SPIRIT IN PRACTICE
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 1: TOWARD A RICH AND MEANINGFUL UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SPIRITUALITY
BY ERIK WALKER WIKSTROM
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 8:47:39 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The things that are holy and sacred in this life are neither stored away on mountaintops nor locked away in arcane secrets of the saints. I doubt that any church has a monopoly on them either. What holiness there is in this world resides in the ordinary bonds between us and in whatever bonds we manage to create between ourselves and the divine.
—Patrick O'Neill, " Unitarian Universalist Views of the Sacred (at secure.uua.org/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=1893)"
For our Unitarian Universalist congregations to reach their potential as spiritual homes, we need to provide rich and meaningful opportunities for spiritual development. The Eight Spheres of Spiritual Growth is one model, one structure upon which such an integrated program might be built. Inspired by the Eight Gates of Zen training developed at the Zen Mountain Monastery (at www.mro.org/zmm) in Mount Tremper, New York, Spirit in Practice articulates eight spheres in which one can develop his/her spiritual life.
You can think of the eight spheres model as a spiritual analogue of the USDA's "food pyramid." To be well balanced in nutrients, you must eat from all of the different food groups in the food pyramid, yet not every meal need include food from every group. Similarly, engagement with each of the eight spheres over time can lead to a well-balanced spiritual life. To continue with the "food pyramid" analogy, our Unitarian Universalist tradition will not tell you specifically what foods you should eat, but the collective wisdom of the world's religions and the insights of modern psychology do point to a general outline of a "healthy diet" for spiritual well-being.
This opening workshop introduces the Spirit in Practice program and the concept of the eight spheres.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Sharing Names | 5 |
Activity 2: Singing "Gathered Here" | 5 |
Activity 3: The Story of the Wandering Teacher | 10 |
Activity 4: Introduction to Spirit in Practice | 15 |
Activity 5: Naming Our Experiences | 15 |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: Filling In the Spheres | 30 |
Alternate Activity 2: Introduction to Journaling | 30 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Leaders are encouraged to prepare for the workshop not only by gathering supplies and reviewing the workshop's activities, but also by practicing centering, prayer, or meditation. Before the workshop, take some time to engage in a spiritual practice that helps connect you with the sacred, with the Spirit of Life, with the ground of your being. You may wish to spend extra time with that practice before you offer Spirit in Practice, allowing yourself to access the kind of groundedness or energy that you want to embody as a teacher of spiritual practices. What kind of energy do you want to share with your group? How do you want to be as a leader? Hold these questions, and your responses, in your mind as you engage in a practice that connects you with the Spirit of Life.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As participants enter, invite them to sign in, create name tags, and pick up a schedule for the workshop series. Direct their attention to the agenda for this workshop.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Welcome participants to Spirit in Practice.
Invite a participant to light the chalice as you read these words by Unitarian Universalist minister Sarah Lammert:
The element of fire represents passion, veracity, authenticity, and vitality. If the chalice is the supporting structure of Unitarian Universalism, then we are the flame. We are the flame, fanned strong by our passion for freedom, our yearning for truth-telling, our daring to be authentic with one another, and the vitality we sustain in our meeting together. In all of this there is love.
Ask the group to find responsive reading 437, "Let Us Worship" by Kenneth L. Patton, in their hymnbooks. Read it responsively with the group.
Including All Participants
If your congregation has large-print and/or Braille versions of Singing the Living Tradition, make those copies available for participants who might need them.
ACTIVITY 1: SHARING NAMES (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce yourself and your co-leader(s), and invite participants to take turns sharing their names. As participants introduce themselves, invite them to stand (if they are willing and able) and to speak loudly or use the microphone so they can be better seen and heard.
Including All Participants
Using a microphone for this activity helps more people hear one another.
ACTIVITY 2: SINGING "GATHERED HERE" (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "Gathered Here," 389 in Singing the Living Tradition.
Including All Participants
If your congregation has large-print and/or Braille versions of Singing the Living Tradition, make those copies available for participants who might need them.
ACTIVITY 3: THE STORY OF THE WANDERING TEACHER (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Read the story "The Wandering Teacher" aloud. Provide photocopies of the story to people who prefer to read along.
After sharing the story, invite participants to take a moment to quietly center themselves, to let go of any tension or emotions that are not needed for the next hour, and to breathe deeply. You may ring a bell at the beginning and end of this silent time, or simply invite people into the silence and then gently bring them out.
