SPIRIT OF LIFE
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 4: BLOW IN THE WIND, RISE IN THE SEA: NATURE AND SPIRIT
REVISED
BY REVEREND BARBARA HAMILTON-HOLWAY
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 9:24:42 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
We covenant to affirm and promote... Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
The living tradition we share draws from... Spiritual teaching of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature... — Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association
This workshop guides participants to recognize and engage in spiritual moments in relationship to the natural world. The activities help participants articulate and claim their experiences of wonder, awe, and connection in nature. Participants are invited to celebrate the natural world in its beauty and power, honor our relationship to the web of life, and live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 10 |
Activity 1: The Web in the Bread | 10 |
Activity 2: Story — from A Private History of Awe | 5 |
Activity 3: Recalling Our Experiences of Nature | 60 |
Faith in Action: Generations Together Exploring the Natural World | |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: In Praise of Creation | 30 |
Alternate Activity 2: Earth-Based Reading and Reflection | 30 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Reflection. You may wish to set aside some time to reflect on your personal experiences of spirituality in nature. Either individually or together, co-leaders can use the workshop activities to spark and structure your reflection. Doing so will also prepare you to explain and lead the activities.
Practice. Setting aside some moments to pray, to meditate, or to envision your good intentions for the workshop can help you to center yourself before you begin leading. A centered leader who is present and responsive while facilitating is likely to lead an effective workshop.
Review Workshop 1, Leader Resource 1, Accessibility Guidelines for Workshop Presenters, for general tips to make your workshop welcoming to people with physical disabilities and sensitivities.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As participants enter, invite them to sign in and create nametags.
OPENING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Welcome participants and offer a brief introduction to this workshop. Use these words, or your own:
Welcome to this program on Unitarian Universalist spirituality as experienced in nature. We'll remember moments of beauty, awe, and oneness in nature. We'll share some of what we are learning of the cycle of birth and death and the ways we want to live in relationship to the earth. I'm so glad you are here.
If you have added objects to your altar or centering table, explain that you have added them because this workshop focuses on our spiritual connections with nature.
Distribute Handout 1. Indicate the unison chalice-lighting words on the handout. Invite a participant to light the chalice while you lead the group in reciting the unison chalice-lighting words.
Invite participants to read silently along with you as you read aloud the Unitarian Universalist Principle and Source that this workshop highlights.
Begin name sharing with these or similar words:
Please share your name, and also name for us a geographical feature of your past or current hometown, such as a hill, a river, a valley, or a bay. As we listen to one another's names, let us hold each person in our good will.
Invite participants to take turns speaking.
Explain that this workshop focuses on the line "blow in the wind, rise in the sea."
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "Spirit of Life," by Carolyn McDade, Hymn 123 in Singing the Living Tradition.
ACTIVITY 1: THE WEB IN THE BREAD (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Place the loaf of bread on the table or hold it up for participants to see.
Invite participants to consider all the elements of the interdependent web of existence involved in creating this loaf of bread and bringing it here, and to name some of those elements aloud. If ideas flow slowly, encourage participants to think about things as diverse as ingredients, transportation, economies, markets, workers, the local store, money, celestial bodies, the founding of the congregation, and the production of this curriculum. When the brainstorm feels close to complete, share the bread, saying:
We give thanks for the web of life, more complex than we understand, and for each strand of the web. We depend upon much more than we know.
Pass the bread in silence. When each participant has a piece of bread, invite them into mindful eating with these words:
I invite you to eat your bread. As you chew and swallow, call to mind the interconnected elements of life that have come together in this loaf, in this moment.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — A PRIVATE HISTORY OF AWE (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to sit comfortably and listen to the story as you read it aloud. You may wish to use a cordless microphone to ensure that all participants can hear you.
ACTIVITY 3: RECALLING OUR EXPERIENCES OF NATURE (60 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to sit comfortably. Introduce a time of quiet reflection with these or similar words:
Sometimes we witness something like a lightning strike or some other event in nature that stays with us long after the moment has passed. In the quiet that follows, I invite you to recall significant experiences have you had in relation to the natural world. Choose one of these experiences for further reflection and sharing. Remember how you felt, and consider the influence the experience had on you.
A bell will lead you in and out of the quiet. Ring the bell. Allow five or six minutes for quiet reflection. Then, ring the bell again.
Indicate or distribute the materials for writing and/or drawing about the experience and their reflections. Encourage participants who may be shy about drawing to use their non-dominant hands; tell them that using one's non-dominant hand can reduce self-consciousness and facilitate expressiveness.
Ring the bell to begin the time for writing and drawing. After three to five minutes, ring the bell again to end the time.
Invite participants to form triads. Explain the activity:
You are invited to take turns sharing about your significant experiences of the natural world. While one of you shares, the others listen attentively. After the first speaker finishes, let there be a moment of silence between you. Then rotate roles. These are moments of precious sharing and confiding and we offer one another our mutual trust and regard. Each person will have five minutes to speak without interruption. A bell will ring when it is time to rotate speakers and listener and again to end the time of sharing.
