Tapestry of Faith Programs and Resources
Tapestry of Faith Programs and Resources
www.uua.org/tapestryoffaith
September, 2009
I. Children’s Programs
Creating Home (Kindergarten/First Grade) – Online
By Christy Olson and Jessica York
This program helps children develop a sense of home that is grounded in faith. Participants explore the purpose and functions of a home for people and for other animals. The program describes home as a place of belonging and introduces the concept of the congregation as a "faith home." Like a family home, a faith home offers its members certain joys, protections and responsibilities.
Wonderful Welcome (Kindergarten/First Grade) – Online
By Aisha Hauser and Susan Lawrence
In this program, children identify intangible gifts central to Unitarian Universalism such as friendship, hospitality and fairness, and share these gifts with others. The gifts explored in Wonderful Welcome are all components of welcome, itself a core Unitarian Universalist value. Children are encouraged to think about the intangible gifts they bring to the world, and intangible gifts they receive. Children find safe, positive and intentional ways to relate to one another, their families, and the world around them as they investigate how they use gifts they cannot see or touch to welcome others in their lives.
Moral Tales (Second/Third Grade) – Online
By the Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann and Elisa Davy Pearmain
Every day our children go forth into a complex world where they may be faced with difficult decisions and situations. Moral Tales provides children with spiritual and ethical tools to make choices and take actions that reflect their Unitarian Universalist beliefs and values. The stories in Moral Tales draw from all our UU Sources to activate and inform the children’s learning how to make moral choices.
Faithful Journeys (Second/Third Grade) – Online
By the Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann and the Rev. Lynn Ungar
Defining what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist can be challenging. Our adults and youth often welcome this challenge; a questioning spirit is part of our faith. Yet, our children need to learn who Unitarian Universalists are, what we believe and how we make decisions and act on our faith. Faithful Journeys equips children with language and experiences to develop and articulate a strong Unitarian Universalist faith identity. Through historic and contemporary stories of Unitarian Universalist faith in action, participants grow in their own personal agency – their capacity to act faithfully as Unitarian Universalists in their lives. Throughout the program, children have opportunities to share their own stories of faithful action and represent them with footprints or wheelchair tracks on a Faithful Journeys Path.
Toolbox of Faith (Fourth/Fifth Grade) – Online
By Kate Tweedie Covey
Toolbox of Faith invites fourth- and fifth-grade participants to reflect on qualities of our Unitarian Universalist faith, such as integrity, courage and love, as tools they can use in living their lives and building their own faith. Each of the 16 sessions uses a tool as a metaphor for an important quality of our faith such as reflection (symbolized by a mirror), flexibility (duct tape) and justice (a flashlight). Reflecting on the qualities (tools) of our faith, children and leaders gain insight into what makes our faith a faith for life.
Windows and Mirrors (Fourth/Fifth Grade) – Online
By Gabrielle Farrell, Natalie Fenimore and Dr. Jenice View
This program nurtures children’s ability to acknowledge their own experiences and perspectives and to seek out, care about and respect those of others. Sessions unpack topics that lend themselves to diverse experiences and perspectives – for example, faith heritage, public service, anti-racism and prayer. Underlying the program is the lesson that there are always multiple viewpoints.
The metaphor of windows and mirrors represents the dynamic relationship among our awareness of self, our perceptions of others, and others’ perceptions of us. An art activity throughout the program gives children a way to respond to the metaphor creatively to each session’s topic. As a mirror, the panel reflects aspects of the individual child. As a window, it represents the child’s view beyond themselves to the congregation, other communities to which they belong and the world.
Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong (Sixth Grade) – Online
By Richard S. Kimball
This program guides sixth graders through ways to determine right from wrong and act on their new understandings. Its purpose is to equip them for moving safely and productively through the middle- and high-school years, when they will be continually tugged toward both ends of the ethics continuum. Through Amazing Grace, youth come to depend on their Unitarian Universalist identity and resources as essential to their movement toward understanding, independence, and fulfillment of personal promise. Includes the game "Ethics
Riddle and Mystery: UU Responses to Big Questions (Sixth Grade) – Fall 2009 online publication
By Richard S. Kimball
"Is there a God?" "What happens after I die?" "Does my life have a purpose?" These are big questions we all voice. Though Unitarian Universalists espouse different theologies, we agree on many answers to these questions. This curriculum helps young people understand that our individual search for meaning in the universe is supported and strengthened when we come together as people of faith. Participants explore our shared UU beliefs and determine where their beliefs fit in the spectrum. Engaging, relevant activities range from the introspective (WITT or, "What I Think" Time) to scripted dramas, Internet surveys and exploring UU hymns for answers.
