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In A Journeying Time: A Unitarian Universalist Credo Curriculum for Young Adults

In A Journeying Time: A Unitarian Universalist Credo Curriculum for Young

Adultsby Bethany Russell-Lowe

Prepared for CMED 770: Campus and Young Adult Ministries with Professor Sarah B. Drummond

Created on March 1, 2013, edited in October 2017

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Where do we come from?

What are we?

Where are we going?

(Mystery! Mystery! Life is a riddle and a mystery!)

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

We are going. Heaven knows where we are going. We know within.

And we'll get there. Heaven knows how we will we get there. We know within.

It will be hard, we know, and the road will be muddy and rough.

But we'll get there. Heaven knows how we will get there. We know within.

Woyaya, woyaya, woyaya, woyaya.

These two songs, "Where do we come from?" and Woyaya discuss journeying: an experience essential to the faith development of all Unitarian Universalists. This theme had particular value for young adults, who are knee-deep in professional, personal, and spiritual journeying. By looking at each stage of their journeys --- the past, present and future --- this curriculum will encourage young adults (persons ages 18-35) to reflect on and articulate their journey. These two songs will be used to bookend all sessions in this curriculum to illuminate their potential influence.

The structure for this curriculum is inspired by two elements of many UU Coming of Age curriculum: the mentorship model and the final goal of presenting a creed (statement of beliefs) to the larger community. The mentorship model used here is cultivating a "community of mentors" which gives the younger adults, or adults who feel they have less life experience, an opportunity to learn from those who have more experience navigating transitions. The presentation of creeds is an essential culmination of this curriculum; it will give participants visibility in the community in a way they might not have been previously offered.

This curriculum contains possible resources (poetry, music, prose, books) and session topics but the leaders should not feel limited by these! Each group should pick the topics that suit their needs and leaders and participants should be encouraged to bring other resources. These sessions can be led over a year, a few months, a few weekends, or a three-day retreat! Whatever is convenient for participants! However, participation should be committed to attending all sessions.

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Table of Contents

These sessions highlight topics that are essential elements of the young adult journeying experience. To encourage past, present and future reflections on participants' journeys, these 12 sessions are broken up into three broader questions, “Where do we come from?” “What are we?” and” Where are we going?” Each of these three questions is explored by one essential theme of the young adult experience: "Home and Journey." Ultimately, the goal of these sessions is to prepare participants for the final activity: the presentation of their creeds to the larger community.

The session are:

Introduction, Covenant and Timelines

Home and Journey - Where do we come from?

Family and Friendship

Home and Journey - What are we?

Love and Trust

The Voice Within

God, the Spirit, and Higher Powers

Social Justice

Home and Journey - Where are we going?

Passion and Calling

Forms of Expression

Presenting Creeds to Group and Congregation

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Format of the Sessions

As you look through this curriculum, you will find the sessions formatted in the following way:

Preparation

Leader: Other than reading through the session, what the leader(s) will need to prepare.

Participants: What, if anything, participants should be reminded to bring.

Materials Needed: Materials needed for the session.

Suggested Readings/Music: Information for readings and suggested music will be provided in the sessions.

Suggested Activities: Descriptions of examples of activities that could be used in these sessions will be provided.

Evaluation: After each session, the leaders should take 15 - 30 minutes to evaluate how the session went and also briefly review the material for the next session to see what adjustments need to be made.

This curriculum should serve as a flexible resource guide, rather than a concrete step-by-step process. The above information should help you frame the content of the session. However, in the process of community building, it is important to introduce some rituals to help the session feel related. A sample outline of a session is below, with "*"s next to the essential ritual elements.

*Ingathering: People gather in the room, say hello, and engage in casual conversation.

*Opening Silence: Meant to center the group. The leader for that night should initiate this. S/he might choose to offer a short reading, or s/he might simply ask the group to hold the silence for a minute or less.

*Opening Song: Everyone sings "Where do we come from?"

*Chalice Lighting: Light a chalice and share a reading, song lyrics, or other words which will set the mood for the session.

*Check-In: Go around the circle and have everyone share with the group anything s/he feels the group needs to know about her/his current state. There is always an opportunity to pass.

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Overview of Session's Theme

Story Telling Activity

Deepening Activity (or Reading or Song): Focused on having participants deepen their understanding of the story they told and the stories they heard.

Reflecting Activity: Through art, an activity, journal writing, partner sharing, etc.

*Check-Out: No longer than 5 minutes. Encourage participants to share what they liked about the session and what they wish for in the next session ("Likes and Wishes"). Listen to that input and include it in your "evaluation" of the session.