Ring the bell at five minutes, ten minutes, and at fifteen minutes.
Re-gather the whole group for discussion with these questions:
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the group around the altar or centering table. Affirm the good work that participants have done in this workshop. Hand out the Taking It Home handout you have prepared. Explain the activities, as needed.
Invite participants to call out a word or phrase about something they remembered, heard, or felt during the workshop. Allow enough time for all who wish to speak to have the opportunity.
Invite everyone to join hands. Offer this blessing:
We give thanks for the web of life and our place in it.
We give thanks for the beauty of the earth, the rhythms and cycles of life.
We give thanks for this time together.
May the Spirit of Life be with us in our parting and in our return.
Extinguish the chalice.
Including All Participants
Be sure to be inclusive of people with a variety of living situations—living alone, with a significant other, in a family, with housemates, etc.—in the way you explain the Taking It Home activities.
FAITH IN ACTION: GENERATIONS TOGETHER EXPLORING THE NATURAL WORLD
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Lead children from your congregation or the broader community on a hike, canoe trip, camping trip, or other opportunity to experience more of the natural world. Alternatively, you might organize such a trip for a multigenerational group. This might be for the sole purpose of experiencing the wonders of nature, or it could be combined with cleaning up litter or otherwise helping the environment.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
After the workshop is finished, set a time for co-facilitators to get together to evaluate the workshop and plan future workshops. Use these questions to guide your shared reflection and planning:
TAKING IT HOME
We covenant to affirm and promote... Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
The living tradition we share draws from... Spiritual teaching of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature... — Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association
Visiting wild places, beaches, or parks, or taking time to observe a rainstorm, can provide opportunities to engage in more experiences of spirituality and the natural world. For further insight, write in your journal a description of the weather, a seashell, or a blossom, looking for wonder and mystery.
Talk with friends, family members, housemates, and co-workers about recycling, reducing energy use, reducing consumption, supporting "green" legislation, and other things you can do together that will have a positive impact on the environment.
Try a form of spiritual practice that involves bringing attentive awareness to whatever is right before us, and showing gratitude for it. Try bringing a mindful attention to sitting or walking outside, or looking out a window. Notice details, and address what you see with gratitude and respect. For example, say "Dear rock showing off in the sunlight, thank you." "Dear shining green, green leaves, thank you." "Dear tall grasses moving gently in the wind, thank you." "Dear people rushing by on the streets, thank you." "Dear pigeons, dear garbage, dear park bench, thank you." Intentional practice of awareness and gratitude can increase feelings of inner peace and connection with one's surroundings. Such a practice can help us let go of the past and our concerns for what has been, while we embrace the present moment and its possibilities.
Consider bringing mindful eating into your every day practice, including both how you enjoy food as you are eating and how you choose food with regard to its impact on the interdependent web.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: IN PRAISE OF CREATION (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to create a worship celebration in praise of creation. Direct participants' attention to the newsprint you have posted. Explain that participants will be invited to choose one of five groups. One group will build an altar, one will offer a litany, one will engage in body movement, one will develop a guided meditation, and one will offer a blessing as a closing. Invite participants to form five groups according to their interests. Make sure no one will be working alone, and that no group is too large to engage all of its participants.
Give each group a slip from Leader Resource 1. Explain that groups will have ten minutes to work together and create something to present to the entire group. The element each group creates should take no more than two minutes to conduct or present.
Distribute copies of Singing the Living Tradition to the group whose assignment is Movement in Praise of Creation. Distribute or indicate any other items, such as musical instruments, that you have provided for all groups to use.
Ring the bell to begin the activity. While the groups work, make yourself available as a resource. Watch the time, and ring the bell when ten minutes are up.
Re-gather the group. Remind participants of the flow of the events: Altar, Litany, Movement, Meditation, and Closing. Ask them to pay attention to flow so as to experience the celebration and to experience how their parts contribute to the whole. Invite participants to keep silence between the elements as they are conducted or performed. Invite them to get comfortable in their chairs, take some deep breaths, and prepare to receive the celebrations.
After the celebration closing, allow a silent pause. Then lead a discussion with these questions:
Including All Participants
The noise created by group work may interfere with some participants' ability to hear in their small groups. You may wish to help some groups relocate to a quieter room.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: EARTH-BASED READING AND REFLECTION (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Offer Reading 524 in Singing the Living Tradition from the contemporary Pagan spiritual leader, Starhawk. Read the passage aloud slowly and clearly. You may wish to use a cordless microphone to make sure all participants can hear you.
After some moments of silence, read the passage a second time. Invite participants to call out words or phrases from the reading that were significant to them.
Invite participants to express their reflections on the reading, using the question you have posted. Indicate that there are paper, writing and drawing implements, and other materials you have provided for those who wish to use them. Explain that they will have five minutes of silence for reflections and responses. Give participants permission to move in the silence—if their most authentic response is a dance, they can dance!