Gather the Spirit (Multigenerational)
By Richard S. Kimball and Christine Rafal
Gather the Spirit, an eight-session, multi-generational program, focuses on the stewardship of water. Nowhere can our stewardship be better directed than toward the shared water resources on which all life depends. We can and must join with other progressive and caring forces to sustain, extend and improve life on earth. This serious purpose does not preclude pleasure in the accomplishment. Gather the Spirit intends not just to help save the world, but to engage participants in positive, engaging and enjoyable community action.
Miracles (Wide Agespan of Children) – Winter 2009 online publication
By the Rev. Christopher L. Holton-Jablonski and Dr. Miriam Smith
This eight-session program for a wide agespan engages children in exploration of the first Source of Unitarian Universalism – direct experience of transcendent mystery and wonder. Children learn to pay attention to and reflect on the awesomeness of the dynamic processes and relationships of the interconnected web of life. As they encounter miraculous transformations in nature, they stretch to understand their agency to effect transformations within themselves and in the larger world. They learn that even when we rationally understand events and relationships in nature, we may still experience awe and wonder, and be transformed by the miraculous. Exploring UU understandings of "a miracle," they learn that our Unitarian Universalist faith rests simultaneously on our humility before the transcendent power of mystery and our responsibility to apply rational inquiry.
Circle of Trees (Wide Agespan of Children) – In development
By Kate Tweedie Covey
Circle of Trees is an eight-session workshop for a wide agespan that uses trees as both a metaphor and a literal representation of the interdependent web of life. A wide variety of activities engage participants in both a spiritual experience of nature and a social commitment to stewardship.
II. Youth Programs and Resources
Families (Junior/Senior High) – Online
By Dr. Tracey L. Hurd, based on a program by Dr. Helen Bishop and Susan Grider
A semester-long program for junior or senior high youth, this program explores the functions of families and affirms that families come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Activities help youth celebrate their own families while exploring family diversity in the congregation. It culminates in a narrative/photo-documentary project that builds youth leadership skills and multigenerational community, and fosters in youth a greater sense of belonging in their faith community.
Exploring Our Values through Poetry (High School) – Online
By Karen Harris
This program uses poetry as the medium to explore participants’ values in the context of their UU faith. With contributions ranging from Tennyson to modern Chinese poet Shu Ting to Ishmael Reed, timeless themes such as "beauty," "love," "faith" and "surviving difficult times" are explored. Yet this is not just about sitting and reading poetry. Multiple learning styles are utilized as youth are encouraged to express themselves in art, song and Faith in Action projects. The program includes instructions to help youth sponsor a poetry slam in their congregation or community.
Heeding the Call (Junior High) – In development
By Nicole Bowmer and Jodi Tharan
Heeding the Call is a social justice curriculum that not only explores linked oppressions in our society, but also encourages participants towards personal growth in values that counteract the marginalization of others. Workshops on empathy, courage, abundance, joy, and other qualities ask participants to recognize how these standards can be tools for justice. Additionally, the program includes more concrete tools, such as suggestions on how to be a good ally and tips on the language of conflict resolution. True stories of courage, sacrifice and collaboration, role-plays, games, and a program-long justice project will feed youth’s rising realization that as people of faith we are all called to love justice—not just with our words, but also with our deeds.
Building Bridges (Junior/Senior High) – In development
By Mary K. Isaacs
This year-long curriculum explores the religions of today’s world and our relationship to them. Part religious literacy, part UU identity formation, this program engages participants with religions on many levels. Youth will recognize the human needs religion serves in a historical context, while at the same time examining the most popular religions today. Acknowledging that facts and figures are not enough, youth will "build a bridge" to other people of faith by visiting houses of worship, talking with practitioners of other faiths, and hearing from UUs of various theologies. However, bridges go both ways. The results of these religious explorations are to help youth grow in their Unitarian Universalist faith and build authentic relationships in our increasingly diverse world.
