From the Hebrew Scriptures, 1 Samuel 1:10-17, 20, New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Hannah was a very religious woman. She spent her days praying and trying to serve God by being a good woman and good wife. She wanted to be a good mother, too, but she did not have children. This made her...

An adaptation of a traditional story, retold by Doug Lipman, used with permission. Some students of the Rabbi Baal Shem Tov came to him one day with a question. "Every year we travel here to learn from you. Nothing could make us stop doing that. But we have learned of a man in our own town who...

From The Power of Now (Novato: New World Library, 2004). A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. "Spare some change?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. "I have nothing to give you," said the stranger....

The existence of a snowflake is a journey — like your life, which is a journey, too. It starts in a cloud. Clouds carry drops of water vapor. Clouds also contain tiny particles of dust. Drops of the water vapor cling to the dust particles. When conditions are cold enough, the water freezes into...

Kamal was excited. His best friend Abby's birthday was today. In the kitchen, Kamal found his mother, Sherry, drinking her morning cup of coffee out of the mug he had given her for Mother's Day. He said, "Good morning, Mom....

(Leader: Invite the group to join you in singing the chorus of "Follow the Drinking Gourd." Teach the words and tune, if needed. Tell them that any time during the story they hear you start to sing, they should join in.) ...

Once upon a time, in a land to the east, a Dervish holy man and their student were walking from one village to the next. Suddenly they saw a great huge cloud of dust rising in the distance. They stood and stared at a grand carriage, pulled by six horses approaching at a full gallop. Riding on top...

From Kindness: A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Parents (Condra Enterprises, 2005). One day, the Buddha and a large following of monks and nuns were passing through a village. The Buddha chose a large shade tree to sit beneath so the group could rest awhile out of the heat. He often...

From CIRCLE ROUND by Starhawk and Diane Baker and Anne Hill, copyright (C) 2000 by Miriam Simas, Anne Hill and Diane Baker. Used by permission of Batman Books, a division of Random House, Inc.Circle round, and I'll tell you a story about when the sun was born again ......

(C) Uma Krishnaswami, 2006 in The Broken Tusk: Stories of the Hindu God Ganesha (Little Rock: August House, 1996). Reprinted by permission of the author.When Ganesha was a small child, he often amused himself by playing on the forested slopes of Mount Kailasa. Sometimes he would invent games,...

Adapted from Stories in Faith by Gail Forsyth-Vail, a Tapestry of Faith Toolkit book (Boston: UUA, 2007). Used with permission. Once there was a little girl named Cecilia who fell in love with the universe....

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....

Based on a folk tale from Madagascar....

Based on a tale told in the 1700s by the Jewish teacher, Jacob ben Wolf Kranz, Maggid of Dubno....

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....

About two hundred years ago, lots of people in North America and in Europe were discovering all kinds of wondrous things in the ground. They found coal to burn for fuel, iron for making machinery, nickel for creating tools and candlesticks and other useful items....

From The Everything Seed by Carole Martignacco, illustrated by Joy Troyer, (Berkeley, California: Tricycle Press, 2006). Used with permission. Carole Martignacco is a poet, singer, grandmother, and former RE director. A Unitarian Universalist minister, she currently serves as minister to the...

Thanks to the Change the World Kids, Meg Miller and Phyllis Arata-Meyers for information and permission to tell their story. Place a large, shallow dish filled with water in front of you, where children can see it. Place a globe or world map within your reach. Phebe and Nika were two girls, both...

You might think that Beatrix Potter was a lonely child. Perhaps you would be right. True, she lived in a large city: London, England. True, the only child she had to play with was her brother, Bertram, and he was usually away at boarding school....

By Judith C. Campbell. Used with permission. From UU & Me!: Collected Stories, edited by Betsy Hill Williams (Boston: Skinner House, 2003). Originally published in uu&me, Volume 3, Number 3, December 1999. UU&Me! is published by the Church of the Largeer Fellowship. Hello....