Religious Education Resources

Spiral of History: a ritual of learning

Joan Van Becelaere & others

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In the middle of the room, lay out a rope spiral. 250 feet of rope is nice. In the center, four votive candles to mark north (green), south (red), east (yellow), and west (blue), and a center chalice or candle. We used a friendship candle made up of clay figurines holding hands around the candle.

We used about 3000 inches of rope - 250 feet - with each inch equaling 1 year. You could use 125 feet of rope with ½ inch per year, but the spiral is then rather cramped. Set a small votive candle along the spiral for each of the events commemorated below. Leave about 1000 inches of rope (83 feet) of rope between the beginning and the year 1 CE.

Designate one person as the candle lighter. The lighter starts at the center of the spiral and walks slowly to each candle in between reading segments. At the beginning of each segment, the lighter will light the appropriate candle.

Meditative music in the background is a good touch. It works well if you have someone to raise and lower the volume of the music in between each segment.

The readings are summarized from Transcendentalism In America by Donald Koster, compiled by Carl G. Seaburg

The Fine Print: Unless otherwise stated, all work is the sole creation of the listed author(s). Copyright remains with the author(s); used here by permission. This material may be used in personal or congregational settings providing the author(s)'s name and this notice remain attached, but it may not be published or reproduced, on paper or electronically, for any other purpose without explicit consent of the author(s).

Introductions

Name and whether they are a member and how long

3 things they think they know about UU history or polity

The Spiral of History

Reader 1
Most people think of history as some kind of straight line - direct from the past to the present. But when we think of history as a straight line, we also tend to see the past as something back there; a few quaint stories but really unconnected to the concerns of the present.

Reader 2
But the past is still with us. Our history provides the foundation of who we are today and will become in the future. At the same time, we are free to change our present and future in light of new learnings and revelation. That's part of what we mean when we say that Unitarian Universalism has a Living Tradition - it is constantly growing, moving and evolving yet is rooted in a story of past courage and freedom.

Reader 1
For these reasons, we prefer to present our common UU history not as a straight line but as an organic spiral or labyrinth. This morning, to introduce you to your roots, we will present some short segments of our UU story while (a volunteer) lights a candle at each station on the path.

Reader 2
To ground ourselves in the greater circle of creation, we first light candles to the four quarters of the world.

North: body - This reminds us that history is made up of real people doing real things with impacts felt by us today.

East: intellect - history is not only a history of events but a history of ideas and thoughts

South: will - history is created by choices made by those who came before and we can choose to listen to their lessons left for us today

West: emotions - through compassion and sympathy we come to understand our ancestors and their world. In gratitude for the past, we pass this knowledge onto those who come after us.

Use 2 or 3 or 4 readers, alternating voices with each of the following segments. Light a candle at the beginning of each reading. We used small white candles for most of the segments. But to commemorate those who suffered for their faith, we used larger red votive candles.

In Principio . . .
In the Beginning, human beings looked around themselves and saw the limitless expanse of the Universe. In the cycle of the seasons and the cycle of birth, growth, decline and death, they perceived a Power outside themselves. As human languages and cultures evolved, the Power came to be called many things, and was incorporated into the lives of the Peoples in many different ways. Let us now become a part of the interconnected web of all existence, and particularly today of the stream of human consciousness of "The Other." We will journey on the path of our heritage as Unitarian Universalists, pausing to commemorate that vision of "The Other" that has shaped us as a People of Faith in the 21st Century of the Common Era.

Origen . . .
From the vast depths of antiquity, philosophical systems developed as humans contemplated their existence in relation to the world and "The Other." At the beginning of what we now call the Common Era, there was a proliferation of philosophical discourse and debate about the nature of humankind and "The Other." It was in this crucible that the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, an observant Jew and believer in the Unity and Omnipotence of "The Other," were introduced and grew. By the early third century, Christian theologians, who were often converted philosophers steeped in the ancient systems of thought, had created many visions of "The Other" they called Yahweh, and of the nature of Jesus, who had come to proclaim Yahweh. Origen, a Christian-born young man of third-century Alexandria, Egypt, was versed in the ancient philosophical systems. At the age of 18 he was asked to teach fundamental Christianity to those Alexandrians requesting instruction in the Christian Faith. Origen was an original and prolific thinker whose basis was exegesis of Scriptural writings. It is in his writings about the nature of Yahweh and of Jesus that Origen presents the kernel of an argument against the doctrine of the Trinity that would become the cornerstone of Orthodox belief less than a century after Origen's death during the persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor Decius (ca. 254 CE). Origen also speculated on the original unity of Yahweh and humankind and of the possibility of the unity of humans and Yahweh after a period of trial. He implied that hell and condemnation were not eternal and that all humankind would eventually be reunited with Yahweh as pure intellect. Origen was perhaps the first Christian theologian to posit Universal salvation. We honor Origen, Christian theologian and martyr, and proto-Unitarian Universalist, whose unitarian and universalist teachings would later be declared heretical by the Emperor Justinian at the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 553 CE.

325 CE . . .
The doctrine of the Trinity that states that God is three Persons in one Being is adopted as Orthodox belief at the Ecumenical Council of Nicea in what is today Turkey. Other views of the truly human nature of Jesus and the absolute monotheism of Yahweh, such as those of Arius, an Alexandrian theological descendent of Origen, were condemned as heresy. At the Council of Nicea, the Nicene Creed was composed and promulgated to formulate the Orthodox belief in the Trinity of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Throughout the Middle Ages in Christian Europe and Asia, there were "flare-ups" of "heresy" as individuals and movements arose to question prevailing theological Orthodoxy. Often the individuals proclaimed heretics, who were for the most part educated and trained theologians and scholars, were killed for their views, yet new voices arose to replace those that were silenced by flame or sword or banishment. It is these voices, these cries for the use of the reason that they believed was a gift of God, that opened the way for the voices advocating Unitarian and Universalist beliefs. We honor the "heretics" of the Medieval world-Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Meister Eckhart, and Hildegard of Bingen among them-who dared to speak out against the tyrannical authority they saw as limiting their faith and their relationship with their God.

