Hopes for the Day
Setting intentions is a way of practicing mindfulness by focusing on the kind of day, week, year or life you’d like to have, and visualizing the actions you can take to achieve your hopes. It’s a practice that can work for adults, teens and children alike.
If you have time as a family to gather in the morning, take turns sharing your intentions for the day. You could even light a candle or write down your intentions together on a chalkboard or paper, or construct a family ritual of your own. (If time in the morning is stretched thin, you could also take time during the evening or bedtime the night before.)
Children will likely need some help learning this new practice. A good question to begin with is, “What good do you want to invite into your life today?” You can suggest some general feelings that a child might understand and hope to experience: love, peace, joy, fun, safety and success are all good starters.
Brainstorm with children to come up with concrete ways they could experience these feelings during the day, such as “I want to invite success into my life by acing my math test,” or “I want to experience fun by playing with my friends at recess, or “I want to invite peace into my world by talking to kids at school that look lonely.” Yoga Chicago offers some other great suggestions for setting intentions with children that apply well for all ages.
Magalie L’Abbé/ Flickr
Lastly, visualize these things happening: sitting down to take the math test and knowing all the answers, being a good friend to classmates so that you can enjoy fun together at recess, being mindful of which classmates could use a friendly ear, and striking up conversation. (Visualizing your hopes for the day is also a great meditative exercise for adults, too!)
For additional ideas for setting intentions for yourself or for your family, visit Playful Planet’s website.
The Colors of Easter: A Read and Draw Story
Easter is the time when Christians celebrate and remember the life and death of Jesus. Most of what we know about Jesus’ life comes from four books in the Bible called the Gospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. The story of Jesus’ life as told in Mark is the oldest story. The other Gospels take the basic story in Mark and add on to it in a way that makes each story of Jesus’ life a little bit different.
1. Color the flame in the drawing at right for the mystery that is Jesus, and for all the things we do not know.
One idea found in most of the stories about Jesus is that he was a very loving and caring person. The stories say Jesus stood up for people who were left out, or being picked on, and he listened to people whom others ignored. He taught others he knew to do the same.
2. Color the chalice in the window for the love and caring Jesus showed toward all people.
Another thing people remember about Jesus is his courage. He spoke out against laws and people whom he did not think were fair and kind. He disobeyed some of the laws and tried to change them. He made both friends and enemies by his teachings and actions.
3. Color the rest of the stained glass window for the strength and courage it takes to stand up for what you what you think is right.
People who agreed with Jesus became his followers. Others, who disagreed with him, potted against him. One of his followers, Judas, disagreed with him and turned him over to his enemies. Jesus was arrested and sentenced to be crucified. He was nailed to a cross and he died. Jesus’ followers were confused, sad, and scared. They didn’t know what to do.
4. Take a black crayon and color over the whole chalice window with black, for the fear and hate which causes people to do cruel things, and for the sad and painful things in life which can leave us feeling so confused and frightened that we don’t know what to do.
On the third day after Jesus died (known today as Easter Sunday), Mary Magdalene went to Jesus’ tomb and found his body was gone. Then she saw a man, who said he was Jesus, and he told her not to be afraid, that he was going to be with God. Later, other followers believed they saw Jesus, too, and Jesus told them to carry on his message by doing what he had done in his life. This is the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection, that is now celebrated on Easter Sunday. The early Christians carried on his work so it stayed alive and did not die with him.
5. Open a paper clip. Using on end, lightly scratch off the black crayon covering each section of the window, to let the colors show through again. When we really believe in something it gives us hope, and this hoe makes us strong and courageous. When we are sad and confused, sharing our memories and doing things which show our love and care for each other makes us feel better and lets our light shine through.
Hide and Seek with God
Once upon a time God said, "I’m bored because I don’t have anything to do. I want to play with my friends." And because God is God, as soon as the words were spoken God’s friends were there. When God saw them all gathered, God said, "I’ve been bored because I haven’t had anything to do. Let’s play something." "Good idea," said God’s friends, "What shall we play?" God thought for a minute and then said, "I know, let’s play hide and seek!" The friends all said, "Yeay", for they knew that hide and seek with God was always exciting and different because God was the one who hid and God always thought of wonderful places to hide.
So God’s friends closed their eyes tight and they counted to ten. When they opened their eyes God wasn’t there anymore. So they all went off to look for God.
