Goal: To understand that the Bible is a collection of stories, written long ago. To understand that truth can mean a story that is true for us in meaning but not necessarily historical fact.
Preparation:
Read Background for Teachers
Collect a variety of Bibles from your local library, family or friends. (If you are interested in purchasing a family resource, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Bible, by Jim Bell and Stan
Campbellis very kid-friendly)
Print Bible Trivia Questions and/or Bible Pictionary quotations and background and instructions. Cut into strips.
Print Beatitudes of Jesus by Rev. F. Forrester Church
Activities:
Introduce the topic by saying something like the following.:
The Bible is not historically true and accurate like a dictionary, but it is not fiction, like Harry Potter books either. It is a mixture of history and stories that hold truth, like myths and poetry. As one girl said [a myth] is something that is true on the inside, but maybe not the outside. Stories in the Bible are not always true on the outside but there are parts that teach us something that is true on the inside.
Use the example of Jonah and the Whale. It probably couldnt be true, but Hebrews used it to illustrate how someone who tried to avoid doing something unpleasant couldnt escape it. Jonah tried to flee when Yahweh asked him to take a trip to Nineva and tell them about Gods message. The truth, the wisdom for us, is that when we try to avoid doing something unpleasant, it may well feel like we are being swallowed alive. Finally when we realize that we might as well just DO IT, we are released.
Think of a time when you felt swallowed alive by some issueavoiding an unpleasant job or avoiding confessing the truth. Ask your kids to think of a time they did. Discuss.
UUs value wisdom and learning, changing and growing. By reading these stories and searching for the inside truth, we are being helped to learn and grow.
Play Bible Trivia Game:
Divide your family into 2 groups if possible and give each group a pile of trivia questions. One group pulls a question from their pile and poses it to the other group. Discuss among yourselves. If the group answers correctly, they try to answer another question. Continue until they are stumped, or until you want to switch roles. If you come on a question that no one knows the answer to, try to find the answer in the Bibles you have collected.
Play Bible Pictionary:
Like the popular Pictionary games, this one involves 2 teams and paper and pencils for drawing the word to be guessed. Place the quotes in a basket. Taking turns, teams draw a quote from the pile. Each quote has one key word in bold face type. The object of the game is to get your teammates to guess the key word in the quote using only pictures. After the word is guessed, the team finds the quote in one of the Bibles you have collected. Play a few rounds without a timer to see how you do and then add a time limit to make it more challenging.
When I was growing up, the Bible was a big part of my religious indoctrination. I know my kids need to learn about the Bible it’s so much a part of the world. But getting back into it pushes so many of my buttons — it’s just too confusing. Sound familiar? The Bible is one of those "difficult topics" for many UU parents. We want our children to know the classic stories and famous quotes of the Bible but are unsure how to teach them and, in some cases, unsure why it is important. This hesitancy is understandable.
Many UUs who come from faith traditions in which the Bible is considered the "word of God" — the only religious authority — fear any Bible instruction as potential indoctrination. I have often found the old Universalist image of the Bible-as-a-gold-mine helpful in thinking about Bible study. As you dig for the gold, you find a lot of stuff you want to reject, some you want to save and decide about later, and some you know is the real thing.
We need to teach our children to be Bible gold-miners, for there is much in the Bible that speaks to our UU faith. After all, liberal religion evolved from traditional Christianity.
Many UU precepts and values are stated in the Bible. Knowing where and how to find these spiritual and religious gems reinforces the values and helps children converse intelligently in our Judeo/Christian-dominant culture. You can start introducing the Bible when your children are young by reading from either a children’s Bible or a collection of Bible stories.
Timeless Themes and The Life and Teachings of Jesus are two good sources to borrow from the CLF Loan Library. The UUA Bookstore carries several different illustrated children’s Bibles. But to really become "Bible literate," children need to be familiar with the real thing. Being naturally curious about where things come from, children enjoy using their reading skills to look things up in the Bible–especially if it’s made into a game. Here’s an idea from UU educator Virginia Steele called Bible Pictionary. This summer, add this game to your family’s repertoire. It’s a lively, fun way to learn famous Biblical quotations. Reading in greater depth may naturally follow. Here’s how to play.
Bible Pictionary Materials:
Bible Cards with Biblical quotes —cut from this page or make your own–placed in a basket or "grab bag"
Pencils, crayons or markers
Timer (optional)
Object: To get your teammates to guess within one minute the word you are drawing (or untimed if you prefer) and to then locate the Bible passage in which the word is found.
