LOVE CONNECTS US
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 13: A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE
BY MICHELLE RICHARDS AND LYNN UNGAR
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/7/2014 8:10:20 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
Say not 'I have found the truth,' but rather 'I have found a truth.' — Khalil Gibran, from The Prophet
Unitarian Universalism is a living tradition. We expect that what we find to be true may change over time as new life experiences shape our search. This session guides participants to "seek the truth in love" again and again as part of their own search for meaning. As they learn to anticipate a lifelong search for not one but many truths, they discover how the lens of our own experiences determines the truths we find.
Note: Some activities rely on participants' visual experience to teach the concepts of differing and changing perspectives. Assign a co-leader or another participant to describe what they see to any visually impaired participant, to enrich the activity for both. Also, look in the Including All Participants sections for specific activity adaptations to fully include a visually impaired child.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 10 |
Activity 1: Story — Filling the House | 15 |
Activity 2: Matter of Perspective | 10 |
Activity 3: Alternative Story Perspectives | 20 |
Faith in Action: Video Project | |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: Creating a Scavenger Hunt | 20 |
Alternate Activity 2: Seeking Truth in Song | 15 |
Alternate Activity 3: Solving and Making Mazes | 15 |
Alternate Activity 4: Journaling | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Find a place where you can be quiet with your thoughts. Close your eyes and breathe deeply for about five minutes, perhaps repeating a word or phrase to separate yourself from the activities of the day. When you feel settled and relaxed, think about how you perceived the world when you were a young child. What was your "lens" like then?
Now try to recall yourself at the same age as the children in the group:
Keep these thoughts in your mind as you lead this session and help participants explore our individual searches for truth in love.
SESSION PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Encourage early arriving participants to take a look at the optical illusions. Invite them to discover how changing their perspective can reveal a different image in the pictures.
Including All Participants
If the group includes visually impaired participants, take the time to plan a tactile experience of "changing perspective." Obtain some objects which can seem different, depending on what part of them you touch. Invite all participants to examine the objects using only touch.
OPENING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Love is the spirit of this church,
and service its law.
This is our great covenant:
To dwell together in peace,
To seek the truth in love,
And to help one another. — James Vila Blake
Description of Activity
Invite a participant to light the chalice. Lead the group to read aloud the Blake covenant. Say something like:
Today we will continue to explore how we covenant "to seek the truth in love."
Indicate the photos and pictures of optical illusions you have displayed. Ask volunteers to share their observations about the images and say which image is their favorite and explain why. Invite reflection with questions such as:
After everyone who wants to has shared, gather around the chalice and extinguish it together.
Including All Participants
If you know some participants may feel uncomfortable sharing in a group, let them know as they enter the room that later they will be invited to share their responses to the optical illusions. This may help them prepare; they can also pass. You might also consider forming small groups for children to respond to the optical illusions.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — FILLING THE HOUSE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Tell or read the story.
After the story, invite the group to be silent for a moment to think about it.
Begin a discussion by asking participants to recap the story in their own words. What they recall indicates what they found most meaningful or memorable.
Lead a discussion using questions such as:
Including All Participants
Provide a hard copy of the story for any hearing impaired participants and encourage them to read along as you tell the story.
ACTIVITY 2: MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to gather in a circle around the table so each person can see the tray of everyday objects. Encourage participants to call out, popcorn-style, the names of some of the objects.
Then ask participants to walk around the table, while staying in their circle, until each person is standing opposite the spot where they started. Ask them how their perspective has changed:
Now encourage participants to bend down or sit on the floor where they are, so they need to look up to see the tray of objects. Ask them again what has changed about their perspective:
Now encourage participants to lie down on the floor where they are. Invite them to consider this new perspective:
Now ask the participants to stand once again in a circle around the table. Remove the tray from the table and set it on the floor in the middle of the circle. Encourage participants to share their perceptions now from high above the tray:
Including All Participants
If any participants have mobility restrictions, consider having them assist you by directing the others to stand up, sit, or lie down. They can also be the one to call on volunteers to respond to questions about each new perspective.
You can offer the gist of this activity to a person with limited mobility by holding the tray of objects directly in front of them, high above them, and on the ground below them, inviting them each time to consider the new perspective with the questions provided. Use a similar method with a participant who cannot see: Guide them to touch the tray first when it is right in front of them and they can feel all the objects, and then when you hold it a bit higher and they can feel only the bottom of the tray.
