CREATING HOME
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 2: SYMBOLS OF FAITH
BY JESSICA YORK AND CHRISTY OLSON
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/7/2014 12:35:06 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
We see in the world around us many symbols that teach us the meaning of life. You could notice if you wanted to, but you are usually too busy. We Indians live in a world of symbols and images where the spiritual and the commonplace are one. — John Fire/Lame Deer and Richard Erodes
Session 2 of Creating Home will discuss the chalice in detail including the sacred circles that surround the chalice. The session also introduces the hymn "Spirit of Life" as a symbol of Unitarian Universalist communities. The children will work to design their own symbol to represent their own faith. Exploring symbols of faith helps children develop the ability to articulate and define what they believe. This ability to define what we believe as Unitarian Universalists is an important skill for children to acquire.
Developmentally, symbolic learning is a hard concept for children before the age of nine. Symbols represent something else, often something abstract. Children perceive, understand, and express themselves concretely. Yet, children can cultivate their skills of observation, reflection, and making connections. In Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions, Lame Deer reminds us that to understand symbols we must be less busy and more observant. In this session, children slow down and really look at the chalice and the hymn, "Spirit of Life." They will identify other things in their community of faith that they believe are symbols. Symbols can be personal. As participants explore this topic, no identification of a faith symbol is wrong.
This session may be some children's first explicit encounter with the idea of a "symbol." The Opening includes an easy example to share with the group, based on the shape we call a heart, that will help them understand how a familiar shape is a symbol that represents something else.
As you continue the opening and closing rituals introduced in Session 1, be alert to what children do and do not remember about the rituals. Invite new observations and questions about the labyrinth and the term "threshold" as they spend more time with these concepts. Remember that the name stones will be used each session and some children may have been absent during Session 1. Allow time for the new children to decorate their stones.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
ACTIVITY | MINUTES |
Opening | 10 |
Activity 1: Story — Flame of Learning, Chalice of Love | 5 |
Activity 2: Connecting Circles | 10 |
Activity 3: Spirit of Life Wrist Scarf Dance | 10 |
Activity 4: Our Own Faith Symbols | 15 |
Activity 5: Circle Round the Chalice | 5 |
Faith in Action: Refugees' New Homes — Long-term | 10 |
Faith in Action: Homeless People's Needs — Short-term | 45 |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: Wax-resistant Chalice Painting | 15 |
Alternate Activity 2: Stained Glass Chalice | 20 |
Alternate Activity 3: Circle Connect Us | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Sit or stand and close your eyes. Holding the chalice, explore it with your hands. Touch the base. Feel the curve of the bowl. Breathe deeply and be open to what the chalice symbolizes to you about the Unitarian Universalist faith. Try not to limit your thoughts to preconceived ideas about the chalice. Open your heart and mind to new meanings.
Open your eyes and look at the chalice. How is it different than what your hands told you? What things can be known without sight?
Now think about the children in this group. In what ways are they different than you expected? Is there one child that has an unexpected shine? Open your heart, mind, eyes, ears and hands to the children this week and to new possibilities in how they see the symbol of the chalice.
SESSION PLAN
OPENING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As children enter, invite them to retrieve their name stones from the basket and join you at the labyrinth. The labyrinth should be spread on the floor with the chalice in the center and matches or a lighter at hand if needed.
Be aware that some children may not have chosen a name stone and will need to do that now. Always have extra stones so you can offer the newcomers and any guests a chance to be part of the ritual. Being welcoming in this way models the ritual of hospitality the group will formally explore in Session 12: John Murray.
When all are seated, light the chalice and recite these opening words. Invite everyone to say with you:
We are Unitarian Universalists,
with minds that think,
hearts that love,
and hands that are ready to serve.
Tell the children that one at a time, they may place their stones upon the labyrinth. You may say:
This labyrinth reminds us that we are taking a journey together. Every session is yet another portion of that journey. Each time we meet, you will be asked to place your name stone within the labyrinth. Each stone is a symbol of us as members of this Creating Home community. While placing your stones, please say your name and share any joys or concerns you have had since we last met. Joys are the things that make you feel happy and concerns are worries. Sharing our joys and concerns with each other is a tradition in our faith community."
