UU Game
Goal:
Family fun with a Unitarian Universalist theme, UU principles, and some basic UU facts
Materials:
UU Game Board – Left Side (print on 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper)
UU Game Board – Right Side (print same as above, match to left side, & mount of cardboard)
Game Cards A (print and cut)
Game Cards B (same as above)
Instructions for Play are listed on the Game Board.
Have people always gone to church?
Goal:
To discover the origins of Shabbat/Sabbath as told in the biblical story and to learn the importance to both Judaism and Christianity of a day of rest and worship.
Materials:
A copy of the book The Creation by Stephen Mitchell (or another children’s book that tells the Biblical creation story)
Large piece of mural paper divided into 6 sections, or 6 separate pieces of paper labeled:
First day (light and darkness/day and night)
Second day (sky and earth and seas)
Third day (all kinds of plants
Fourth day (sun, moon, and stars)
Fifth day (living creatures of sky and sea)
Sixth day (living creatures of earth)
Preparation:
Read Background
Activities:
Conversation and Story
Make a mural of the story. Explain that a mural is a big picture with many parts that tells a story from beginning to end. You could divide the sections among family members and put your mural together at the end, or have each family member draw every section and create more than one mural.
When the mural is done and put together, invite everyone to sit and “rest” to affirm the creative efforts of all.
God is in Each One of Us
Once there was a boy named Svetaketu (Svayta-kaytu) who went away to school to learn all about God. When he came back home his father could see that although he had learned many things there were still some things, some very important things, that he did not yet understand. When his father told him that there was more for him to learn, Svetaketu said, "Please, Father teach me," and his father said, "So be it, my son."
Svetaketu’s father said, "Go bring me a fig from that large tree over there." Svetaketu ran to pluck a fig and brought it to his father saying, "Here it is, sir." Then his father said, "Cut it in two," and Svetaketu cut the fig in two saying, "I have done as you asked." Then his father said, "What do you see in the fig?," and Svetaketu answered, "All these little tiny seeds." Then Svetaketu’s father said, "Cut one of the tiny seeds in two," and Svetaketu did. Svetaketu’s father then asked, "What do you see now?," and Svetaketu answered, "Nothing at all."
Then Svetaketu’s father said, "But, my son, I want you to know that even though you can’t see it, there is an unseen power in that seed which can grow such a seed into a great tree like the one over there. And, Svetaketu, the unseen power that is in the seed is the same power that is in the whole world. That power is God. That power is Spirit and God’s spirit-power is in you, too, Svetaketu."
When Svetaketu heard his father’s words he felt very small and very big to think that he asked his father to teach him more about the spirit-power of God that was in him.
And so his father did and Svetaketu learned that even though this spirit-power is unseen by our ordinary eyes, we can see it with our inner eyes. It is there in such mysteries as growing aod loving.
And that spirit-power is in each one of us. It is in everyone here at church. It is in everyone in (your town or area). It is in everyone in our (state). It is in everyone in our (country). It is in each and everyone in the whole world.
A Hosanna Day
"Hosanna, hosanna," said Simcha over and over again. She loved the sound of the word and it made her feel good inside to say it. It was such a happy word. "Hosanna, praise God, hosannnaaaaaa." She tried saying it all different ways.
It was a beautiful day–not a cloud in the sky. She knew it would be hot later, but right now, as the sun came up, it was cool and the earth smelled sweet. She was going to Jerusalem with her family to spend Passover with her favorite aunt and uncle. It would be a long walk, and they would have to leave soon so that they could be there before the heat of early afternoon. She remembered the narrow streets that wound through the city and she thought of how cool her aunt’s house would be. Her mother climbed onto the donkey and took the baby in her arms. Father held the donkey’s halter as they walked along. Simcha danced and skipped all around the donkey, kicking up clouds of dust.
"Hold on there, young lady," said Father, laughing. "You’ll have us all choking in dust and you’ll be too worn out to make it all the way to the city.