ACTIVITY 3: ALTERNATIVE STORY PERSPECTIVES (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Form teams of three or four. Give each small group a storybook and invite them to rewrite the story from another perspective (for instance, tell the story of the three little pigs from the perspective of the wolf).
When the teams have completed their stories or time is up, invite each team to present their story to the group. Invite reflection with questions such as:
Including All Participants
Form teams with care. Allow for differences in writing ability, reading ability, learning style, and personality. Try to ensure that each team includes children who can generate ideas, some who can write ideas down, and some who can read the story aloud to the whole group.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the group in a circle. Invite a few volunteers to attach the optical illusions (Leader Resource 1) to the Rainbow Wall Hanging. When they return to the circle, encourage the group to engage in the closing ritual: Ask everyone to cross their arms in front of their body and then take the hands of the people next to them. Say "We are tied together by seeking the truth in love when we ... " Ask anyone who wishes to fill in a word or phrase about how we are tied together in a search for truth, in love. When everyone who wants to share has done so, open the circle by having everyone, while still holding hands, turn to their right, so that everyone is facing out and no longer has their arms crossed in front of their body.
Distribute copies of Taking It Home that you have prepared. Thank and dismiss participants.
FAITH IN ACTION: VIDEO PROJECT
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Form teams of three or four participants. Give each team a video kit and the assignment to interview people in the congregation about their search for truth.
Make sure each team is comfortable using their video equipment. Instruct them to rotate the jobs of interviewer, camera operator, and producer/director. The interviewer asks questions of the people who want to participate and holds the microphone, if there is one. The camera operator positions the camera (and holds it steady, if there is no tripod) and starts and stops taping. A producer/director can write down the names of the people the team interviews, decide where the interviewer and subject can stand for the interview, and get the next subject ready to be interviewed.
Interviewers might ask:
If an adult or youth in your congregation has the skill and equipment to edit the interviews together, ask them to do so. Show the finished project at a meeting of the group or the entire congregation. You might also post the interviews on your congregation's website, YouTube, or another website for others to see.
If a video project is not feasible, give the teams notepads and pens/pencils. After they conduct interviews and take notes, compile excerpts from the interviews into an article for a newspaper or your congregational newsletter or website.
Including All Participants
Some participants may be hesitant to approach members of the congregation and ask them questions; others may be nervous about using a camera. You could assign roles on each team instead of having the team members rotate. Or, suggest the children take on the technical responsibilities (shooting video, capturing sound) and an adult be the one to ask the interview questions—or vice versa, depending on the interests and comfort level of participants in the group.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Reflect on and discuss with your co-leader(s):
TAKING IT HOME
Say not 'I have found the truth,' but rather 'I have found a truth.' — Khalil Gibran, from The Prophet
IN TODAY'S SESSION... the participants heard a story about three sons who were given the challenge of filling an entire house. The two older brothers brought in lots of large objects and were still unable to fill the house. Then, the youngest brother brought in a candle, lit it, and filled the house with light. This story about considering different perspectives complemented the group's experiences viewing objects from different angles and rewriting a classic tale from a fresh viewpoint of one of the characters.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about... how you used to think about things differently than you do now and what helped you gain a different perspective. Or, tell about a time when you and another person held conflicting perspectives about an issue or idea and how your different perspectives affected your interaction. Share what you think it means when we say our fourth Principle is "the free and responsible search for truth and meaning."
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try... retelling a favorite or classic fairy tale from a different point of view (the novel and Broadway musical, Wicked, does this beautifully). Or, share a family story you all know, from multiple perspectives—each of your own, or those of made-up characters. Talk about how changing the perspective changes the story. Is the story still true? Why or why not?
Family Discovery. Explore optical illusions together by looking at images on 1, 2, 3 Optical Illusions (at www.123opticalillusions.com/), Optillusions (at www.optillusions.com/dp/1-30.htm), Skytopia (at www.skytopia.com/project/illusion/illusion.html), Cool Optical Illusions (at www.coolopticalillusions.com/), and other websites. Most libraries have illustrated books of optical illusions; you can purchase Magic Eye books (at www.magiceye.com) online. If you have an old stereopticon or a modern, plastic stereo viewing toy, examine it together to figure out the perspective shift which reveals 3-D pictures. The Eye Tricks (at www.eyetricks.com/3dstereo.htm) and Magic Eye websites also show some stereograms.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: CREATING A SCAVENGER HUNT (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants, now that they have experienced searching, to send others on a quest. Indicate the objects for them to hide and explain rules for where they can hide them (e.g., at a younger child's eye level). Distribute paper and pencils/pens, and invite the children to hide the objects so they are concealed from view and write clues for the location of the objects. Clues should give hints such as "look up high toward the sky" or "something blue hides me from you."
