Tapestry of Faith: Building the World We Dream About: An Anti-racism Multicultural Program

Activity 2: Antiracism, Multiculturalism, and Spiritual Journey

Activity time: 55 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Newsprint, markers, and tape
  • Newsprint lists from Activity 1
  • Handout 1, Planning the Worship Service
  • Pens or pencils
  • Copies of Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook

Preparation for Activity

  • Copy Handout 1, Planning the Worship Service.
  • Post a sheet of newsprint and begin a list of congregational leaders and other key people to invite to the worship service the group will plan. Include congregational staff members, governing board members, committee chairs and liaisons, youth group leaders, small group ministry facilitators, religious education or social justice leaders, music leadership, people from the community with whom you have-or wish to grow-a relationship, and others whose support will help move the work along.

Description of Activity

Introduce the activity using these or similar words:

We are going to plan a worship service to share our stories and learnings from Building the World We Dream About with key members of our faith community, inviting them to help us move the work along. In worship, we will speak of the spiritual journey we have all undertaken as part of this program. We will demonstrate connections between antiracist/multicultural work and Unitarian Universalist spirituality. We will want to tell our stories in such a way that non-participants in Building the World We Dream About will understand, while at the same time, honoring our own deep experiences.

Point out the list you have created of invitees and brainstorm additional people. Ask for volunteers to agree to invite particular people and put initials of the inviter next to the invitee. Ask for a volunteer to transcribe the list and distribute it to all workshop participants within a few days. Allow ten minutes for this part of the activity.

Post the lists the small groups generated in Activity 1. Lead the group to choose a list of learnings to share with invited guests as a worship handout. Allow 15 minutes for this part of the activity.

Distribute Handout 1, Planning the Worship Service. Explain that you will begin the planning with some reflection time. Invite participants to take ten minutes to reflect on the questions in silence and jot any notes on the handout. Invite them to consider which questions resonate most deeply with their own experience and the story they would like to tell about their participation in this program.

After ten minutes, refocus the group together on the order of worship suggested on Handout 1. Work together to plan the service. Invite volunteers to agree to prepare in advance two- or three-minute reflections. Some should address individual experiences and others express the group's experiences. Some reflections might focus on particular workshops or activities that were particularly meaningful. Engage other volunteers to select the music and prepare to lead it or recruit someone to lead it. Invite others to plan and set up the worship table. Take careful notes about who accepts which responsibilities, and tell participants you will send out a task list to remind them of their commitments before the next workshop. Allow 20 minutes for this part of the activity.