A Place of Wholeness (High School) – In development
Being written by Beth Dana and Jesse Jaeger
Youth, like adults and children, need to be able to talk about what it means to be Unitarian Universalist. Whether delivering an "elevator speech," taking part in an interfaith dialogue, or conversing with friends at the lunch table, youth need practice in describing our multifaceted faith in terms that are personally meaningful and true. Building upon the faith development of Coming of Age and other UU identity programs, this curriculum encourages youth to look inward for a clearer understanding of their personal faith and guides them to express that faith outward into the world.
Youth Small Group Ministry (High School) – In development
Being written by the Rev. Helen Zidowecki and Jessica York
Recognizing that congregations need multiple faith development models to offer youth, this resource will provide tools for leading small group ministry or covenant groups with youth. The small group ministry model can address many needs of youth, including a sense of belonging, opportunities to practice leadership, and discussions that focus on matters relevant to their own lives. This handbook will include guidance on session structure, the role of facilitators, and confidentiality issues with youth. Sample sessions and a template for creating new sessions will be included.
Mission Trip Handbook – In development
By Jenn McAdoo and Anne Principe
Mission: an inner calling to pursue an activity or perform a service. Many congregational youth groups are following an inner call to provide service to our communities. The calls range from activities within the congregation to actions in another part of the world. The Mission Trip Handbook is a guide for leaders interested in including youth in transformative experiences of doing justice in the world. Whether it is helping to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Katrina or cleaning up parks with Navaho youth on a reservation, asking youth to step outside their small communities and work with others toward a common good can be a life changing experience. The authors of this guidebook – who have lead several mission trips – provide useful information on how to organize such a trip from start to finish, in addition to illustrating how mission trips can deepen Unitarian Universalist identity and grow greater commitments to work towards the more equitable and peaceful world we all desire.
The IFYC Project – In development
Authors TBA
In 2009, the Lifespan Faith Development working group and the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based organization, received a $100,000 grant from the Congregation at Shelter Rock, NY, to develop a plan to increase leadership in interfaith work amongst UU youth. Leadership training and a congregational curriculum, as well as other instruments, will help seed a commitment to interfaith work based upon cooperative service to the community. As Unitarian Universalist, we are uniquely qualified to do this work. Our history holds numerous examples of working with other faith communities to bring about social change. Our congregations are ripe in the theological diversity in which we rejoice. Today’s youth will build upon this history and modern day embrace of religious pluralism as they help our world engage in breaking down walls and building up communities of shared values and common goals.
Chaplain Manual – In development
By Brian Kuzma, Michael Ohlrogge, Lara Campbell, Tim Murphy, Reverend Eva Cameron, and Betty Jeanne Rueters-Ward
This resource is intended for youth and adults working with youth who are interested in serving as chaplains at youth conferences and other functions. It includes detailed descriptions of the work chaplains do, a checklist to help determine if this work is right for you, and guidelines on how to handle various situations chaplains commonly encounter. Includes practical advice on leading worship, stocking a “spiritual toolbox”, and anti-racism/anti-oppression work as it affects the efforts of a chaplain.
Virtue Ethics – In development
Authors TBA
We face ethical decisions – great and small – everyday. How our values affect these ethical decisions is the focus of this program. What values accompany my Unitarian Universalist faith? Are these values reflected in the decisions I make? How do the decisions I make today affect the person I will be tomorrow? These are the issues this program will address. It will include information on the process of decision making, a bit of ethical theory, and opportunities within each workshop to discuss how ethical decision making plays out in the real life of a teenager in various arenas (peer groups, school, family, and work, to name a few). Authors tba.
Bridging – For future development
Authors TBA
Congregations are asking for a resource, similar to Coming of Age, for youth who are about to enter adulthood. This change in age accompanies a change in a person’s relationship with their congregation: different responsibilities, expectations, and rights are common results when youth “bridge” into young adulthood. This resource will help young people, their families, and church leaders examine what lies over the bridge and embrace the crossing with joy and a greater dedication to their faith.
III. Adult Programs
Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education for Young Adults, Ages 18-35 – In print
By the Rev. Michael J. Tino, Laura Anne Stuart, and the Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh
The newest in the Our Whole Lives sexuality education series, this program helps participants navigate young adulthood with accurate information, increased self-knowledge, and strengthened interpersonal skills. Fourteen workshops include topics such as body image, birth control, gender identity, family life, and sexual fantasy.
