Tapestry of Faith: Riddle and Mystery: A Program on the Big Questions for Grade 6

Handout 2: Starring Sources

We all develop our own belief systems as we move through life. Beliefs live inside us, but they develop with lots of help from outside ourselves.

Here are two lists. The first names different people you might find helpful as you try to answer life's big questions. The second names different UU Sources you might find helpful.

Read the first list carefully. Draw five stars next to the people you now trust and talk with most as you develop your beliefs. Then give as many stars as you like to everybody else on the list. Some of them might get zero stars. The rest can get up to four stars each.

Repeat the process with the second list.

Then relax. You are done.

List 1

Parent(s) or caregiver

Other family member(s)

Friend(s) your age

Friend(s) who are older

Teacher(s)

TV/Film star(s)

Sports star(s)

Favorite musician(s)

Adults or older youth in our UU congregation

Adults or older youth in your school community

Other (write it in) __________

List 2

1. Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life. (Your own experience of mystery and life.)

2. Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love. (Great men and women.)

3. Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life. (All the world's religions.)

4. Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves. (Judaism and Christianity in particular.)

5. Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit. (Science and reason.)

6. Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature. (Pagans and others who learn from the earth.)

7. Unitarian Universalist history, heritage, and faith.