How to Play:
Divide your family into two teams. Taking turns, one person from each team picks a quote from the basket and tries to get his/her teammates to guess the key word (the one in capital letters) by drawing pictures.
After the keyword is identified, the drawer looks up the quote in the Bible and reads the whole passage aloud. (e.g.: BREAD "Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 5:24, is found in the book of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 24.)
ALONE Man does not live by bread alone. Deuteronomy 8.5
ALIVE Joseph my son is still alive. Genesis 45.28
ANGEL An angel of the Eternal appeared to them, and the glory of the Eternal shone around them. Luke 2.9
ARK Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Genesis 6.14
COMMAND This I command you, to love one another. John 15.17
DAUGHTER The daughter of Pharoah came down to bathe at the river. Exodus 2.5
BEGINNING In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1.1
CROWN …and does crown him with glory and honor. Psalm 8.5
DRINK The people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? Exodus 15.24
BREAD Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 5.24
DESERT He turns a desert into pools of water… Psalm 107.35
EAT You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. Genesis 3.3
CHURCH …how one ought to behave in the household of God,…the church of the living God. Timothy 3.15
DEVIL Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4.1
FEAST This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Eternal. Exodus 12.14
DOVE …he sent forth the dove out of the ark. Genesis 8.8
FISH We have only five loaves here and two fish. Matthew 14.17
FREE Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God. Peter 2.16
FRIEND A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17.17
GARDEN The Eternal planted a garden in Eden. Genesis 2.8
GIFT You thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! Acts 8.20
GRAPES You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7.16
HEART He who has clean hands and a pure heart…he will receive a blessing from God. Psalmm 24.4-5
HELP For I, the Eternal your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you. Fear not, I will help you. Isaiah 41.14
HOME Even the sparrow finds a home. Psalm 84.3
HUNGRY If your enemy is hungry, feed him. Romans 12.20
JESUS She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Matthew 1.21
KING Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. Exodus 1.8
LOVE You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19.18
MONEY The love of money is the root of all evils. 1 Timothy 6.10
MOUNTAIN Then Moses went up on the mountain. Exodus 24.15
NEIGHBOR But he…said to Jesus, Who is my neighbor? Luke 10.29
NOISE Make a joyful noise to the Eternal! Psalm 100
POOR Blessed is he who considers the poor! Psalm 41.1
PRAYER Hear my prayer, O God, and give ear to my cry. Psalm 39.12
PARENTS His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. Luke 2.41
PRISON I was in prison and you came to me. Matthew 25.36
SING Sing praises to God, sing praises! Psalm 47.6
SHARE Is it not to share your bread with the hungry? Isaiah 58.7
STORM And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea. Matthew 8.24
RAIN …your Father who is in heaven…sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5.45
RIVER and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Matthew 3.6
RICH Thus says the Eternal: Let not the rich man glory in his riches. Jeremiah 9.23
TENT So he (Abraham) build an alter there and called upon the name of the Eternal, and pitched his tent there. Genesis 26.25
TOOTH …it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. -Jesus Matthew 5.38
SEASON For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven… Ecclesiastes 3.1
INHERIT Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5.5
SALT You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its tast, how shall its saltiness be restored? Matthew 5.13
WORSHIP God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. -Jesus John 4.24
WORLD You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works. -Jesus Mathhew 5.14
FORGIVE And Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23.34
LAW On these two commandments depend all the law and prophets. Matthew 22.40
FAMINE The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end; and the seven years of famine began to come Genesis 41.53
QUEEN …and women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven… Jeremiah 7.18
SHEEP All we like sheep have gone astray. Isaiah 53.6
SEA Some went down to the sea in ships. Psalm 107.23
SEED The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. Matthew 13.24
THIS IS THE WONDER TALE about the birth of Buddha. It is an older story than the one abut the birth of Jesus.
Buddha’s mother was a Queen who lived in a grand palace in the faraway country of India. It was summer time. For almost a week the King and Queen and all the people of their land had been celebrating the annual summer festival. Each evening hundreds of men and women had gathered in the King’s palace gardens to dance and be happy. Daily the King and Queen, sitting each on a royal chair hoisted on the shoulders of strong men, had been carried in procession through the streets of the city. All the while musicians made music with harps and drums and the people crowded about their rulers singing and throwing garlands of flowers into the royal chairs. And many were the gifts that the King and Queen gave away in return. The people said:
"Our Queen Maya is beautiful as a water lily, and as pure in her thoughts as the white lotus flower."
At the end of the last day of the festival, the tired Queen went to her own room and lay down on her couch to rest. Soon she was fast asleep and dreaming.
