RIDDLE AND MYSTERY
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 15: WHAT TO BELIEVE
BY RICHARD S. KIMBALL
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/8/2014 8:20:00 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Don't believe everything you think. — Bumper sticker
Big Question: How can I know what to believe?
"We teach children that all big questions have many answers, and that it is their duty to search responsibly for the answers that feel right to them." That statement comes from Welcome: A Unitarian Universalist Primer, a small book published in 2009 by Skinner House Books. But how will youth know what answers feel right to them?
Most sessions of Riddle and Mystery begin with a big question and then move on to stories and activities that illuminate the question. This session reverses the order, beginning with a fictional treatment of a real event and then inviting the youth to discover the big questions it raises. An art activity reveals that youth differ in what feels right. WCUU involves a group of detectives sharing ideas about finding answers that feel right philosophically. In WIT Time, youth consider which Sources mean the most to them.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Story — Miracle on the Hudson | 8 |
Activity 2: Soul Art | 17 |
Activity 3: WCUU — The Dream | 17 |
Activity 4: WIT Time — Favorite Sources | 10 |
Faith in Action: Wisdom of the Unitarian Universalist Community | |
Closing | 3 |
Alternate Activity 1: Notable Thoughts | 5 |
Alternate Activity 2: Song — Faith Is a Forest | 5 |
Alternate Activity 3: Challenge Question | 5 |
Alternate Activity 4: Thinking of Cats | 15 |
Alternate Activity 5: Covenant Beliefs | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
With everything set to go, carve out a meditative moment for yourself. Relax. Take several deep breaths. Reflect on how you find your truths. Do you generally rely on empirical data or a primary source? How much credence do you give your gut feelings about things? Can you compare two answers that both might be true, and sense which one suits you better? Are you comfortable knowing that your own mix of answers to life's big questions may be different from those of close friends, family members and other Unitarian Universalists?
Smile in the knowledge that simply joining your youth in their exploration of life and its mysteries is good and rewarding.
SESSION PLAN
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Greet youth as they enter, and introduce yourself to any you do not already know. If the group uses nametags, invite everyone to wear one. If new youth join this session, add their names on card stock to the Kid for the Day bag.
Sound the bell or tingsha chimes to call for silence.
Reach into the Kid for the Day bag or box and select a name without looking. Announce the name and place the card back in the bag or box. Or, if the group decided to change how the Kid for the Day is selected, follow the new procedure now.
If a Kid for the Day seems reluctant, allow them to pass. Draw another name or invite the participant to select one.
Indicate where you have posted the chalice lighting words. Invite the Kid for the Day to light the chalice while you lead the group in reciting "May this chalice light show the way as we search for answers to our biggest questions and seek to understand life's deepest mysteries."
Invite the group to share a moment of silence. End the silence by sounding the bell or tingshas. If new participants have joined the group, invite all, in turn, to introduce themselves. You can do more of a check-in, but keep it focused.
You may wish to ask if anyone did any Taking It Home activities from the previous session and would like to briefly share what they did.
If you have posted a covenant, direct the group's attention to it and ask if anybody wants to suggest changes. Process suggestions quickly, and amend the covenant as needed.
Announce that it is time to hear the Big Question of the day. Hand the Kid for the Day a copy of Handout 1 and help them understand and implement the instructions. Write the question—How can I know what to believe?—on the newsprint under the "Today's Big Question" sign.
Ask the Kid for the Day to extinguish the chalice.
Including All Participants
If the group includes youth who may have difficulty reading, be sure you routinely allow the Kid for the Day to pass.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON (8 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the story with words like these:
Often in Riddle and Mystery we have heard a big question and then heard a story to help us come up with some possible answers. Today we will hear a story first. Then, I will ask you to share the big questions it raises in your mind.
The story is based on a true event that happened in January of 2009. U.S. Air Flight 1549 did crash-land in the Hudson River after colliding with birds. All 150 passengers and five crew members were safe. But this version of the story has you in it.
