I walked through my house in the dark, found my piano, and that was my prayer: May I not drop out. It was not written, but prayed. I knew more than anything that I wanted to continue in faith with the movement. — Carolyn McDade, about the night she wrote "Spirit of Life"

In this workshop, participants explore spirituality and spiritual practices. The story centers on the creation of the Unitarian Universalist hymn, "Spirit of Life," a powerful expression of spirituality in our lives.

Activity 3, Circles of Spirituality has two implementation options. If space is limited, do the activity using newsprint on the wall. If you have space, however, we encourage adding movement by laying out the circles on the floor. It adds an element of motion to the workshop. Note that the Faith in Action activity involves planning and implementing a spiritual practice fair for the congregation. It empowers the participants as leaders and provides a great multi-generational program for the whole congregation.

Goals

This workshop will:

• Explore spirituality and spiritual practice
• Contrast spirituality and theology or philosophy
• Encourage participants to consider day-to-day activities can be seen as spiritual practices
• Optional: Demonstrate different spiritual practices.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

• Discuss what spirituality means
• Share spiritual practices
• Explore the differences between spirituality and theology or doctrine
• Reflect on everyday activities that can be spiritual practices
• Optional: Experience the spiritual practices of members of the congregation.