Sexuality and Our Faith: A Companion to Our Whole Lives for Young Adults – In print
By Mandy Keithan, T. Michael Rock, and Lynn Young
The resource helps participants apply their religious values to the issues in Our Whole Lives. It is one book in two volumes: one developed for Unitarian Universalists and one developed for the United Church of Christ.
Principled Commitment: A Program for Unitarian Universalist Couples– Online
By Melanie J. Davis, Dr. Stephanie Haymaker, the Rev. Craig Hirshberg and Dr. Richard Bellingham
Developed in response to Unitarian Universalist adults’ desire to build strong partner relationships, and our congregations’ desire to meet that need, the 11 workshops of Principled Commitment provide avenues for participants to grow in faith while nourishing a committed partnership. Each workshop connects one of the seven Principles with a broad principle, quality or attribute that participants can cultivate in their relationships.
Spirit in Practice: Ten Workshops for Unitarian Universalist Adults – Online
By the Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom
Developed in response to many Unitarian Universalist adults’ desire to engage in meaningful, affirmative spiritual practices, the ten workshops of Spirit in Practice provide guidance for deepening individual spirituality and promoting spiritual growth in the congregation. Participants are invited to reflect, share and grow together, exploring many ways to nurture their connections with the sacred in everyday life.
Spirit of Life: Exploring Spirituality for Unitarian Universalists - Online
By the Rev. Barbara Hamilton-Holway
This nine-workshop program seeks to bring meaning, beauty, and growth to Unitarian Universalist adults as they deepen their spiritual awareness and connections. The program taps into one of the central functions of religion, eloquently described by the Reverend Dr. Kendyl Gibbons, "…how we – each of us, in our uniquely constituted beings – recognize and understand and make sense of that unbidden, overwhelming awe at the wonder, magnificence, danger, demand, and delight of being alive." This program is spiritually and thematically inspired by Carolyn McDade’s popular song/UU hymn.
Harvest the Power: Lay Leadership Development – Online
By Gail Forsyth-Vail, Gail Tittle and the Rev. Matt Tittle
This program was developed in response to the needs of our lay leaders for leadership skill development that goes hand-in-hand with faith development. Fundamental to the program is the understanding that congregational leaders are operating at a time of rapid cultural change and face issues that require both skills and vision. Twelve workshops offer opportunities for both new and experienced leaders to enrich and deepen their skills and help them experience leadership as a Unitarian Universalist faith journey.
What Moves Us: Unitarian Universalist Theology – Winter 2009 online publication
By the Rev. Dr. Thandeka
Drawing on the work of historical and contemporary theologians, this program invites participants to engage some of the major theological perspectives of our tradition and to test those theological points of view against their own lived experience. What Moves Us will satisfy the hunger of longtime Unitarian Universalists, including religious professionals, for challenging faith development materials.
Our Living Unitarian Universalist History – In development
By the Rev. Jackie Clement and the Rev. Alison Cornish
The history of our faith constitutes our narrative, our story peopled with the prophets, doers and shapers of the faith we seek to live today. These sixteen workshops are organized thematically, rather than chronologically, and offer many ways for participants to explore historical themes and stories and connect them with their own experiences and faith journeys. These workshops, like most adult faith development programs in Tapestry of Faith, may be used singly and in any combination.
History of Unitarian Universalist Resistance and Transformation – In development
By the Rev. Colin Bossen and Julia Hamilton.
In this 16-workshop program, participants examine the manifestations of social justice values and action in our Unitarian Universalist history. Each workshop explores a social justice theme through historical stories and primary source material, then invites participants to reflect on how the theme is manifested in Unitarian Universalism today. Participants examine how these themes impact their own commitment to social justice work and point the way to future action. Grounded in the belief that even "failures" in our history can be instructive, this program presents UU history as the ongoing struggle of our tradition to live up to its ever-evolving ideals of social transformation.