*Closing Song: Everyone sings "Woyaya."

*"Housekeeping," Announcements or Reminders for Next Meeting

Each session included here is intended to last for two (2) hours.

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Useful Resources and Literature

Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Emerging Adults in Their Search for Meaning, Purpose and Faith by Sharon Daloz Parks

Offers excellent guidance on mentoring communities and young adult faith development, as well as questions that guide the young adult journey.

"Campus Ministries and New Paradigms for Educating Religiously" by Kathy Winings

While this article was written specifically for college-age population, it has some useful insights about the meaning of faith-based social outreach to the current generation.

Deep Fun: Games and Activities published by the Unitarian Universalist Association

This resource is full of activities geared towards youth, but many can be adapted for use with older populations.

Fluent in Faith: A Unitarian Universalist Embrace of Religious Language by Jeanne Harrison Nieuwejaar

This book looks at how we understand religious language as Unitarian Universalists. This is a short, but critical read for anyone interested in UU religious education and spiritual exploration for Unitarian Universalists of all ages!

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Introduction, Covenant and Journals

While one of the more tangible ultimate goals of this curriculum will be to help solidify the strength of this group of young adults in the larger community, one of the underlying goals will also be to create or re-energize mentoring and peer relationship among participants. Over the course of these 12 sessions, participants will be sharing intimate stories and deep-seated, often-times unexpressed dreams with one another. As such, it is essential to start this curriculum by creating a group covenant so that the group can begin to be in beloved community with one another.

During this session, participants will also be creating journals, which they can then use to records thoughts or insights they have during these sessions. Participants should be encouraged to use these journals in-between sessions, and think of these journals as a place to record ideas that might contribute to their "creed," to be presented to the larger community at the end of this curriculum.

Preparation

Leader(s):

- You will need to lead the group in singing "Where do we come from" and "Woyaya," both printed in Singing the Journey. Recordings of these songs are available on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBqzRkNE1Qo.

- You should be comfortable leading the group in building a covenant. You should review material on covenant building, if they are not familiar with the process. An explanation of the process and purpose is here: https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/youth/families/workshop1/105585.shtml.

- Plan session and email participants beforehand with a short explanation of the content.

Participants:

- They should be encouraged to bring pictures, articles, words or readings that they feel informed their journey. They should be advised that they should be comfortable cutting and pasting these materials, so bringing copies of particularly sentimental pieces is encouraged.

Materials Needed

- For altar: small table, cloth, chalice, matches, other decorative objects for the altar. Before the session (and each following session), you will need to set-up this altar in the middle of a circle of chairs.

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https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/youth/families/workshop1/105585.shtml

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBqzRkNE1Qo


- For journal making: small journals or notepads, old magazines and newspapers, glue, craft paper.

Suggested Readings/Music: "You're Aging Well" by Dar Williams (song), “Sanctuary” by Carrie Newcomer (music), “New Days” by Delta Rae (song), "A Spiritual Journey" by Wendell Berry (poem), excerpt from Testimony: The Transformative Power of Unitarian Universalism edited by Meg Riley

Suggested Activities:

Introductions: To encourage mingling at the beginning of the session, have each individual pair up with someone they did not know previously. Ask them to tell each other their names, their interests, and answer a open-ended question like "When was the last time you laughed uncontrollably?" or "What inspires you?". After each pair had introduced themselves to one another, have them tell the group about what they learned about the other person.

Covenant Building: A covenant is a set of promises which the group agrees to uphold when they are in community with one another. A description of this process can be found in the link above.

Journal Decorating: Give each person a journal and ask them to decorate it to reflect their past, present and future. Encourage everyone to bring these journals to each session and use them throughout the process to records insights they have and would like to remember for when they present their creed to the congregation.

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Home and Journey - Where do we come from?

This first set of sessions will focus on the past, using the line "where do we come from" to shape the content of the discussion.

In Unitarian Universalist, as well as young adult communities we often speak of “the journey." We speak of searching, seeking, exploring --- but we don't often describe our conclusions, findings, or settlements. How much richer does the metaphor of journey become if we can articulate the "home" we find at the end?! Sharon Daloz Parks describes this concept in her book, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, an excellent resource for anyone interested in young adult faith development. She states:

The story of human growth and development is more richly comprehended if we cast it also in the metaphors of home, homesteading, dwelling, and staying. ... In this way of seeing, though we may move from one geographic location to another the growth of the self and the development of faith may be understood as transformation of the boundaries that have defined home. (50-1).