Read the story.
At its conclusion, ask:
Choose one or two reactions (praying, helping others) and ask the youth what beliefs they think the person had who showed each reaction. Help them articulate some beliefs statements, such as "belief that God/Jesus can save them," "belief that what really matters is helping others/doing what you can to fix a bad situation/being optimistic even in a bad situation," "belief that there is a God that listens to prayers in an emergency."
As youth frame big questions, record them on newsprint. If needed, prompt with Big Questions from other Riddle and Mystery sessions, or variations:
To conclude, ask the youth if they agree or disagree with this statement:
People's beliefs are the answers they have found to their own big questions.
Ask them to think about it.
Point out that big questions first came up when people saw events they could not explain. Somebody died, so they asked, "What happens when you die?" They had a mystery on their hands, and that, says Albert Einstein, is why religions came about—to help solve the mystery. Do youth agree with that idea? Do they also agree that religions may have grown stronger when they seemed to provide right answers? (If a religion led people to pray for good things and then good things happened, would that reinforce those religious beliefs?)
ACTIVITY 2: SOUL ART (17 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Youth use art to express their feelings about the big questions.
Introduce this creative activity with a quote participants may have considered earlier in Riddle and Mystery (Alternate Activity 6, Session 13), by author Krista Tippett:
In many ways, religion comes from the same place in us that art comes from.
Ask the youth what they think that means. Where is that place that art and religion both come from? Many artists would say it is a place somewhere deep in us which some would call the soul.
Say you want the group to create some simple art now. Point out supplies and invite youth to use any materials they like. The only rule is that the art must have something to do with big questions. Tell the youth they will have ten minutes, and let them begin.
After ten minutes, signal the group with the tingshas to step back from their own work. Invite them to look around at what everybody did. Say, in your own words:
Everybody had the same assignment, yet look at the different responses. What was it that led people to do what they did?
Invite responses. If no one says this, offer, "You each did what felt right to you."
Conclude with comments like these:
People are all different, so we create different art. We do what feels right inside—maybe in our souls—and our souls are all different. If the art we make about big questions is all different, maybe it should not surprise us that to the ways we answer big questions can also be very different. Even close friends and relatives, even people who come to our UU congregation, can have different answers to big questions.
Allow a few minutes for youth to complete their artwork, and a few more minutes for clean-up. Make sure all youth are engaged in clean-up.
Including All Participants
Do not put youth on the spot to share artwork. Avoid discussion that may lead to subjective criticism or teasing; the point of the activity is to reveal and celebrate each individual's different approach to big questions and making art.
ACTIVITY 3: WCUU — THE DREAM (17 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants present a WCUU show involving eight On-Air People—Anchor, NUUs Analyst, a UU Kid and five Detectives.
Assign roles, using volunteers for On-Air People and Studio Crew. The Studio Crew might include a director, a floor director, a camera operator, a sound engineer, a lighting director, a script supervisor and multiple production assistants. You might invite the Kid for the Day to be the Anchor or UU Kid.
Give all who need to follow the script a moment to look it over. Review it with the youth if any participants have limited reading skills.
Tell the group when the show should end to keep the session on schedule; assign a Studio Crew member (director or floor director) to watch the time.
Let the broadcast begin.
At the end of the broadcast, ask participants how it went. Ask them to summarize a Unitarian Universalist response to today's Big Question: How can I know what to believe? Ask the youth:
Including All Participants
Youth with limited mobility can be On-Camera People or Studio Crew; arrange the "studio" so they can perform their role or tasks seated.
ACTIVITY 4: WIT TIME — FAVORITE SOURCES (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants name people in their lives and identify UU Sources that do or can help them know what to believe.
Distribute the handouts and pencils/pens. Tell them the handout is a worksheet to help them identify Sources they trust and use as they develop their beliefs. Say they need not put their names on the handouts; these are worksheets for their own use. You will discuss the pages together, but they need share only what they wish to.
