerment that I felt as a result of the responsibility I was entrusted with to define my own spiritual path.
When I went to college in North Carolina, I encountered a very different type of religiosity—conservative Christianity was everywhere I looked, from my close friends to the pro-life demonstrations on campus. One day there were two men on campus holding huge signs listing all of the people who were condemned to hell: Muslims, feminists, Jews, Democrats—the list went on and on. I was shocked, hurt, humiliated, and angry. I saw myself on that list, and not only that—I saw people I cared about. Furthermore, I didn't feel that I had a strong response to their argument—I had never been forced to defend my own beliefs before. When trying to explain my concept of truth to friends, I found that my concept differed so much from theirs that they interpreted the freedom within Unitarian Universalism as us not taking a firm stance on anything. At that particular moment in time though, I was so angry and hurt by this kind of religious belief that if someone had tried to convince me that religion was dangerous to society, I would have almost certainly agreed.
Then I found myself at a crossroads, stumbling upon a different path simply because I went to my Unitarian Universalist campus community for solace and solidarity. The campus minister was adamant that the kind of Christianity that I saw on campus was not representative of all religious belief or even all Christian belief. She pushed me to see the intricacies of religious belief, and in doing so, forced me to re-examine my own assumptions and beliefs. In my moment of anger, I had been quick to judge, the same way that those men carrying signs had judged me. I was able to reclaim my Unitarian Universalist identity, which transformed me into a more understanding person and has become a real source of strength in my life.
While articulating that identity to the world has never been easy, since we Unitarian Universalists are challenged to find our own paths and belief structures, I am stronger as an individual and deeper in my belief than ever before. More than that, I am proud of my tradition: I have had the opportunity to make it truly my own. What I found in this faith was a sense of identity that I could affirm for myself.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 11:
HANDOUT 1: SAMPLE FAITH STATEMENTS
The following are examples of Unitarian Universalist faith statements, elevator speeches, and personal theology statements.
The Unitarian side of our family tree tells us that there is only one God, one Spirit of Life, one Power of Love. The Universalist side tells us that God is a loving God, condemning none of us, and valuing the spark of divinity that is in every human being. So Unitarian Universalism stands for one God, no one left behind. — Bill Sinkford, Unitarian Universalist minister and former UUA president
My personal theology has four directions. First is where I am. Be here now. My feet are on the ground, yet my knees are flexed to keep my balance as things move. Next is Awe. I lift my arms in amazement, appreciation, and thanks. Some might call this praising God. The third is Love, which I see as Jesus' main message. I feel this as giving or reaching out—to people, to creatures, to life. Finally is Transformation, which is always possible. Change can come like a gift from the Holy Spirit. I feel this as receiving or drawing in. — Marnie Singer, Student at Starr King School for the Ministry
Our faith is not interested in saving your soul—we're here to help you unfold the awesome soul you already have. — Andrea Lerner, Unitarian Universalist Association religious educator
We believe that as fallible human beings we do not have all the answers. Consequently, we are religious seekers, seeking ways to be better human beings. We believe that life is a path along which our experiences lead to theological reflection and religious beliefs. We welcome unconventional believers, religious pluralists, and non-believers, very often refugees from other religions, people whose religious journey has led them to us. — Dick Dana, Member of First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, New York
FIND OUT MORE
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WORKSHOP 12: WHOLENESS
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The mechanics of the Mobius strip are mysterious, but its message clear: whatever is inside us continually flows outward to help form, or deform, the world — and whatever is outside us continually flows inward to help form, or deform, our lives. — Parker Palmer, Quaker educator and spiritual activist
In this concluding workshop, the concept of wholeness is addressed directly. Participants will look back through their journals and, using the metaphor of the Mobius strip, think about how their internal feelings and beliefs affect their external actions and ways of being, and how these affect their internal feelings and beliefs. There will also be time to celebrate all that has been accomplished over the past workshops.