One friend decided to look close.upon the earth and soon came to a meadow. As he was searching, he stopped to admire the tender new sprouts of green grass pushing their way up toward the sun. As he bent over to look more closely at the tender green, he realized there was something special and amazing and wonderful about it. So he jumped up and ran back to home base, calling out, "I found God! God is green and growing. I found God in the grass"
Another one of God’s friends decided to look for God m the night. She watched the sun go down, and the work-a-day noises stop, and the lights in the houses go out. As it got darker and as the peaceful night wrapped itself around her, she listened very hard, and then she realized there was something special and amazing and wonderful about it. And when it was so still that she could see and hear nothing at all, she suddenly jumped up and ran to home base, calling out, "I found God! God is dark and peaceful. I found God in the night!"
A third friend looked upon the earth and he felt the mystery of the grass growing toward the sun. He stayed and watched the night on and he felt the mystery of the darkness and the stars. He thought to himself, "These mysteries are special and amazing and wonderful". But when he finally came back to home base, he said, "I found wonderful mysteries but I’m not sure if I want to call them God."
A fourth friend decided to look for God where people were. He joined a group of people going home from work and went with them into the store where they bought food. He went with them back out on the street as they started for their homes. He was with them when someone came up and said, "Please, I am very hungry. Could you share a little food with me?" The people readily agreed and as he watched,~he realized there was something special and amazing and wonderful about those people and he suddenly turned around and ran to home base, calling out, "I found God! God is love and sharing. I found God in people who care for others"
Finally, two more of God’s friends, a boy and a girl, decided to look for God together. After a time, they came to a house and they decided to look for God in the house. In the house they saw a room and they looked for God in the room. And in the room they saw a mirror and they looked for God in the mirror. As they looked into the mirror they realized there was something special and amazing and wonderful being reflected in it and they suddenly turned around and ran to home base, calling out, "We found God! We found God in us"
At this God appeared again and said, "I had so much fun! Weren’t those good hiding places? Some of you found me, others weren’t sure, and others are still looking. That’s OK because the most important thing is just to play the game. Let’s do it again because I’m sure I can think of some other good hiding places." And they all called out, "Olly, olly, oxen free, free, free," and the game started all over again.
"UUs Have Different Ideas About God"
The first idea about God comes from Mildred, a Unitarian Universalist woman. When we asked her what she thought God was like, this is what she said:
"Most of the time I’m not really sure but every once in a while when I am in my garden, I have I feeling that I do know what God is. When I’m down on my knees digging in the earth, and putting tiny seeds into the ground and when I’m closing the earth over those seeds knowing that they will grow into beautiful plants, I feel so amazed that something like that can happen. I just can’t imagine what it is that makes those plants grow that way and I think that must be what God is."
The second idea comes from Donald, a Unitatarian Universalist man, When we asked him what he thought, this is what he said:
"Well, it might be easier to tell you what I don’t think God is. I don’t think God is a man with a long beard, sitting up on a cloud who tells us what it should do and not do. But if I have to say what I think God is, well, let’s see, how can I put it? I think God is like the fiery yellow-orange-red power that comes out of the big explosion they call the Big Bang that happened at the beginning of the world. I think that power traveled out into space and slowly over the years became all the things in the universe, even you and me. It is in everything, even the things that we think are bad. I guess that’s what I think God is."
The third idea comes from Ellen, another Unitarian Universalist woman. When we asked her what she thaught here is what she said:
"I think God is love. I think of God as being in people’s hearts whenever they are caring about other people and trying to help those who need help. If I were to draw a picture of God I would draw a circle of people all holding hands and I would put a picture of a big red heart on each person. And I would put a smile on the face of each one of the people, a smile that showed that they were happy and feeling peaceful. That’s my idea of what God is, the love that we have for each other."
Moses in the Bulrushes
About 400 years after Joseph and his family settled in Egypt, their descendants had become a large number of people. They were such a large number, in fact, that the Pharaoh wanted to decrease the number of Hebrews, as they were called, in his kingdom.
To do this, the Pharaoh told the Hebrew midwives, "When you act as midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live."
But the midwives knew that killing the babies would make God angry, so they did not do as Pharaoh commanded, but let the boys live.
When Pharaoh found out, he called the midwives together and said, "Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?"
They answered, "Because the Hebrew women are so healthy they give birth before the midwives come to them."
The Hebrew people continued to multiply and grow strong. Finally Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live."
Soon after this, a Hebrew woman gave birth to a son. She was able to hide him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a basket made of bulrushes, and covered it with tar. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister, Miriam, stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her maidens walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it to her. When she opened it she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. "This must be one of the Hebrews’ children," she said.
Miriam approached the Pharaoh’s daughter and said, "Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?"
