Hide-and-Seek with God Service for February 3, 2013

Transcription

1 Final version 1 Hide-and-Seek with God Service for February 3, 2013 Prelude Lighting of the Candles during the prelude Welcome and Announcements: Diane Explain about the sermon bingo. Pencils are in basket. Today we have the distinct privilege to experience a taste of what happens each Sunday in the Religious Education classes and Nursery each Sunday morning in the classrooms on the ground floor; the level below Union Hall, down two flights of stairs from up here in the sanctuary. Each Sunday from September to Thanksgiving, volunteer teachers and high school assistants provideded Nursery care and taught the Kindergarten to second grade class, and grade 3-4 class downstairs, while the Junior Youth Group met in the classroom just outside my office through that door. Once a month the K-4 classes met in Union Hall for the First Sunday Children's Service run by Alison Saylor our Director of Religious Education. Since December all grades K-8 have been meeting together, first to get ready for the Christmas Pageant, and more recently to prepare for today's multigenerational service. This service today will give everyone a chance to experience a little of what we teach our children...what goes on in a First Sunday Children's Service and in the Sunday School class rooms. hymn Bring Many Names #23 Chalice Lighting - Alison Saylor: Every RE class lights a chalice, and each class uses a different chalice and different chalice lighting words. The Junior Youth Group loves to use the ipad with an app for

2 Final version 2 lighting a chalice. Show the app on the tv screen Today we will use the chalice lighting words used in the First Sunday Children's Service we have in Union Hall on the first Sunday of each month (words by Rev. Andy Pakula) Amy Bergquist? We light this chalice candle, symbol of our free religious community May it be a sign of welcome to all who seek an illuminating light For all who are lost, and a reflection of the love that burns deep within each heart Responsive Reading Covenant of the Congregation adapted from First UU Church of Stockton California For the convenant today, we will read it as it done for the First Sunday Children's Service. It is printed in the Order of Service. Would teachers and parents please help the children to read their parts in bold? Children: We believe in Love. Adults: Love is the doctrine of this church. Children: We believe in Truth. Adults: The quest for truth is our sacrament. Children: We believe in helping others. Adults: And service is our prayer. Children: We believe in the sacredness of Life. Adults: to dwell together in peace, to seek knowledge in freedom, Children: We believe in being kind to all. to serve humanity in friendship, thus do we covenant with each other and with God

3 Final version 3 Pebbles of Community - Alison Saylor Pebbles of concerns and sorrows Pebbles of joys and milestones Blessing: Diane add some relevant words here... May all these joys and concerns be embraced in the warmth of this community. May that warmth extend in sympathy and compassion to all who are suffering in mind, body or spirit. Reading - Diane Mary Ann Moore's wonderful book for children called Hide & Seek with God will be featured prominently in today's service. In Mary Ann Moore's introduction she explains that her 29 short stories offer the beginnings of a religious language for talking about God as children strive to find answers to universal religious questions. She writes Even at a young age, children are able to consider seriously questions like What is the source of creation? What force causes the changes of birth, growth, and death? What happens after death? How can we explain the tragedies of life? Why do suffering and evil exist? What is the formula for an ethical life? How can justice, peace, and compassion be achieved? And what gives life positive meaning? These stories are seeds to be sown, scattering metaphors, images, and symbols, connecting the word God to a pattern of beliefs about ultimate reality, value and mystery. It is this book Hide & Seek with God (hold up the book ) that is the source material for a whole curriculum for Kindergarten to Second

4 Final version 4 graders that is one of many wonderful lessons taught to our K-2 RE class. We ask you today to think about God. We ask you today to think about the God you were taught about as a child and as a youth. We ask you today to think about how we as Unitarian Universalists want to teach the children and youth of our congregation to think about God...the Spirit of Life... Hymn No. 123 Spirit of Life Alison My name is Alison Saylor and I am the Director of Religious Education here at the First Religious Society in Carlisle. Mary Ann Moore's book Hide & Seek with God is the basis of a Unitarian Universalist K-2 curriculum I taught over 20 years ago when my daughter Emily was in Kindergarten. It was the teaching of this class that both shaped my understanding of our liberal faith of Unitarian Universalism, and gave me the words, images and tools to feel confident to teach Religious Education to our church children. When I first joined the First Religious Society in Carlisle, we barely used the word God in our church services, yet here I was expected to teach a whole year of Sunday school classes on a topic that made me squirm with indecision and confusion. It is important to understand that the word God is laden with adult baggage, but is not a difficult word for young children at all. Today you will hear several stories from this book (hold it up) and get a small taste of what the Sunday School teachers teach and share when they go off to lead the children in their Sunday School downstairs in the basement classrooms.

