From Christian scripture, John 6:1-19, New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1990). A large crowd kept following [Jesus], because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples....

Adapted from Hebrew scripture (Leviticus 19:18) and Christian scripture (Luke 10:25-37). Preparation To make this story participatory: Open up the storytelling circle to include a "stage area." Ask for volunteers. You will need a child to play the Good Samaritan, the wounded man, the priest, the...

From Christian scripture, Luke 15:11-32 (New Revised Standard Version). Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the...

How did an American religion that began with a boy praying in the woods become, in less than 200 years, a major world religion? How did a story as surprising as his—of Jesus visiting the Americas and modern-day Native Americans descending from the Hebrews—gain acceptance by 13 million people...

Golden Rule versions from the book The Golden Rule. ...

The Love Surrounds Us program explores all the Unitarian Universalist Principles in the context of the Beloved Community of family/home, school, and neighborhood. 

Adapted from Jesus, The Carpenter's Son (Boston: Beacon Press, 1945). Jesus was a great teacher long, long ago who preached God's love. Jesus taught that we should care for the poor and forgive people who hurt us. In his lifetime, Jesus influenced many people to love one another as they loved God.

Mark 6: 34-44 from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a...

Adapted from Christian scripture. There once was a father, who had two sons. The younger son wanted to leave home and travel to distant lands. He asked to have his inheritance. So the father divided his wealth and gave each son his half. The older son stayed at home, continuing to work with his...

When Joseph Jordan (pronounced Jerden) was born in Virginia in 1842, slavery was still legal. Most people of African descent were treated as property, like horses or dogs. They were bought and sold; they had no rights. Whether enslaved or free, people of color were not treated with respect....

NARRATOR: Martin Luther was born in 1483 in what is now Germany. He was christened in the Roman Catholic Church, like everyone else in the Holy Roman Empire, which stretched through most of Europe at the time. He received his doctorate in theology from Wittenberg University in 1512. Five years...

Thich Nhat Hanh In Southeast Asia, the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, used the principles of compassion and nonviolence to campaign against the war in Vietnam. Hanh believed that people of faith, especially youth, couldn't remain silent in the face of social injustice. They must work together to...

From the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10, Verses 25-37; New Revised Standard Version. Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law?...

An adaptation of Matthew 5:1-11, Christian scripture. Jesus was a teacher. He lived thousands of years ago, in the part of the world we now call the Middle East. Jesus taught people how to use words and actions in a loving manner. There are many different ideas about God....

From Does God Have a Big Toe? Stories About Stories in the Bible (HarperTrophy, 1993). Used with permission. Jacob cried a lot. Jacob cried when he was happy. Jacob cried when he was sad. But mostly Jacob cried when he saw beautiful things....

Adapted by Lynn Tuttle Gunney from Meet Jesus: The Life and Lessons of a Beloved Teacher by Lynn Tuttle Gunney (Skinner House, 2007), available from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop.This is the story of Jesus, a beloved teacher....

I want to tell you the story of Adin Ballou. He was born over two hundred years ago. He grew up to be a peacemaker and a Universalist minister, but he didn't start out wanting to be either. When Adin was seven years old, he went with his family to watch a company of militia out for a parade. They...

In 1779, more than two hundred years ago, a girl named Maria Cook was born in New York State. When she was born, the Americans were fighting the British in the War for Independence. The Americans wanted to have their own country where they could be independent and free to make their own decisions...

One morning, more than a hundred years ago on the island of Jamaica, a boy named Ethelred Brown went to church. Usually at this church, the people sang their creed, their list of what they believed....

From A Lamp in Every Corner: Our Unitarian Universalist Storybook. To make the story more engaging and to help make it very clear who is speaking during dialogues, try developing different voices for the different characters in the story, especially the father....