Including All Participants
Participants who lack the mobility to physically hide objects can suggest hiding places and think of clues.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: SEEKING TRUTH IN SONG (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Hand out the lyrics and play a song you have selected. Encourage participants to listen to the song silently. Then, invite the group to share their thoughts and reflections. Consider:
Repeat the process for as many songs as you have time to hear and process.
Including All Participants
Having the song lyrics to read will help hearing impaired participants engage fully in the activity.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: SOLVING AND MAKING MAZES (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute mazes and pencils. Encourage participants to solve their maze. After a few minutes, invite those who have solved a maze to help someone else. When all the mazes have been solved, distribute blank paper. Invite each participant to create a maze of their own for someone else to complete. Tell them the maze they create can be simple or complex, but should be solvable (that is, there must be a path, however convoluted, from the beginning to the end). If you have time, invite the children to exchange mazes or collect and re-distribute all the mazes so each child can solve one that another child created. If you do not have time, encourage children to invite someone at home to solve the maze they created.
Invite reflection by asking questions such as:
Including All Participants
If any participants may struggle with the small motor tasks this activity requires, have all participants work with a partner to solve and create a maze.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 4: JOURNALING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute paper and pencils. Invite participants to write silently for several minutes about their own search for truth. If you will invite participants to share from their writing afterward, tell them so; also remind them sharing will be voluntary.
Use one or more questions to prompt journaling:
LOVE CONNECTS US: SESSION 13:
STORY: FILLING THE HOUSE
A wisdom tale from the northern European countries of Lithuania and Latvia.
Once upon a time, a farming couple had three sons. As happens in many families, the two older boys often bragged to the youngest about how much stronger and smarter they were. When all the boys grew up and were ready to make their own ways in the world, their parents realized they only had enough resources to build one house, for one of their children. So they built a brand new house and told their three sons, "Whoever can fill the house will be the one to own it."
The oldest son was sure he could fill it up and claim it for his own. He brought in a horse, a cow, and a pig, but they only took up one corner of the house.
The second son smiled to himself, because he was sure that he would win the house when he filled it. He brought in bale after bale after bale of hay, but even with all the bales he could find on their farm, it only filled half the house.
Then it was the youngest brother's turn. His brothers laughed as they watched him bring in just one small sack. But then the youngest brother took a candle out of the sack and lit it. Light shone brightly from the candle, filling the whole house.
So neither of the older brothers, who always thought they were stronger and smarter than the youngest, got the house. It was the youngest brother, who understood what it really took to fill a house.
LOVE CONNECTS US: SESSION 13:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
FIND OUT MORE
One optical illusion that challenges our notion of truth is a picture that looks like Albert Einstein close-up (at www.123opticalillusions.com/pages/albert-einstein-marilyn-monroe.php) but Marilyn Monroe from far away. See it on the 1, 2, 3 Optical Illusions website (at www.123opticalillusions.com/), along with the Wavy Lines Illusion (at www.123opticalillusions.com/pages/wavy.php), the Gradient Illusion (at www.123opticalillusions.com/pages/gradient_illusion.php) (two bars of the same color appear different, because of where they are placed), the famous image which is both two faces and a vase (at www.123opticalillusions.com/pages/Facevase.php), and the Kanizsa Triangle (at www.123opticalillusions.com/pages/kanizsa_triangle.php).
On the Optillusions website (at www.optillusions.com/dp/1-30.htm), find more ambiguous images such as a musician/girl’s face (at www.optillusions.com/dp/1-9.htm) and a picture (at www.optillusions.com/dp/1-30.htm) which makes sense either right-side up or upside-down.
The artist M.C. Escher’s symmetry drawings simultaneously show multiple, logically incompatible, perspectives; see some on a website devoted to Escher (at website%20devoted%20to%20Escher) or obtain books from a library.
The website Discover UU (at www.discoveruu.com/) offers a broad and diverse set of links to blogs, podcasts, and more, collectively representing a search for truth and meaning under “the pluralistic spiritual umbrella of Unitarian Universalism.”