A PLACE OF WHOLENESS
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Youth
WORKSHOP 6: NURTURING THE SPIRIT
BY BETH DANA AND JESSE JAEGER
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 7:11:25 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
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:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Story — Spirit of Life | 10 |
Activity 2: What is Spirituality? | 20 |
Activity 3: Circles of Spirituality | 40 |
Activity 4: I Believe, I Feel, I Act | 5 |
Faith in Action: Spiritual Practice Fair | |
Closing | 10 |
Alternate Activity 1: Hymn Singing as a Spiritual Practice | 45 |
Alternate Activity 2: Spiritual Practices | 35 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Start your spiritual preparation for this workshop by reading the words to "Spirit of Life," Hymn 123 in Singing the Living Tradition. What does the song tell you about spirituality? Why do you think this is one of the most popular songs sung by Unitarian Universalists in worship?
Next, think about your own spiritual practices. Do you have a regular intentional spiritual practice like meditation or prayer? Are there activities that are part of your day-to-day life that you consider spiritual? Is teaching religious education or going to Sunday services part of your regular spiritual practice?
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and questions.
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"
Questions: Do you pray? If you do, what is your prayer? If you do not, in what way to you see yourself as spiritual?
As participants arrive, invite them to personalize a journal, review and/or add to their journal based on the Welcome Words posted, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Orient visitors and first-time participants to the program and getting a sense of what brought them today.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1, Responsive Reading — Five Smooth Stones. Lead participants in the responsive reading or ask for a volunteer to lead. Encourage participants to take turns leading the responsive reading from week to week.
After the responsive reading, ask for a volunteer to light the chalice.
Including All Participants
Assist any youth that need help with words in the responsive reading.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — SPIRIT OF LIFE (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants are introduced to the ideas of spirituality and spiritual practice through the story of how the hymn "Spirit of Life" was written and how it is used in Unitarian Universalist congregations today.
Invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing Hymn 123 "Spirit of Life" from Singing the Living Tradition.
After the song, present the story or invite a participant to read it. After the story, ask another participant to read the words of the song. Then lead a brief discussion with the following questions:
Including All Participants
Invite participants to rise in body of spirit to sing the hymn.
ACTIVITY 2: WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY? (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore different meanings of spirituality by responding to quotes from around the world.
Start by pointing out that Carolyn McDade experiences spirituality in many different ways. She experiences it through social justice work, through participating in a women's spirituality group, and by writing and performing music. Even in one person's experience, we can see the diverse forms spirituality takes.
Tell participants that they will look at what spirituality means from the perspective of youth around the world. Explain that the quotes posted on newsprint came from a series of focus groups conducted by The Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence. Hand out three dot stickers to each participant.
Distribute Handout 1, What is Spirituality? Participants may read the quotes from the handout or the posted newsprint. Invite participants to take turns reading the quotes aloud. Ask them as they read/listen to the quotes to think about which one resonates with them the most and speaks most clearly to their experience of spirituality.
After all the quotes have been read, invite them to place their dots on the three quotes that are closest to their experience. If none of the quotes seem to fit, they can write what spirituality means to them on a blank sheet of newsprint.
When everyone has placed their stickers next to quotes and/or written their own, read aloud the new quotes written by participants. Read the quotes that received the most dots. Lead a discussion with the following questions:
Conclude this activity by telling participants that it is okay if they are having a hard time articulating what it means to be spiritual and what spirituality is. Spirituality is a lifelong developmental process that will change within them as their lives goes on. Participants may find that their understanding of spirituality may also change throughout their lives.
ACTIVITY 3: CIRCLES OF SPIRITUALITY (40 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore the different ways they experience spirituality in their lives.
Remind participants that they just looked at what spirituality means from their own perspective and from the perspective of youth around the world. These quotes demonstrated that many parts of our lives and actions can be spiritual.
Ask the participants to spend the next five minutes writing in their journals in response to the question: "When was a time that you felt spiritual?"
After they have finished writing, read or summarize the following script. As you describe each of the four internal circles, write the name of that circle on the newsprint or place the paper with the name of that circle in the corresponding place on the floor.