Invite children to come up, one at a time, to place his/her stone upon the labyrinth, say his/her name, and voice any joys and concerns. You may have to prompt each individual participant until the group gets used to this opening ritual. When all have placed their name stones on the labyrinth, affirm, "It is very good to be together."
Tell the group that today's session introduces some symbols of our Unitarian Universalist faith. You may say, in your own words:
A symbol can be a picture, an object, a song, or anything that stands for something else. Usually, the "something else" is something you can't see, like a feeling, or an idea, or something really big, like a whole country. Symbols can make it easy for us to share feelings and ideas with one another.
Extinguish the chalice.
Now, ask the children to touch the place on their body where their heart is (and demonstrate). Ask if any of them know what the heart inside their body looks like. If you have brought a picture of a real heart, show them. Then ask the children to draw a heart with their fingers in the air. Most children will draw the heart shape. If you have brought a picture of the heart shape, show it to the group. Or, draw the heart shape on the newsprint you have posted.
Ask what children think of when they see the heart shape. Most will say "love" or "I love you." You can explain to children that the heart shape is a symbol for the heart inside our bodies, which we can't actually see, and a symbol for love, which is a feeling that we cannot actually see.
Ask the group if they can think of any other symbols. You can prompt them with:
If you have brought symbols, show them to the group. Or, you may draw them on newsprint.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — FLAME OF LEARNING, CHALICE OF LOVE (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, children explore the importance of the chalice symbol. Although some participants may have already heard the story of the Unitarian Universalist symbol, and you will return to it later in this session if you do Activity 2: Connecting Circles, the story has a special purpose here. Use the story to build children's understanding of symbols of faith — why we need them, and what makes a good symbol.
As children sit in a circle, tell the story slowly, so they have time to put the words they hear into images.
When you finish the story, lead a discussion with these questions:
ACTIVITY 2: CONNECTING CIRCLES (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Using flashlights, the children will explore the importance of the two overlapping circles in the Unitarian Universalist chalice symbol.
If the group heard the story, "Flame of Learning, Chalice of Love" in Activity 1, you can tell them the original drawing of the chalice in a circle was fine for a while. After the Unitarians joined together with the Universalists, some people felt they should have a new symbol that would include everyone and show that the two groups were now one.
You may say:
The Unitarians and the Universalists thought about faith and worship in very similar ways. When these two faith communities decided to join together, the Unitarians already had their own chalice symbol, with one circle around it, which they liked very much.
Show the children the chalice symbol with the overlapping circles by holding up and then passing around the hymnbook and other items you have brought. Ask them to look carefully and see if they can find the way the symbol shows that two groups are together as one group. Prompt them, or tell them, that the circle around the chalice is really two, overlapping circles.
Say, in your own words:
See how the symbol of our Unitarian Universalist faith has more than one part. Let's look at each of the different parts: the flame, the chalice cup, and the circles. Each part is also a symbol.
The flame stands for spirit. The chalice cup stands for community. Our symbol shows the way community holds and protects the spirit. The two circles stand for our Unitarian and Universalist faith traditions. "Faith traditions" means the things we do as Unitarian Universalists to show how we care about spirit, and community. Unitarian Universalism is a faith where there is more than one way to care about spirit and community.
The chalice being on the side, instead of in the middle, stands for another important idea of Unitarian Universalists: There is always room for more ideas and new ways in our faith.
Explain that they will use flashlights to learn something about circles, but first you will need to turn out the lights. Prepare the children for darkening the room. You might even ask for a volunteer to turn off the lights. If you have decided to relocate to another room that can more easily be darkened, bring the two flashlights and lead participants there now.
Turn the flashlights on. Choose two volunteers to hold the flashlights. You may want to choose two who seem especially fearful of the dark.
Once you have darkened the room, position yourself between the children who are holding the flashlights. Ask them to shine the beams on a wall or the ceiling to show two separate circles. Ask the group to say what they notice about the circles.
