By gabrielle farrel, natalie fenimore, and jenice view

Explain that now you are going to play the same game, using choices related to religious identity. Review with the group the term identity. You might ask what they think identity means. Affirm that your identity is who you are.

Gather everyone to play. Say something like "Again, the first part of the game is Sorts." Explain that you will offer two contrasting choices and each person has to either East or West (opposite sides of the room) to declare their choice. Then you will offer two new choices and they will move South and North. (That way, everyone moves somewhere and can't get "lost" in the crowd.)

Ask the Sorts questions rapidly, but pause as needed to explain any language you are not sure all participants understand. Ask adults to wait to "sort" themselves until most of the children have chosen.

• 
  Which part of a religious service do you prefer, music or sermon?
  
• 
  Do you like to visit other congregations or like to come to our congregation?
  
• 
  What seems more religious to you? Prayer or meditation?
  
• 
  Which would you prefer to do? Discover ideas on your own or learn about ideas discovered by others?
  
• 
  Which is more important, an individual's voice or a community's agreement?
  
• 
  Do you think anyone can be a prophet, or there can be only one real prophet—for example, Elijah, Jesus, Buddha, Mohamed or Brigham Young?
  
• 
  Is there something divine outside of ourselves or do we all possess divinity within ourselves?
  
• 
  Do you think the word of God, of many names, can be found in only one book? Or in many books?
  
• 
  Are we born bad, or are we born good?
  
• 
  Do you think bad things that happen are punishment or random?
  
• 
  Who is closer to the holy, ministers, priests and rabbis... or you?
  
• 
  There are angels that affect the direction of life or there is no such force outside our own will and action?
  
• 
  Fairness is the most important consideration or keeping one's promise is most important?
  
• 
  Messiahs have arrived or are still yet to come?
  
• 
  Messiahs aren't coming at all or are already here?
  
• 
  Individual reason and evaluation is necessary to live a life of faith or one needs to follow the authority of the word of God (as interpretations as shared by religious authorities).
  

• 
  Was it easy or hard to know the answers?
  
• 
  What questions were important to you?
  
• 
  Which were ones you had never thought about before?
  
• 
  Did others' choices affect your's? How?
  
• 
  Did you learn anything about yourself from playing the game? (Mirror question) About others in the group? (Window question)
  

• 
  Which choices did you make that you think indicate a Unitarian Universalist identity?
  

The ability to make religious choices, and to change our minds sometimes, is part of our faith.

Explain that now they are going to Mingle around religious preferences. Explain that Mingling is relating your preference to another's. Mingling allows another way to gauge religious identity. To mingle is interesting and effective in allowing people to recognize one another's religious preferences. Congregations often begin by "mingling."

Assemble the group and remind everyone how to play. Offer a general category (such as a favorite congregational activity) and invite participants to mingle and find others who have the same answer. After about 30 seconds, have each cluster that has formed call out their answer. It's okay if someone has not found anyone else who has the same answer. If two clusters call out the same answer, that may mean the group didn't mingle very well!.

Now use these religious identity Mingle questions; after each Mingle, ask the groups to identify themselves quickly before moving onto the next question:

• 
  Why do bad things happen?
  
• 
  Why do good things happen?
  
• 
  Where is the best place to look for the truth?
  
• 
  What happens to us after death?
  
• 
  What stories help me live a better life?
  
• 
  What religious practice at our congregation is most spiritual for you?
  
• 
  What do you believe about God?
  

Play for another minute or two, making sure to ask clusters to self-identify. End with:

• 
  What is your religious identity?
  

Gather in a circle to talk about the game. Use these questions:

• 
  When was it easy to find others who liked the same things or thought like you?
  
• 
  When was it difficult?
  
• 
  What did you learn from playing the game? About others in the group? About yourself?
  
• 
  Why do you think we played this game today?
  

Be sure the space accommodates full participation by children who have limited mobility. If any child cannot move freely around the room, ask them each "sort" and "mingle" question directly and facilitate their physically joining the appropriate cluster of participants.