Review the instructions with the group; make sure youth understand what to do. Point out that the entries in the first list refer to people and experiences in their lives. The second list describes our UU Sources. Give youth four or five minutes to work on the handouts.
Invite volunteers to identify the five-star item on their first list. What other items on the first list had high marks? Invite comments on their lists and rankings. Who else did they add to the list?
Now turn to the second list. Ask volunteers to share their rankings. It may be helpful to solicit and provide examples of where specific Sources wisdom appears in your congregational life.
Tell the group you hope they will continue to think about who and what they trust most to assist them as they develop their belief systems in the days and years ahead. Say that their sources, as well as their beliefs, are likely to change as time goes by, and that is fine.
Say in your own words:
Most Unitarian Universalists actively engage in a search for answers to life's big questions, not every day but from time to time throughout their lives. We find this search rewarding and encourage one another in their searching, too. We believe it is natural and good for many of our ideas and beliefs to change from time to time.
Including All Participants
If you have participants with limited reading skills, consider reading through the handout with the whole group. Then assist individuals as needed.
CLOSING (3 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Briefly summarize the session with words like these:
Today's Big Question asks, "How can I know what to believe?" We began with a story that led us to ask some new big questions of our own. Our "soul art" made us think about how different people can be, in terms of both art and religion. In our WCUU broadcast, some detectives talked about different places people can get help deciding what to believe. For WIT Time, we talked about our own favorite places to look for help shaping our beliefs.
Hand out any Taking It Home activity suggestions you have prepared.
Relight the chalice. Ask the group to speak these closing words with you: "May this light shine on in each of us as we search for the answers to our own biggest questions."
Extinguish the chalice. Sound the bell or chimes.
FAITH IN ACTION: WISDOM OF THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST COMMUNITY
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
If the group has begun an ongoing Faith in Action project, continue work on it.
Or, consider this short-term Faith in Action project:
Wisdom of the Unitarian Universalist Community
Remind youth that one way Unitarian Universalists find answers to big questions is in community. Say, in your own words:
When we come together, we hear the experiences of others and are ourselves heard. Sharing helps us understand the range and depth of responses to big questions. One place where we commonly share is in worship.
Ask participants if they would like to present some of their learnings from Riddle and Mystery in worship. The group could participate in whole congregation worship, a religious education year-end worship, multigenerational worship or a worship specifically for the religious education community of children and youth.
Assist participants as they decide how they would like to be involved. You might suggest that participants present a WCUU script, or show a videotaped WCUU segment. They could lead a short Q&A after the service to elicit congregants' ideas about answers to one of the program's Big Questions.
Plan another meeting before the worship service to rehearse. Be sure to offer youth the support, tools and practice they need to be successful.
Including All Participants
Do not pressure youth to take speaking parts if they do not want them; find a variety of ways to involve everyone.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Meet with your co-leaders after the session. How did the session go? How has Riddle and Mystery gone in general? If the group is doing the sessions in sequence, decide whether you could do something special for Session 16, which completes the curriculum. The final WCUU broadcast in Session 16 includes a small celebration. If you are leading Session 16, give some thought to the Big Question it poses: "What does Unitarian Universalism mean to me?"
TAKING IT HOME
Don't believe everything you think. — Bumper sticker
Talk about the quote. Have you ever seen it on a bumper sticker? What kind of people do you think have bumper stickers saying that? Would UUs use a bumper sticker like this?
WHAT WE DID TODAY
Today's Big Question asks, "How can I know what to believe?" We began with a story that led not to new beliefs but to new big questions. We saw that big questions grow out of our experiences. We said that mystery and big questions are among the reasons that religion exists. We made some art that came from deep inside us and saw that everybody has different art ideas, just the way everybody has different beliefs. In WCUU, a group of private detectives searched for help in knowing what to believe. In WIT Time, we thought about our favorite places, at this time in our lives, where we look for help shaping our beliefs.
