Resources: Spiral Six, Chapter 24
Materials: Pens, journals, newsprint and marker, copies of Bumbaugh and Parker statements.
Chalice Lighting: Light the chalice and read this quote by Raymond Baughan:
Here in the space between us and each other
lies all the future
of the fragment of the universe
which is our own.
Introduction: Unitarian Universalists and women involved in feminist spirituality are often troubled by our difficulty in explaining to friends from diverse traditions who we are and what we believe. Faced with a growing ethnic and thea/ological diversity in our society and in our congregations, UUs often wondered what kind of thea/ology could possibly hold us all together. Classical systematic theology is really about the existential questions we all face as human beings: Who am I? How do I know what I know? What is my relationship to the universe? What is my relationship to other people? (Put these questions on newsprint.)
David Bumbaugh has offered a rather elegant answer on pages 158-159. (Ask participants to turn to those pages; have copies of the Bumbaugh statement available for those who didn’t bring their books. Then read the statement aloud.)
Journaling: Have the following questions on newsprint:
- How well does the Bumbaugh statement answer the classical questions?
- Does the statement work for you? Why? Why not?
- What changes or additions would you make?
Allow ten minutes for writing. Put the responses on newsprint and discuss.
Break
Information: Present the following: Rebecca Parker suggests that within our diversity we do have a “defining focus” or purpose in life. (Ask participants to turn to page 160; have copies of Parker’s statement available for those who didn’t bring their books. Then read her quoted statement aloud.)
Journaling: Have the following questions on newsprint:
- Does Rebecca Parker’s statement work for you? Why? Why not?
- What changes or additions would you make?
Allow ten minutes for writing. Then put responses on newsprint and discuss.
Extinguishing the Chalice: Extinguish the chalice and read the following quote by Sophia Fahs: “Some beliefs weaken a person’s selfhood. They blight the growth of resourcefulness. Other beliefs nurture self-confidence and enrich the feeling of personal worth.”