She dreamed that four beautiful and strong angels were lifting her up from her couch and carrying her off. Higher and higher they flew with her, until they were near the top Of a very great mountain.
The angels showed her a palace gleaming like gold. They led her up its marble steps. They showed her through one beautiful room after another until finally she came to a bedroom that seemed to have been made just for her.
In her dream, she heard the angels tell her to lie down on the couch to rest. Presently, she saw a pure white elephant quietly enter the room. Gentle as an angel he seemed as he came up to her couch and stood beside her. On the end of his trunk he carried a large lotus flower, white as the cleanest snow, and he gave it to the Queen.
That very moment when the Queen took the flower, the room was filled with a heavenly light. In her dream she heard a terrific earthquake. Even the deaf heard the great roar, and the blind were suddenly able to see. Men who had been dumb and unable to speak began at once to talk together. Lame persons rose from their beds and walked. Beautiful music was heard everywhere. Harps played without anyone touching the strings. Trees at once began to blossom with new flowers. Lotus buds of all colors burst into bloom everywhere. Even the wild animals became gentle. None roared or howled or frightened children anywhere.
In the morning when the Queen awoke from her dream, she found herself in bed in her own palace as if nothing had happened. At once, she told the King the story of her dream, and the two were filled with wondering. The King said:
"I will call my sixty-four counselors immediately."
The sixty-four counselors hurried at once to the palace. The King welcomed them with refreshments of rice and honey, and told them his wife’s dream.
"What does the dream mean? What is it that is going to happen" he asked. The chief counselor answered:
"Do not be anxious, O King! The dream is a good one. Your Queen is going to have a baby boy. When he is grown this child will either be King in your place or he will become a great teacher who will teach the people of many countries to know what they do not now understand. He will free them from their evil ways and will lead them to live in peace."
When the King heard these words from his chief counselor, he was very pleased, for the King did not yet have a boy child who could be taught to become a King.
Months afterwards, when the good Queen Maya realized that her baby would soon be born, she said to her husband:
"O King, I wish to go to the city of my parents."
Since the King wished to please his Queen, he consented, and ordered that her royal chair be made ready for her. He chose the strongest and best of his servants to take her safely to her mother’s home.
The royal procession had gone but halfway to the Queen’s former home, when they passed by a most
beautiful park. On catching sight of the masses of flowers among the trees, Maya the Queen insisted that she must get down out of her chair and spend a while walking through the grove. She wanted to stand under the trees and to breathe in the sweet perfume of their flowers.
Queen Maya walked into the beautiful grove. like singing with the birds that flitted about her. never before seen a lovelier spot.
A whole hour passed, but it seemed scarcely more than a few moments. Queen Maya began to feel that her baby was soon going to be born.
Quickly a couch was prepared for her and a curtain She felt She had thrown around her. When the baby was born, four angels appeared holding in their hands the four corners of 1 golden net. Into this net the baby was laid as if in a cradle, The angels spoke sweetly to the mother, and said:
"Be joyful, O Lady. A mighty son is born to you."
Presently four kings stood beside the four angels, and the angels gave the newborn child into the hands of the four kings. They in turn laid the child down on an antelope’s skin that was soft to the touch. Before long the mother thought she saw her babe lift himself up on his feet. He stood for a moment and looked around in all directions, He even took one step and another and another until he had walked seven steps. All the while one angel held a white umbrella over him and the other angels laid garlands of flowers before him.
Then the child lay down again upon his antelope blanket and soon fell asleep just like any other small baby.
As servants carried the mother and babe back to the palace angels sang above them in the sky. The King, hearing the strange music, ran to meet his Queen. When he saw his newborn boy child he danced for gladness. The King’s greatest wish had come true. He had a son! A Prince had been born who would some day rule the kingdom of the Sakyas! And the King called his son’s name Siddhartha Gautama.
But the young child never did become a King. When he was old enough to choose for himself, he decided there was something more important for him to do than to be a King. He felt he could not learn what he needed to know if he stayed on in a rich King’s palace. He wanted to know how it feels to be poor and hungry, and to work for one’s own food.
So in the darkness of night the young Prince fled from the palace, taking with him nothing but the clothes he had on. Even these clothes he soon exchanged for the clothes of a beggar. Walking from town to town, begging his food in the streets, sleeping in the woods, he hunted for men who were thought to be wise. He asked them questions. He also spent hours sitting alone in the shade of the forest thinking. He wondered about sickness and about dying, about what happens after dying and what happens before one is born.
So it came about after some years that this young man became wiser than those who tried to teach him. Even today, after two thousand five hundred years, the name of this man is honored every day by millions of people.