As you can see, I have drawn a diagram of five circles on the newsprint (or on the floor). These circles represent the different ways, areas, or places that many people experience spirituality. The first is Personal: this area includes things like meditation, reading, personal prayer, or journaling. The second area is Communal: this area includes things like group worship, making and eating a meal with friends or family, deep conversations with family or friends, teaching or playing. The third area is Organizational: this area can include such activities as political organizing or social justice work, volunteering, church governance or even a career or job. The final area is Environmental: this can include watching a sunset or sunrise, camping, or hiking, experiencing the changing seasons and stewardship of our earth's resources.
Now take a moment to look at what you wrote in your journal. In which circle does your experience of spirituality fit? It might fit in just one of these circles, or it might fit in two, three, or all four. Once you have identified which circle or circles your experience falls in, write a brief description of your spiritual experience on the newsprint in the area that you think it fits. [If you are using the alternate method, ask them to stand in the space that they think it fits and verbally tell people about their spiritual experience.]
After everyone has written something on newsprint, ask for volunteers to read the responses. After they are done, ask the following questions:
To conclude, write the words "Engaged Spirituality" in the appropriate space on the diagram (or place the piece of paper with the words on the floor in the appropriate space). Then unveil the engaged spirituality quote and ask a participant to read it. Read or summarize the following script:
You will notice that the circle for engaged spirituality goes around all of the other circles. The idea of engagement with spirituality has two basic dimensions. The first is that engaged spirituality should be an intentional practice of finding spiritual nourishment. The second is that engaged spirituality should also have an outward focus. Spirituality is not just about the individual. In the words of Janet Parachin, engaged spirituality is also the engagement "in activities that move the world toward peace, justice, greater compassion, and wholeness."
There is a moral or ethical component to spirituality. The personal experiences of spirituality are a place of regeneration and healing that allow us to go back out into the world and create justice. Think back to why the song "Spirit of Life" was written. Carolyn McDade was feeling tired and burned out and she wrote it as a prayer to find internal strength to continue in the struggle for justice.
There is a second moral or ethical component as well. That is that we need to be spiritually responsible. If we are going to take on spiritual practices of another culture or faith, it is important to learn about those practices—where they came from, who practices them, and how to do them correctly. There are also spiritual practices from some cultures that are appropriately practiced only by that culture. For example, many spiritual practices that come from indigenous or Native American cultures have deep roots in the history and identity of specific peoples. Many of those indigenous cultures also have a history of oppression and near extinction at the hands of white colonial cultures. People from indigenous cultures see it as a continuation of this oppression to have people from outside their culture practicing some of their rituals. Therefore, to have an engaged spirituality that is actively seeking justice it is important that we understand these histories of oppression and understand which spiritual practices are appropriate for use by others and which are not.
Ask participants if they have any questions. If they have any questions that you do not feel prepared to answer, you can direct them to some of the resources listed in Find Out More.
ACTIVITY 4: I BELIEVE, I FEEL, I ACT (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that participants will now have the opportunity to reflect and write or draw on what they have learned and discussed in the workshop. The following is a framework for reflecting, but they are free to reflect in any way that is helpful for them.
Invite them to make three columns in their journals:
I BELIEVE I FEEL I ACT
(world view) (loyalty of my heart) (way of life)
Invite them to consider their faith in these terms.
An example might be:
1) I believe that I am a spiritual person.
2) I feel a sense of wonder about the world.
3) I act by starting a regular spiritual practice.
Explain that they can make as many statements as they have time for now and they can always continue during the reflection time in future workshops. Invite them to draw or represent their reflections visually, if they prefer.
Also offer the following reflection question related to the theme of the day: What does spirituality mean to me?
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite brief reflections from the journaling exercise about beliefs, feelings, and actions in response to today's workshop. After five minutes, introduce the song, "Meditation on Breathing" by Sarah Dan Jones with the following background from the Singing the Journey website:
"Meditation on Breathing" is actually the chorus to a longer song called "When I Breath In" written by Sarah Dan Jones right after the tragedy of September 11th.
Ask participants how they would breathe in peace and how would they breathe in love. Ask how this relates to what you have discussed about spiritual practices. Then, invite participants to rise in body or spirit and sing "Meditation on Breathing" by Sarah Dan Jones, Hymn Hymn1009 in Singing the Journey.
Invite a participant to extinguish the chalice and distribute Taking It Home.
Including All Participants
An invitation to "rise in body or spirit" accommodates participants of all physical abilities.