FAMILY BELIEFS
In UU World magazine of Spring 2008, a father talks about sharing his beliefs with his seven-year-old son. The son had asked about Heaven and death. His father said he believed that when people die they live on in the memories of other people, but not in Heaven. The son replied this way, "I'll believe what you believe for now, and when I grow up I'll make up my own mind." Talk about this story. Is that how most UU kids decide on their beliefs? Is that the way it is in your family? What age do you think most kids are when they start to develop their own responses to the big questions?
BUILD A FAMILY BELIEF TREE
Use a piece of poster paper and some markers to create a family belief tree. Draw a traditional tree diagram if you like, using horizontal and vertical lines to show all the generations descended from somebody who lived long ago. Write the names of all the family members you know, along with their religions and their core beliefs if you know them. One might have been a Buddhist, for example, or a Roman Catholic, or a UU. Or draw a realistic tree, and hang tags with names and beliefs from the branches of that. The point is to have fun with the drawing and get an idea of some of the most important beliefs held by members of your extended family.
SHARED SEARCH
Visit a place you have never been that can help you decide what to believe. Maybe it is a library, or a museum, or a different Unitarian Universalist congregation.
PHOTO CHALLENGE
Photograph something that represents a belief of yours. Share the photo and belief with someone.
FAMILY FAITH IN ACTION — ACTING ON A BELIEF
Think about something your whole family believes related to the Unitarian Universalist Principles, then act on it. Maybe you will choose belief in "acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth." How can your family act upon this belief? Can you participate together in a program at your congregation? If the Riddle and Mystery group will design a worship service, could family members help? Maybe it's as simple as inviting someone you don't know well from your congregation to lunch and listening to their story. Beliefs are more meaningful when you act on them.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: NOTABLE THOUGHTS (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Notable Thoughts is the first Alternate Activity in each session of Riddle and Mystery. Remind participants that this is a time for them to record their own ideas about today's Big Question. Distribute participants' notebooks and pencils or pens. Provide new participants with notebooks. Say that the notebooks are private; you will keep them between sessions but not read them.
Tell the youth they will have about five minutes. Remind them of today's Big Question: "How can I know what to believe?" Say they can write about anything they want. Their ideas can be as different as they wish from what you have talked about so far. If youth have nothing to record, they are free to doodle or relax.
When time is up, offer that they may seal their notebooks with masking tape before handing them in. Collect the notebooks.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: SONG — FAITH IS A FOREST (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Remind/tell the group that Unitarian Universalists often express our ideas in hymns. Introduce "Faith Is a Forest." Invite participant responses to the hymn. Do they like it? How does the hymn connect belief and action? What does it mean by the plea that the singer's beliefs "speak through me in all I do and say"? What is the relationship of faith and belief?
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: CHALLENGE QUESTION (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Challenge questions guide a deeper inquiry for especially thoughtful individuals and groups. For this session, ask:
What happens inside you and to you when you act against your own beliefs?
If discussion is slow to start, offer an example: you believe everybody should be treated fairly and with dignity. You also believe in the Golden Rule. But when your friends start teasing another friend about that friend's looks, you join in. What happens to you? How do you feel? What if you don't join in the teasing, but you don't do or say anything to stop it, or to help your friend?
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 4: THINKING OF CATS (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity helps youth understand how beliefs about big questions can help shape responses to daily events.
Tell the group they are going to look at beliefs and cats. Divide participants into groups of three or four. Give each group a pencil and a copy of Leader Resource 2. Say that the groups will meet separately and to consider answers to the "Cat Questions" on Leader Resource 2. They can use the pencil to make notes on the page if they wish, but they do not have to write whole answers. They will share their thoughts in a few minutes when the groups get back together.
Give the groups seven or eight minutes to answer the questions. If some finish very quickly, encourage them to think again and see if they can find some alternate ideas.
Bring the groups together to share their ideas. How did having new "religious" ideas change what they thought about the cat? How would the ideas change their actions? How do they think ancient people decided that cats were divine or reincarnated humans? How have they decided in their own lives what to believe about cats?