Now have the children experiment with putting the flashlight closer to the wall or ceiling, or further away. What happens to the circles? See if the children can figure out how to put one circle inside of the other circle.
Remind the group that the Unitarian Universalist chalice symbol includes two circles that are not one inside the other, but overlapping. Give two other children the flashlights and ask them to try to make the two circles connect in one place. You may choose another pair of participants to try to make the circles connect in two places, so they overlap as they do in the chalice symbol.
Turn on the lights and collect the flashlights. If you are away from your meeting room, lead the group back.
You may wish to ask children what they think about the chalice and overlapping circles as a faith symbol. Allow as much discussion as you have time for; it leads directly into Activity 5: Our Own Faith Symbols.
ACTIVITY 3: "SPIRIT OF LIFE" WRIST SCARF DANCE (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Ask the children to gather in a circle, with their colorful scarves if they have brought them from home. Wrist scarves are easily made by children, if you have not made them ahead of time. Tell the group they will learn the song, "Spirit of Life" — a popular hymn sung in many Unitarian Universalist congregations. Then they will put on wrist scarves to accompany their own singing with improvisational dance.
"Spirit of Life" has become symbolic of Unitarian Universalist faith values of compassion and love. The phrase "Roots hold me close, wings set me free" expresses the power of a home, and the importance of leaving home for journeys. Share these ideas with the children.
First, have participants listen to the song.
Then, teach the words. Sing each phrase of the song and ask the group to sing the phrase back to you. Then, sing two phrases together and ask the group to sing these back to you. Finally, sing the whole song with the group.
Now distribute wrist scarves if you have made them ahead of time, or distribute ponytail holders and help each child tie his/her scarf to a hair tie. Show the children how to knot a scarf around a hair tie, and then slide a hand into the hair tie to make a wrist scarf. Allow them to experiment with their wrist scarves.
Play the recording of "Spirit of Life," inviting participants to sing along. Or, lead the group in singing "Spirit of Life" together.
Invite the children to dance creatively with their wrist scarves as they sing the song and/or hear the recording. Encourage participants to move and dance to feel and see the energy and color of their wrist scarves.
Related content:
ACTIVITY 4: OUR OWN FAITH SYMBOLS (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Learning to articulate one's beliefs is an important goal of Unitarian Universalist religious education for all ages. In this activity, children create symbols to represent their individual faiths based on simple shapes.
Before asking children to choose or create symbols to represent their faith, first lead a discussion to help them shape a working idea of what faith is. Refer to Leader Resource 3: Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Faith in Children's Language. (included in this document)
Ask the group:
Does anyone know what "faith" means?
Allow some responses, if any are forthcoming. Then tell the children, in these words or your own:
Your faith has to do with the things you believe are true, and the way you try to live your life. Children your age are not too young to have some ideas about your faith. Today you have a chance to think about some of the things you believe in, and the ways you think it is important to live every day. Then, you will choose or create a symbol for your own, personal faith.
Now say:
Adult Unitarian Universalists agree on a few things we believe and value. Some of these ideas may be part of your faith. Listen carefully and see if there are any you especially agree with.
Slowly read aloud the Principles from Leader Resource 3, pausing after each.
Invite the group:
Does anyone want to mention one of these ideas that sounded pretty good to you? One that is part of what you believe?
Invite discussion.
Arrange participants at worktables and distribute Handout 1, My Faith Symbol. Hold up a blank handout and show the children where they can write their names. Help those who need help. Point out that the middle of the handout is empty. Before they begin tracing and drawing, the children may investigate the shapes on their tables.
Invite them to choose one or more shapes that mean something to them to trace onto their handout. Tell them you will come around to speak with each child individually and will be glad to hear about their faith symbol or help them if they do not yet have an idea about what their faith symbol could be. You may say:
Please choose shapes that remind you of your faith. When I come over to you, be ready to tell me why you picked the shape you picked to be your personal faith symbol. If you are still deciding, I will be glad to help you think about which shapes could be in your faith symbol.