Pay attention to the material list in Activity 4, Celebration. You might ask participants or their parents/caregivers to provide some of the treats for this celebration. Also, if you have time, consider doing the Faith in Action for this workshop—it will give participants' families and other members of the congregation some insight into what the youth have been exploring. Give families at least two weeks' notice if you plan to do the Faith in Action.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: I Believe, I Feel, I Act — Life as a Mobius Strip | 25 |
Activity 2: Story — The Woodcarver | 10 |
Activity 3: Wholeness in Community | 20 |
Activity 4: Celebration | 15 |
Faith in Action: Sharing A Place of Wholeness | 45 |
Closing | 15 |
Alternate Activity 1: Future Path | 40 |
Alternate Activity 2: Painted Stones | 30 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
In Activity 1, participants will use a Mobius strip as a tool for thinking about their own wholeness. Spend a few minutes following the directions in this activity and create a Mobius strip of your own. Trace the strip with your finger to see how the outside becomes the inside. Think about the times you have "walked the Mobius strip." When has it been easy to match your inner life with your outward actions? When has it been hard? Are there areas of your life right now that need more integrating? How will you accomplish this?
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and a question.
The mechanics of the Mobius strip are mysterious, but its message clear: whatever is inside us continually flows outward to help form, or deform, the world — and whatever is outside us continually flows inward to help form, or deform, our lives. — Parker Palmer, Quaker educator and spiritual activist
Question: Can you remember a time when you consciously brought forth something inside you to inform outward actions?
As participants arrive invite them to review and/or add to their journal based on the Welcome Words posted, or informally discuss the Welcome Words.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones, from Workshop 1. Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead.
At the conclusion of the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist youth who need help with words in the responsive reading.
ACTIVITY 1: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT — LIFE AS A MOBIUS STRIP (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants review their experience of this program and use the metaphor of a Mobius strip to help identify the wholeness in their lives.
Ask participants to get out their journals. Hand out the strips of paper and pens. Tell them that in this activity, they will look back through their journals and reflect upon their experience in this program.
Remind them that during every session they have spent time thinking about what they believe, how they feel, and how this leads them to act. They have also used the journal to capture other thoughts and ideas throughout the program. Some of those were internal thoughts and some of those were about external ways of being. As they read their journal, ask them to identify five or six of their most significant personal beliefs, feelings or thoughts, and five or six of the most significant actions or ways of being that they named. They should then write short statements that remind them of the beliefs, feelings, and thoughts on one side of the strip of paper and the external acts or ways of being on the other side. Give them 15 minutes to do this.
Give participants cellophane tape to stick to one end of the strip of paper. Then ask them to give the paper a half twist before taping the ends of the strip together. This will produce a Mobius strip. Refer to the image from Leader Resource 1, Mobius Strip, to confirm that it has been made correctly.
After they have each made a Mobius strip ask them to run one finger along the outside of the strip and see how effortlessly their finger moves from the "outside" to the "inside" of the strip. Ask a participant volunteer to read the Parker Palmer quote that you posted for the Welcoming and Entering Activity.
Ask participants:
Invite youth to reflect for a moment on any actions they would like to take to help the process of integration——aligning one's outside with one's inside. Assure them that they are not expected to be completely integrated right now and at all times.
Parker Palmer wrote:
I do not know who coined the phrase "Every day, in ever way, I am getting better and better," but he or she must have had a great fantasy life. In sixty-five years on earth, my pattern has never been onward and upward. It has always been up and down and back around. I follow the thread of true self faithfully for a while. Then I lose it and find myself back in the dark, where fear drives me to search for the thread once again. —— from A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward An Undivided Life.
This is a life-long process. Like a Mobius strip, it is continuous.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — THE WOODCARVER (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Tell or read the story, then lead the group in a discussion with these questions:
ACTIVITY 3: WHOLENESS IN COMMUNITY (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore the meaning of wholeness within their faith community.