But he is not called by the name that his father gave him. He is called the Buddha. This name means "the man with a light." But the Light that Buddha had was no ordinary light such as the light of a lamp. His Light was for the heart and for the mind. His Light is not the kind that eyes can see. Nor is his Light the kind that burns the fingers.
Buddha’s Light you can feel only with your heart when you know you are at peace with yourself. Buddha’s Light is the Light of Truth.
Also see Buddha’s Teachings
Buddha taught that both good things and hard things come to every person. Both are part of life. But if you choose to follow Buddhist law (called Dharma, or the Middle Way) you will live a good life and find peace, perhaps even reach Nirvana. You don’t need priests to pray for you, you don’t need to make sacrifices to the Gods, and you don’t have to be of a certain caste in society. Buddha taught that all people can avoid the extremes of behavior (selfish pleasure or self-denial) which lead to suffering, and follow the Middle Way to a good life. The Buddhist law is comprised of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
Four Noble Truths (the causes of suffering):
1. Suffering consists of disease, old age, and death; separation from those we love; craving what we cannot obtain; hating what we cannot avoid.
2. All suffering is caused by desire and the attempt to satisfy our desires.
3. Therefore, suffering can be overcome by ceasing to desire.
4. The way to end desire is to follow the Eightfold Path.
The Eightfold Path (the solution):
This is a series of eight stages that lead to the end of desire. The first few can be achieved in everyday life, the later ones require more concentration and effort.
1. Right opinion: understanding the Four Noble Truths
2. Right intentions: a person decides to set his/her life on the
3. Right speech: not lying, criticizing unfairly, using harsh language, or gossiping
4. Right conduct: no kllling, stealing, cruelty or lustful activities
5. Right livelihood: earn a living in a way that doesn’t harm any living thing
6. Right effort: conquer all evil thoughts, try to have only good thoughts
7. Right mindfulness: becoming intensely aware of all states of body, mind, feelings
8. Right concentration: deep meditation that leads to higher state of consciousness
A person who practices right concentration will come to the enlightenment that Siddhartha attained.
Goal:
To learn about the beliefs and practices of Buddhists.
Preparation:
Print The Story of Buddha
Print The Four Noble Truths
Print the Symbol of Buddhism. Make enough copies for everyone to have one to decorate and use to remember the 8-fold path.
Print Mudras
Locate books in your local library with pictures of Buddha sculptures and Buddhist temples.
Activities:
1. Read The Story of Buddha
2. Make a poster of the Four Noble Truths and the 8-Fold Path, using the symbolic Buddhist Wheel.
3. Make a Buddha sculpture out of clay.
Find pictures of Buddha statues in books in your local library or on the web.
See how many different mudras you can find in the pictures of Buddha.
Make your own Buddha sculpture out of clay.
Goal:
to learn the history behind the UU flaming chalice symbol.
Activities:
See "Why do we light a chalice?"
Read: The Healing Cup
Make your own family chalice or chalice banner. See Early Childhood
To whom does the water belong?
There was once a drought in the country. The streams dried up and the wells went dry. There was no place for anybody to get water. The animals met to discuss the situation-the cow, the dog, the goat, the horse, the donkey, and all the others. They decided to ask God for help. Together they went to God and told him how bad things were.
God thought, then he said, "Don’t bother your heads. They don’t call me God for nothing. I will give you one well for everyone to use."
The animals thanked God. They told him he was very considerate. God said, "But you’ll have to take good care of my well. One of you will have to be caretaker. He will stay by the well at all times to see that no one abuses it or makes it dirty."
Mabouya, the ground lizard spoke up saying, "I will be the caretaker."
God looked at all the animals. He said at last, "Mabouya, the lizard, looks like the best caretaker. Therefore, I appoint him. He will be the watchman. The well is over there in the mango grove."
The animals went away. The lizard went directly to the well. When the other animals began to come back for water, Mabouya challenged them. First the cow came to drink. The lizard sang out in a deep voice:
"Who is it? Who is it?
Who is walking in my grove?"
The cow replied:
"It is I, the cow,
I am coming for water."
And the lizard called back:
"Go away! This is God’s grove,
And the well is dry."
So the cow went away and suffered from thirst.
Then the horse came and the lizard challenged him, saying:
‘Who is it? Who is it?
Who is walking in my grove?"
The horse answered:
"It is I, the horse,
I am coming for water."
And the lizard called back:
"Go away! This is God’s grove,
And the well is dry."
So the horse went away and he too suffered from thirst.