Ring the bell to begin silent time for reflection and expression. Ring the bell again after five minutes.
Now, invite the group to form pairs to share their reflections and creations. Explain that they will have six minutes for sharing in pairs, preferably with someone with whom they have not yet spent time. If you have an odd number of participants, create a triad.
Remind participants that they may share as much or as little as they feel comfortable sharing, and that each person should have the opportunity to speak uninterruptedly and to listen with care and attention. Encourage listeners to affirm speakers, when they have finished, with "Amen" or "Thank you."
Ring the bell at three and six minutes. If you have a triad, watch the time carefully, and remind these participants verbally to switch roles at each two-minute interval.
Re-gather the large group, inviting participants to bring with them any creations they would like to share. Ask for one or two volunteers to show or read aloud their reflections. Pass the cordless microphone to participants who wish to read aloud, so that all can hear them. Thank each participant who shares.
Lead a discussion with these questions:
SPIRIT OF LIFE: WORKSHOP 4:
STORY: A PRIVATE HISTORY OF AWE
Excerpted and adapted from Scott Russell Sanders' book, A Private History of Awe (New York, North Point Press, 2006).
In his book A Private History of Awe, Scott Russell Sanders remembers a spring day when he was a young boy, old enough to run around and small enough to be carried in his father's arms. The wind was booming; lightning flashed everywhere as a heavy rain fell. His father carried him out on to the porch, held him against his chest, and hummed as the thunder rumbled. They looked out at the trees and the huge oak which was the tallest thing the child knew. The oak swayed in the storm. Suddenly a flash and boom split the air. Everything became a white glare. "Sweet Jesus," his father cried out, grabbing him and pulling him close. Lighting had struck the oak and it snapped like a stick. Its top shattered onto the ground and a charred streak ran down the trunk.
One moment the great tree was there as solid as the father, bigger than anything Scott knew, and the next moment it was gone.
Fifty years later that day still haunts Scott. That was the day when power, energy, wildness that surges through everything was revealed in a flash. Scott writes, "The sky cracked open to reveal a world where even grownups were tiny and houses were toys and wood and skin and everything was made of light."
SPIRIT OF LIFE: WORKSHOP 4:
HANDOUT 1: BLOW IN THE WIND
UNISON CHALICE LIGHTING
We light this chalice in affirmation and respect for
the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
We gather to support one another in celebrating the sacred circle of life
and in living in harmony with the rhythms of nature
We gather to explore our own experiences
and to listen to the experiences of others.
May our time together renew our spirits, deepen our community,
and inspire us to live lives of praise, respect, and harmony.
We light this chalice for the Spirit of Life.
PRINCIPLE AND SOURCE
This workshop is grounded in the following Principle and Source from the Purposes and Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association:
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Spiritual teaching of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
SPIRIT OF LIFE: WORKSHOP 4:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: GROUP PROJECTS IN PRAISE OF CREATION
Cut into strips.
I. Altar in Praise of Creation
Create an altar or centering space to express the beauty and power of the earth and a ritualized opening to our Praise of Creation. Let your words, song, movement, candle light or whatever you imagine invite all of us to see and take in the altar or centering space. 2 minutes.
II. Litany in Praise of Creation
Create a litany of thanks for the beauty and power of the earth. How will you present this with one voice? In unison? With several voices speaking in turn? Where will you locate yourselves? 2 minutes.
III. Movement in Praise of Creation
Create movements to embody and accompany your singing of verse one of Hymn 21, "For the Beauty of the Earth," in Singing the Living Tradition. Where will you locate yourselves? Will you invite people as they are willing and able to participate? Will you sing and embody verse one a second time? 2 minutes.
IV. Meditation in Praise of Creation
Create a guided meditation on how we fit in to the interdependent web of life. How will you present this meditative piece? With one voice? In unison? With several voices speaking in turn? Where will you locate yourselves? 2 minutes.
V. Closing/Blessing in Praise of Creation
Create a closing that calls to us to live in harmony with and respect for the earth. How will you present this? With movement? With voices in unison? With several voices speaking in turn? With sounds other than words? Where will you locate yourselves? How will your group give us a sense of ending to our Praise of Creation? 2 minutes.
FIND OUT MORE
Many of the meditations compiled by Skinner House Books and available from the UUA bookstore include readings that reflect a spiritual connection with the earth: Listening for Our Song, Day of Promise (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=595), and Singing in the Night (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=627) are just three of the titles.
Unitarian Universalist minister Barry Andrews's book Thoreau as Spiritual Guide (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=637)helps readers gain spiritual insight from the classic book Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
Similarly, his book Emerson as Spiritual Guide (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=586)draws out the connections with the natural world made in Ralph Waldo Emerson's classic essays.
Prairie Soul: Finding Grace in the Earth Beneath My Feet (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=631)and A Guest of the World: Meditations (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=596) by Unitarian Universalist entomologist Jeffrey A. Lockwood emphasize interconnections between spirituality and ecology.