Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity Leader Resource 1, Big Questions and Small Answers Leader Resource 2, UU Responses to Big Questions Optional: Single-hole punch and string or ribbon Preparation for Activity Adapt Leader Resource 1 to include only the Big Questions (and short answe...

Meet with your co-leaders after the session to reflect on it. How was the mix of discussion and action? Are you continuing to find ways to involve all youth fully in the sessions despite any limitations they might have? Does the group have new behavioral issues you need to address? Were youth...

With everything set to go, take a meditative moment for yourself. Relax. Breathe several deep breaths. Consider your own big questions. If you were guaranteed an answer to just one, which would you ask? Would you really want an answer? If you could help youth find a satisfactory answer to one,...

Activity Minutes Opening 5 Activity 1: Questions and Responses 10 Activity 2: Story — Why? A Playlet in Four Scenelets 10 Activity 3: WCUU — Mystery Day Parade 25 Activity 4: WIT Time — Oh, You Mystery 7 Faith in Action: A Big Practical Question Closing 3 Alternate Activity 1: Notable Thoughts...

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science... It was the experience of mystery, even if mixed with fear, that engendered religion....

First Reporter Here's your story. Tell the WCUU audience about it in your own words. You traveled to visit Washington, DC, in 2008. You visited a big Unitarian Universalist congregation there, called All Souls, Unitarian. You wanted to know where the name came from. You found a large, impressive...

To the Anchor: Today's WCUU program is a report on UU ideas about soul. Your job is to follow the script, read your part, and otherwise keep things going. When the broadcast begins, you are alone, sitting or standing in front of a microphone. [Director: Cue the station break.] [Director: Cue the...

1. When you die, your soul lives on and goes to one of three places: Heaven, or Hell or Purgatory. This is the Roman Catholic belief. Purgatory is a nasty place where souls are purified until they are ready for heaven....

To create a soul mask: 1. Make an outline of your head on heavy card stock. You can do this by placing the card stock on a table, pressing your face down on it, and drawing an outline around your head with a pencil. Or, ask a friend to draw around your head. 2. Use scissors to cut the mask out in...

To the Kid for the Day: You have two jobs. The first is getting your group excited about hearing today's Big Question. The second is announcing the question. 1. Say to the group, "Give me a drum roll!" Then wait for a minute while the drum roll builds....

A speaker in the Bible says to God: "Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God and Savior of Israel." This is verse 15 from Chapter 45 in the Book of Isaiah. But the Bible is not the only place people talk about God hiding. Stories from different times and cultures tell of the same thing....

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity Recorded music and player Long piece of mural paper and tape Paints, paintbrushes, containers for water and paints and clean-up supplies Newspaper or tarps to protect floor Optional: Color pastels, thick markers or other media Optional: Smocks or o...

Activity time: 5 minutes Description of Activity Ask the group to respond to two quotes from Rabbi Harold S. Kushner. Say that he is a Jewish rabbi in the Conservative (moderately traditional) movement and a popular author. His books include When Bad Things Happen to Good People, When All You've...

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Optional: Newsprint, markers and tape Preparation for Activity Optional: Write the challenge question on newsprint, and post. Description of Activity Challenge questions guide a deeper inquiry for especially thoughtful individuals and groups....

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Copy(ies) of Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook Optional: A recording of the song and a music player Preparation for Activity Decide how best to present the song "Voice Still and Small," Hymn 391 in Singing the Living...

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Bag or box containing participants' Big Questions notebooks (see Session 1, Alternate Activity 1, Notable Thoughts) Blank notebooks for new participants Pencils or pens Masking tape Preparation for Activity Retrieve participants' Big Questions...

Activity time: 17 minutes Materials for Activity Handout 2, Making Soul Masks Heavy, plain 11"x14" card stock or paper plates Scissors (including left-handed scissors) Fine-point color markers Optional: Single hole-puncher and string Optional: Long wooden craft sticks Preparation for Activity Pla...

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity Microphone(s), video camera(s) and tripod(s), real or simulated For studio set Backdrop made in Session 1 Painter's tape or masking tape Leader Resource 2, WCUU Script - Soul Talk Leader Resource 3, Reporter Stories Paper for On-Air People's name...

Activity time: 8 minutes Materials for Activity Leader Resource 1, Soul Statements Preparation for Activity Familiarize yourself with Leader Resource 1 and add other statements to reflect your congregation if you wish. Description of Activity Explain that different people and different religions...

Music for Souls Unitarian Universalist Association. Singing the Journey: A Supplement to Singing the Living Tradition. Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2005. This hymnbook supplement includes "There's a River Flowin' in My Soul" as Hymn 1007 Unitarian Universalist Association....