Each animal came to the well and the lizard challenged all of them in the same way, saying
:"Go away! This is God’s grove,
And the well is dry."
So the animals went away and suffered much because they had no water to drink.
When God saw all the suffering going on, he said, "I gave the animals a well to drink from, but they are all dying of thirst. What is the matter?" And he himself went to the well.When the lizard heard his footsteps, he called out:
"Who is it? Who is it?
Who is walking in my grove’?"
God answered:
"It is I, Papa God.
I am coming for water."
And the lizard said:
"Go away, Papa God.
The well is dry."
God was very angry. He said once more:
"It is I, Papa God.
I am coming for water."
And the lizard called back to him again:
"Go away, Papa God.
The well is dry."
God said no more to the lizard. He sent for the animals to come to the well. He said, "You came to me because you were thirsty and I gave you a well. I made Mabouya the caretaker. But he gave no thought to the suffering creatures all around him. If a man has a banana tree in his garden, it is his. If a man has a cotton tree in his garden, it is his. But if a man has a well in his garden, only the hole in the ground belongs to him. The water is God’s and belongs to all creatures. Because Mabouya, the lizard, became drunk with conceit, he is no longer the caretaker. Henceforth, he must drink his water from puddles wherever the rain falls. The new care-taker will be the frog. The frog will not say,’Go away, the well is dry.’ He will say,’This is God’s well; this is God’s well’."
So the animals drank at the well, while Mabouya, the lizard, went away from it and drank rain water wherever he could find it. The frog is now the caretaker. And all night he calls out:
"This is God’s well!
This is God’s well!
This is God’s well!"
And it is a saying among the people:
"The hole in the ground is yours,
The water is God’s."
(This story was taken from The Piece of Fire and Other Haitian Tales, 1964 by Harold Courlander. Reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, Inc., New York. Story came originally from West Africa.)
"What are we going to do?" Martin Luther King asked his friends. He was worried; it looked like they were going to fail in their mission. Martin Luther King was trying to lead the black people in Birmingham in a struggle to end segregation.
In King’s day, segregation meant that black people were not allowed to do the same things or go to the same places as white people: Black people couldn’t go to most amusement parks, swimming pools, parks, hotels, or restaurants.They had to go to different schools that weren’t as nice as the schools for white kids.They had to use separate drinking fountains, and they could get in big trouble for drinking out of fountains marked for white people. They weren’t allowed to use the same bathrooms; many times, there was no bathroom at all that they could use. They weren’t allowed to try on clothes before they bought them.
Black people didn’t think that was fair; there were white people who agreed with them. But in many, many places, especially in the southern part of the United States, segregation was the law–and if black people tried to go someplace they weren’t supposed to go, they could get arrested, beaten, and even killed.
Many thousands of people were working in the 1950s and 1960s to end segregation. But one spring, Martin Luther King was in one of the largest and strictest segregated cities in the south–Birmingham, Alabama. There he could find only a few people who would help. At night they would have big meetings at a church; they would talk about segregation and ways to change things. Four hundred people would show up for the meeting, but only thirty-five or so would volunteer to protest; and not all of these volunteers would show up the next day for the protest march. Those who did would gather downtown, parade through the streets, carry signs, chant, and sing, sending the message that segregation had to end.
You see, the people were very scared. The sherif in Birmingham was a man named Bull Conner. And black people didnt know what Bull Conner might do to them if he caught them protesting. Martin Luther King had already been in jail once, and others were afraid to follow him. Besides, they werent sure protesting would do any good.
So things were bad. Very bad. Martin Luther King had run out of ideas. He was about ready to give up. And then that night, at a meeting, something surprising happened. When King asked who would demonstrate with him and be ready to go to jail, if necessary, a whole group of people stood up, and everyone’s mouth dropped wide open. The people who had stood up were children. The adults told them to sit down. Martin Luther King thanked them and told them he appreciated their offer but that he couldn’t ask them to go to jail. But they wouldn’t sit down. They wanted to help.
That night, Martin Luther King talked with his friends. "What are we going to do?" he asked. "The only volunteers we got were children. We can’t have a protest with children." Everyone nodded, except Jim Bevel. "Wait a minute," said Jim. "If they want to do it, I say bring on the children." "But they are too young!" the others said. Then Jim asked, "Are they too young to go to segregated schools?" "No! "Are they too young to be kept out of amusement parks?" "No! "Are they too young to be refused a hamburger in a restaurant?" "No!" said the others. "Then they are not too young to want their freedom. That night, they decided that any child old enough to join a church was old enough to march.