FAITH IN ACTION: SPIRITUAL PRACTICE FAIR
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants bring what they have learned to the rest of their congregation by organizing a spiritual practice fair. This is a great opportunity for participants and church members to be introduced to a variety of spiritual practices.
Invite participants to plan a spiritual practice fair for the congregation. Welcome the director of religious education, minister or other guest you invited to talk about spiritual practices in the congregation.
Ask participants to think back to the spiritual practices they identified in the workshop.
Post the newsprint sheets with the names of the four areas of spirituality. Ask them to think of spiritual practices in each of those areas that they would like to learn about. Remind them that brainstorming is about getting ideas out, so any idea is a good one and they should not discuss or critique ideas at this time. Lead a brainstorm for each of the circles of spirituality.
After they brainstorm practices for each area, give each participant twelve dot stickers. Invite them to vote on which spiritual practices they want to focus on for the spiritual practice fair. Let them know that they can distribute their dots as they would like—clustered in one area, or spread around the different circles. This process should make clear that one or two practices in each circle are their favorites.
The next step is brainstorming people to lead workshops at the fair. The number of workshops will depend on the availability of workshop leaders and the size of your congregation, but aim for two workshops in each of the four areas of spirituality. Focusing on the top two practices in each of the spirituality circles, identify people who could lead workshops on those practices. Remember that workshop leaders also include the youth themselves. The person that you invited to help (DRE or minister) should help generate ideas. The process should generate a list of at least eight people who can lead a workshop on a spiritual practice.
The final step in the planning process is to set a date for the fair and divide into teams to implement the logistics. Consult with church staff about timing. Here is a list of suggested implementation teams:
Once implementation teams have begun their work, it is just a matter of getting all the tasks done. Youth are perfectly able to plan and implement a fair like this, but it is important that facilitators play a supportive role by keeping track of the tasks, the people responsible for getting them done, and the progress being made. This may be the first time some youth have ever done something like this, but another youth may have planned dozens of events like this and will be able to coach others. The goal is to empower the youth to take charge of the fair as much as possible.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Talk with your co-leader about the workshop. What do you think went well? What might you have done differently? Did you learn anything about your working relationship or how you lead an activity that would be important to note for future workshops?
Thinking about the content of the workshop, what did you find most surprising about what you learned? Did the participants have any interesting reactions to the content? What would you like to learn more about?
If you are doing this curriculum as a series, go over the workshop plan for the next workshop with your co-leader. Who will do what preparatory tasks? Is there any research you will need to do? If you have more or less time than the 90 minutes planned for in the workshop outline which activities will you add or cut?
TAKING IT HOME
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 Today's Workshop...
We explored the meaning of spirituality and how spirituality operates in our lives. We looked at the song "Spirit of Life" and thought about what it tells us about spirituality and spiritual practice. We also looked at the Circles of Spirituality and how different spiritual practices relate to each other and help make us whole.
Explore further with family and friends...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: HYMN SINGING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE (45 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants explore how the singing of hymns can be a spiritual practice.
Explain that the group will explore how music, specifically hymn singing, can be a spiritual practice. Introduce the guest you have invited and ask them to share their experience with music at the church and why they got involved. Have participants introduce themselves to the guest as well.
Ask your guest to share what the top two or three hymns are in the congregation and why they think they are sung so often. Invite the group to sing those hymns.
Then, ask participants to name their favorites. Sing three or four of those hymns as a group.
Lead a discussion with the following questions:
After 10 to 15 minutes of discussion, ask the guest to name ways that the youth might be involved in the music ministry of the congregation.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: SPIRITUAL PRACTICES (35 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants experience a spiritual practice and get to know a member of their congregation in a deeper way.
Explain that some members of the congregation are joining the workshop today to share their spiritual practice.
Begin with introductions of the participants. Then ask the presenters to introduce themselves, including how long they have been part of the congregation. Have presenters share briefly why (not how) they participate in their spiritual practice.
Then, divide participants into small groups to meet with a presenter for about 15 minutes to teach about their spiritual practice.
After 15 minutes, bring the groups back together. Acknowledge that 15 minutes is only enough time for a taste of the spiritual practice that can be a lifetime's work. Invite a participant from each small group to briefly describe what they learned. When all of the small groups have shared, ask the presenters these questions:
Close by thanking the presenters and pointing out the materials the presenters have brought for participants to experience each of the spiritual practices more deeply.