Start by explaining that wholeness is not just about the individual: there is a community aspect to wholeness as well. Tell the group that they will explore what community wholeness can look like in their faith community.
Ask for six volunteers and give them each a slip of paper from Handout 1. Explain that each volunteer will stand in the middle of the room and read an example of someone who could be in their faith community and who needs this community in some way. The task for the rest of the group is to think of a way that they, or someone else in the congregation, might help that person. The help may come from the minister, or the director of religious education, or a member of the congregation, including the youth themselves.
Once they have identified a person and how they could help, they should go to the volunteer in the middle, put their hand on their shoulder, and state who they are and how they could help.
When you have given these instructions, ask for one of the volunteers to go in the middle of the circle and read their script. If the group seems hesitant, share an example yourself. Repeat this activity through all six scenarios.
Then lead a discussion with the following questions:
Now ask for one last volunteer and ask them to be present in the middle. Then tell the group that this person represents them. Ask them to think about how they would like to be supported in the community. When they have an idea ask them to come to the center, put their hand on the volunteer's shoulder, and state how they would like to be supported. Make sure the volunteer gets a chance to respond.
ACTIVITY 4: CELEBRATION (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity is the closing celebration for the program. Its purpose is for leaders and participants to show appreciation for each other and what they have experienced.
Tell participants that as the program draws to a close, it is time to celebrate. Invite them to share food together and to participate in two activities as they socialize.
The first activity is the Affirmation Station. Give each participant and leader a piece of paper and a piece of tape. Ask them to write their name on the top of the paper and tape it on a designated wall or table. Ask them to write on each person's piece of paper one thing they learned from them during their time together. At the end of the workshop, everyone can collect their piece of paper and take it home to remember the community they built through learning together.
An alternate approach is to have people tape the pieces of paper to their backs and have people write the affirmations on each other's backs.
The second activity involves a gift. Present each participant with their own bag of five smooth stones. Participants should put their initials on their bag. Invite everyone to review Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones, and choose one or two words to help them remember what each stone represents. Participants then use the permanent markers to write those words on the stones. Leave the stones out to dry during the rest of the celebration, then everyone can take theirs home in their bag.
Including All Participants
Be aware of food allergies in the group and avoid them or provide alternate treats.
CLOSING (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Begin the closing worship by thanking the participants for all that they have brought to the group throughout the program. Then ask participants to settle into a spirit of worship and invite a volunteer to read Leader Resource 2, Come Into This Circle.
Ask participants to take out their Affirmation Station paper from Activity 4, Celebration. Invite them to reflect on what people wrote about them for three or four minutes. Ask them to choose one thing that they would like to share from their paper. After they have chosen one thing to share, invite them to come to the centering table, take a rose, and read the statement they have chosen. Ask all participants and leaders to take a turn.
Then introduce the closing song, Hymn 396 in Singing the Living Tradition, "I Know This Rose Will Open" by Mary E. Grigolia. Share the following background:
Mary E. Grigolia is a Unitarian Universalist minister who has served congregations in Strongville and Oberlin, Ohio. Ask everyone to read the words then ask, "What does this song have to do with what we have talked about during this program?"
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "I Know This Rose Will Open."
Finally, invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: SHARING A PLACE OF WHOLENESS (45 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This Faith in Action is an expansion of the celebration in this workshop. It expands the celebration beyond just the participants to include participants' families and selected members of the church. If you choose to do this activity, you need to reorder the activities in this workshop. Do the closing worship right after Activity 4, What is Wholeness? and then end with the celebration.
One Week Before
At the end of the next-to-the-last workshop, direct participants' attention to the list of all the A Place of Wholeness stories you have written on newsprint. Explain that they will each have a chance to share one of these stories with their guests at the workshop's closing celebration. Ask them to decide which story is their favorite and then write their name next to that story. This will be the story they will tell. Remember that some stories can have more than one storyteller. For example, the John Murray Story has three parts and the Racial Justice Timeline story has six parts. In addition, two people can share the reading of stories that have only one part.