Simcha calmed down. Her parents were talking grown-up talk, so she stopped listening. "I wonder if we will see Jesus," she thought. She had heard about Jesus. He was a great storyteller — she loved to listen to stories. She had heard that he was a kind person who cared about people who were poor or sick. He wanted to help people and make their lives better. He loved children, too. Maybe if she saw him he would tell her a story. "Hosanna, praise God," she whispered quietly to a bird sitting along the road, and the bird sang a song to her that Simcha thought sounded like "hosanna." Simcha was so happy. She felt as though she could dance ail the way to Jerusalem.
As they got closer to the city, there were more and more people. Everyone who could, went to Jerusalem for Passover. She was glad she had people to stay with, because she knew the city would be very crowded. Many people would have to sleep on the ground outside the walls.
Suddenly, everyone seemed to be shouting. Simcha stretched her neck to see over the crowd. People were moving back to make a path leading up to the gate of the city. Simcha ducked under the arms of some grown-ups and found herself right at the edge of the path. It was dry and dusty. Passing feet stirred up little puffs of dust that made her sneeze. Everyone was shouting, "Hosanna." They had pulled branches off the palm trees and were waving them to cool themselves in the hot sun. Simcha thought someone very important must be coming. It couldn’t be Romans because everyone was shouting "Hosanna" and that was such a happy word. The Romans were mean and made everyone sad.
Then she saw the man on the white donkey coming up the road. He was an ordinary looking man, but something special seemed to glow in his face. As he got closer, she saw his eyes. They seemed so very sad. She wanted to make him happy. She saw the donkey’s feet kicking up dust and she was afraid it would make him sneeze, too. She took off her cloak and spread it on the path in front of him. Others saw her, and soon everyone was spreading their cloaks on the road, too. As the donkeys came closer to her, the man turned to her and smiled. He stopped the donkey and reached out his hand to touch her head. "Thank you," he said. His voice made her feel warm inside.
"Come, Jesus, we will be late," said the man holding the donkey’s reins.
"In good time," said Jesus. "This child has been very kind to me. It is always the children who must teach us. It was a little boy who shared his meal so that I could feed the five thousand who had come to hear me. When a child shares, the whole world seems to follow. The prophet said,’A little child shall lead them.’ We have seen that here today. If we could all be as children, the world would be a better place."
Just then, Simcha’s mother and father caught up to her and saw what had happened. How proud they were of their daughter.
Jesus rode on into the city. Simcha picked up her cloak, folded it carefully, and held it against her cheek. "Hosanna," she thought. "This has truly been a ‘Praise God’ day. Hurray for Jesus"
Who was Moses?
Goals:
To hear the story of Moses: his early life, his calling by God and his leadership of the Hebrew people to freedom.
(for older kids) To consider the meaning of persecution and oppression.
Materials for making a mural:
Sheet of mural paper long enough to contain the 4 parts of the Moses story
Paint, brushes, water (or markers or crayons if you prefer)
Activities:
Read the Background for Moses in the Bulrushes, Background for Moses and the Burning Bush, Background for Let My People Go. After each story draw or paint pictures on the mural to tell that part of the story as you discuss the questions.
Be sure your kids know the meaning of the words:
descendant (a person with a long line of ancestors—those who lived before)
midwives(women who help deliver babies)
persecute (to bother or harm someone because of his or her beliefs)
bondage (slavery)
boils (big sores on your skin)
multitude (many, many people)
Read the 1st story: “Moses in the Bulrushes.”
Discuss:
When people are being persecuted, they often have to make very hard choices. Moses’ mother had to give him up so that he could live. Did she love him even though she gave him up? How do you think his sister, Miriam, felt?
Most of the times when the ancient Israelites were persecuted, it was because they believed in one god instead of the goads their neighbors worshiped. Sometimes they were forced to worship the gods of others or die. What are other examples of hard choices people might have to make?
Pharoah’s daughter felt pity for Moses. What is pity? What did her feelings of pity cause Pharoah’s daughter to do?
Read the 2nd story: “Moses and the Burning Bush”
Discuss:
Sometimes people get a felling that they must do something—that they are “called” to help others. Martin Luther King, Jr. felt called to help black people. Gandhi felt called to help oppressed of India. Dorothea Dix, a Unitarian, felt called to help the poor, imprisoned, and the insane. What was Moses “called” to do?