IV. Additional Tapestry of Faith Resources
Nurturing Children and Youth: A Developmental Guidebook (Toolkit Book) – In print
By Dr. Tracey L. Hurd
Grounded in current research and theory, this book describes typical progressions in physical, cognitive, social, emotional, moral and spiritual growth for each phase of development, from infants to young adults. Each of the age-chronological chapters presents key characteristics and ways to support young people in the context of Unitarian Universalism. Written for parents, ministers, religious educators, and teachers, this book helps meet the needs of children and youth in our faith communities.
Stories in Faith: Exploring Our Unitarian Universalist Principles and Sources Through Wisdom Tales (Toolkit Book) – In print
By Gail Forsyth-Vail
This resource is an invitation to begin a unique spiritual journey, one in which stories help us develop our faith and make meaning in our lives. This distinctly Unitarian Universalist collection of 19 wisdom tales culls from many cultures and traditions, using the seven Principles and six Sources as a framework for reflection and further exploration. The book offers thoughtful advice for respectfully approaching materials from a culture other than one’s own and encourages engagement with wisdom tales as an opportunity for lifelong inspiration and spiritual growth. This is a useful resource for worship, religious education programs, and families.
When Youth Lead: A Guide to Intergenerational Social Justice Ministry (Toolkit Book) – In print
By Jill M. Schwendeman
Based on a view of youth as equal participants in congregational life, this resource offers adults who work with youth guidance to construct and maintain a healthy, spiritually vital youth ministry. Teens are an enormous generative force for our faith communities, and adults have much to learn from youth about passion, friendship, discrimination, equality, faith and more. Social justice work is an effective tool for bringing generations together, and the suggestions in this excellent resource have the potential to build rich partnerships among children, youth, adults and elders. Includes practical tips for 101 social action projects.
Coming of Age Handbook for Congregations – In print
By the Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh
Comprehensive and practical, the Coming of Age Handbook for Congregations is a treasury of tools for the leaders of coming of age programs in the congregation. This handbook is filled with workshops for youth, small group ministry sessions for parents, social action projects and rites of passage. Participants explore theology, spirituality, history and other topics through discussion, drama, music, writing and art. It addresses all the components of UU Coming of Age programs and is a comprehensive resource for congregations to design their own approach to this rite of passage.
Spirituality and the Arts in Children’s Programming (Resource) – Online
By Dr. Nita Penfold
The eight chapters of this resource guide adults to create and implement arts experiences in a religious education context. This resource includes both pedagogical guidance and practical instructions for projects that help children experience spiritual growth and depth through various arts. This resource describes how to choose, plan, lead and process visual/tactile arts, writing, and drama and movement/dance activities as religious, child-affirming experiences.
Making Music Live (Resource) – Online
By Nick Page
This resource presents a compelling argument and detailed, practical advice for incorporating musical expression, primarily singing, into Unitarian Universalist religious education. The author’s enthusiasm and expertise will surely inspire and encourage even those who do not consider themselves "musical." In eight chapters, topics include when and how to employ singing activities, how to find the right kind of song for a particular session, song-teaching strategies, ways to add layers of music-making and/or movement to a singing activity. This resource also includes thoughtful guidance on the borrowing of music and traditions from cultures not one’s own.
Together in Faith: Finding Home in Times of Trauma or Disaster – Online
By Dr. Tracey L. Hurd
This workshop is designed for children, families and multigenerational groups as a way to pause and gather with intention to make sense of trauma or disaster. It offers the opportunity to step toward wholeness during a time when daily routines and the blessings of life need amplification. It does not offer a cure, but a framework to come together for comfort and meaning-making when a disaster of any nature has impacted the community.
Making Meaning after Disaster: A Workshop for Unitarian Universalist Adults – Online
By the Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh
Conceived in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, this workshop helps congregations reflect and heal after a natural disaster, attack or other traumatic event. Whether such events occur far away or in our own backyard, they can affect the way we make meaning and the way each of us understands life’s purpose and the workings of the universe.
A Study Guide to Milk – Online
By the Rev. Mark Belletini
This discussion guide for the 2008 film, Milk, includes background information, discussion questions, and resources for putting faith in action. Milk is a film biography of Harvey Milk, a great leader of the 1970s Gay and Lesbian rights movement who, as an elected member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, was the first openly gay politician in the United States. Milk and San Francisco mayor George Moscone were assassinated in November 1978 by Dan White, also a member of the Board of Supervisors.
Last updated on Thursday, October 15, 2009.