With this concept in mind, this session seeks to have participants continue to tell the story of "me" by articulating and/or reflecting on "where they come from," however they interpret that. It could be a place, a family, a culture, a previous identity. And, to deepen this experience, this session connects those experience of journey to the concept of "home."

Preparation

Leader:


Participants:

- Participants should bring an object, song lyrics, picture, or something which they feel tells a story about the place, family, or culture from which they come.

Materials Needed


- For Map Building Activity: journals, pens/pencils and other art supplies.

Suggested Readings/Music: "One Place" by Everything But the Girl (song), “I Choose You” by Sara Bareilles (song), “God is a Working Man” by Jason Isbell (song), "Love After Love" by

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Derek Walcott (poem), “Ode to My Sister” by Sharon Olds (poem), “The Opening of Eyes” by David Whyte (poem), “Hope for the Tender-Hearted” by Rev. Sean Parker Dennison (reading), “Covenant” by Rev. Rebecca Ann Parker (poem)

Suggested Activities

Story Telling - Altar Building: With the objects that everyone brought, have them assemble an altar by presenting the object, telling why it carries meaning for that individual, and placing it on the communal altar.

Deepening - Words of Home: After hearing each others' stories, have the group split into pairs and brainstorm words or themes they heard in the stories of "home." After a few minutes, have the group come back together and compile these words on a larger paper.

Reflecting - Map Building: Have participants draw a map of their home --- the house(s) they grew up in, the town where they spent their childhood, their first church, etc. in their journals. After everyone has drawn, ask each person to share a story about a positive memory they have when they imagine one of those room, fields, sanctuaries, etc.

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Family and Friendship

Not one of us goes on this journey alone. Home is rarely articulated as a solitary experience. We bring other beings with us on this journey: friends, family, mentors, peers, animals, higher powers. This session will encourage participants to reflect not only on their immediate family, but also the circles of family which have surrounded them; all those persons who have profoundly shaped their lives in unmistakable ways.

Following this theme, participants will be asked to consider those in their lives who have served as mentors. Mentors are essential to the young adult experience. Sometimes, like will hopefully happen organically in this curriculum, a culture of mentors can help young adults navigate transitions in their lives. Daloz Parks describes the goal of this type of situation when she says, "...the mentor, or a team of mentors, create a mentoring environment: a context in which a new, more adequate imagination of life and work can be composed, anchored in a sense of we" (134). This is why, in this session, participants will be asked to reflect not only on mentors and what qualities make a good mentor, but also how they (the participants) have been mentors to others. Ideally, this conversation will situate this group in the mindset of being a "culture of mentors" to one another, as well as to younger persons in the community.

Preparation

Leader:


- Prepare questions for the Story Telling Activity on family.

- Prepare guided meditation on the personality and identity of mentors.

Materials Needed


- For Re-Framing Family Activity: journals, pens/pencils and other art supplies.

Suggested Readings/Music: "It Felt Love" by Hafiz (poem), "An Origin Story" by Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye (spoken word), "i carry your heart with me" by e. e. cummings (poem), “Back to the Family” by Jethro Tull (song)


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Story Telling - What's in a Family?: To establish the range of families represented in the room, answer questions like "Who in the room has a brother?," "Raise your hand if both of your parents are still alive," or "Whose parents are divorced? Still together?" After the exercise, give participants an opportunity to share a story or experience which came up as they considered the questions.

Deepening - Circles of Family: Give each person drawing implement(s) and ask them to draw a target on a page in their journal. In the middle, ask them to draw the people they are closest with (friends or family). In the next smallest circle, have them draw family and friends with whom they are familiar and friendly. Have them continue this process, drawing those friends and family they are less close with in each concentric circle. There might be sensitive material in this exercise, so play some music while everyone is drawing, rather than having them present their specific "circles of family" to one another.

Reflecting - Describing Mentors: This activity might best be organized as a guided meditation. Ask the group to think about individuals who have been or currently are mentors to them. Was it a formal mentor relationship (i.e. teacher-student) or was it someone who organically became a mentor? Ask them what made this person a mentor. Which parts of his/her life did they help her/him through? After each person has reflected on these questions, have them share about their reflections with the large group. Once everyone has shared, have the group create a list of what makes a good mentor. Encourage them to talk about times they have acted as a mentor in professional, church or peer environments.

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Home and Journey - What are we?