The children heard about this decision and told their friends. When the time came for the march, there were a thousand children, teenagers, and college students. And the sheriff arrested them and put them in jail. The next day even more kids showed up-and some of their parents and relatives too–and even more the next day and the next day. Soon lots of adults joined in. Finally, a thousand children were in jail, and there was no more room for anyone else.
Sheriff Conner had done awful things to try to get the children and the other protesters to turn back. He had turned loose big police dogs and allowed them to bite people. He had turned on fire hoses that were so strong, the force of the water could strip the bark off trees. He had ordered the firemen to point the hoses at the little kids and roll them right down the street. People all over the country and all over the world saw the pictures of the dogs, the fire hoses,and the children, and they were furious.
Now the white people of Birmingham began to worry. All over the world people were saying bad things about their town. Even worse, everyone was afraid to go downtown to shop because of the fire hoses and the dogs. So they decided they might have to change things. A short time later, the black people and the white people of Birmingham made an agreement to desegregate the city and let everyone go to the same places.
Today, when people tell this story, many talk about Martin Luther King. But we should also remember the thousands of brave children and teenagers whose courage defeated Bull Conner and helped end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama and the rest of the United States.
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a Baptist and a Methodist? A Presbyterian and a Lutheran? What is the United Church of Christ and why do some UU churches have the word "Congregational" in them? These are just a few of the questions which UU children (and not a few adults!) often ask about "the church across the street." In this issue of Connections I’d like to focus on Christianityits history, its relationship to UUism and the differences and similarities between various Christian churches.
Things to look for as you visit other churches:
What religious symbols do you see in the church?
Who participates in the service?
What is the arrangement of the altar end of the church?
How are the churches and services the same? How do they differ?
To understand where we are today it is helpful to know where we have come from. So I begin with a condensed history of the evolution of Christianity and the births of various sects (including UUism) along the way. Visiting other churches is a great way for children to learn the similarities and differences in today’s Christian churches. From , a Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship curriculum, I have reprinted lists of things to look for in various Christian churches and services. Locate these churches in your area and take family field trips to as many as possible. If you would like to pursue this topic in greater depth, ask to borrow How Others Worship from the CLF Loan Library.
The Old Story of Salvation
At the center of the unfolding drama of Christianity lies the Old Story of Salvation. This early Christian conception of the history of humankind and the meaning of life on earth is at the heart of all the twists and turns taken throughout the ages, resulting in today’s wide range of Christian sects.
The story, as written by Augustine in the 5th century, is known as The Seven Great Ages of Time. It is the story of humankind’s repeated failure to live up to the standards of righteousness which God originally set for his creatures. Following the original sin of disobedience in the Garden of Eden (which marked the end of the First Great Age of Time), God intervened five times to give humans another chance at salvation. First Noah, then Abraham, Moses, and King David were all sent by God to lead humankind to righteousness. But each time the evil nature of humanity prevailed.
God could not let these sins go unpunished, yet his love for his creatures was great. He concluded that in order to save humanity someone must be punished whose value is greater than the value of all humanity. That someone was his only son. And so, in the Sixth Great Age of Time, God’s son humbled himself and was sent to earth in human form, to die as ransom for all human sins.
We are now in the Seventh Great Age of Time, waiting for the Son of God to return to earth to establish and rule over all the nations of the world. When he returns, peace will reign for a thousand years and then the Day of Judgment will come. All people, dead and living, will come before God to be judged on the basis of their lives on earth. Those who believed in Jesus as Savior, and were baptized to wash away sin, would be granted eternal happiness in heaven. Those who were disobedient and did not receive the pardon of their sins through the sacrifice of Jesus will be condemned to everlasting punishment. The Great Day of Judgment will end the Seventh Great Age of Time and eternity will begin.
The First Controversy
You will recognize the first five ages of time as found in the Old Testament and belonging to the Jewish faith. Following Jesus’ death, the Jews were divided on the issue of Jesus’ divinity. While some remained monotheistic, rejecting the notion of God in two parts (God the father and God the Son), others, led by Paul and Peter, believed that Jesus was Savior to all humankindJews, Romans, Greeks, rich, poor, master or slave. These latter followers of Jesus, the earliest "Christians," were persecuted and feared by the Roman rulers or these inclusive, democratic ideas.
In the Lutheran Church:
Is there an eternal light?
What function do the acolytes perform?
Many Lutheran churches are predominantly German or Scandinavian. Does this congregation seem to have a common background?
The service contains a statement of Affirmation of Faith. What is it called?
What do the words Psalmody and Kyrie mean?