Moses, Dix, King, and Gandhi are people who dedicated their lives to serving others. Who are some others who have dedicated their lives to serving others? Have you heard about any other people who felt “called” to do something special? What did they do? Is there something you feel you should dedicate your life to? What is it?
Read the 3rd story: “Let My People Go”
Discuss:
What would you have done if you were Pharaoh?
How did the Hebrews feel about Moses at the beginning of the story? Do you think the miracles convinced them? How would you feel about leaving your home to wander in the wilderness?
The story of the Exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt has become an important symbol for freedom fighters around the world, and a symbol of how freedom can be gained even when it seems impossible. What are some other examples of people being oppressed? Who? Where? When? By whom?
What does “sacred” mean?
Goals:
To begin to see the sacred in the beauty and mystery of nature.
For parents:
In Sharing Nature With Children, Joseph Cornell wrote: “The unutterable beauty of a blossom…the roar of wind in the trees: At one time or another in our lives, nature touches you…and me…and all of us in some personal, special way. Her immense mystery opens to us a little of its’ stunning purity, reminding us of a life that is greater than the little affairs of humanity. I have never underestimated the value of such moments of touching and entering into nature. We can nourish that deeper awareness until it becomes a true and vital understanding of our place in this world.”
Activities:
1. Read: a story book about trees (from your local library). Here are some to look for:
The Tree in the Ancient Forest by Carol Reed-Jones
The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry
The Season’s of Arnold’s Apple by Gail Gibbons
Once There Was a Tree by Natalia Romanova
A Tree Is Nice by Janice Udry
Mighty Tree by Dick Gackenback
When Dad Cut Down the Chestnut Tree by Pam Ayers
Trees by Harry Behn
2. Bark Rubbing
Choose a nice day to take a walk around the park, your neighborhood, or the woods around your house. Bring along several sheets of white paper and pencils. Make bark rubbings of as many different kinds of trees as you can find. Pick up as many different leaves as you can find on the ground. When you get back inside, see if you can identify what kind of tree the leaves and bark rubbings you took come from. A good tree identification book borrowed from the library is fun to look through. Or use the web if you don’t have ready resource for tree identification.
Here’s one site: http://forestry.about.com/library/tree/bltredex.htm
3. Adopt a tree
Choose a tree in your yard, woods, or neighborhood to adopt as your family tree. In choosing the tree, tell your family that you’ll be watching it for a whole year, drawing pictures and telling stories about the way it changes. Once you’ve chosen your tree, take a few minutes to feel it, smell it, look at it and listen to it. Take a picture of your tree. Make a bark rubbing. Collect leaves from the ground. When you get back inside, identify your tree and learn all you can about it. If you read the story The Tree in the Ancient Forest, consider a comparison between the “ancient tree” and your family tree. Revisit your tree each month. Discuss or record changes with drawings or photos. Collect samples of leaves or fruit or bark that falls from your tree throughout the year for your wonder and beauty table. Make up stories using the tree as the protagonist: what do you think it would be like to be your tree?
4. Wonder and Beauty Table
Set aside a special place in your house to put your bark rubbings and leaves. Encourage your family to add things from nature to this table throughout the year.
5. Be Careful Consumers of Paper Products
Make a list, or a collage of pictures, of all the products in your house that come from paper. Talk about how much you use paper products. Here are some questions to think about:
How often are we using paper plates and cups? Paper towels?
Are we throwing out paper that could be recycled?
Are we intentionally buying recycled paper products?
Is it possible for our family to plant a tree?
Unitarian Universalist Saints
Links to Sections in this page:
Samuel Joseph May
Elizabeth Blackwell
Whitney Young
Amos Peck Seaman
Samuel Joseph May (1797-1871)
by Patricia Hoertdoerfer
"What crime have these men committed?" Samuel May asked the other stagecoach passengers as he looked out on 30 black men, who were handcuffed and fastened along a heavy chain that was attached to a wagon.
The man next to May turned and said, "They are only slaves some planter has purchased and he’s taking them home."