The second set of sessions will move from the past to the present. The themes of "home" and "journey" will be used again to frame the discussion for this first of this set. This session will also encourage participants to consider the topics in between home and journey --- homesteading, dwelling, staying --- raised by Sharon Daloz Parks. To do this, participants will articulate their currently beliefs and their journey to these beliefs, as well as previously chosen goals which they are currently living.

Preparation

Leader:


- Prepare questions for the Power Shuffle Activity.

Materials Needed


- For the Back-to-Back Activity: paper, pens/pencils and other art supplies.

Suggested Readings/Music: "Faithful Lover" by Hafiz (poem), "Everything is Waiting for You" by David Whyte (poem), “Helplessness Blues” by the Fleet Foxes (song)


Story Telling - Power Shuffle: For this activity, you should establish one side of the room as "YES" and the opposite side as "NO." Ask questions of the whole group and ask them to move to the point between the two walls where they find themselves. To fit with the content of this session, the questions should be about the individuals' current beliefs. Once each persons has settled, ask a few people to share about why they are standing where they are standing. Between 15 and 20 questions should be a good number for this exercise.

Deepening/Reflecting - Back-to-Back: Have the group split off into pairs and find a quiet space to sit back-to-back. Have the pairs take turns answering the questions "What do you believe?" and "How did you come to this belief?" to the other person, who will draw what they hear their partner saying (should take between 10 and 15 minutes). Once they are done, have them switch roles. Once everyone has spoken and drawn, have the pairs present their drawings to the larger group.

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Love and Trust

Love.

That word which, some might argue, we are put on this earth to attempt to define. Yet, as soon as we think we have a grasp of this word, we realize that no definition will ever be adequate.

Trust.

What if we start with trust? Can we deepen our understanding of exactly why we love if we also consider why and how we trust? This session starts from the assumption that we can deepen our understanding of love through examining our "trusts." This session, more than others preceding it, encourages the group to draw closer to one another through expressing their trust and love for individuals or the group.

Preparation

Leader:


Materials Needed


- For The Shape of Love activity: journal, pens/pencils, other craft supplies.

Suggested Readings/Music: "When Love Arrives" by Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye (spoken word), “The Ballad of Love and Hate” by the Avett Brothers (song), “Somebody Loved” by the Weepies (song)


Story Telling - The Shape of Love and Trust: Give each person some coloring implements and ask them to draw "love" on one page of their journals and "trust" on the opposite page. Tell them they'll have 5 minutes to draw each word and 3 minutes to present their drawings to the larger group.

Deepening - Words of Love and Trust: Ask the group to sit in a circle. Pose two questions into the silence: “What do you love?” and “What do you trust?” Encourage people to respond to either or both of the questions whenever they feel moved to speak.

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(Optional) When the sharing comes to a close, initiate a conversation about love and trust. (From Deep Fun)

Reflecting - Stories of Love and Trust: Have the participants sit in a circle. One at a time, invite one person to sit in the center of the circle. Amid the silence, those sitting on the outside of the circle should offer short phrases which explain why s/he loves or trusts the person in the center of the circle. Once the individual in the center feels s/he has received enough of the group's love, s/he should return to the outside of the circle and another individual can replace her/him in the middle. Continue this process until all who would like to sit in the middle have done so.

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The Voice Within

Listen...can you hear it? It's calling your name --- giving your life new meaning.

So many of the decisions we make originate from an inner voice. But if we do not tune our ears to the tune of her voice, or the timber of her whisper, how can we know when she is speaking to us? Often times, what we need most is to stop talking and just listen for that inspiration to come.

In contrast with the previous session, this one encourages participants to look inward. By using the polar qualities of noise and silence, participants are encourage to listen deeply for the voice which emerges from the silence of deep thought. Initially quoting Frederick Buechner, Jeanne Harrison Nieuwejaar writes:

'It is not that you feel love and then say, 'I love you,' but that until you say 'I love you' you have not fully loved...in some sense the thing you are seeing or feeling doesn't even fully exist for you until you have given a word to it.' ... What Buechner is affirming here has nothing to do with communicating your love to your beloved. It is about bringing that love to fullness in your own heart and mind by saying the word yourself, naming and defining the reality of your love, bringing it out of the realm of gray possibility into the fullness of life.

This session will seek to evoke that type of "naming and defining of reality" of words which speak to the hearts of participants.

Preparation

Leader:


- Pick a reading for the Lectura Divina and practice reading it aloud before the meeting. A poem or piece of prose which takes about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes to read would work best for this activity.

Participants:

- Have each person bring a song which has informed their young adult years, or has another particular meaning to them.

