Goal:
To understand the meaning of Jesus’ message of love and to explore the meanings of the traditional story of Easter.

Preparation: Read Background for Who was Jesus?
Read Background for What is Easter?

Materials:
Copies of The Colors of Easter for each person
Crayons, including a black one
Paper clip

Activities:
Conversation and Hosanna Story
Read “The Origins of Easter”
Read and draw “The Colors of Easter”

WHEN JESUS CAME INTO TOWN, someone who knew him was sure to pass the word around. A plan would be worked out for him to be at a certain place when evening came and the day’s work was done. Then men and women who had to work during the day could gather and listen to what Jesus had to say.

Sometimes they would find him in the house of a friend. And the number of people who would come might fill the whole house and the street outside, too. Other times they would follow Jesus to the lake. He and some of his fishermen friends would step into a boat. They would anchor it near the shore. The people would sit on the rocks and grass near by, and Jesus would stand up in the boat and talk to everybody.

Often they would go home after listening to Jesus, and they would remember just one little story or one short sentence that Jesus had said. But that little bit they remembered a long, long time, because somehow they liked to remember it.

Sometimes there were men and women who listened to Jesus who were very much discouraged. Some were so poor they did not get enough to eat. Some had sick children to take care of at home. Some were old and crippled and always in pain. Some felt that nobody cared for them. They were always given the meanest jobs to do and they were always being scolded because they did not do them well enough.

There were others who felt it was scarcely worth while trying to be good at all. No one as ever pleased with what they did no matter how hard they tried.

These people went regularly once a week to the synagogue on the Sabbath. They heard the Bible read to them, but they could not remember all that they heard, so they did not do all that they were told they ought to do. They knew they were not praying as often as they were told to pray, but it was so hard to remember the words to say. They knew they were not giving as much as they were told to give to the synagogue, but they had so little to live on, how could they give more. They admitted that they did some work on the Sabbath while the teachers said they should never do any work at all on that day. But the hours in the week were not long enough to get everything done that had to be done to keep the children from starving.

Such people as these were naturally discouraged. They felt all the time that their teachers were not pleased with them. If their teachers were not pleased, then probably God was not pleased either. This thought made them feel even more discouraged.

One day as Jesus was sitting in a boat and the people were squatting on the rocks along the shore, one of these discouraged men asked a question.

"I am a shepherd," he said. "I have to spend long hours in the open fields. When eating time comes, I cannot always find a brook where I can wash my hands before I eat. It is the rule, is it not, that a man should always wash his hands before eating? Do you think, Jesus, that I am a bad man because I have to eat my lunch without washing my hands?"

"Certainly not," said Jesus with a smile. "You are not a bad man simply because you eat without washing your hands when you are in the fields and cannot do so. Unwashed hands cannot make a person bad anyway. Goodness and badness are inside of you, not in your skin." Then another man spoke up and asked another question.

"There are many of us here, Jesus, who have never learned to read. We have not gone to school. We have not been able to study the laws in the Bible. We can’t remember all the laws the preachers in the synagogue tell us about. There seem to be hundreds of laws the preachers say we must follow if we want to please God. But we simply cannot remember them all. Do you think, Jesus, that we are bad because we can’t remember all the laws? Our other teachers seem to think we are no good just because we don’t know much." Then Jesus could encourage these people. He would say:

"For many years, our teachers have been adding more and more laws to the ones that are in the Bible. They have meant to help us but what they have really done is to make living a good life so hard that none of us can be counted good.

"I say to you, friends, that being good is not just obeying a large number of rules. You could obey every single one of the rules the teachers have made, and still not be really good. Whether one is good or not depends on how one feels inside in one’s heart. Do you feel hateful or loving toward others? Do you feel angry or patient with the person who hurts you? Those are the things that count."

"That kind of talk sounds good, Jesus," said a man who had been busy all day long hauling stones for building a road. "But I wish you would tell us in just one sentence what is most important so that we can’t forget." Jesus smiled at this and said:

"Your wish reminds me of what someone once said to Hillel, that great teacher of ours of whom you all have heard. The story is told of how a man one day said to Hillel: ‘Tell me, Master, what all the laws put together mean and tell me so simply that I can hear it all while I stand on one foot.’ " At this everyone laughed.

"Hillel gave the man a very good answer and a very short one," said Jesus. "Hillel said: ‘Never do to anyone else the kind of thing that is hateful to you. This is all the laws put together. All the rest is just an explanation of that one short rule.’ " Then Jesus added his own thought.

"I would say this rule in just a little different way. I would say it this way. Do those things to others that you would like to have others do to you."

"That’s a good rule," said the workman who had asked the question. "I could have stood on one foot easily while you said that."

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 Christianity—its 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 humankind—Jews, 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 (1509—1564). 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 predestination—salvation 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 lives—constantly 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 (1511—1553), 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 (1550—1631) 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 (1628—1688) is there mention of baptism of babies. Baptism, Bunyan claimed, marks the beginning of one’s Christian life—a 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.

Goal:
to develop an understanding of spiritual discipline that includes community worship, quiet meditation or prayer, and physical activity.

Background:
Introduce the concept of spiritual discipline with this explanation from On the Path:
“A spiritual discipline is a way that you organize yourself to be open and available to your own spirituality on a regular basis. Spirituality is an experience of a depth dimension to life—beyond the physical, the obvious, the provable, and the universally shared. It involves the relationship between one’s being and the universe. Discipline means that you choose to explore the spiritual part of yourself, and you choose to do this regularly—every day, every week, or on some other regular basis. When you work with a spiritual discipline, you do this activity, whatever it is, not just when you feel like it, but according to whatever agreement you’ve made with yourself. Whether or not you feel like it at that moment, you still go ahead, you do this activity, whatever it is, not just when you feel like it, but according to whatever agreement you’ve made with yourself. Whether or not you feel like it at that moment, you still go ahead with the activity.”

For UUs, the most common spiritual practice is collective worship. The common elements of worship are: sacred space, opening words, chalice lighting, music, sermon, prayer or meditation, and closing words.

Other common forms of spiritual practice for UUs include physical exercises (yoga, running), or ascetic practices like fasting, journal writing, or meditation.

Also Read: Statements About Spirituality

Activities: Choose one or more these activities to give yourselves an experience of meditative practice.
• Meditative Nature Walk
• Guided Meditation
• Mindfulness Exercise

Goal:
To become aware that Unitarian Universalists treasure each person’s special way of looking at things.

Activities:

1. Doodles: Make enough copies of the doodles from these pages (Doodle 1, Doodle 2, Doodle 3, Doodle 4) so each person has a copy. Ask everyone to make a picture out of the scribble. After you complete them all, share your drawings. Talk about how the same scribble suggested different ideas to different people. Suggest another way of completing the picture that most would not have thought of because it is not part of the daily world.

2. Play The Big Picture Game (this is a large image)

3. Play “What in the world?” National Geographic website link: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/world/games/whatintheworld/0203/witw.html

Discussion:
Everyone has their own special view of the world. Your experiences, interests, tastes, and personality all influence how you see the world. Unitarian Universalists treasure this fact of life. We celebrate our differences. We believe the world is a better place because we each have a special way of looking at things. This goes for religion, too. Not all UUs believe the same thing, and we like it that way.