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 5: COVENANT BELIEFS (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Ask the group to review its covenant and decide what basic beliefs it reflects. If discussion is slow to start, direct the group's attention to your posted UU Principles. Ask them whether the group's covenant reflects any of the Principles. Which ones? How? What other beliefs does the covenant reflect (not all will be found in the Principles)?
Encourage discussion with these questions:
Including All Participants
A group review of the behavior covenant may raise personal or interpersonal issues. Be ready, as needed, to gently suggest individuals talk further with you alone about any specific conflicts or disappointments they express. Be sure to set a specific time for that conversation before the end of the session.
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 15:
STORY: MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON
The date is January 15, 2009.
The time is 3:06 p.m.
You are on board U. S. Air Flight 1549, still on the ground at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. You are excited. This is the first time you have been on a plane without your family.
Today is a Thursday. You got out of school early to catch the plane. You are going to Charlotte, North Carolina, to be with your cousins and help prepare for a weekend wedding. The rest of your family will join you there Saturday.
You have a middle seat on the plane, between two large adults. You strain your neck to look out, and the woman in the window seat asks if you wish to switch seats. You smile and say yes.
You take your new seat, fasten your seat belt and watch out the window. In the distance, you see a flight of geese, and you wonder what it would be like to fly like that. You hear all the regular announcements about seat belts and stuff, but you do not pay much attention. After all, you have flown before.
You think about the great gift you are bringing in your suitcase to the wedding. The plane starts to taxi.
The time is 3:26 p.m. You feel the plane lift up off the runway. You watch out the window and hope for a great view of New York.
You sit back and hope they will serve a good snack. Suddenly there is a jolt. Now the whole feeling of the plane changes. You sense that it is going down, not up.
You lean forward and look out the window. The engine is on fire!
"Look!" you say to the woman who gave you her seat.
"We're going down!" she says. "Put your head on your knees!" And you do.
You hear voices around you. Some of them are praying. You hear yourself speaking out loud. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" you say over and over again. (Whenever your friends ask, you always tell them you do not believe in God. But you do not think about that now.)
"Brace for impact!" the captain says from the cockpit. Flight attendants are telling other passengers to put their heads down.
You wait. It seems like forever. The woman beside you puts a hand on your shoulder. It feels good.
You wait. Then WHAM. The plane hits.
You wonder if you are dead. You do not think you are. You raise you head. "Where are we?" you ask.
"I think we are floating on the Hudson River," the woman says. "I hope this thing floats! Let's get out of here!"
People are beginning to stand up. They are talking about what to do, how to get off. Somebody says "Children first!"
"Let's go!" the woman says. She takes you by the hand.
You want to say that you are okay. You are not a little kid. You can wait with everybody else. But the words never get out of your mouth.
You crawl past the two adults. You reach the aisle and look toward the back of the plane. You see water, and you do not like that. You turn the other way and head for the opening, where people are already climbing out of the airplane.
Some people are crying. You move with the crowd. You reach the door. You go out, and there you are, standing in the cold on the airplane wing.
Somebody hands you a life vest and says to put it on. Five different people ask if you are okay. "Yes," you say. "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes."
Ferries and other boats are heading toward the plane. Helicopters are zipping around in the sky.
"Get into that raft," somebody says. You want to tell them, "No, I can wait." But your mouth won't do that. You get into the raft, and off it goes, away from the plane.
Minutes later, you are on a ferry heading toward shore.
More minutes later, you are in a building somewhere, with everybody else. You see the woman who was sitting next to you and wave. She waves back. You hear that there were 156 people on the plane, and that every single one of them is safe.
"Wow!" you say. You begin sharing stories with other passengers. You wish you had been picked up by a helicopter. That would have been cool.
"I said about a thousand 'Hail Marys' up there," somebody says. You know that is a form of Catholic prayer. Other people also say they were praying.
You wonder if your family knows what has happened. You hope they are not worried.
People keep asking your name and checking it off on lists.