Pharaoh’s daughter said, "Yes." So Miriam went to get her mother, the mother of the baby.
Pharaoh’s daughter said to the mother, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages." So the mother took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, "because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."
Background for "What is a Saint?"
Dictionaries and encyclopedias define a "saint" in several ways: an official Christian saint, canonized by the Roman Catholic Church; a person who displays to an extraordinary degree the qualities of holiness and goodness; and the members of certain religious groups who have so designated themselves (the Puritans, for example, and the Mormons, who are officially known as"The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints").
Roman Catholics observe the days for all the saints in their liturgical calendar. All Saints’ Day was established to honor those martyrs who were unknown and thus had no feast days of their own. Anglicans also observe All Saints’ Day, often with a Great Procession of Saints in the service. Protestants have traditionally not included All Saints’ Day in their calendar. The "communion of saints" is referred to in the Apostle’s Creed in some Christian churches.Although All Saints’ Day is a Christian festival,and the resources listed here deal with Christian saints, the eastern religions also honor saints.
Unitarian Universalists honor a wide variety of people who have exhibited " qualities of goodness." There may be Unitarian Universalist heroes and heroines important to your congregation, such as founders or ministers.
This session includes short stories of Samuel Joseph May, Elizabeth Blackwell, Whitney Young, and Amos Peck Seaman as samples of Unitarian Universalist "saints." Stories of your local Unitarian Universalist heroes and heroines also would be important to tell. Stories need to be told in language appropriate to first and second graders with emphasis on the qualities of "goodness" as identified in our Principles and Purposes.
Why Do We Go to Church?
Goals:
To understand what religion is and why people go to church.
To become aware of what gives you good-to-be-alive feelings.
Materials:
Tubes from toilet paper or paper towel.
Red, orange and yellow tissue paper
Construction paper, colorful wrapping paper
Markers, crayons
Tape
Activities:
1. Make personal torches with the cardboard tubes. Tape crumpled tissue paper to the inside of one end of the tube. Decorate tubes with markers, construction paper, or wrapping paper.
2. While you’re making the torches, discuss what makes people “shine.” What gives you a “good-to-be-alive” feeling? Make a list, or just whip around the room calling out all the things you think of.
You can usually categorize the answers into the following categories:
Times when you feel loved and important
Times when you see you’ve made someone else feel good
Times when you feel you’ve done your best
Times when you feel you’ve done the right thing
Times when you listen to yourself and enjoy being yourself
Explain that people come to church to find the light inside them and keep it shining. Religion is the important things they believe in that make their lives feel good and right. Church is the place where grown-ups come to think about the things you named that make people feel good. It’s not always easy to keep the good feeling inside you—life is full of problems and obstacles, just like the game we’re about to play.
3. Obstacle Course:
If you have 4 or more people, you can make a human obstacle course in a large open area. Each person gets into a position and decides if the person running the course is to go over, around, or under them. As each person completes the course, he or she becomes an obstacle and another person runs the course. If you don’t have enough people, or you just prefer to use objects, you can use furniture and other objects to set up a course. Take turns running through the course, carrying your torch under, around, through and between the obstacles.
4. Read “The Grumps” or The Little Brute Family by Russell Hoban (It’s is out of print but may be available at your local library.)
A Covenant for Kids
“Covenant” is a fancy word for a promise. In religion, a covenant often has to do with a promise between people and God. For example, in Judaism the Ten Commandments are a covenant God made with the Jews when they escaped slavery in Egypt. God promised to give them a land of their own and the Jews promised, in return, to obey God’s laws. In Unitarian Universalism our Principles and Purposes (statements of what we believe and how we try to act in the world—see them on page 1) start out, “We covenant to affirm and promote….” Our covenant has to do with lots of different relationships: between people and nature, people and God or the Spirit of Life, people and people! For UUs, being religious means paying attention to all these relationships and promising to make them as good as you can.
Make your summer a special one by making a covenant to do three things:
1. do something nice for someone special (or for people you don’t
even know!)
2. do something to help the earth
3. do something which will help you get to know yourself better.
Here are some ideas to get you started and a pledge card for you to decorate and fill in with your personal covenant.
Make a Covenant with Other People
Collect cans along the roadside or at the park. Turn them in and give the refund money to a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, or a local charity.
Help someone who lives in a nursing home celebrate his or her birthday. Call a local nursing home to find out someone who would appreciate this, then make cookies or cupcakes and bring balloons, party hats, etc., to your celebration.