• 
  Handout 1, Scavenger Hunt Rules (included in this document)
  
• 
  Optional: Newsprint, markers and tape
  
• 
  Timepiece for each team
  
• 
  Prizes for the winners, enough of a treat for them to share with the other group participants
  

• 
  Review Handout 1, Scavenger Hunt List. Adapt the items list as necessary for your congregation. Print out and photocopy for all participants or teams, plus an extra. On the extra handout, assign point values for the different items. You may wish to also post the point values on a sheet of newsprint.
  
• 
  Inform congregational staff and/or members as necessary that participants will be visiting locations in the building on a scavenger hunt.
  

This activity gives participants a fun way to notice places of religious identity in your congregation.

Form smaller groups based on how many adults you have—each group should have an adult leader. Pass out handouts and review rules of the hunt together. Make sure each group has a way of keeping time and knows when to return to the room. Remind them about activities are going on in the congregation and review ways they might enter a room without being too disruptive; for example, one person from the group might enter after knocking, and gesture silence as they move to do what they need to do.

Send them off.

When they return, gather everyone into a group. Ask groups to share what they have gathered and total their points. Declare a winner and bring out the treat.

Explain that their win entitles them to this treat and also to an opportunity for practicing generosity with those they played against. If they whine, ask how much fun the game would have been without competitors? Affirm that winners need someone to play the game with and so all should be included in the treat.

Thank all for participating.

Including All Participants

The speed and excitement of a scavenger hunt, especially in a building that is not fully accessible, can especially challenge children with physical limitations. Adults leading the teams need to make sure every child has a role in finding some items on the list.

• 
  All participants' Window/Mirror Panels
  
• 
  Leader Resource 1, Chalice Template (included in this document)
  
• 
  Optional: Items that symbolize your congregation, such as a postcard with a picture of your church, an order of service, a worship notice in a local newspaper, etc., for children to cut up and include on their panels
  
• 
  Basket(s) of Window/Mirror Panel materials:
  
  • 
    Sheets of Mylar (R) in several colors, shiny gift wrap, aluminum foil and other reflective paper
    
  • 
    Sheets of plain or construction paper
    
  • 
    A variety of drawing and writing materials, including color markers (permanent markers work best on Mylar)
    
  • 
    Glue sticks, tape (including double-sided tape) and scissors, including left-hand scissors
    
  • 
    Optional: Stick-on sequins, a hole-puncher, yarn, ribbon, scraps of fabric and a variety of old magazines to cut up
    

• 
  Use the Leader Resource to make a few handouts and/or card stock templates. Some children may want to cut out and decorate a paper chalice, some may want an intact chalice shape to trace on paper, fabric, etc. or directly on their Window/Mirror Panel and others may like to work creatively with one or more of the shapes that comprise the chalice.
  
• 
  If this will be the last Windows and Mirrors session, finalize plans for a group exhibit of the children's Window/Mirror panels. You may wish to make a flyer announcing when and where the artwork will be on display for the congregation, or add the information to the Taking It Home handout. Consider developing Alternate Activity 3, Window/Mirror Panel Group Exhibit, to extend this session or hold another meeting for children to participate in creating the group display.
  

Ask the children to bring their Window/Mirror Panels to work tables. Distribute Window/Mirror Panel basket(s). Say something like:

Every time we have been together, we have exploring what it means to have a Unitarian Universalist view of the world and of ourselves. Today we explored our Unitarian Universalist identity. Everyone came up with their own way of understanding and defining a UU identity for themselves.

The flaming chalice is a symbol we all use for Unitarian Universalism. It can still be that, yet mean something different for each of us. Find a way to let the chalice represent your own personal UU identity on your Window/Mirror Panel.

Distribute the handouts and/or templates you have made from Leader Resource 1. Invite children to trace the whole chalice shape or the individual parts onto Mylar or another material, using whatever colors they like, and attach it to their Window/Mirror Panel in some way. (You might suggest they can use the chalice in its intact form to represent Unitarian Universalism simply or express with the pieces how they feel about their own Unitarian Universalist identity.) You can also give an option for children to use other symbols for your congregation if you have brought some. As children work, invite small group conversation. Give a warning with enough time left for everyone to clean up and for a few volunteers to share their work with the larger group.

