Tapestry of Faith: Toolbox of Faith: A Program That Helps Children Discover the Uses of Faith

Taking It Home: Love (Gloves)

But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three. The greatest of these is love. — Christian scripture (1 Corinthians 13:13)

My religion is simple, my religion is kindness. — Dalai Lama

IN TODAY'S SESSION...

The gloves symbolize love. In this session, children explored the strength and universality of love and the difficulty of choosing love instead of force. We talked about how loving, or acting with love, may seem simple but is actually very hard to do. We emphasized that every major religion values compassionate love. It is a universal concept.

We explored love to illustrate that:

  • Unitarian Universalism is a faith that helps us exercise compassion in the world
  • Unitarian Universalism values justice, compassion, and equity in human relations (second Principle)
  • Unitarian Universalism affirms that we learn from Jewish and Christian teachings, and teachings from other religious traditions, which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves (fourth Source).

The children heard a story from Hebrew scripture, "Two Brothers," which demonstrates sacrifice in compassionate love.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about...

Talking together about "love" can help each member of the family realize ways they use and understand compassionate love as a quality of faith. You may like to each explore these questions:

  • When have you put another's needs first?
  • What kind of sacrifices have you made, or have been made for you?
  • How have you been healed by love?
  • When is it hard to love, or to act with love, even though you know it might be especially right and rewarding to do?

EXTEND THE TOPIC. Try...

The children made (non-edible) Cinnamon Heart Ornaments, a fragrant item to represent the warmth and beauty of compassion. Use our recipe to make extra heart ornaments to give to neighbors and friends or to decorate and scent your home with a display that reminds us of love.

FAMILY DISCOVERY

Visit the animated sign language dictionary "ASL browser,", which includes the "I Love You" sign. The sign blends the hand shapes for the letters I, L, and Y into one hand shape.