Materials Needed

- For altar: small table, cloth, chalice, matches, other decorative objects for the altar. Before the session (and each following session), you will need to set-up this altar in the

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middle of a circle of chairs.

Suggested Readings/Music: Excerpt from "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke (prose), "Mockingbirds" by Mary Oliver (poem)


Story Telling - Sharing Songs: Have each person play their song (limit the length to 3 mins) and share a few words about why they chose to play that song.

Deepening/Reflecting - Lectio Divina: This is a traditional practice of scriptural reading in the Benedictine Christian tradition. Although this is traditionally a meditation on a piece of scripture, it can also work with a poem or some prose. Prompt the group that you will be slowly reading a poem/prose a few times, asking them to listen for something different on each reading. After each reading of the poem, there will be a period of silence, after which you will start the process again.

For the first reading, simply read the poem through in its entirety. Leave a few minutes of silent reflection after your first reading. Open the floor and invite each person to share their reflections. For the second reading, ask each individual to pick a particular phrase or sentence to reflect on during the meditation afterwards. Invite each person to share their reflections, if they wish. For the third reading, ask them to pick a single word and meditate on that word and their relation to it in the meditation. Again, you can invite everyone to share the word they chose. For the fourth, and final, reading, ask everyone to listen for the larger message in the poem and meditate on what this poem is "calling" them to act, do, or see. Finally, invite everyone to share their reflections.

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God, the Spirit, and Higher Powers

In many Unitarian Universalist congregations, this is often one of the most difficult words to say. So we avoid saying it. At all costs. Including the value of giving our children (and ourselves) an language of reverence. Again, Nieuwejaar's perspective on a language of reverence reveals the potential meaning of searching for an image of God we are comfortable expressing. She says, "We need God language to awaken the imagination; to point, not to name; to help us move beyond material realities to the meaning of life and of love, to the truth that there is more beauty and care in the world than we can comprehend or capture in our scientific explanations." In this session, participants will explore their reactions to the word "God" and start and/or continue to distinguish between the god they don't believe in, and the god they do believe in.

Preparation

Leader:


Participants:

- Read the section on "God" from Jeanne Harrison Nieuwejaar's Fluent in Faith

Materials Needed


Suggested Readings/Music: "That Which Holds All" by Nancy Shaffer (poem), Excerpt from section on "God" in Fluent in Faith (passage), "The 23rd Psalm" by Bobby McFerrin (song)


Story Telling - Exploring the Holy: Have the group pair up and have each person take 10 minutes to describe an experience to her/his partner where s/he "felt the presence of something or someone greater than her/himself." The partner should only ask questions which will guide her/him to understand the experience of their partner more fully, as if both people could feel they had that experience. After one partner has shared, switch roles and repeat.

Deepening/Reflecting - Lectio Divina: See description in prior session. Nancy Shaffer's poem "That Which Holds All" would be a great choice to read for this exercise.

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Social Justice

The generations which currently comprise our young adult populations frequently crave to live their faith outside the walls of temples and sanctuaries. This includes a desire to use their faith to make a positive difference in the world. In her article analyzing the effectiveness of religious life on American college campuses, Kathy Winings concludes that service-based learning which includes religious reflection fills this need. She states that one of the reasons this type of activity is effective is because doing service, and articulating one's faith through that experience, allows one to express their faith in a holistic, complete way.

If possible, it would an enriching and powerful bonding experience for your group to actually do a volunteer project in your local community. Resources to find service projects can be found at idealist.org or volunteermatch.org. If you cannot organize a service project, this session can be done by itself.

Preparation

Leader:


Materials Needed


Suggested Readings/Music: "To Be of Use" by Marge Piercy (poem), "My Name is Not 'Those People'" by Julia Dinsmore (poem), “Hurricane” by Bob Dylan (song)


Story Telling - Making a Difference in the World: Have each participant take 2-3 minutes to answer the following question: If you had a one-time-use magic wand, how would you use it to change the world?

Deepening/Reflecting - What is Justice?: Have the group brainstorm short definitions of the word "justice." Once the brainstorming is done, go through the list of attributes and ask the group to say the source of this type of justice. Review the list and see where, in general, justice originates.

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Home and Journey - Where are we going?

This session will start the third set of session, and will focus on the future by having participants reflect on "where are we going?" This session will start by having participants create "timelines," indicating future goals. It will then ask everyone to share prior goals they have already achieved, to help participants ground these future goals in the framework of those goals which have already been achieved. This is a session where the "mentoring community" should be encouraged to shine. Invite participants to ask for guidance on attaining their goals, if they would like.