May thought about his situation and said, "I never fully realized before how great a privilege it is to live where human beings cannot be treated in this manned."
Samuel May was hardly ever away from his hometown of Boston, but when he took this trip South, it changed his life. He decided to dedicate his life to helping people gain their human rights.He studied and became a Unitarian minister, preaching the message of love toward all people.His religion was practical and active, making him work everyday to relieve the suffering and to free the oppressed. What concerned him most was the loss of human rights. He spoke out against slavery and demanded freedom for black people.
May led Unitarians and people from Syracuse, New York, to help black people reach freedom. They helped slaves escape from the southern part of the United States where people were allowed to own slaves and head north to Canada where slavery was forbidden. Samuel May’s home became a stop for many slaves along the road to freedom. The act of helping slaves escape to the North was called the Under-ground Railroad, and May was a good conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Samuel May worked most of his life to rid our country of its worst form of human oppression–slavery. It was not an easy goal for him, and it sometimes meant violent struggle to reach freedom. As he said, "May the sad experience of the past prompt and impel us to do all that righteousness demands at our hands–all that righteousness demands at our hands. Today people are still suffering and many black people are not treated equally. Yet many liberties have been gained and many people have been helped because of people like Samuel May and other Unitarian leaders who acted with dedication and courage.
Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910)
by Elizabeth Gillis
"Elizabeth, it’s of no use trying. Thee cannot gain admission to these schools. Thee must go to Paris and don masculine attire to gain the necessary knowledge.
That is what Elizabeth Blackwell was told by a Quaker friend who tried to help her get into medical school. It was in the 1840s and young ladies did not go to medical school!
But Elizabeth did not go to Paris or dress up like a man. She thought she had the right to study medicine like any man. She applied to many schools and was rejected by all of them. Finally,she was accepted by a medical school in Geneva, New York. The faculty had presented her request to the students. If one student failed to agree, they said, she would not be admitted.They thought it was a great joke and voted to have her enter the medical school.
She completed her studies and graduated.Elizabeth described her graduation day:
"After the degree had been conferred on the others, I was called up alone to the platform. The president, in full academic costume, rose as I came on the stage and going through the usual formula of a short Latin address, presented my diploma. I said, ‘Sir, I thank you; it shall be the effort of my life, with the help of the Most High,to shed honour on my diploma.’ The graduates applauded. As I came down, I was much touched by the graduates making room for me, and insisting that I should sit with them for the remainder of the exercises.
What had begun as a joke to many ended in respect for the young woman who was so deter-mined to be a doctor. However, the medical school was censured for doing such a daring thing.
Dr. Blackwell, a Unitarian for much of her life, had a long career after becoming the first American woman to obtain a degree in medicine.
Whitney Young (1921-1971)
by Denise Tracy
"Where are you going!" his mother asked.
"I’m running away," said the child.
"Where will you go?"
The boy was silent. His suitcase was half full.He had put in some clothes. Now he was putting in the important stuff. His favorite books and a toy or two. He was leaving a lot behind. But where he was going he wouldn’t need much. You see, he was going to start a new world where everything was fair and equal.
"Where will you go? " asked his mother again.
"Somewhere where the color of my skin won’t matter replied the boy with a quiver in his voice.
"What happened?" the mother asked quietly.
"I was walking down the street and two white boys called me a ‘nigger.’ Then they made me get off the sidewalk so they could pass. I hate them."By now he was crying. "I wish I had never been born and I wish 1 had never been born black."
"Whitney, your color is beautiful. It’s lust that some people don’t see it that way. Do you know that when I was your age I wanted to run away from home thinking I could find a place where the color of my skin wouldn’t matter?"
"You did!" The boy was surprised by how well his mother knew him. Sometimes he thought she could even read his mind.
"Yes, I did. I thought I’d go start all over again in a new place."
"What happened?" asked Whitney.
"Well, my momma saw me packing my bag and said she’d tried to run away and that her momma had caught her and her momma’d remembered the time she’d packed her suitcase,too. All of us have had decisions to make about how to deal with the unfairness of the world."
"Why did you and your momma and your momma’s momma decide not to go?"