"Stay right there!" somebody tells you, and you do. "Come with me," the same somebody says, and the somebody looks official, so you do. You hope you are not being kidnapped. You have already had enough trouble for one day.
"Look over there," the somebody says, and you see your family. They have not yet seen you. They look very upset and worried.
"Hey!" you yell. "Here I am! I'm okay! I'm okay!"
You have survived an airplane crash. You want to walk slowly and proudly to your family. But your feet have a different idea. They start running.
Your family has a lot of arms. You hope you will not be smothered in everybody's hugs. You have already had enough trouble for one day.
You say your terrific wedding gift is gone. "Don't worry about it," everybody replies. "We can get another gift. We can never get another you."
Later, as you stand around arranging a new flight, you remember last Sunday. Your Riddle and Mystery group was talking about big questions. You are glad that you still do not know the answer to the one about what happens when you die. You just came way too close to finding out.
"Come to think of it," you tell yourself, "after what just happened, I have some other big questions." You know you will be thinking about those questions on your next flight.
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 15:
HANDOUT 1: TODAY'S BIG QUESTION
To the Kid for the Day:
You have two jobs. The first is getting your group excited about hearing today's Big Question. The second is announcing the question.
1. Say to the group, "Give me a drum roll!" Then wait for a minute while the drum roll builds. (Here is how to do a drum roll: Everybody slaps their thighs, one leg first, then the other, back and forth, beginning gently and getting louder and louder.)
2. When the drum roll is good and loud, hold up your hands to signal "Stop!" Then read today's Big Question. Here it is:
How can I know what to believe?
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 15:
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.
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 15:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: WCUU SCRIPT — THE DREAM
To the Anchor:
Today's WCUU program is a UU Kid's dream. Your job is to follow the script, read your part, and otherwise keep things going. When the broadcast begins, you are alone, sitting or standing in front of a microphone.
[Director: Cue the station break.]
[Director: Cue the theme music. Cue the Anchor.]
Anchor: This is WCUU, Wisdom of the Community of Unitarian Universalists, on the air.
Good morning. I am [give your real or stage name], and I am here in the WCUU newsroom with an unusual report, a wonderful report, call it a dream report. Let's bring UU Kid in to explain.
[Director: Cue UU Kid joins Anchor at the microphone.]
Anchor: Good morning, UU Kid, and welcome to our show.
UU Kid: Thanks for having me.
Anchor: You look wide awake this morning, UU Kid. I understand that was not the case a couple of Sundays ago.
UU Kid: That is correct, [use Anchor's real or stage name], but I can explain. I was up very late the night before.
Anchor: Working on homework, I assume?
UU Kid: No. I was at a party. When I got home I watched TV. My parents went to bed, and I stayed up.
Anchor: And they got you up for church the next morning.
UU Kid: Right. And that was a day we had no RE, so the kids were in the worship service.
Anchor: Sermon and all?
UU Kid: Sermon and all. I guess it was a good one.
Anchor: You guess? Don’t you know? Weren’t you there?
UU Kid: I was there, but I kind of went to sleep.
Anchor: Did your parents wake you up?
UU Kid: They tried. They gave me a big nudge every time I snored, but I stayed asleep.
Anchor: I understand it was a great sleep because it had great dream.
UU Kid: I thought it was great.
Anchor: [to camera] So did our producers, and that's why they asked UU Kid to come here and tell us about the dream. So it's all yours, UU Kid.
[Director: Cue Anchor to step aside. UU Kid is alone on camera.]
UU Kid: I did hear part of the minister's sermon. It was about standing up for what you believe. That can be tough, the minister said. But not as tough as figuring out what you believe, to begin with. That sounded right to me, and that's what I was thinking of when I dozed off. So there I was, snoring away, and I dreamt I was rich. Rich, and wondering what to believe. But I couldn't even figure out how to know what to believe. So I hired a squad of private detectives.
[Director: Cue the Detectives to gather around UU Kid.]
