Goal:
To learn the importance in both Judaism and Christianity of a day of rest and worship.

Materials:
Find a copy of the book The Creation, by Steven Mitchell
Gather materials for making a mural: long paper, markers, colored pencils, crayons etc. Label the section of the mural paper as follows:
First day: light and darknes/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 seas
Sixth day: living creatures of earth

Activities:
Read Background

Introduce the story by saying something like:
“The Sabbath is a very old Jewish celebration. Long, long ago, when the Jewish people worked hard for many hours every day planting in the fields and caring from their farm animals, the seventh day of the week was set aside so they could rest from their work and worship their god. For the Jews, the seventh day was their day of worship and they called it Shabbat. The Jewish Shabbat began at sundown on Friday and ended at sundown on Saturday. Today Jews celebrate Shabbat in many different ways. Some customs include setting the Friday evening Shabbat table in the home with the best dishes, with wine, with sweet braided bread called challot and with candlesticks. A blessing, or special words, is spoken to mark this time as holy before the meal is eaten. On Shabbat morning, the family attends services in the synagogue. On Saturday evening a special blessing is said thanking God for the Sabbath and a new week has started.

But others observe Sunday as their Sabbath, their day to rest and worship their god. Who are these people? What is their religion called? Making the seventh day of the week a day of rest and worship comes from an old, old story of how the world was made. We think that when this story says ‘day,’ it is really talking about a long period of time—maybe even thousands and thousands of years!

Read The Creation by Steven Mitchell

Discuss: Why do you think things happened in that order?
Why do you think people were created last?
Why do you think God rested? Why should people stop work and rest?

Make a mural of the story—a long picture that tells the story from beginning to end.

Long, long ago, the Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. They were forced to make bricks out of straw and mud for the Egyptian Pharaoh (the king) for the large pyramids and monuments he was building. They worked hard and long and the pharaoh’s soldiers were very cruel to them. A man called Moses heard a voice speak to him from a burning bush. The voice told him to go to the pharaoh and tell him that God said he was to free the Hebrews and let them leave Egypt.

Many times, Moses went to the pharaoh.Every time, the pharaoh said the Hebrews could leave. And every time, he went back on his word.Many plagues–storms, blood, hailstones, frogs,wild animals–befell the Egyptians and with each plague, the pharaoh said the Hebrews could leave. Then when the storm or the terrible happening was over, he changed his mind again.

Finally, Moses told the pharaoh that if he did not let the Hebrews go, a tenth plague would happen to the Egyptians and it would be the worst of all. An angel of death would come and kill all the first-born children of the Egyptians.The pharaoh was frightened and said that the Hebrews could leave Egypt.

Moses told the Hebrews to kill a lamb and paint some of its blood on the doorposts of their homes. When the Angel of Death came, it would pass over the homes whose doorposts were painted with blood and their children would not be killed. The Hebrews began to make bread for their journey, but before the bread had time to rise, they started off, for they were afraid the pharaoh would change his mind again and not let them go.

All of the Hebrews followed Moses. They walked to the edge of the Red Sea, and there a great miracle happened. The waters spread apart so that the Hebrews could pass through to the other side. The pharaoh did change his mind,and sent his soldiers after them. But when the soldiers reached the sea, the waters closed over again. The Hebrews were safe! They sang songs of joy. They were free once again! Many years later, the Hebrews came to be called Jews.

Each year the Jews celebrate the holiday of Passover to remember the time when they became a free people. This is the special ceremony of the Passover Seder.

A long time ago, more than 2,000 years ago, the Jews had been defeated by a people called the Syrians.

When Antiochus IV became king of Syria, he was angry at the Jewish people for refusing to worship the Greek gods that he worshiped.

The Jews believed they should worship their own god, in their own way. (Ask the children,"What do you think? " Allow time for responses.)

Most of us don’t want anyone to tell us what to think, or what to say, or what we should consider important. We believe that we have the right to worship in our own way, and that others should have the same right.

