Workshop 5: Finding Our Mission

Beautiful orange sunset over a deep blue ocean. — Tapestry is Sunsetting

The UUA is no longer updating Tapestry of Faith programs.

Part of Exploring Our Values Through Poetry, High School

In This Section

Introduction
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

To be tested is good. — Gail Sheehy As adults, many of us have questioned the purpose of our lives and whether we have a mission or a clear path in them. Youth are just beginning to engage in questions of this nature….
Workshop-at-a-Glance
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

ACTIVITY MINUTES Opening 10 Activity 1: In Pursuit of a Mission 20 Activity 2: Jazz Poems 25 Faith in Action: Interfaith Prayers 30 Closing 5 Alternate Activity 1: Poetry Collage 30…
Spiritual Preparation
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

This workshop focuses on personal missions or sense of purpose. The activities you will lead will help youth identify what might be a mission they already feel motivates their actions. You may have reflected upon lifetime missions, but have you thought about your mission related to leading this…
Opening
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 10 minutes Materials for Activity Chalice and matches Description of Activity Use the Opening designed by your group or the one provided below. Gather around the chalice. As a volunteer lights the chalice, ask the group to focus on the words “life’s mission” in silence. After about…
Activity 1: In Pursuit Of A Mission
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 20 minutes Materials for Activity Handout 1, “Perhaps,” by Shu Ting Preparation for Activity Photocopy Handout 1, “Perhaps,” one for each participant. Description of Activity Give everyone a copy of the poem. Ask two or more volunteers to read it aloud, pausing for thirty seconds…
Activity 2: Jazz Poems
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 25 minutes Materials for Activity One set of three different colored sheets of paper for each participant; or three sheets of white paper and three different colored markers for each participant Journals and pens or pencils Optional: Jazz CDs and CD player Optional: Scissors, glue,…
Closing
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 5 minutes Materials for Activity Chalice Singing the Living Tradition Description of Activity Use the Closing designed by your group or the one provided below….
Leader Reflection and Planning
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Review today’s workshop with your co-leader. This workshop is the first in which participants were free to write their own poetry from just a prompt. What worked well and what activities need adjustment? How do the answers to these questions affect future workshops?
Faith In Action: Interfaith Prayers
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 30 minutes Materials for Activity Paper and pens or pencils Resources for interfaith prayers, including Singing the Living Tradition and books of meditation Description of Activity One mission that some Unitarian Universalists take on is to help make our world a place that is more…
Alternate Activity 1: Poetry Collage
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 30 minutes Materials for Activity Jazz poems created in Activity 2, Jazz Poems Various art supplies, including poster board, glue, scissors, and markers Old magazines Preparation for Activity Have arts and crafts supplies available….
Alternate Activity 2: The Poetry Of Hymns
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Activity time: 20 minutes Materials for Activity Copies of Singing the Living Tradition and Singing the Journey Description of Activity Participants search for hymns with poetry they find inspiring or beautiful. Pass out hymnals. Ask participants if they have favorite hymns. As they do so, ask…
Taking It Home: Finding Our Mission
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

To be tested is good. — Gail Sheehy DURING TODAY’S WORKSHOP… We read a poem and discussed what it means to have a mission or a sense of purpose in life. We examined possible missions that we feel compelled to complete and wrote jazz poems about them. REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you believe it is…
Handout 1: Perhaps
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Shu Ting (1952- ), translated by Carolyn Kizer, from Carrying Over: Poems from the Chinese, Urdu, Macedonian, Yiddish, and French African. Copyright 1988 by Carolyn Kizer. Used by permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.Perhaps…
Find Out More
From Exploring Our Values Through Poetry

Wikipedia has information on the life of Shu Ting. The UUA website has a http://www.uua.org/spirituallife/worshipweb/by_topic.php?topic=Prayers“… Web that includes prayers that can be useful for the Faith in Action activity. A book that also can be a useful resource is For Praying Out Loud:…

Download all of Exploring Our Values (Word) (PDF) to edit or print.

The UUA is no longer updating Tapestry of Faith programs.

Workshop 5: Finding Our Mission

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