Over the next week, participants should practice telling or reading the story. They should also think about why they liked that story and what insights they gained from it, as hey will be asked to share that information as well.
Celebration
Invite your guests into the meeting space. Ask a member of the group to read or summarize the following:
Welcome to our group. We invited you to come to our celebration because we wanted you to experience a bit of what we experienced while taking part in A Place of Wholeness. To do that, we will share with you our favorite stories from the program and why the story was significant for us. We hope you enjoy the stories. After all the stories are over, we will have time for reflections and fellowship.
Proceed with the presentations.
Once all the stories are shared, invite questions from your guests. After ten minutes, encourage guests and participants to continue the conversation over refreshments.
Including All Participants
Be aware of any food allergies in the group and avoid them or provide alternate treats.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity?
What has changed since you led the first workshop together? How does it feel to be finished with this extensive and deeply explorative program?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
You may want to have your own leaders' celebration as well, to acknowledge all that you have learned, the fun you have had, and your accomplishments.
TAKING IT HOME
The mechanics of the Mobius strip are mysterious, but its message clear: whatever is inside us continually flows outward to help form, or deform, the world — and whatever is outside us continually flows inward to help form, or deform, our lives. — Parker Palmer, Quaker educator and spiritual activist
In Today's Workshop...
We looked at what wholeness means in our lives. We explored wholeness from two angles. The first was through the image of the Mobius strip. A Mobius strip is interesting because the inside is constantly moving to the outside and the outside is moving to the inside. The same can be said about our spiritual lives—our inward beliefs and feelings can have a transformative effect on our outward actions and ways of being, and our outward actions and ways of being can affect our inward beliefs and feelings. To be whole, we should pay attention to integrating our inner and outer selves.
We also looked at what wholeness means in a community. We explored what our responsibilities are to others in the community and what we might expect or need from the larger community. In this way, wholeness can be seen through how we are integrated into our larger faith community.
Explore further with family and friends...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: FUTURE PATH (40 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Journey has been a theme throughout this program, but we have not thoroughly examined one aspect of that journey—the future. The close of the program is a good time to explore what the future might hold.
Begin by reading or summarizing the following:
The idea of journey has been an important part of this program. We started with the story of the Great Migration and then moved to John Murray's journey to the United States. We looked at Unitarian Universalism's journey in racial justice as well as freedom struggles. But that was mostly about looking back and exploring our roots. Now it is time to return to the ways that we become wings for our living tradition. We must ask ourselves what journeys we see for our future.
Give each participant a sheet of newsprint, and invite them to draw a picture or a map of what they think their faith journey will look like in the coming years. Ask, "Where will you go?", "What will you see?", and "Who will you meet?"
Give them 10-15 minutes to map their faith journey. When they are done, invite them to share their drawings with the rest of the group.
After each participant has shared, lead a discussion using the following questions:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: PAINTED STONES (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity connects James Luther Adams' Five Smooth Stones of Liberal Religion with actions that participants can take in their lives.
Remind participants that they have opened each workshop with a responsive reading based on James Luther Adams' Five Smooth Stones of Liberal Religion. Tell them that in this activity, they will reflect on how they might live out the ideas behind each stone.
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones (from Workshop 1) and ask the group to reflect for a few minutes on which of the five stones of liberal religion speaks to them most clearly. Invite them to think of a specific action they might take to live out that ideal. When they are ready, invite them to take a stone and paint an image on it that represents a specific action they will take. It can be literal or symbolic.
Give them 15-20 minutes to paint their stone. Once everyone is done ask them to share what they painted.