If this is the last Windows and Mirrors session, explain how and when the children's panels will be displayed together. You may wish to develop Alternate Activity 3, Window/Mirror Panel Group Exhibit, for an extension of today's session or an additional meeting, to engage the children in making the group display.

• 
  Newsprint, markers and tape
  
• 
  Taking It Home handout
  
• 
  Optional: A copy of Session 1, Leader Resource 2, Namaste (included in this document)
  

• 
  Identify a place for participants to store their Window/Mirror Panels between sessions. Keep in mind, there may be times the panels are not entirely dry when the session ends.
  
• 
  Write the closing words on newsprint and post.
  
• 
  Download and adapt the Taking It Home section and copy as a handout for all participants (or, email to parents).
  
• 
  Optional: Review the leader resource so you can briefly explain the origin and meaning of "namaste" and demonstrate the accompanying gesture.
  

Explain that the session is almost over and we now have to work together as community to clean the meeting space. First, everyone should clean up their own personal area, put away materials they were using and store their Window/Mirror Panel. Then they may clean another area or help someone else. No one should sit in the circle until all are done.

Then bring the group back to the circle. Ask them to think about what happened today that was good or what they wish had gone better. If you are running short of time you can ask them for a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" on the session.

Invite each participant to say, in a word or sentence, why it is important for them to be a part of this faith community. You may go around the circle for responses; allow individuals to speak or pass.

Then ask everyone to hold hands and say together:

Keep alert;

Stand firm in your faith;

Be courageous and strong;

Let all that you do be done in love. — 1 Corinthians 16

If this is the first time the group is using "namaste," briefly explain its origin and meaning. Then, lead the group in the word and bowing gesture. Or, substitute "thank you." Invite each participant to bow their head to the individuals on either side and then bow to the center of the circle and say "thank you" together.

Distribute the Taking It Home handout you have prepared. Thank and dismiss participants.

FAITH IN ACTION: WORSHIP — WHAT DO I BELIEVE? (30 MINUTES)

Materials for Activity

• 
  Chalice or LED/battery-operated candle
  
• 
  Large, round mirror to hold the chalice
  
• 
  Reflective materials, such as beads or pieces of stained glass
  
• 
  Optional: A copy of the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook, Singing the Living Tradition and Opening Words Basket and opening words (see Session 1, Leader Resource 1)
  

• 
  Arrange to hold a short worship service during the Windows and Mirrors session, and invite parents for the correct time. Or, schedule the worship for another time, perhaps when you plan to display the Window/Mirror Panels for the entire congregation.
  
• 
  Prepare the space for worship including the chalice and votives, chairs and table. You may wish to invite a musician to accompany and help lead a hymn.
  

Engage your religious educator or minister to schedule and, if needed, guide the children's planning of a worship service for parents, families and friends. This might also be the debut of the Window/Mirror Panels group exhibit.

Give each participant to publicly affirm a belief statement or religious or non-religious affirmation of life with parents and group participants present.

Invite each participant to write down a response to the statement, "I believe in ________ and this helps me make meaningful choices in my life." Talk with each child to share about their participation, ideas and experiences from other Windows and Mirrors sessions, including claims made in their UU sorts and mingle game today (Activity 3). Explain that this might help them craft a statement that they feel confident to assert publicly. Work with individual children on their statements. Some children may be adept at helping others, as well.

Choose a hymn for the worship service and practice singing it together; tell children they will help lead the hymn during the worship service. A possible liturgy for this simple worship service is:

• 
  Opening
  
• 
  Half of the children's statements
  
• 
  Hymn
  
• 
  The remaining half of the statements
  
• 
  Closing
  

Reflect and discuss with your co-leader(s)

• 
  How did the timing go today? What might we do to make it work better?
  
• 
  What worked well? What didn't?
  
• 
  What connections did we make with the children? What connections did the children make with each other? How was this evident?
  

• 
  How have we observed the children's increased awareness of multiple perspectives in life, particularly with regard to justice issues, over the course of these sessions?
  