Visit each child. Be sure that on the children's names are on the handouts. Help those who have not written their names. Ask each child to tell you why he/she chose the shape(s) they did for a faith symbol. Print the child's spoken words on the handout, in the space provided at the bottom.
Press a short strip of magnetic tape onto the back of each handout. Invite the children to display their faith symbols on their refrigerators at home.
ACTIVITY 5: CIRCLE ROUND THE CHALICE (5 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
An active singing game helps children experience the connectedness symbolized by the flaming chalice and overlapping circles. Invite participants to stand in a circle and hold hands. Choose one child to sit in the middle of the circle; tell the group that he/she is going to be a symbol of the chalice.
Lead the group in singing one of these short songs. If you prefer the tune to "London Bridge Is Falling Down," teach the group to sing:
Round the chalice we will go,
We will go, we will go.
Round the chalice we will go.
Bound by love.
If you prefer the tune to "Go Round and Round the Village," teach the group to sing:
Go round and round the chalice.
Go round and round the chalice.
Go round and round the chalice.
Our circle has no end.
Direct the participants in the circle to travel counterclockwise around the "chalice" as they sing. Tell them that on the last word of the song, all participants who are walking should quickly sit down. Then, let the "chalice" choose a new participant to sit in the middle.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the group in a circle around the labyrinth. Relight the chalice. Invite the children to take their stones from the labyrinth, place them in the basket, and return to the circle.
If you have a Word Wall, say:
The words for our World Wall today are "chalice" and "symbol."
Show the group the index cards or post-its on which you have written "chalice" and "symbol." Post them on the Word Wall, or ask a volunteer to do it.
Ask a few volunteers to help you fold or roll the labyrinth and put it away.
Next, invite everyone to hold hands and sing just the chorus to "When Our Heart Is in a Holy Place ," Hymn 1008 in Singing the Journey.
If you prefer, invite participants to recite the words to the song:
When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place.
We are blessed with love and amazing grace.
When our heart is in a holy place.
Say in your own words:
Today we talked about the faith symbols of our Unitarian Universalist faith home. We learned about the chalice and the two, connecting circles surrounding the chalice. We learned an important hymn and we designed our own faith symbols.
Each of you is an important connection in our group circle. I'm glad you were here and I look forward to having you cross the threshold again next time."
Extinguish the chalice.
Distribute the Taking It Home handout you have prepared. Remind the children to give the handout to their parents, and dismiss the group.
Related content:
FAITH IN ACTION: REFUGEES' NEW HOMES — LONG-TERM (45 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Sometimes people need to leave their family home forever. Wars and natural disasters are the most common reasons.
Ask the children if they can think of any situations like that. Some may be aware of the Gulf Coast hurricanes; others may know a family who came to the U.S. from another country because of a war.
Tell the children that people often give money or time to help refugees create new family homes. Ask the group what they think a refugee family might need for their new home. You may want to remind them about the importance of a threshold, if they have investigated thresholds in Session 1. Maybe a family would like something to decorate the threshold of their new home.
List the children’s suggestions on the newsprint. You need not write down every idea, but be sure to thank all contributors for their ideas.
Complete the list with information you have obtained about the donations a refugee aid association will welcome. Compare with the brainstorm. What needed items surprise participants?
Make a plan for collecting items to provide to the refugee organization. If you have created a permission slip and/or a request for parent volunteers, distribute these now.
See Session 3, Faith in Action: Refugees’ New Homes for next steps in implementing this long-term activity.
Children will internalize the chalice story by participating in a Faith in Action project to help homeless people, who are refugees in our own country. This special population needs care, concern, and practical help to find the everyday comforts of home without a permanent place to live.
Arrange for the children to make personal care kits to distribute at an agency that serves homeless adults or families. Children can bring new, unused tooth brushes, soap packets, and other items to include in the bags. Add these to items you have secured from local hotels’ housekeeping departments.
Children can sort the donated items – toothpaste, shampoo, etc. – and then package a variety of items into each plastic bag. You can have children make an assembly line and pass each bag around, or allow each child to carry a bag around the circle to select items for one bag at a time.