5 Final version 5 Jackie My name is Jackie Schaefer, and I am the chair of the Religious Education and Youth Committee which we abbreviate to the RE Committee. Mary Ann Moore explains her choice of the word God in her Hide and Seek with God stories this way... When considering the word God, it is important to remember several things. First God is the English word generally used by people in monotheistic western traditions; other languages have similar words, such as Gott, Dios, or Allah. Those who say God and those who say Dios may mean more or less the same thing. On the other hand, people who use the English word God may have very different interpretations among themselves. Secondly, people from some of the world's other religions use words such as Shakti, Buddha, Wahan Tanka, and Manwu to speak of ultimate reality, value and mystery. These words not only have different sounds, but may indicate many different concepts. Finally, there are people who use Spirit, Goddess, Life or Love to refer to what many people mean by God. The stories in this book use God for several reasons. It has traditionally been the English word used to answer ultimate questions. As our answers change, the use of God maintains an important continuity... and the word God does not have another more concrete meaning embedded in its etymology, as for example, life and love

6 Final version 6 do. Though some feel that God connotes a male deity, it does not have the absolute sense of gender that Goddess does. Hopefully, a new generation can grow up understanding God to mean both male and female, along with a variety of other qualities. Alison How would you teach about God to children age 5-8 years old? How were you taught about God? Yes we use bible stories, but is that enough? Do bible stories always convey our UU values? This is what the RE Committee, the Director of Religious Education and the Sunday School teachers must do each Sunday. Find age appropriate ways to convey complex subjects about ethics, values and our Unitarian Universalist faith of questioning...well...everything. Some of us learn by listening, some learn by drawing pictures, and some like to write or look at words. We like to give our children choices in what activities they do in a Sunday School class, and today in this service we are going to give all of you a choice of doing one of two possible activities while we talk. Teacher Sue Kirk My name is Sue Kirk, and I am one of the K-2 teachers this year. The first option is to take some crayons or markers and one of these odd shaped pieces of paper. We ask you to please draw a picture of God on your card stock paper. You may want to wait and listen a little

7 Final version 7 while before beginning to draw God. The second option is to take a piece of paper and a marker. God has many names. Write one or more of God's names on the paper. You may write God's names immediately, but we suggest you wait and listen a while to the words later in this service before you write down a name or several names for God that are meaningful to you. Notice that each piece of paper has a unique shape. Also note that each one has a white or mostly white side and a side with colors and a circled number on the back. Please either draw God or write God's name on the mostly white side, the side without a number. Teacher Christine Lear My name is Christine Lear, and I am also one of the K-2 teachers this year. If you like to draw, you may prefer the draw a picture of God option Hand out puzzle pieces and crayons or markers Now we Sunday School teachers have found that the children do not hesitate to immediately draw a picture of God, whereas many of the adults might not feel too comfortable putting pen to paper on a subject that is so vast...and complicated, and mysterious. We tell the children that what they believe about God will change over time. Life experiences will shape what they believe about God and how they talk to God, or if indeed they choose to talk to God or see God with their

8 Final version 8 inner eye. (pause) As this will take a little time to hand things out to everyone, I am going to ask you to to use silent hand gestures to convey your chosen option to our helpers here. And while we are doing this, we will also take the offering... Offering Offertory Anthem Doxology No. 403 Sue Lohrer Good morning, I m Sue Lohrer and I m one of the teachers for the third- and fourth-grade classroom. Another thing to consider as we are using markers and crayons to create an image or words for God, is how many sources depict God as humanlike with human qualities. Some UUs find an anthropomorphic God too simplistic. Others think a human-like God represents an entity that has power over humans much like a king or ruler would. As the children have studied God over the past few weeks, we have considered how it is possible to understand an anthropomorphic God in a different way. If God stands for an ultimate reality or value within us, it can help us to understand God if he-or-she appears like a person in a story because we are persons.

9 Final version 9 In many stories, when God speaks like a person and engages the listener as a person would, we can understand God has qualities that are found within people: in dreams, in forgiveness, in caring, and in love. The theology in the stories we have listened to over the past few weeks proposes that God is both immanent (or within us) and transcendent (something greater than ourselves). This paradox can be nicely conveyed in a myth-like story with an anthropomorphic God. Is God personified as one who expects total obedience, who can be violent when displeased, and who is only male? Is God represented as one who works in a cooperative way with people, who is surprised by events in the universe, who wants peace and forgiveness, and who could be male or female? The stories in Hide and Seek with God offer us a tapestry of ideas about God that reflect essential values such as the belief that ultimate reality is an interdependent oneness, that love and the worth of each person are fundamental principles, and that these truths are tempered with mystery.