• 
  How can the children's Window/Mirror Panels serve as assessment information for us? How can we exhibit the panels to best convey the children's learning to the wider congregation?
  
• 
  How have children shown their growth in faith development, spiritual development, ethical development and/or Unitarian Universalist identity?
  
• 
  What anecdotes from the Windows and Mirrors sessions illustrate the learning we have achieved together?
  

We explored the idea of free will as an underlying theological concept in Unitarian Universalism, identifying ours as a "chosen faith." In the U.S. every individual chooses their faith, even if as an affirmation of the faith in which they were raised. However, few other faith traditions construct practices around such choice and offer the possibility consistently and openly as does Unitarian Universalism. This openness can be perceived, by children, as disinterest in their choosing Unitarian Universalism at all. Today we affirmed the institutional wish that they do choose Unitarian Universalism.

Additionally, because Unitarian Universalism allows a free expression of faith, children need opportunities to practice articulating their beliefs. Today we played a game where we grouped ourselves by preferences, some religious, and considered how these preferences related to Unitarian Universalism. They heard a story about Dorothea Dix, a 19th-century woman who chose to become a Unitarian as an adult and who made one of the most important contributions in the history of the United States to the treatment of people who are mentally ill.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER . T alk about ...

Your wishes for your child(ren)'s religious future. Do you want them to grow up and be Unitarian Universalists? If so, share this with them. Explain why attending a Unitarian Universalist congregation is important to you. Share why you bring them to religious education and what effect you hope it will have on their maturation. Talk about your own religious life as a child—the denominational worship or religious education you attended, if any, and how it differs from the one you attend now. Explain why you changed denominations, if you did. Be as specific as you can: Your intentional faith choices will serve as a model for your children.

Consider articulating a prayer of gratitude or a bedtime ritual which encompasses the beliefs of every family member. Encourage each family member to articulate a bedrock belief or practice to include. Engage everyone in the family in rearranging the wording and/or practice so that this expression of faith flows comfortably for all.

Ask your children to teach you how to play UU Sorts and Mingle, especially the next time extended family is over. To sort, move to different areas of the room depending on how you answer a Religious Sorts question. To mingle, talk about the question together.

• 
  Which part of a religious service do you prefer, music or sermon?
  
• 
  Like to visit other congregations or like to come to our congregation?
  
• 
  What seems more religious to you? Prayer or meditation?
  
• 
  If you had to choose which would you prefer to do? Discover ideas on your own or learning about ideas discovered by others?
  
• 
  Which is more important, an individual's voice or a community's agreement?
  
• 
  Do you think there have been many prophets (i.e. Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Brigham Young and others) or that one prophet is more important than any others?
  
• 
  Is there something divine outside of ourselves or do we all possess divinity within ourselves?
  
• 
  The word of God, of many names, can be found in only one book? Or in many books?
  
• 
  Are we born bad, or are we born good, or both?
  
• 
  Bad things that happen are punishment or random?
  
• 
  Are ministers, priests and rabbis closer to the holy than your neighbor?
  
• 
  Is there one God, many gods or no god?
  
• 
  There are angels, there are unexplained forces that affect the direction of life or there is no such force outside our own will and action?
  
• 
  Should fairness the most important consideration or is keeping one's promise?
  

• 
  Why do bad things happen?
  
• 
  What religious book contains the most truth?
  
• 
  What happens to us after death?
  
• 
  What stories help me live a better life?
  
• 
  Where do you like to worship?
  
• 
  What are some religious practices that interest me?
  
• 
  What actions that help increase diversity in public life interest you?
  
• 
  Is it important to have a religious identity from birth or to choose one?
  

If your extended families or friends attend another denomination, ask to visit with them. Make sure to leave enough time to debrief with your child(ren) when you return home, perhaps over a meal together. What was similar or familiar? What was different? What did you like? What didn't you like? Is this a denomination where anyone in your family could attend and feel comfortable? Why or why not? Ask family members to compare their visit with participation at your Unitarian Universalist congregation. Reaffirm that you hope your child chooses to be a UU when they are older.