If you are holding a closing worship (see Closing), add the stones to the worship table. Participants can take the stones home when the paint dries.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 12:
STORY: THE WOODCARVER
"The Woodcarver" by Thomas Merton, from The Way of Chuang Tzu, copyright (C) 1965 by The Abbey of Gethsemani. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
Khing, the master carver, made a bell stand
Of precious wood. When it was finished,
All who saw it were astounded. They said it must be
The work of spirits. The prince of Lu said to the master carver:
"What is your secret?"
Khing replied: "I am only a workman:
I have no secret. There is only this:
When I began to think about the work you commanded
I guarded my spirit, did not expend it
On trifles, that were not to the point.
I fasted in order to set my heart at rest.
After three days fasting,
I had forgotten gain or success.
After five days, I had forgotten praise or criticism.
After seven days I had forgotten my body with all its limbs.
"By this time all thought of your Highness
And of the court had faded away.
All that might distract me from the work
Had vanished.
I was collected in the single thought
Of the bell stand.
"Then I went to the forest
To see the trees in their own natural state.
When the right tree appeared before my eyes,
The bell stand also appeared in it, clearly, beyond doubt.
All I had to do was to put forth my hand
And begin.
"If I had not met this particular tree
There would have been
No bell stand at all.
"What happened?
My own collected thought
Encountered the hidden potential in the wood;
From this live encounter came the work
Which you ascribe to the spirits."
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 12:
HANDOUT 1: COMMUNITY OF WHOLENESS SCENARIOS
My name is Sue and I am about to give birth to twins. How can I be supported in the wholeness of our community?
My name is Stan and my wife of 55 years just passed away. How can I be supported in the wholeness of our community?
My name is Stephanie and I think I might have a drinking problem. How can I be supported in the wholeness of our community?
My name is Joe and I just got back from serving in the Army in Iraq. How can I be supported in the wholeness of our community?
My name is Trish and I am really struggling in school. How can I be supported in the wholeness of our community?
My name is Sam and I am looking for friendship. How can I be supported in the wholeness of our community?
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 12:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: MOBIUS STRIP
Image by David Benbennick from Wikimedia Common. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of theGNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 12:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: COME INTO THIS CIRCLE
By Andrew Pakula.
Come into this circle of community. Come into this sacred space.
Be not tentative. Bring your whole self!
Bring the joy that makes your heart sing.
Bring your kindness and your compassion.
Bring also your sorrow, your pain.
Bring your brokenness and your disappointments.
Spirit of love and mystery; help us to recognize the spark of the divine that resides within each of us.
May we know the joy of wholeness.
May we know the joy of being together.
FIND OUT MORE
Wholeness:
The author Parker Palmer has written a wonderful book called A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward An Undivided Life (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004). He uses the metaphor of the Mobius strip to better understand how we can live in the world.
Another way to think of wholeness involves holistically taking care of all that you are: body, mind, and spirit. This is the philosophy behind Kimberley Beyer-Nelson's The Little Book of Wholeness and Prayer (at www.uua.org/publications/skinnerhouse/browseskinner/titles/18934.shtml) (Boston: Skinner House, 2002) which uses prayer to foster wholeness.
Many Unitarian Universalist, when thinking of wholeness in our faith community, think about the work of the Journey Towards Wholeness (at www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/journeytoward/index.shtml). This initiative to develop ant-racist, anti-oppressive ways of being in the world resulted in a report (at www.uua.org/documents/congservices/araomc/jtw_1996-2002.pdf) by the UU Racial and Cultural Diversity Task Force.
Mobius Strip:
For a video example of how to make a Mobius strip check out this YouTube video (at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bcm-kPIuHE). It shows not only how easy it is to make one, but also some interesting experiments that you can do with one.
Clifford Pickover has also written a book on the Mobius strip called The Mobius Strip: Dr. August Mobius's Marvelous Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology and Cosmology. A partial preview of the book is available online at Google Books (at books.google.com/books?id=fWM7mdhksn0C&lpg=PP1&dq=Mobius%20Strip&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=Mobius%20Strip&f=false).