Activity 2: The Almighty Love
Part of Faith like a River
Activity time: 15 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Handout 1, The Almighty Love
- Copies of Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook
- Optional: Piano or keyboard
Preparation for Activity
- Copy Handout 1, The Almighty Love.
- Become comfortable singing Theodore Parker's lyrics (Handout 1) to one of the tunes provided for Hymns 322 or 370 in Singing the Living Tradition.
- Optional: Arrange for an accompanist to play the hymn.
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity in these words or your own:
Both the Unitarian and Universalist traditions have a rich history of hymnody, the art of writing music for the church. Many Unitarian Universalists enjoy singing hymns, despite the old joke, "Why are UUs so bad at singing hymns? Because they're always reading ahead to see if they agree with the lyrics!" Historically, hymns have been signposts that show the evolution of our theology and our social justice concerns.
Distribute Handout 1 and lead participants to sing the hymn together or read the lyrics aloud together.
After singing, ask:
- According to Parker's lyrics, what is the nature of God?
- Is Parker's naturalism an attractive concept for you?