After the silence, invite participants to discuss their responses to the story. Keep the discussion brief and focused, allowing time for your own concluding remarks. Ask:
Conclude by explaining that Spirit in Practice, like Unitarian Universalism, affirms many definitions of spirituality. One need not believe in God or a supernatural "spirit" to be spiritual or to have a spiritual practice. In essence, our spirituality is our connection with the Spirit of Life—the energy and force that makes up the ground of our being, the ground of life itself. Spirituality can be felt and accessed by connecting to people, animals, the earth, the universe, tangible things, or intangible energies. Spirit in Practice seeks to help each of us grow in our connections to the sacred, however we define the sacred and however we define ourselves.
Including All Participants
Be sure that all participants can hear the story, or have the story interpreted for them. You may wish to print out a copy of the story in advance for participants who are hard of hearing or who prefer to read along.
ACTIVITY 4: INTRODUCTION TO SPIRIT IN PRACTICE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Present the following proposed guidelines for the workshop series by displaying them on newsprint or a digital slide.
After presenting the proposed guidelines, ask the group if they would like to propose additional guidelines. If so, add them to the list and ask for the group's assent.
Explain the basic format of this workshop series. Indicate that eight workshops will explore practices that support eight different aspects of spiritual growth, each relevant to people with a variety of spiritual beliefs and traditions. Each workshop will have an opening and closing, a story relevant to its topic, time for reflection, time for discussion, and a variety of activities.
Distribute Handout 2: Eight Spheres of Spiritual Growth. Review the handout, taking time to highlight each sphere. Ask participants to listen to each sphere's description and to reflect on how they do or don't engage that sphere in their spiritual lives.
When the description of the spheres is complete, offer the following questions for discussion:
Conclude by telling participants you look forward to exploring these spheres of spiritual growth in the workshops to come.
Including All Participants
All participants in your workshop, particularly those who are hard of hearing, will absorb the material better if you use a microphone, speak in an engaging manner, use body language, and make frequent eye contact.
ACTIVITY 5: NAMING OUR EXPERIENCES (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite the group to divide into groups of three and spend six minutes taking turns answering the question, "What brings you here?" Point out that this allows two minutes per person. Explain that it can be a powerful spiritual practice to fully and deeply listen to someone else—not to fill our heads with what we're planning to say when it's our turn or with judgments and responses to what we're hearing, but to simply listen to another person.
After six minutes, bring everyone back into one group. Ask for volunteers to respond to the following questions. Record responses on newsprint.
Explain to the group that these sheets will be posted again during the last workshop so that they can assess whether they've gotten what they came for and whether their reasons for participation have changed over time.
Conclude by affirming participants' motivations for attending. Express your hope that this be a place where they can deepen and grow their spirituality.
Including All Participants
If you notice participants struggling to hear one another in their small groups, allow some groups to leave the room and find a quieter space. If you two to three participants require ASL interpretation and you have only one interpreter, put those participants in the same group. If you have more than three participants needing ASL interpretation, find a second interpreter to help.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather participants around the altar or centering table. Affirm the good work that participants have done in this workshop.
Offer an opportunity for the group to reflect back over the workshop, seeking what are sometimes called "like and wishes." Ask participants, if they wish, to briefly share something they particularly liked about their experience and one thing they wish for in the future. If the group is small or there is extra time, allow participants to speak freely. If the group is large or time is tight, limit people's sharing so that all who wish to will have the opportunity.
Distribute and explain your customized Taking It Home handout. Indicate that each workshop will include a similar handout with ideas for how to continue exploring the workshop's subject with friends and family.
Make any announcements concerning the next meeting, especially any changes to routine (such as a change in meeting time or place, a guest presenter, etc.).
Close the workshop with this ritual: The leader takes the hand of the person on his/her right while saying, "I put my hand in yours so that we might do together what we cannot do alone." That person, still holding the leader's hand, then takes the hand of the person on his/her right, saying the same thing. When this saying has gone completely around the circle, and everyone is holding hands, the workshop has ended. Extinguish the chalice.
Including All Participants
Be sure to be inclusive of people with a variety of living situations—living alone, with a significant other, in a family, with housemates, etc.—in the way you explain the Taking It Home activities.
You may wish to adapt the closing ritual to make it more comfortable for people who are averse to holding hands. You can change the words to "I reach out to you so that we might do together what we cannot do alone" and change the accompanying gesture to reaching rather than holding hands.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
After the workshop, co-leaders should make a time to get together to evaluate this workshop and plan future workshops. Use these questions to guide your shared reflection and planning:
TAKING IT HOME
Share the "Eight Spheres of Spiritual Growth" model with a friend, housemate, or family member. Talk about the kinds of spiritual practices you have engaged in and those you wish to learn more about, and ask the same of your conversation partner.