Ask a grandparent or an older person to tell stories about their childhood on a tape recorder. Then give them a copy to share with their family and friends.
Be a “special pal.” Leave little notes, flowers, or fresh-picked fruit, or do favors for someone without being seen. At the end of the summer, tell your special pal it was you so they will be able to thank you.
Make a Covenant with the Earth
Make a backyard wildlife habitat. Plant flowers that bees and butterflies like, build a birdhouse or set out a birdbath.
Keep a plastic bag in your pocket and pick up at least one piece of trash every time you go somewhere.
Hug a tree everyday.
Plant a tree and join the Tree Musketeers (a national network of kids who plant trees everywhere). Call 1-800-473-0263 to get their newsletter. Or write: Tree Musketeers, 406 Virginia St., El Segundo, CA 90245.
Be your family’s “turner outer” and “shutter offer.” Be an “energy cop”—turn off lights that are left on, check for dripping faucets, and make sure everything that can be recylced, is!
Make a Covenant with Yourself
Make a personal altar in your room with special things in your life, like pictures of family and friends, and souvenirs from trips or holidays. Spend time every week sitting quietly by your altar and thinking about what is most important in your life.
Choose a spot outdoors to make your own. Mark the boundaries with natural markers like rocks and branches. Go to your special place from time to time to sit quietly. Notice the smells and sounds as well as the sights each time you visit.
Memorize one or two short poems. Then recite the poems every day on a walk, or just sitting and enjoying the sunshine.
Start a journal, a notebook to write in every day. Don’t just write about special events. Remember, each day is filled with thoughts and feelings that are important no matter how ordinary the day!
Background for “The Mystery of God”
We are born, and we wonder, were we somewhere before? If we were, where were we? We live our lives, and we wonder what we are meant to do? Is there a special purpose for our lives? We die, and we wonder why? Will we live on in some way after death? These are the questions that all people ask at some time or another in their lives. These are the questions that bring us up against the edge of any certainty; on the other side of that brink lies mystery. Religions are born out of the questions; God is born out of the mystery.
Whatever concepts of God are believed, whatever myths and symbols image God, all religions include mystery as an attribute of God. It is a common belief that God is something totally other, something utterly unknowable for humans, something ineffable. Rudolf Otto, explains this phenomenon in The Idea of the Holy, “The truly ‘mysterious’ object is beyond our apprehension and comprehension, not only because our knowledge has certain irremovable limits, but because in it we come upon somethng inherently ‘wholly other’, whose kind and character are incommensurable with our own,..” Yet, at.the same time, those who accept that God is totally unknowable usually also attempt to understand what God is through some earthly or human metaphors. This paradox, of not knowing and yet knowing, is at the heart of religion, in fact it is at the heart of life.
Scientists, too, are finding that they come up against the same kind of mystery at the edges of their knowledge. They are always pushing those edges for new understandings but as soon as they make a new discovery, they find new puzzles to solve. The threshold of knowledge only moves out a little; the mystery always remains on the other side. Scientists who study the microcosm also discover a paradox similar to one in which God can’t be known but is known. Sub-atomic particles can be described only from one viewpoint at a time; they can never be totally known all at once. The underlying stuff of life seems to contain a paradox, a mystery. This ultimate mystery is a basic part of the meaning of the word “God”. It is no wonder that God as mystery is common to all religions.
The Native Americans of the Plains call God, Wakan Tanka, the Great Mysterious. The Medieval Christian mystic Meister Eckhart described God as “A mystery behind mystery, a mystery within mystery that no light has ever penetrated.” In the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says of himself, “I am the silence of mysteries”. The Tao Te Ching says, “The unnameable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire you see only the manifestations. Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.” (translation by Stephen Mitchell) One of the ninety nine names of God in Islam is The Hidden. Zen Buddhist koans and other exercises attempt to make an experience of the paradox and mystery possible.
Most people love a mystery. Humans are curious creatuies and if there is something hidden, they want to find it. If there is something wrapped up, they want to open it. If there is a mystery, they want to solve it. Children are especially intrigued by mysteries. The younger children in this age group, though curious, will accept mysteries at face value since their thinking processes allow them to be comfortable with them. The older children are beginning to analyze in a more rational way and they may push for more rational answers. We wish to honor the new mental abilities of these children, yet it is important and possible for them to consciously carry along their earlier intuitive understanding of the underlying mystery.
An understanding that mystery is a the heart of life is affirmed by our Unitarian Universalist principles which encourage us to spiritual growth and urge us to a free and responsible search for truth. It is also promoted by our use of the source, direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder.