But the simple, humble Christian church was soon to undergo radical change. In 313 AD the Emperor of Rome, Constantine, declared himself to be a Christian. Although Constantine originally called for religious freedom, power corrupted that ideal, and soon Christianity became an absolute spiritual monarchy, with the pope as spiritual leader. The Roman Catholic Church was born. Church organization and government became hierarchical and complex with strict laws and creedal statements which church members were required to believe.
In a Roman Catholic Church:
What season of the church calendar is being celebrated?
What is the main color used in the service during this season?
What special apparel is worn by the clergy during the mass?
Is the Eucharist a part of the service? At what point in the mass does it occur?
In what language is the mass celebrated?
The first to rebel against the power of this religious system was the Bishop of Constantinople in 1054. He rejected the infallibility of the pope and was himself excommunicated from the Roman Church. And so the Greek Orthodox, or Eastern Catholic Church was formed.
Protestant Reformation
About 500 years later, in the early 16th century, the protestant reformation began with "people who protested" either some part of the Old Story of Salvation or some part of the hierarchy of church government. The first great leader of this reformation was Martin Luther (1483-1546), founder of the Lutheran Church.
Luther was an Augustine friar at the University of Wittenberg when he challenged the selling of "indulgences," special certificates sold by the pope to guarantee absolution of sins and happiness in heaven. Luther claimed that women and men did not have to do "good works," or celebrate the sacraments, or give money in order to be saved. He believed salvation was a free gift and available to all who have faith. Luther also believed that each person has access to God and that the pope, bishops and cardinals of the Roman church were not necessary. Luther was excommunicated in 1520 and barely escaped with his life.
Luther lived to see a strong reformation taking place in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. One of his followers was a young Frenchman named John Calvin (15091564). Persecuted in France for his outspokenness, Calvin retreated to Switzerland where he wrote his famous treatise, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. The basic tenets of Calvinism are: the sinfulness of man, the ultimate authority of the Bible, and predestinationsalvation of some and damnation of others. In this latter belief he deviated markedly from Luther.
Calvin tried to turn Geneva Switzerland into the City of God. He set forth strict rules to be followed by all Christians and actually encouraged spying on one’s neighbor and reporting misconduct. Church services were austere and filled with foreboding. It was believed that the poor, the weak, or simply the unsuccessful were those predestined for damnation. Therefore all believers worked hard and lived serious, pious livesconstantly in fear of being revealed as one of the damned.
One of Calvin’s greatest supporters, John Knox, was a Scot living in exile in Switzerland . After the reign of Scotland’s Catholic Queen Mary, Protestantism was again allowed in Scotland and Knox returned hoping to set up a society similar to Calvin’s City of God. The result of his efforts was the establishment of the Presbyterian Church as the official state church of Scotland.
In the late sixteenth century Scottish Presbyterians were sent into Ireland to occupy the land of the rebellious Irish Catholics who refused allegiance to the Anglican Church. But the hostilities of the angry Catholics drove many Presbyterians across the ocean to America where Presbyterian churches flourished in every colony.
Calvin was ruthless in his treatment of reformers who did not agree with him. One such reformer was Michael Sevetus (15111553), a Spaniard who was raised Roman Catholic during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. When in college Sevetus read the Bible for the first time on his own and decided that the Trinity was something made up by the church and not supported in the Bible. He came to believe that Jesus was more like a man and became the son of God because of the quality of his life. His writings were banned everywhere in Europe and he was eventually arrested and burned at the stake by Calvin in 1553. To this day, Sevetus is considered a martyr of religious freedom and one of the "fathers" of Unitarianism.
Although it is not known when the word "Unitarian" was first applied to those who believed in the unity (as opposed to the trinity) of God, the sixteenth century saw growth of this movement in many European countries. For a time Unitarians were the majority in Poland. In Transylvania (Hungary and Rumania) King Sigismund was converted to Unitarianism by Francis David and it was proclaimed the state religion. England was home to many of these freedom loving reformers, as were (understandably) the new American colonies.
In the Episcopal Church:
Is the Eucharist part of the service?
What are some of the differences between the Roman Catholic and Episcopal services? (Notice the choir. Where do they sit, what are they wearing? What part do they have in the service? Are there any women clergy?)
What prayer book is used?
During this same period, Henry VIII was ruler of England. He was married to Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and a devote Roman Catholic. For centuries the English clergy had been in conflict with the Roman Catholic authorities. This conflict escalated when Henry wanted to divorce Catherine because she did not produce a son. Divorce was illegal in the Roman Catholic church so Henry empowered his Archbishop to declare a separation with the church and name him as the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
After Henry’s death the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, set about to complete three major reforms: 1. hold church services in English instead of Latin, 2. state the beliefs of the church in a creedal form, and 3. state the laws by which the church and the morals of the people should be governed. The Book of Common Prayer was written and in it were significant deviations from Catholicism. All prayers for the dead in purgatory were eliminated, as were all references to the Holy Mother of God.
