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

Handout 1: Planning the Worship Service

Plan a worship service that invites your guests to join you in the work of building an antiracist/multicultural faith community. Use these questions and template as a guide.

I. Questions for Reflection

  • What stories do you wish to tell as individuals? As a group?
  • What practices did you use or create during the Building the World We Dream About that helped you learn and grow? How could you incorporate those methods into your worship?
  • What music, readings, film, poetry, etc. inspired you over the course of the workshops?
  • Have you written journal entries that exemplify your journey?
  • What wisdom or strategies do you want to share with your congregation?
  • How has your journey transformed how you think about yourself? Your congregation?
  • What new commitments are required as a result of what you have learned?

II. Suggested Order of Worship

Opening Reading

Unitarian Universalists have a role to play as healers and repairers of the broken world we have inherited from our ancestors. Our congregations have a role to play as places to practice—to rehearse—Beloved Community for the benefit of future generations. — Taquiena Boston, Director of Multicultural Growth and Witness, Unitarian Universalist Association

Opening Hymn

A hymn that speaks to the journey you have undertaken and will continue. Possibilities from Singing the Living Tradition include "I'm On My Way" (Hymn 116) and "Guide My Feet" (Hymn 348).

Expressions of Our Experience

Choose three or four people to briefly share a two- or three-minute reflection on their experience.

MOMENT OF SILENT REFLECTION

Hymn

A hymn that acknowledges how challenging this work has been and will be, and expresses a promise to continue—a quieter, more meditative hymn, such as "Spirit of Life" (Hymn 123) or "There Is More Love Somewhere" (Hymn 95).

Expressions of Our Experience

Choose three or four people to briefly share a two- or three-minute reflection on their experience.

MOMENT OF SILENT REFLECTION

Hymn

A hymn that speaks to how joyful and soul-enriching this work has been and will be. Possibilities include "For All that Is Our Life" (Hymn 128) and "I've Got Peace Like a River" (Hymn 100).

Expressions of Our Experience

Choose three or four people to briefly share a two- or three-minute reflection on their experience.

Moment of Silent Reflection

Prayers and Hopes

Invite workshop participants and guests, as they are moved, to voice a prayer or hope for the congregation and to light a candle.

Closing Hymn

Choose an upbeat hymn that expresses hope, such as "We'll Build a Land" (Hymn 121), using the alternate words from Workshop 11, Handout 5; "Love Will Guide Us" (Hymn 131); or "One More Step" (Hymn 168); consider replacing the word "step" with "move" to fully include people with mobility limitations.

Closing Words

If you are who you were,

and if the person next to you is who he or she was,

if none of us has changed

since the day we came in here—

we have failed.

The purposed of this community—

of any church, temple, zendo, mosque—

is to help its people grow.

We do this through encounters with the unknown—in ourselves,

in one another,

in "The Other"—whoever that might be for us,

however hard that might be—

because these encounters have many gifts to offer.

So may you go forth from here this morning [afternoon, evening]

not who you were,

but who you could be.

So may we all. — by Erik Walker Wikstrom (used with permission)