But Antiochus didn’t believe that, and he decided to make the Jews worship his gods. He forbade them to read their holy books, pray to their god, and celebrate their holidays.

Antiochus even had Greek statues put in the Temple in Jerusalem, the holiest of all places to the Jews! He ordered the Jews to give up their Sabbath.

The Jews did not like this at all.

In the village of Modin, a leader rose up and his name was Mattathias. He and his five sons–Judah Maccabee, Jonathan, Johanah, Eleazar,and Simon–joined a band of patriots in the hills,and became guerilla fighters. On dark nights, they laid low the armies of Antiochus, one after another. When Mattathias died, Judah become the leader of the outlaw army, and it was under his leadership that they entered Jerusalem. When they reached the Holy City, their joy turned to bitterness when they saw the dirt and the desolation in the temple area. They started to work on restoring and scrubbing the Temple, and on the 25th of Kislev, they relit the Great Menorah with the small bit of holy oil they had found.Every year thereafter, the Jews celebrate this day as the Festival of Cleansing of the Temple.

From here, the story goes into a number of legends. The most loved story is one in which there is only enough oil for one day, but by a miracle, it burned for eight days, until more oil could be found and sanctified.

So for eight days, they celebrated the dedication of the Temple and their right to worship freely. And ever since that time, Jews everywhere have celebrated that great event that happened long ago. On the eight days of Hanukkah–which actually means "dedication"–Jewish people light candles, sing songs, play games, eat foods fried in oil, and give one another gifts!Even when Jews have lived in places where again it was against the law for them to worship freely,they have celebrated in this way.

(At this point, bring out the menorah and place the candles in it, one at a time, beginning at the right. Then, lighting the candles from the left, tell the children that one candle is lit the first evening of Hanukkah, two the second evening, and so on up to eight candles for each day of Hanukkah.)

Hanukkah is a celebration that we Unitarian Universalists can all appreciate, because we believe that all people should be free to worship in their own way.

Goal:
To provide an opportunity to talk about differences such as mental and physical ability and to link common responses to these differences as a form of prejudice.

Activities:
1. Read the story “Mark and Paul” by Pia S. Muran-de Assereto

2. Discuss:
Have you ever known a boy or girl like Paul?
How did you feel when you first saw him or her? (Feeling scared or confused around people who are different from you is normal. But remember, underneath the differences that person is a person just like you.)
Do you think Mark could have said something more to Harry when he teased? What? Why would that have been hard to do?

3. Open Your Circle

This story is new. It was written for you.

Imagine a time long ago when things were just getting started. The first flowers were blooming; the first birds were building their nests high in the branches of sheltering trees; girls and boys, men and women setting up their first families and homes. These are the things that you might have seen if it wasn’t so dark. No one could see, because it was the first night, and the first day hadn’t happened yet.

The First People could hear the wind whining in the trees, and the birds twittering and whistling. It was so dark they couldn’t see anything, but the First People were too busy to worry about the dark. They were thinking about all the first things they would need to live beyond that first night. The First People were working so hard that they really didn’t care that they couldn’t see each other in the dark. As they spoke, they would turn their bodies toward sounds of voices that didn’t have faces.

When the sun finally rose on that first morning, the whole world looked like it was made of glass. [Show the cellophane wrap on the frame.] One by one the First People realized they still couldn’t see anything. Their faces and muscles and bones were all clear. Light passed straight through their bodies to the clear ground below. The sky was clear. The trees, birds, flowers, and rocks were all as clear as glass.

Finally, one of the First Children broke the silence. "I have eyes to see with," the child cried. "But there’s nothing to see" One of the adults tried to comfort the child, but the First People were all sad.

"What will we do?" one woman said. "Last night we planned to gather the tall grass that rustles in the breeze. We planned to bend and fold, and twist and tie that grass to make the first baskets. Then, we were going to go down to the river, which we hear moving past us, to collect baskets full of water, so all the First People could have a drink."

" Oh-hh-hh," moaned a thirsty man. "How will you find the grass if you can’t see it’ How will you know if you’ve made a tight basket if you can’t see your work? How will you find your way to the water and back?"