If you have children in your life, discuss spirituality with them. Try coming up with a definition of spirituality that is meaningful to you and also makes sense to them. Talk with them about things you do, and things they can do, to connect with the Spirit of Life—things like prayers at the table or at bedtime, or sitting quietly to meditate.
Take some time in your journal to reflect on your lifelong spiritual journey. When you were a child, what (if anything) were you taught or shown about practicing spirituality? What practices have you engaged in as a child, youth, and adult? How have your spiritual ideas and needs changed throughout your life? What practices might speak to those ideas and address those needs today?
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: FILLING IN THE SPHERES (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity is designed to follow Activity 4: Introduction to Spirit in Practice.
Divide participants into eight groups. Invite each group to move next to one of the circles representing a sphere of spiritual growth. Ask the groups to use the markers to write down as many spiritual practices as they can think of that are related to the sphere they're considering. After three minutes, ask the groups to rotate to their right and take some time writing down more practices on another sphere. Rotate one more time, so that each group has had the chance to consider three spheres.
Alternatively, hand out the self-stick notes on which you have written the names of spiritual practices. Give several to each participant. Ask participants to affix the notes to the circles. Point out that some practices will be hard to categorize.
When all of the practices have been identified, ask participants to take a few minutes to read what has been identified in the various spheres. Invite discussion with these or similar questions:
Conclude by addressing any questions or concerns that were brought up in the course of the activity. Affirm the good work of the group. Emphasize that spiritual practice, like spiritual growth, is something that can change and be adapted throughout our lives according to who we are and where we find ourselves.
Including All Participants
If some participants in your group are unable to move to the circular newsprint on the wall, bring the newsprint to them so that they can participate.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALING (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
If you choose, introduce the expectation that participants will journal regularly throughout the Spirit in Practice workshop series. (This would be a good time to pass out notebooks, if you are providing them.) Otherwise, simply introduce journaling as a time-honored, powerful, and fun spiritual practice.
Ask whether any participants already have a journaling practice. Encourage those who do to share briefly about it, noting especially any benefits they've observed in their own lives. Then elicit a list of hurdles and difficulties people have had with journaling. Record these on newsprint.
Emphasize that there is no one right way to journal. Entries can take the form of lists; disjointed thoughts doodled on the page; traditional narrative; a letter to God, a revered ancestor, a valued teacher, or a dear friend; ruminations on questions raised by the workshops; a record of dreams; or virtually anything else.
Encourage participants not to let assumptions about journaling keep them from the practice of journaling. Instead, encourage them to use the journal in whatever way keeps them using it, and to call that "journaling."
Note that these journals are for the participants' own private use—no one will be compelled to share anything they've entered. At the same time, everyone is strongly encouraged to make regular entries, at least for the duration of this course.
If time permits, invite participants to make their first entry now. If they would like, they can journal about what brought them here and what they hope to receive.
Including All Participants
Due to learning differences or personal preference, some participants may not enjoy writing. You can encourage these participants to draw in their journals or to simply sit in silent reflection during the journaling time.
SPIRIT IN PRACTICE: WORKSHOP 1:
STORY: THE WANDERING TEACHER
Once upon a time there was a Teacher who was known far and wide as one who had mastered all the great disciplines of a spiritual seeker. She wandered the country, and whenever people heard she was near, they traveled to seek her wisdom and her guidance.
“Great Teacher,” one would say, “I wish to get closer to God.” “By what path do you travel now?” she would ask. “I study the scriptures, diligently applying myself day and night to unlocking their mysteries,” might come the reply. “Then you should put down your books and walk in the woods—thinking nothing, but listening deeply.”
Another would say, “I do good to every person I meet, doing all that I can to serve their needs.” “Then for a time,” the Teacher would reply, “consider yourself well met and strive to serve your own needs as you have so well served others.”
One day the Teacher noticed someone in the back of the crowd, someone not pushing his way to her as most of the others did. She went to him. “What is it I can do for you?” she asked.
“I do not know,” he relied. “I feel in need of something, but I do not believe in God and have nothing you could call a ‘practice.’” “When do you feel most alive?” the Teacher asked. “When I am playing with my children,” the man said without hesitation. “Then play with your children,” said the Teacher. “And you will find what you seek.”
SPIRIT IN PRACTICE: WORKSHOP 1:
HANDOUT: EIGHT SPHERES OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Personal Spiritual Practices: These are practices done alone and, perhaps, daily—such as meditation, dream work, journaling, prayer, and so on. They’re what most people think of when they hear the words “spiritual practice.”
