Excerpted from a sermon, delivered at First Parish in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 6, 2009; used with permission. Diversity is the destiny of our world, and if Unitarian Universalism is to survive and thrive, it must be our destiny, too. We can be an island of whiteness in a river of many...

Sometimes a group rambles or has no spark (not a good thing for a simulation!). If a group seems lost and needs a sense of direction, "coach" them toward a more active and provocative stance by suggesting that they employ one of these strategies....

During the simulation, visit all the committees and groups and observe of what is happening. As committees and groups begin to achieve a sense of purpose or direction, it may be a good time to throw in a "wild card" to complicate their task. You may only have time for a few wild cards. You might...

These two roles are to be played by facilitators. Do not share candidate descriptions with simulation participants. Simply act out the roles extemporaneously if you choose to visit the various groups and committees, using your appearances as "wild cards" to keep the simulation engaging. The Job...

"Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Far Corner Books. Portland, OR, 1995). Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, What you counted and...

"The Bridge Poem" from The Black Back-Ups: Poetry by Kate Rushin (Ann Arbor, MI: Firebrand Books, 1993). Permission pending. I've had enough. I'm sick of seeing and touching both side of things. Sick of being the damn bridge for everybody. Nobody can talk to anybody without me. Right?...

There must be always remaining in every life some place for the singing of angels, some place for that which in itself is breathlessly beautiful and—by an inherent prerogative, throwing all the rest of life into a new and creative relatedness—something that gathers up in itself all the freshets...

We may have it! Millions upon millions of people everywhere are drifting from the old formulations, no longer willing to view the ancient myths as religious truths. They are looking for a vital, modern religion with a personal and social imperative. We may have it! I think we do!...

From Poems 1960-1967, copyright (C) 1961. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. Don't say, don't say there is no water to solace the dryness at our hearts. I have seen the foundation springing out of the rock wall and you drinking there. And I too before your eyes found...

Consult with your minister, music director, and/or another experienced worship leader in your congregation as you plan this service. Ask your music director to help you select suitable hymns and recruit an accompanist. Use the suggested readings and hymns or substitute your own choices. OPENING...

By Kathy Galloway, in Maker's Blessing (Wild Goose Publications/The Iona Community, 2000), www.ionabooks.com.

Race-based identity groups, or caucuses, provide a chance for people to talk in a structured format with others from their own ethnic/racial group, an opportunity that is rare, even for those who regularly participate in multicultural dialogues. This kind of within-group talk more often than not...

By Alla Bozarth, Julia Barkley, and Terri Hawthorne, from Stars in your Bones: Emerging Signposts on Our Spiritual Journeys (St. Cloud, Minnesota: North Star Press, 1990). Used with permission. I am pregnant with myself. Do you realize what this means?...

Some time when the river is ice ask me mistakes I have made. Ask me whether what I have done is my life. Others have come in their slow way into my thought, and some have tried to help or to hurt — ask me what difference their strongest love or hate has made. I will listen to what you say....

From Another River: New and Selected Poems (Amherst Writers and Artists Press, 2005). Used with permission. The self you leave behind is only a skin you have outgrown. Don't grieve for it. Look to the wet, raw, unfinished self, the one you are becoming....

Read these sentences aloud in pairs, pausing briefly between the two items in each pair, and pausing again after each pair is read. This is my best friend, Mandy This is my best White friend, Mandy I love green beans I love green beans made by that White company, Dole Foods I live in the...

Adapted from World Cafe Model. CAFE SETUP Arrange the room so there are four tables with enough chairs around each to accommodate one-fourth of participants. Place a large sheet of newsprint and markers/crayons at each table....

"Two Kinds of Intelligence," by Jellaludin Rumi, was translated by Dr. William C. Chittick and published in The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983). Used with permission.The intellect is of two kinds: The first is acquired....

Excerpted from Black Pioneers in a White Denomination (Boston: Skinner House, 1992). The problem of segregation in all churches seems more unfortunate when one recognizes that there is much to gain, beyond the realization of liberal values, and racially diverse congregations. Here there is a...

Suzanne Pharr, from the Foreword to Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation, by Eli Clare (Cambridge, MA: South End Press Collective, 1999).[Talking about multiple identities] "brings me back to those intense feelings of ambivalence, ambiguity, and isolation that I felt in my 20s...