10 Final version 10 Teacher Story reader Tom Rourk My name is Tom Rourk and I am an 8 th grade OWL leader and sometimes a guest in the Sunday school classes where I visit as a historical or biblical character. Today I am going to read the story Hide-and-Seek with God. Story: Hide-and-Seek with God page 1 If something in this story made you think you can draw or write about God, then please do so now. We have one more story to share with you as you draw or write about God... Teacher Story reader Lauree Eckler My name is Lauree Eckler and I am currently one of the teachers in the grade K-2 Sunday School class. I am also the liaison between the Religious Education program and the Social Action Committee. The story I will read today is God has Many Names Story: God has Many Names page 4 Now is a good time to be writing a name for God or finishing up your picture of God. After this next song I went to church and the church pleased me we will collect the markers, pens and paper. I went to church taught by Amy Bergquist, Harriet Ketchen, and Alison Saylor

11 Final version 11 Teacher/RE Committee member Rick MacDonald My name is Rick MacDonald and I am a member of the RE Committee and a father of four young children. As we collect and assemble our puzzle pieces...yes you may have already guessed that each of you has been given one piece of a very large mysterious puzzle I would like to read you one last story from Mary Ann Moore's book Hide & Seek with God The Mystery of God / Story: The Mystery of God page 29 (Puzzle assemblers use tables to assemble puzzle upside down and add tape to back so pieces will stay together. Jackie From the words in our Covenant... Thus do we covenant with each other and with God What God are we talking about? When I say the word God, do you get a picture of God in your head? Does your mental picture of God look like mine? Can we define God with images, or does it take words? Can we define God with words or does it take feelings? Can we define God at all? What is God? What does God look like? Are we ready yet to reveal our collective picture of God? When ready, pick up puzzle and have some sound effects. Attach to rolling bulletin board so it can remain on display. The word GOD will be in large letters made up of the God words and picture puzzle piece made by the congregation. The edges will be will be silvery and sparkly, and the letters edged in rainbow colors so they are very easily read from the back of the room.

12 Final version 12 Alison See - together we have depicted God in words and in drawings. See that even though we can make a God mural, there are blank puzzle pieces that show us that God is still a mystery, and we cannot name God or draw God in completeness....and in the words of Etan Boritzer who wrote the children's book What is God... There are many ways to talk about God. Does that mean that everything that every everybody ever says about God is right? Does that mean that God is everything? Yes! God is everything great and small. God is everything far away and near! God is everything bright and dark! And God is everything in between! If everything is God, God is the last leaf on a tree. If everything is God, God is an elephant crashing through the jungle. If everything is God, then God is the hot wind in the desert. And God is the freezing snow in the winter, and God is the big yellow moon. If everything is God, then I am God, and you are God. All of us are God! And if you believe that God is the all powerful, that God is a personal God who listens when you pray, then that's fine too. You share a belief in God that is held by many in our nation. So.. if you really want to feel God, you can close your eyes now, (yes I invite you to close your eyes) and listen to your breath go slowly in and out. (breathe in slowly...breathe out slowly)...and think how you are connected to everything, even if you are not touching everything. And now open your eyes and see again our collective picture of God where God is (make comments based upon the puzzle... God is Love, God is a beautiful sunset, God is light...etc.) and God is also sometimes

13 Final version 13 hidden from us and so remains a mystery!...and I invite you to think about what a rich experience it would be for your own spiritual growth... to make deeper relationships with our children and youth by coming involved in the Religious Education Program at the First Religious Society in Carlisle. Song Where Do We Come From? Chalice Extinguishing from Singing the Living Tradition No. 456 We extinguish this flame but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we carry in our hearts until we are together again. Benediction Diane Polly Leland-Mayer Awesome and gracious God -- you who are the power that brings us to life Awesome and gracious God -- you who are the power that brings us to life and the spirit that sustains us -- forgive us for being less than we might be. Guide us to become what is in our power to become, in your service. Send us out from this place of worship and time of celebration, to live lives of hope -- to be nurturers of the vision of wholeness -- and to serve as healers in this wounded world. All this we ask in the name of those to come, and in the spirit of those who have gone before. Grant us wisdom -- grant us courage -- grant us your peace. Amen.

14 Source: 1997 UUMA Worship Materials Collection; altered Final version 14 Copyright: The author has given Unitarian Universalist Association member congregations permission to reprint this piece for use in public worship. Any reprints must acknowledge the name of the author. Postlude