The First People were very creative and solved all these problems, one by one. Holding hands, they formed a human chain to make a trail to the tall grass. They took small, careful steps, never knowing when clear grass might give way to clear rocks or clear tree stumps. Once the human chain was finally in place, the person on the end felt carefully for one long, thick blade of grass, pulled it out of the ground and passed it to the next person, who passed it to the next, until the blade of grass reached the last person in line. [You could have the children close their eyes and pass a long blade of grass around the circle.]

After the grass had been plucked, several First People started weaving baskets, feeling their work with their fingers to find even the tiniest holes that would let water out. Finally they had a few baskets that could hold water. Once again all the First People formed a human chain and worked their way to the river. When a basket was passed to the last man in line, he dipped it carefully into the river he couldn’t see and pulled it up full of water. The First People breathed a sigh of relief when the man shouted, "It’s holding! It’s holding! And so it was that the First People shared their first drink of water.

The First People had been hard at work all day, and they’d only accomplished one thing–getting a drink! Although the First People had plenty to drink, they had nothing to eat, and they all went to sleep hungry.

When the sun came up again, nothing had changed, except the First People were more worried about how to take care of themselves in a world where nothing could be seen. As the day passed, the First Women and Men planned ways to collect food. A First Child who was playing found something hard–a rock, a crystal-clear rock. She tossed the rock up in the air and it twinkled in the sun. The child held it up for her mother to see. Stretching out her clear arm, with the clear rock in her clear hand, something happened. Stripes of something not-clear showed on her face and reflected on the ground below. [Demonstrate with a prism.]

When the girl’s mother saw the stripes of something not-clear, she called the others around. The First People were excited as they felt on the ground for more clear stones that would make those seven wonderful not-clear stripes. The girl’s mother decided to name the stripes. Pointing to each in turn she called out, "Red! Orange! Yellow! Green! Blue! Indigo! Violet! " The First People played with the stripes until the sun set.

On the third morning, a gentle rain fell. The First People set out their baskets to catch the rain and talked again about how to gather food. They almost didn’t notice when the rain stopped and the sun came out. Looking up, the First People saw above them the same not-clear stripes they had played with the day before: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. As the sun grew brighter, the stripes glowed stronger.

Suddenly one man said, "What if we take our baskets and form a line to the stripes? Can we bring the red, orange, and yellow home? Can we pass green and blue, indigo and violet down the line, and use the stripes to make our world not-clear?"

No one knew the answers, but everyone was willing to try. They formed a human chain so long it led straight to the stripes in the sky. At the head of the line was the woman who had named the stripes. She filled the baskets and passed them back down the line. As she turned with the last basket full of violet, the First People gasped. All the beautiful colors were dripping out of the baskets! But the groans soon turned to cheers, for when the very first drop fell to the earth, it colored a flower a brilliant shade of red. The next drop caught a bird’s wing in flight. The whole world came alive in shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Trees appeared, and blue and yellow mingled to color the grasses green.

The First People were so busy watching their world change that they almost forgot that they were still as clear as glass. Suddenly a man tossed his basket of indigo high over-head and ran down the line of First People to await the shower of color below. Others followed his lead. Soon all the First People were playing with the colors falling from the sky. They rolled in the green grass and hugged gray tree trunks. They chased orange butter- flies and marveled at purple flowers. All the colors were still quite wet, and a bit of each rubbed off on everybody. When the colors finally dried, the First People found that they were all different colors. Some were warm, dark brown like the earth. Others were the color of honey, or shades of rose and burnished bronze mingled together. Some were pink all over, and others were touched by the yellow of the sun and golden buttercups.

They were thankful for this blessing of color. Now they could see the color of ripe apples and the blush of juicy peaches, and gather good food to eat. They could see the river run, birds fly, and fish swim. They could walk with their heads held high, their eyes seeking the best path. And they could learn from everything they could see.

When they looked at each other and saw all the beautiful colors of the First People, they were especially happy, and never wanted to be in a world without color again.