First Detective: Yeah, boss?
UU Kid: You guys must be good at knowing what to believe, right?
Second Detective: Sure, boss. We believe whatever we find out.
UU Kid: So how can I know what to believe?
Third Detective: Sounds like a job for us, boss.
Fourth Detective: Right. As long as money's no object.
UU Kid: Money's no object. You're hired.
Fifth Detective. Okay, boss, we're on it. We'll let you know when we've got something.
[Director: Cue Detectives to move off camera.]
UU Kid: The detectives reported back one at a time.
[Director: Cue First Detective to join UU Kid.]
First Detective: Hiya, UU Kid.
UU Kid: Hiya, back. Did you find out how to know what to believe?
First Detective: I found one thing. Trust is a big part of it. If you trust someone, you might hear some useful beliefs from them.
UU Kid: You mean, people I trust the way I trust my family?
First Detective: You got it, boss. In fact, your family is a good place to start with beliefs. Ask your mom or dad what they believe and see if it fits for you.
UU Kid: Do I have to believe what they believe?
First Detective: No. A lot of kids start off that way, and that's great. Then as they grow older, they develop their own beliefs.
UU Kid: But how do I know whether what they believe fits me?
First Detective: Trust again, boss. Trust yourself. You will know if it fits. You will know if it doesn't.
[Director: Cue Second Detective to come in and First Detective to step out.]
UU Kid: Hey.
Second Detective: Hey.
UU Kid: So, what have you got?
Second Detective: Community. That's what I have got. You have a community of friends. You have a UU community. You have a school community. People in all those communities will help you know what to believe.
UU Kid: But they will say different things. How do I know which ones to believe?
Second Detective: You have to know who to trust, boss. That's what you have to figure out.
UU Kid: How do I do that?
Second Detective: You got me there, boss. All I know is community works. Ask one of my partners.
[Director: Cue Third Detective to come in and Second Detective to step out.]
UU Kid: Wow! This dream moves fast.
Third Detective: We're a dream team.
UU Kid: Then tell me how to figure out what to believe.
Third Detective: Easy. Three words: observation, reason, science. Trust your own eyes and your own ears. Trust your brain to figure things out, boss. Trust science because scientific proofs work over and over again. That's what they are all about. Science rules!
UU Kid: I think you are right about that. That is pretty easy as far as it goes. But what about the stuff that can't be proved? Like belief in God and life after death and all that?
Third Detective: Well, I only looked at science and reason and observation. See what Fourth Detective has to say about all that other stuff.
[Director: Cue Fourth Detective to come in and Third Detective to step out.]
UU Kid: So, Fourth Detective, what have you got to say?
Fourth Detective: Gut.
UU Kid: Gut? What does that mean? Gut?
Fourth Detective: [slaps own stomach] Gut. That's what it means. Gut. You know in your gut what to believe. That's what you can trust most of all. Your gut.
UU Kid: You mean all my beliefs are already in my gut?
Fourth Detective: No. Some ideas come from inside, but a lot come from outside. What your gut tells you is what feels right to you.
UU Kid: What if nobody else agrees?
Fourth Detective: That's okay. It's your gut. Everybody else can trust their own gut. It's sort of like art. What feels right to my gut in terms of art could feel wrong to your gut in terms of art. That's okay. It's like our gut is testing things for our soul, our inner self.
UU Kid: Wow. That's deep!
Fourth Detective: Yeah. [Slaps stomach again.] That's where the gut is, really deep. But look, I gotta go.
UU Kid: But I need to find out how to get all those outside ideas you talked about.
Fourth Detective: Try Fifth Detective for that.
[Director: Cue Fifth Detective to come in and Fourth Detective to step out.]
UU Kid: So where do I get all these big ideas for my gut to react to?
Fifth Detective: Hah! It's right over there on the wall!
UU Kid: [looking around] It is? Where?
Fifth Detective: [pointing] Right over there, boss. The UU Sources.
UU Kid: I should have known.