You may like to have the children draw pictures to include in the bags. Adults should deliver the personal care bags to the homeless agency.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
When you prepared yourself spiritually for this session you asked yourself several questions about the children in the group. Think now about what you learned within the sacred circle these children represent. How can what you learned help you to teach better in the next session, when you will learn about bee communities together? How are you building new friendships, new relationships with parents, and new understandings about our Unitarian Universalist faith home?
TAKING IT HOME
We see in the
IN TODAY’S SESSION…
We explored together what a symbol is, and experienced ritual involving two symbols of our Unitarian Universalist faith: the flaming chalice and the song “Spirit of Life.” We created faith symbols of our own, and danced to “Spirit of Life” as ways of deepening our connection with our UU faith home.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about…
This week our class expanded our discussion of home by talking about symbols of our faith home. But our homes themselves can be symbols of what is important to us. As a family, look around your house and ask “What does our home say about us and what we like? What would someone looking at our house think was important to our family?”
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try…
A Family Game
Symbols for everyone! To play a fun game involving symbols, have your family sit in a circle. Each person should come up with a gesture to symbolize themselves. This gesture might represent something they like to do, a personal value such as kindness or a personal characteristic such as long hair. Once everyone has created a symbol, have one person begin by doing his/her symbol and then the symbol of another family member. The person “named” by their symbolic gesture does their symbol and then another person’s, etc. Try to keep the game going as quickly and smoothly as possible, moving from one person’s gesture to the next.
A Family Ritual
Faith home meets family home. Try a week of evening rituals related to chalice-lighting. You can use a chalice, a candle, an LED/battery-operated chalice light, or the stained glass chalice your child made in this session. Use any words you like as a blessing as you light the chalice. You may like to use these words, which your child heard during the chalice-making activity:
The chalice is a symbol of the Unitarian Universalist tradition. It is a symbol for love, freedom, community, and light.
You may wish to help your child light the chalice him/herself.
Include some discussion each evening about the roles faith and your faith home play in your family life. Here are some questions you may use. There is one for each day:
Day 1 – What is our faith home and why do we attend there?
Day 2 – How is our faith home connected to our family home?
Day 3 –Where do we see circles in the world? What do the circles mean?
Day 4 – Why is the flaming chalice a symbol of our faith home?
Day 5 – What might be a personal faith symbol for each of us?
Day 6 – How can we, as Unitarian Universalists, make a difference in the world?
Day 7 – Where do we learn the most about our faith community?
FAMILY DISCOVERY
The flaming chalice. For an account of the Unitarian Service Committee’s creation of the flaming chalice symbol during World War II, read the story, “Circles of Light,” adapted from a story in A Lamp in Every Corner: A Unitarian Universalist Storybook (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=707) by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2004). A religious educator in Maryland, Grohsmeyer offers 21 stories in her book that communicate about Unitarian Universalism in a lively way for learners of all ages, along with suggestions for the novice storyteller.
A pamphlet by Dan Hotchkiss (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=524), available from the Unitarian Universalist Association online bookstore, tells the history of the flaming chalice symbol.
A 2003 sermon by Rev. Galen Guengerich (at www.allsoulsnyc.org/publications/sermons/ggsermons/loves-fire.html), Senior Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in Manhattan, discusses a range of meanings Unitarian Universalists may find in the flaming chalice symbol.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: WAX-RESISTANT CHALICE PAINTING (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The chalice symbols used by Unitarian Universalist congregations are line drawings that participants can individualize with color. Gather participants at worktables and distribute the photocopies you have made of one or both of these chalice illustrations.
Tell the group:
You can use the chalice drawing to create a symbol of your faith home, our Unitarian Universalist congregation. You can bring this symbol to your family home, at the end of our session today.
Invite participants to color hard with different colored crayons in each part of the chalice illustration (but not so hard as to tear the paper). As participants color, remind them that each part of the chalice picture is important to the whole faith symbol. Identify the two circles in the painting, the flame, and the chalice itself.