The Communion ritual was changed so that people partake of bread and wine in remembrance that Christ died for them, not as body and blood of Christ. And so the Anglican Church was born. When Anglican churches in America later became independent of the mother church in England, they took the name Protestant Episcopal.
Soon Anglican church members became disillusioned with various requirements of ritual and conformity much the same way as earlier reformers of the Catholic church had. Robert Browne (15501631) led the Congregational movement, so-called because the congregation governed its own affairs according to its own interpretation of the Bible, not the word of the bishops or the Queen. The sermon took on great importance because it was there that the interpretation and understanding of the Bible was given.
In the Baptist Church:
Notice differences in ritual, clothing worn by clergy, congregational participation, references to the Bible, focus of the service.
In the Methodist Church:
Methodism was founded on evangelism. Is there any trace of this religious zeal in the service?
How do members of the congregation participate in the service?
Does the congregation recite the Apostles Creed?
It was the Bible itself, not any church hierarchy, which took prominence in the reform movement’s search for truth and authority. And no where in the Bible, said John Bunyan (16281688) is there mention of baptism of babies. Baptism, Bunyan claimed, marks the beginning of one’s Christian lifea committing of oneself to Christ which can only be done by a consenting adult. In the Anglican and Catholic churches baptism is considered a sacrament, not a symbol of commitment. The Baptists were against all sacramental acts, which they considered to be "forms without spirit." As this thinking suggests, traditional Baptists were great believers in freedom of faith, freedom that was bound only by loyalty to the scriptures. Later, conservative (or fundamentalist) Baptists declared belief in the truth of all statements of scripture as fundamental to the very existence of true Christianity. In these five essentials of fundamental Baptist faith you may recognize the Old Story of Salvation: 1. virgin birth of Jesus, 2. physical resurrection of Jesus, 3. inerrancy of the Bible, 4. substitutionary atonement (Jesus died as ransom for all humankind’s sins) and 5. truth of miracles recorded in the Bible.
Another reform movement, which was to become very popular with the pioneers of America, was the Methodist movement, led by John Wesley (1703-1791) and named for its unique method or approach to religious services. As a missionary Anglican minister Wesley traveled to the new colony of Georgia where he failed to reach the Indians and Colonists with the ritual and ceremony of the Anglican church. On his travels he was inspired by the strength and courage of his fellow travelers who were German Lutherans. When he returned to England he had an "awakening" that Christ alone was his savior. He and his brother Charles began to travel the English countryside holding outdoor services and spreading the "good news" of salvation to all who cared to listen.
This method of preaching, and the services themselves which were filled with extreme emotionalism and spirited singing, caused great controversy but also gained much support. The Wesley brothers traveled on foot or horseback conducting these first "evangelical revivals" in fields any time of the day or week, providing worship to literally thousands of country folk. Both the method and the message of Methodism took root quickly in the American colonies where Methodist "circuit riders" fed the pioneer spirit with the message of God’s free love and humankind’s free will.
One of John Wesley’s followers was John Murray, whose doctrine of universal salvation was to later become the foundation of the Universalist Church. Murray found no evidence in the Bible for the idea that some people are destined for eternal damnation while others will be saved. This was considered dangerous heresy to the Presbyterians, for without fear of hell there was no motive for living a good life. Murray escaped to America where he hoped to quit preaching. Instead, he was rescued by a man who was "waiting" for a minister to appear who would lead their small congregation. Murray accepted the position and began freely preaching his doctrine of universal salvation.
The movement grew and in 1791 the first national convention of the Universalist Church was held in New Jersey. Many eloquent preachers followed Murray in America, notably Hosea Ballou (1771-1852), a farmer from New Hampshire, whose clear reasoning and effective preaching converted many to both Unitarian and Universalist beliefs. Ballou denounced the trinity as strongly as he affirmed universal salvation and regretted that some of his Unitarian colleagues could not give up the notion of eternal damnation and join the Universalists. Ballou’s premature vision was finally realized in 1961 with the Unitarian Universalist merger.
Change has continued to be constant for most Christian faiths. Issues which originally sparked various reform movements have faded, and many Protestant churches have united to form the United Church of Christ. Each UCC church is locally governed and has the right to decide upon its creed or statement of faith, if the membership elects to use one.
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