Including All Participants
Some spiritual practices will not be possible for all participants. Be aware of the different abilities in the group and plan to have at least one spiritual practice accessible to everyone.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 6:
STORY: SPIRIT OF LIFE
Based on excerpts from Kimberly French's UU World Fall 2007 article Carolyn McDade's spirit of life. Additional sources include Chris Walton's UU World article General Assembly Report: Delegates Take a Global View at Quebec
"Spirit of Life" by Carolyn McDade is one of the most often sung hymns from Singing the Living Tradition. In 2007, Kimberly French interviewed Carolyn McDade about "Spirit of Life" for an article in UU World magazine. This is an excerpt describing the night she wrote the song:
Like much of McDade's music, the genesis of "Spirit of Life" was a very personal one. Late one night in the early 1980s, she was driving her close friend Pat Simon home from one of those meetings. In UU tellings of the story, it has been called a church social-justice meeting, an anti nuclear-power demonstration, and a remembrance of Harvey Milk, the openly gay San Francisco city supervisor who was assassinated in 1978—versions that may work well to make a sermon point. But McDade says it was a meeting for Central American solidarity, probably at a college.
What she remembers most clearly was the feeling she had. "When I got to Pat's house, I told her, 'I feel like a piece of dried cardboard that has lain in the attic for years. Just open wide the door, and I'll be dust.' I was tired, not with my community but with the world. She just sat with me, and I loved her for sitting with me."
McDade then drove to her own home in Newtonville. "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."
The song started as a prayer by a woman who was trying to stay in faith with a larger social justice movement. But "Spirit of Life" slowly grew into a life of its own. The song spread to Unitarian Universalist congregations, and when the Unitarian Universalist Association published Singing the Living Tradition in the early 1990's, "Spirit of Life" was included. It had become an important hymn for Unitarian Universalists.
For many Unitarian Universalists, this hymn is a regular part of coming together. A creative Unitarian Universalist added hand signals. Some churches use "Spirit of Life" as part of their weekly worship ritual—as the chalice lighting or as part of the closing. It has also been sung as a prayer for strength. As hundreds of Unitarian Universalists gathered to prepare for the banner parade at the 2003 Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly, a man from Colorado experienced a heart attack in the middle of the crowd. As medical first responders worked to save his life, the others gathered spontaneously broke into singing "Spirit of Life."
"Spirit of Life" began as a prayer by a single woman with no intention of it becoming a hymn for a religious movement. However, that is exactly what happened to it. In the hymn we sing, "Roots hold me close; wings set me free." In this case, the roots are the prayerfulness that is at the center of the song's creation, and the wings are all of us who sing it and spread it throughout our faith community.
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 6:
HANDOUT 1: WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?
Reprinted with permission from "What Does Spirituality Mean? Young People Speak Out" by Search Institute (R). Copyright (C) 2006-2009 Search Institute (R), Minneapolis, MN; www.search-institute.org. All Rights Reserved.
What does spirituality mean?
Youth from around the world answer this question:
A PLACE OF WHOLENESS: WORKSHOP 6:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: CIRCLES OF SPIRITUALITY
Print with the diagram on one side and the text on the back.
Personal Sphere:
Communal Sphere:
Environmental Sphere:
Organizational Sphere:
Engaged Spirituality:
"Engaged spirituality involves living a dual engagement: engaging with those resources that provide spiritual nurture and engaging with the world through acts of compassion and justice. Engaged spirituality is not an either/or prospect, but a conscious and intentional commitment to engage both the nurturing and the active aspects of religious faith." — Janet W. Parachin
FIND OUT MORE
Appropriate Cultural Sharing
Because Unitarian Universalists draw from so many cultural sources, it is important to think deeply about the context of the spiritual practices we draw from and the difference between appropriate and inappropriate cultural borrowing. The difference is not always clear. Here are resources that you might find helpful.
Engaged Spirituality
In Engaged Spirituality: Ten Lives of Contemplation and Action (at #v=onepage&q=&f=false) (St. Louis, Mo: Chalice Press, 1999), Janet W. Parachin has collected the writings and stories of ten spiritual leaders who model engaged spirituality. Gregory C. Stanczak's Engaged Spirituality: Social Change and American Religion (at #v=onepage&q=&f=false) (Piscataway NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006) is much more academic but is also helpful in understanding engaged spirituality. Portions of this book are available online.