When the whole picture is colored, ask children to paint over the whole page with blue tempera paint. The results will be a beautiful unique chalice painting that tells the story of the faith symbol.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: STAINED GLASS CHALICE (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Tell participants they will construct a chalice — a symbol of their faith home, your Unitarian Universalist congregation that they can take with them to use in their family homes. You may say:
The chalice is a symbol of the Unitarian Universalist tradition. It is a symbol for love, freedom, community, and light.
Distribute glue mixture, Pyrex or heat-resistant cups, squares of colored tissue, paint brushes, and pipe cleaners in assorted colors to participants at their work tables.
Invite the children to lightly brush some glue on their individual cups, and begin adding pieces of tissue paper. They may add as many layers of tissue paper as they wish. As participants layer the colors, a stained glass effect will appear. Demonstrate for participants how to brush a layer of glue mixture over each new layer of tissue to smooth it. If you are using measuring cups with red gradient lines, three layers of tissue paper will cover the red lines.
Chalices will dry in about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, help the children each make two circles with 18-inch colored pipe cleaners. Allow participants to choose the colors they wish to use, and ask them to explain why they chose those colors. Tell the children they may add their two circles anywhere around the chalice as long as the circles are connected to each other and to the chalice.
You may wish to give each child a votive or tea light candle to take home with his/her chalice. If you have suggested a chalice-lighting ritual and safety practices in your Taking It Home section to help families use the chalice with their children, remind children to share the handout with their parents.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: CIRCLE CONNECT US (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Children connect circles by making paper chains. This activity reinforces the meaning of two connecting circles of the chalice symbol.
Show the children how to make the first circle and then how to connect the circles and make a chain. Distribute paper and tape or glue.
While participants work, tell them that the chains they are making can be a faith symbol. Just as the two overlapping circles on the chalice symbol represent the Unitarians and the Universalists joining together as a single community of faith, these paper chains symbolize how in Creating Home we come together and create our community of faith.
Point out that the paper chain the children are making is a symbol. You may want to ask them what they think it stands for. Encourage responses. Tell them that the paper chain could be a symbol for the way the group is made up of many different people. Invite them to elaborate on that idea, or offer other ideas.
Invite children to write their own names on the pieces of paper, or decorate the paper with their faith symbols (if you have done Activity 4, Our Own Faith Symbols, and have the tracing materials handy) before adding the paper links to the chain.
Some participants will want to do nothing else but make paper chains. Use the chains to decorate your meeting space, or allow participants to take their chains home.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 2:
STORY: CIRCLES OF LIGHT
Janeen K. Grohsmeyer, adapted from the story, “Circles of Light: The Flaming Chalice”
In the dark nights and the darker days of World War II, guns blazed all over Europe and airplanes dropped death from the sky. Many people tried to escape from the war. These people were called refugees.
Some Unitarians in the United States decided to help the refugees and formed the Unitarian Service Committee. The committee members went to Europe to try to bring refugees safely out of the war. But the refugees came from many different countries. They spoke many different languages, like German, or Yiddish, or French, or Italian, or Polish, or Hungarian. Most of the refugees did not speak English. Most of the Unitarian committee members spoke only English. How could the Unitarians explain they were there to help? It was difficult for the refugees to understand them.
Dr. Charles Joy was in charge of the committee. He knew that the Unitarians needed a symbol everyone could recognize, no matter what language they spoke. It would have to be a picture, a symbol with no words. That way, anyone could understand the message: “We are here to help you.”
Dr. Joy asked an artist named Hans Deutsch for help. Maybe an artist could draw the right kind of picture that could be a symbol for the Unitarians. The two men met in Portugal. Mr. Deutsch understood why a picture would be helpful. He had come from Austria. But now he was a refugee, because of the war. In Portugal, people speak Portuguese. Mr. Deutsch was used to speaking German.
Mr. Deutsch made a drawing of a chalice with a flame, surrounded by a circle. He showed it to Dr. Joy. The symbol really worked. Soon refugees all over Europe began to see this symbol wherever the Unitarian Service Committee went to find and help them. When refugees saw the picture of a chalice, a flame, and a circle around the chalice that looked like it was protecting it, they knew they could trust the committee members. They did not need to speak English, or even know how to read, to understand the symbol. The picture gave the message of hope, freedom, and love that the refugees were looking for.