Communal Worship Practices: Although Unitarian Universalists affirm the uniqueness and individual nature of a person’s spiritual path, our movement is also founded on a belief that community is essential to that journey. Regular engagement with communal worship—the ongoing and collective search for truth and meaning—is one way of supporting this belief.
Spiritual Partnerships: Spiritual development is hard work, and most faith traditions affirm the usefulness of companions on the journey. A spiritual partnership can take the form of participation in a small group, a one-on-one relationship with another congregant, spiritual guidance with a minister, or one’s own personal therapy. What matters most is the intentional relationship with another person and a mutual commitment to the journey.
Mind Practices: Could a program of spiritual development be Unitarian Universalist without an intellectual component? This is a role of adult religious education: book studies, film discussions, lectures, adult forums, scripture studies, courses in UU history, and other RE offerings are all ways to fulfill this dimension of a “rich, integrated program.”
Body Practices: We know that mind, body, and soul are interconnected. Doesn’t it make sense, then, that a well-rounded spiritual practice includes some kind of physical practice? It might be running, sitting, gardening, tai chi, massage, or virtually anything else that keeps us in touch with the miracle of our physical selves.
Soul Practices: These are the practices that exercise our creative selves—drawing, painting, sculpting, music, poetry, and other creative endeavors. It has been said that the Biblical expression that humans are “made in the image of God” means that we are made to be creative.
Life Practices: Religious traditions from around the world agree that we eventually need to take what we do in private and in our congregations and bring it out into the rest of our lives—in our relationships with our family members, in our workplaces, in our interactions with strangers.
Justice Practices: A fully mature spirituality does not stop at the goal of transforming oneself, but must extend beyond oneself—to others—and include a vision of transforming the world.
SPIRIT IN PRACTICE: WORKSHOP 1:
HANDOUT: SPIRIT IN PRACTICE SERIES SCHEDULE
[Add location of workshops]
WORKSHOP 1: Toward a Rich and Meaningful Unitarian Universalist Spirituality
[Date and Time]
WORKSHOP 2: Personal Spiritual Practices
[Date and Time]
WORKSHOP 3: Communal Worship Practices
[Date and Time]
WORKSHOP 4: Spiritual Partnerships
[Date and Time]
WORKSHOP 5: Mind Practices
[Date and Time]
WORKSHOP 6: Body Practices
[Date and Time]
WORKSHOP 7: Soul Practices
[Date and Time]
WORKSHOP 8: Life Practices
[Date and Time]
WORKSHOP 9: Justice Practices
[Date and Time]
WORKSHOP 10: Looking Back and Moving Forward
[Date and Time]
SPIRIT IN PRACTICE: WORKSHOP 1:
LEADER RESOURCE: A PARTIAL LIST OF POSSIBLE SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
Spirit in Practice
Workshop 1
Leader Resource 1
journaling
meditation
UU prayer beads
fasting
peace vigils
listening to a friend
listening to music
serving on the congregation’s Board of Trustees
needlepoint
antiracism work
writing letters to the editor
painting
therapy
volunteering in the community
cardio kickboxing
bath time with your kids
saying “hello” to cashiers and clerks
dancing
reflecting on the past week’s sermon
teaching RE
going on retreat
washing dishes
taking a bubble bath
chanting
camping
sacred reading
running
random acts of kindness
creating sacred space
giving change to the homeless
pledging to the congregation
being respectful of others
tai chi
going to an art museum
making pottery
attending worship
living with cancer
caring for an ailing parent
living simply
taking time to meditate about family and friends
writing haiku
a book study
playing an instrument
playing with children
praying
yoga
reading poetry
keeping Sabbath
hosting coffee hour
having dinner with friends
studying astronomy
quilting
cycling
recycling
family dinners
tipping large
giving coworkers the benefit of the doubt
singing in the choir
nature walks
recognizing the seed of goodness in the people you work with
working for social change
meditating at your workstation
reciting mantras
reflecting and journaling
e-mailing your governmental representatives
listening to a coworker who’s grieving
grief
gardening
learning about the universe
studying evolution
FIND OUT MORE
Spirituality and Practice: Resources for S (at www.spiritualityandpractice.com/) p (at www.spiritualityandpractice.com/) iritual Journeys (at www.spiritualityandpractice.com/)
Zen Mountain Monastery's Eight Gates Training Program (at www.mro.org/zmm/training/eightgates.php)
The Council on Spiritual Practices (at www.csp.org/)
Alexander, Scott, ed. Everyday Spiritual Practice: Simple Pathways for Enriching Your Life (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=597) (at secure.uua.org/bookstore/product_info.php?cPath=13&products_id=972) . Skinner House Books, 1999.
Andrew, Elizabeth . Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=629). Skinner House Books, 2004.