Preparation

Leader:


Materials Needed


Suggested Readings/Music: A Prayer by Thomas Merton starts with "My Lord Fod, I have no idea where I am going..." (poem), "Beginners" by Denise Levertov (poem), “Ripple” by The Grateful Dead (song)


Story Telling/Deepening - Life Line: Have each person draw a vertical line down the middle of a page on their journal. At the bottom of the line write “0” and your birth date, at the top write the age you expect to live to. On the line indicate the age you are now and what you’re doing now. Write in what you would like to be doing five years from now, ten years from now, twenty years from now. Group members should then share goals and discuss one another’s hopes for the future. After everyone had presented, ask them what is blocking them from achieving their goals. Avoid having the group offer solutions, but encourage the individuals to voice these "blocks" for themselves. (From Deep Fun)

Reflecting - Achieved Goals: Have the group talk about goals they set for themselves in the past and achieved. Ask questions like: What did it take to complete your dream? Did it look or feel the same way you had imagined it? Was the path to achievement planned? Or did it seem to happen naturally?

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Passion and Calling

For this session, invite members of the congregation who are in leadership positions to the meeting to present on ways that individuals might offer their skills in the congregation, or develop their passions through leadership position. Make sure you consult your minister or other staff people to try and recruit individuals who might be positive mentors for this group of young adults. This session will focus on how to develop passions within the congregation to firmly ground one of the purpose of this curriculum: creating room for participants to find their place in the congregation, if they are interested.

Preparation

Leader:


- Recruit 3-4 lay leaders in the congregation to come and give testimonials on their experience coming to church leadership and offer their wisdom on how to get involved in leadership in the congregation.

Materials Needed


Suggested Readings/Music: "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver (poem), "For Freedom" by John O'Donohue (poem)

Suggested Activities:

Story Telling/Deepening - Testimonials: Have the guests offer testimonials on how they came to their leadership positions and how holding these positions has affected their lives. After the guests have shared, have participants tell similar stories about how they took leadership position in the past. Ask questions like: Why do you feel you were suited to hold it? Who encouraged you to take this position? What did you learn from this position?

Reflecting - Bringing Skills to the Congregation: Reflecting on the stories participants told, ask them if they can see a way to offer these skills to the congregation. Or if there are any skills which the congregation might be able to help them cultivate. Ask the guests from the congregation to offer their wisdom about the structure of the congregation and what it would take to get involved with different groups or committees.

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Forms of Expression

To help prepare participants to present their creeds to the congregation, this session will help the group create a worship service. You will definitely need to meet with the minister(s) individually to discuss a general structure for the service. The minister(s) should be involved in the service in some way, but the degree to which they are involved should be dependent upon how confident the group is in their ability to plan a worship service. The goal of this service is to present to the congregation the creeds of this young adult group, as well as show the congregation the capacity this group has to take leadership roles in the congregation. Those themes should be reflecting in all aspects of the worship --- songs, readings, liturgical elements, etc.

Preparation

Leader:


- Meet with the minister to discuss the order and content of the service where the participants will present their creeds. Ask them if s/he/they (the minister(s)) might be involved in the service.

Participants:

- Review the content of the curriculum's journal and brainstorm some ideas for the "creed" that you want to present to the congregation. This creed could be presented verbally, through music, or any other medium you'd like! It shouldn't be longer than 5 minutes.

- Bring music, readings, ceremonial elements, or other material that you would like to have as part of the worship service where you present your creed.

Materials Needed


- For Worship Creating Activity: large paper, pens/pencils, notecards.


Story Telling - Creed Ideas: Have each individual present to the group what their thoughts are on what they will present to the congregation. Have the group give input or

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help each other deepen their thoughts, if the individual requests that type of advice.

Deepening/Reflecting - Worship Creating: Present the general layout for the service which the minister has advised. Put this general structure on a large piece of paper. Ask those who thought of liturgical elements to add to share those elements and see how they might fit into this structure. Place all of these elements on notecards and make them visible to everyone. Considering putting musical elements on a particular color notecard, or writing the element in a specific color, to make it clear that these elements are similar. Do the same with ceremonial elements, readings, etc. Facilitate the group through the process of constructing their worship service by implanting these elements onto the general structure.

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Evaluation Form

(to be completed by leader(s) after each session)

Name of persons completing: ______________________________________________

Session: _____________________________ Date: ____________________________

What about this session was successful?

What would we do differently next time?

Other comments:

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