After the war was over, Unitarians began using the flaming chalice and its circle as a symbol in worship. Later, the Universalists joined the Unitarians to form the Unitarian Universalist Association and people started to draw the symbol with two circles, instead of one. One circle is for the Unitarians and one circle is for the Universalists. The circles are so close together that they overlap. The circles are connected, just as Unitarian Universalists believe that all of us are connected to one another.
The chalice is not in the exact middle of the circle. It is almost like the chalice has moved over to let something else come into the circle. This reminds us that as Unitarian Universalists, we always leave room for other ideas and other ways. There is always room for more in Unitarian Universalism.
We, as Unitarian Universalists, have all kinds of chalices. We light a chalice on Sunday morning in worship, and at other times when we gather in our faith home together. Some family homes use chalices during meals or on special occasions. Chalices come in lots of different shapes, sizes, and colors, just like Unitarian Universalists.
The flaming chalice is a faith symbol for the Unitarian Universalists. It is a symbol of learning, caring, and love. It is a symbol of hope, freedom, and light. It is our faith home symbol.
Related content:
CREATING HOME: SESSION 2:
STORY: FLAME OF LEARNING, CHALICE OF LOVE
Janeen Grohsmeyer
(Light a chalice, if there isn't already one lit, and have some matches at hand.)
Have you ever watched a candle burn?
(Lean forward to impart the secret.)
The fire is alive.
Watch it! It moves. It flickers. It dances on the wind. It changes with every breath of air. (Demonstrate this.)
Fire is alive. It is born. It grows. And it dies.
(Blow out candle.)
But fire is special. It can live again and again.
(Relight candle and reverently set the chalice someplace where participants can see it.)
People have always known that fire was special. Long, long ago, before people made matches or candles or even made houses, people knew that fire was special. There was the great fire in the sky, the sun, which made the earth warm and made night into day. And there were the smaller fires that people made, fires that cooked their food, and kept them warm, and brought them light.
People honored the fires, because fire was special. Fire was more than human.
Fire has power. It can create, and it can destroy. It can bring light, and it can burn. It can create, and it can destroy. Fire can be wonderful, and fire can be terrible. We have to be careful with fire.
And so, people thought that fire was something sacred and holy. Some people even worshiped fire, and said that fire was a deity, like a goddess or a god. Other people said fire wasn't actually the deity, but just meant that the deity was there.
No matter what they believed, people all over the world gave fire a special place in their religions. They had fires in their homes, of course, to cook food and keep warm, and they also had sacred fires in their temples. They set sacred lamps on their altars. They lit sacred bonfires outside on the hilltops and in the groves. They placed sacred torches near the graves of those who died.
We still do this today. In Washington, DC, near the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, burns an eternal flame that never goes out. In churches at Christmas time, many Christians light four candles on an Advent wreath. During the eight days of Hanukkah, Jews light the eight candles of the menorah. At Diwali, Hindus set small lamps all around the house.
And when Unitarian Universalists gather, we light a chalice. This is our sacred fire. The flame gives light and warmth, just like all fires. It's also a symbol, something we use to represent the light of learning.
The chalice is a symbol, too. A chalice is really just a big cup that you can drink from. When you're thirsty, the nicest thing someone can do is to give you something to drink. Giving a drink to someone is a way of welcoming them to your house. In a way, it means you're part of the same family, just like everyone here is part of the same family, the Unitarian Universalist family.
The picture of a flame in a chalice was first drawn by a man named Hans Deutsch during World War II for the Unitarian Service Committee. This was before your parents were born. During the war, the committee needed a symbol to show refugees from many different countries that they were there to help them. When refugees saw the picture of the flame in the chalice, it didn’t matter what language they spoke. They understood that the symbol stood for help. Unitarian Universalists started to use the flaming chalice in their worship services after that.
