Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

• Handout 3, Faith, Dreams, and Values
• Leader Resource 3, Big Money Picture Scenarios
• Newsprint, markers (three bold colors), and tape

Preparation for Activity

• Review Handout 3. Copy it for all participants.
• Choose two or three scenarios from Leader Resource 3, Big Money Picture Scenarios. On a separate sheet of newsprint for each scenario, draw three circles that overlap (a Venn diagram—see Handout 3), each circle with a different color marker. Write the sentence describing the scenario at the top of the paper, and label the three circles Practical Considerations, Values, UU Principles and Theology. Set these sheets aside.
• Write the following questions on a fresh sheet of newsprint, and post:
  • What is the role of money in these scenarios?
  • How can we more closely align our actions with our values?
  • What might be some barriers to acting in accordance with our values? Where do the barriers come from (family, work, community)?
  • What might change in this scenario if money were not a factor?
  • What would it look like to have all three circles in alignment? Is that possible? What might make it possible?

Description of Activity

Say:

We will use some practical scenarios to begin to think about the connections between values, practical considerations, and faith in our everyday financial decision making.

Call attention to the newsprint depicting the first scenario you chose. Ask:

• What are the practical financial considerations in this scenario?
• What values come into play?
• What, in your understanding, does our Unitarian Universalist faith say about this scenario?

Keep the pace quick as you list practical considerations, values, and faith commitments related to this scenario. Then lead a group conversation using the questions posted on newsprint as a guide. Move on to process additional scenarios as time allows. Ask: “What scenarios offer an easy opportunity to act in accordance with our values? Why is that?”

Then distribute Handout 3, Faith, Dreams, and Values, and invite participants to begin to consider how their everyday financial decisions are aligned with their faith, their dreams, and their values. Explain that in workshops to come, the group will explore these issues more deeply.