Fifth Detective: Think about it. All those Sources! Every one of them represents years of wondering and thinking and writing and talking and meditating and thinking again. And all those Sources have something useful to say, something that serious people somewhere believe.
UU Kid: But all the Sources are different. I bet they tell you to believe different things.
Fifth Detective: Right. And parents are different, too. Communities are different. And scientists are different, too. So are guts. You have to decide what beliefs fit you best.
UU Kid: All by myself?
Fifth Detective: No, not by yourself. A lot of people will help. UU communities are really good at that. But look, I'm on my way. Another client is calling.
[Director: Cue Anchor to come in and Fifth Detective to step out.]
UU Kid: Then I woke up. I was still in the worship service. But I think my dream really helped.
Anchor: Does that mean you are working on your beliefs?
UU Kid: Yes, [Anchor's real or stage name]. I'll be talking with the minister about that at my appointment this afternoon.
Anchor: You have an appointment with the minister?
UU Kid: Yes. My parents said I had to apologize for falling asleep in the sermon. But I don't mind. Now I have something to say.
Anchor: Well thank you, UU Kid, thanks very much.
UU Kid: My pleasure.
Anchor: Now for a quick analysis by our favorite NUUs Analyst!
[Director: Cue UU Kid to step out and NUUs Analyst to join Anchor.]
Anchor: So, NUUs Analyst, did that dream really help the UU Kid figure out how to know what to believe?
NUUs Analyst: Yes, it did. The dream detectives said what most UUs believe: Your family, your friends and your UU community can all help you figure your beliefs. Science, reason and observation also mean a lot. But when it comes to beliefs you cannot prove, it is time to turn to some other UU Sources. As you search through them and everywhere else, you will find wonderful ideas that somebody, somewhere, believes. Then it is up to you. Only you can decide which beliefs fit you best.
Anchor: That sounds like a lot of work.
NUUs Analyst: It is. But you don't have to do it right now or all at once. Many UUs enjoy a lifetime of search and increased understanding. They wonder at the mystery of life and they delight in the detective work of trying to solve it.
Anchor: Thank you, NUUs Analyst. That is just what we needed to know. Which brings us to the end of our show.
NUUs Analyst: Wait a minute! We were talking about dreams. I had a great dream last night. Do you have an hour or two to hear about it?
Anchor: No! We have under a minute and that is for music!
[Director: Cue the theme music.]
[Director: Cue the station break.]
Anchor: This is [your real or stage name] signing off for WCUU.
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 15:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: CAT QUESTIONS
In your small group, try to answer the following cat questions. Take notes if you like, but you need not write full answers. You will discuss your ideas when the small groups get together.
Part 1. Somebody tells you, "There is a cat in a tree."
1. How do you decide whether to believe that statement?
2. Imagine that you know there really is a cat in a tree. How will you decide what to believe about how the cat got there?
3. Which Unitarian Universalist Sources can help you most to decide why the cat is in the tree?
4. How many different explanations can you come up with of how the cat got into the tree? What are they?
5. What should you do about the cat in the tree?
Part 2. Now, assume that you live in ancient Egypt and you believe:
Now:
1. Why do you think the cat is in the tree?
2. What should you do about the cat in the tree?
3. How are your answers different from what they were before?
FIND OUT MORE
Individual Beliefs, Shared Faith
Watch the 10-minute video, "Voices of a Liberal Faith," (at www.uua.org/visitors/47881.shtml) on the UUA website. As diverse members and ministers share their thoughts on worship and community, a picture emerges of how being together as Unitarian Universalists supports each individual in an ongoing search for authentic, personal beliefs.
Harvest the Wisdom Our Six UU Sources
This session answers the question "How can I know what to believe?" by providing strategies for a lifelong search. One such strategy is to seek the wisdom of our Unitarian Universalist Sources. The Winter, 2009 Families pages in UU World magazine highlights our Sources. Read a story about how Mahatma Gandhi harvested a variety of sources in his own, dynamic search for true beliefs.