Just like the sacred fires, people have used chalices in their religions for thousands and thousands of years. Long ago, the Greeks and Romans put wine in their chalices. Other people have put water or blood or milk, or even melted butter in their chalices. The Celts believed that drinking from the cauldron of the Goddess Ceirdwyn would bring people back to life. Jesus shared a cup of wine with his friends. Many Christians still do this in religious celebrations today.
We Unitarian Universalists don't drink from our chalice. Instead, we use it to hold the flame. The circle of the chalice helps keep the fire small. The flame doesn't blind us. It doesn't burn us. It gives us light, so we can see all the different things in the universe. Even the invisible ones, because the Unitarian Universalist flame is a light of learning.
The circle of our family keeps us warm, both our family at home and our Unitarian Universalist family. We help each other, and we share food and drink with each other, and we take care of each other, because that's what families are supposed to do. And we invite everyone to come be a part of our family, because the Unitarian Universalist chalice is a chalice of love.
The flaming chalice is a symbol of learning and of love. It's our symbol, the symbol of Unitarian Universalism.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 2:
HANDOUT 1: MY FAITH SYMBOL
Download a high-resolution PDF (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/home/faithsym.pdf) for printing.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 2:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SERVICE COMMITTEE CHALICE
Download a high-resolution PDF (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/home/chalice.pdf) for printing.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 2:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: FAITH SYMBOL SHAPES
Download a high-resolution PDF (at www.uua.org/documents/tapestry/home/faithsymshapes.pdf) for printing.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 2:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST PRINCIPLES IN CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE
Unitarian Universalist Principles in Children’s Language
Use these versions of the Principles to guide a discussion about faith as children prepare to create their own faith symbols in Session 2, Activity 5:
1. We believe that each and every person is important.
2. We believe that all people should be treated fairly and kindly.
3. We believe that we should accept one another and keep on learning together.
4. We believe that each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life.
5. We believe that all persons should have a vote about the things that concern them.
6. We believe in working for a peaceful, fair, and free world.
7. We believe in caring for our planet Earth, the home we share with all living things.
CREATING HOME: SESSION 2:
LEADER RESOURCE 4: SCARF REQUEST
Dear Parents,
When Creating Home meets on [insert day, date], the children will learn the song “Spirit of Life,” Hymn 123 in Singing the Living Tradition, and improvise a dance to the song with wrist scarves which we will assemble during the session.
If you have a colorful, flowing scarf at home that your child can use to make a wrist scarf, please allow your child to bring the scarf on [date].
Thank you,
[Co-leaders]
Related content:
FIND OUT MORE
The Flaming Chalice
For a more detailed account of the Unitarian Service Committee's creation of the flaming chalice symbol during World War II, read the story, "Circles of Light," adapted from a story in (at secure.uua.org/bookstore/product_info.php?cPath=10&products_id=1343)A Lamp in Every Corner: A Unitarian Universalist Storybook (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=707) by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2004). A religious educator in Maryland, Grohsmeyer offers 21 stories that communicate about Unitarian Universalism in a lively way for learners of all ages, along with suggestions for the novice storyteller.
A pamphlet by Dan Hotchkiss (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=524), available from the Unitarian Universalist Association online bookstore, tells the history of the flaming chalice symbol.
A 2003 sermon by Galen Guengerich (at www.allsoulsnyc.org/publications/sermons/ggsermons/loves-fire.html), Senior Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in Manhattan , discusses a range of meanings Unitarian Universalists may find in the flaming chalice symbol.
For information about the sacred circle as a symbol in faith traditions other than Unitarian Universalism, check these links:
A website about Tibetan Buddhism and the mandala (at www.jyh.dk/indengl.htm) symbol
A scholarly paper about the meaning of the circle (at www.mi.sanu.ac.rs/vismath/reza/index.html).
A description of circles (at mathforum.org/~sanders/geometry/GP17Circle.html)at the Drexel University "Math Forum" website
The Call by David Spangler (New York: Riverhead Books, 1996) may be a good read for you to explore your own Unitarian Universalist identity. This short book about the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional values that inform our personal choices may illuminate your relationship with your Unitarian Universalist faith home and deepen your understanding of why you have chosen and continue to choose it.