"Well, my momma’s momma told her and momma told me and now I’m telling you, we Youngs don’t run from evil, we face it unafraid, and we change it."
"How do you change evil?"
"Well, your momma’s momma, my momma, and me all understood that if you believe what some whites want you to–that our color is the problem–then hatred grows. It festers inside you and you grow up bitter. Your momma’s momma, my momma, and me all give you a heritage of pride. Those boys on the street feel small inside–that’s why they pick on you so they will feel bigger. If you know that their behavior comes from their own ignorance and smallness nothing they can say can hurt you. But let me tell you something else. For three generations our family has been watching the world change and we’ve been helping it along. It’s your turn to change evil."
"But what do I do?"
"You’ll know when the time comes."
Whitney Young began to unpack his bag. He’d live in this world and he’d change evil. He came from a long line of people who chose not to run away, not to hate but to change. He felt proud.
When Whitney Young grew up he became the dean of a small college and the director of the National Urban League. As the director of the National Urban League, he allied himself with other black•and white people who believed in equality. He started job programs to deal with the evil of unemployment. He wrote grants to train black people to be executives. He founded schools to help black youths who had dropped out of school to get their diplomas so they could find good jobs.
Whitney Young was a Unitarian Universalist. He worked at changing evil wherever he saw it- not by hating it, but by tackling it, understanding it, and changing it.
Amos Peck Seaman (1788-1864)
by Mary Hamilton
Amos Peck Seaman was called the "King" of Minudie, Nova Scotia, in Canada. From very humble beginnings he became a successful business man and generous Universalist leader.
Amos was born in a tiny hut in the small parish of Sackville in eastern Canada on a very cold January day. As Amos grew, he spent many evenings sitting beside his mother as she darned and re-darned their few clothes. Here he learned to read from the Bible, and to count sticks of wood for the fire. In later years, as he sat each evening to write in his daily journal, he would remember quiet hours with his mother.
By the time he was 8, Amos knew he must leave his parents’ home. He was an extra mouth to feed and there was nothing he could do in Sackville to bring extra food into the home. He found an old birch bark canoe, and he crossed the Bay of Fundy, arriving in Minudie, Nova Scotia, with no shoes on his feet and only the clothes on his back.
Perhaps it was his name that led Amos Seaman to the sea. He spent these early years working around the docks and shipyards and out sailing on the many ships. By the time he was 22 he was, indeed, a man of the sea. With his brother Job as a business partner, he began trading with the Boston merchants, and soon he was carrying goods between Nova Scotia, New England, and the West Indies in ships built in his own shipyards.
On May 12, 1814, Amos Seaman and Jane Metcalfe were married. With Jane’s help, Amos was able to attend school to further his education. Amos seemed to have a magic touch. He succeeded with whatever business he tried. In 1834 he purchased the 7,000 acre Minudie estate. He gradually enlarged it, even reclaiming some land from the sea, until it was the largest estate in Nova Scotia. The many sandstone deposits on the estate were excellent for the production of grindstones. Soon, thousands of high-priced grindstones were being shipped to American markets.
There was little in the town of Minudie that wasn’t touched by Amos Seaman. His businesses included the first steam-powered grist mill, a steam sawmill, and a coal mine. Along with all of this, he kept a fatherly eye on the people of Minudie, doing what he could to improve their lives. Of course, he liked to have things done his way, and soon became known as "King" of Minudie.
Because he never had an education until he grew up, he knew how important it was for his 11 children (seven boys and four girls) and their friends to go to school, even if they thought it might be more fun to play! He gave the town the lumber to build a fine schoolhouse.
On one side of the school, he built a very special church. He was a Universalist, and he believed that everyone could come and worship in his church, even if they didn’t believe as he did.Some of the people were happy to join him, but many of the others weren’t happy there. When he learned this, he made the town another gift — a Catholic church which was built on the other side of the school house.
Amos "King" Seaman lived a long time ago,but all three of the buildings — the school, the Universalist church, and the Catholic church — still stand today in Minudie, Nova Scotia. Amos Seaman was an important Universalist leader who believed that every person has the right to worship as she or he sees fit.