Michael Servetus . . .
A Spanish Biblical Scholar and physician who discovered the human circulatory system, Servetus published On The Error of the Trinityat the age of 21 in 1531. In the treatise, Servetus argued that the doctrine of the Trinity is not Biblical, and the work and his "unitarian" theology was condemned by both the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the new Protestant movement. Servetus became an "outlaw" and fled Spain for France, where he lived and practiced medicine until 1553, when he secretly published another theological work. Soon after, the Inquisition moved against him and he was arrested. He escaped from prison and went to Geneva, the seat of John Calvin, where he was captured, tried, and burned at the stake for heresy in 1553 at the behest of John Calvin. We honor the witness of Michael Servetus, physician and martyr for religious freedom.

Katherine Vogel of Krakow . . .
A woman in her sixties who professed Unitarian beliefs, Katherine Vogel was once arrested and made to recant, and then she again declared her Unitarianism, was rearrested and refused to change her mind, even when threatened with death by burning. She was sent to the stake in the year 1539, the same year as the birth of Faustus Socinus. We honor Katherine Vogel's steadfast courage in maintaining her beliefs in the face of death.

Faustus Soclnus and the Pollsh Brethren . . .
Faustus Socinus was an Italian religious reformer who was convinced of the errors of the Trinity by the Humanist writings of his uncle, Laelius. Socinus left the Roman Catholic Church and Italy, along with other Italian Humanists who went to Switzerland and then to Poland. In 1569, Socinus wrote Oniesus Christ the Saviour, six years after the Polish Brethren in 1563 establish the Polish Minor Reformed Church, Unitarian in its Christology. In 1569 the Polish Socinian community of Rakow was founded and became the center for Polish Unitarianism. Socinus himself settled in Poland at Rakow in 1579. From the arrival of the Roman Catholic Jesuit Order in Poland in 1564, Unitarianism and even other Protestant beliefs were under close scrutiny and challenge, despite the declaration of Unitarian rights in 1571. By 1591, Polish Unitarianism is under attack by the Counter-Reformation forces of the Roman Catholic church, and by 1598, Polish Socinians fled to Holland where they established a Unitarian presence. In the year 1600, it is recorded that the word "Unitarian" was first used derogatorily to describe the anti-Trinitarian beliefs of the Polish and Transylvanian movements. Socinus died in Poland in 1603, and two years later in 1605, the Rakovian Catechi5m was published by the Unitarian community at Rakow. In 1638, the Polish Socinians were driven from the thriving town of Rakov, which was destroyed in 1639. By 1658, the Unitarians were banished from Poland all together, but given two years to leave, which came to pass in 1660 when the Polish exiles made the journey to Kolozsvar in Transylvania.

Francis David and Transylvanian Unitarianism . . .
A Reformed bishop since 1564, David began openly opposing the doctrine of the Trinity in the year 1566, a year after he became court preacher to Transylvanian King John Sigismund. In 1568 at the Diet of Torda, David, now a Unitarian bishop, pleaded for full religious toleration, and King John Sigismund's Edict of Toleration recognized Unitarianism as one of Transylvania's "received religions." Kolozsvar became Unitarian and the Unitarian Church in Transylvania was organized. David continued to preach and convert Transylvanians to the Unitarian fold under the protection of the Edict of Torda. On March 1 4th, 15 71, King John Sigismund died, and the following year a law against religious innovation was passed in Transylvania by the Catholic princes who succeeded him. In 15 79 Francis David was arrested for religious innovation and imprisoned in the Fortress of Deva, where on November 15th, he succumbed to the rigors of life in a cold, dark, damp prison cell and died a martyr. The Accord of Dees of 1637 further limited religious toleration in Transylvania, and Unitarians came under specific attack. By the end of the I 7th century, the Unitarian School at Kolozsvar was closed, and early in the I 8th century, in 1716, the Great Church in Kolozsvar reverted to Roman Catholicism. We honor Francis David, Unitarian preacher and evangelist, activist for religious toleration, political prisoner and martyr for his faith.

John Biddle and English Unitarianism . . .
In 1615, 65 years after the Church of the Strangers, Unitarian, opened in London, John Biddle was born. At the age of 32, in 1647, Biddle began preaching anti-Trinitarian beliefs, just a few years before the Rakovian Catechism was published in London in 1651 and promptly banned.

By 1654, Biddle published his own Twofold Catechism, and for his efforts, Biddle was banned to the Scilly Isles the next year. At the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1662, the Act of Uniformity was passed, resulting in the "Great Ejection" of dissenters from England. Yet, there remained voices of dissent in England, like that of Joseph Gatchelis who had his tongue pierced with a hot iron in 1684 for stating that "all men should be saved." Five years later, in 1689, the Act of Toleration was passed, and nearly one hundred years after its institution, Joseph Priestly and Benjamin Franklin attended Unitarian Services at Theophilus Lindsey's Essex Hall Chapel in London. We honor John Biddle, Joseph Gatchells, Joseph Priestly and other English Unitarians for their courage and perseverance in preaching their Unitarian and Universalist faith in England.

Unitarian Roots in the New World . . .
The Pilgrims, English religious dissenters, established Plymouth Colony in 1620 after a disastrous Transatlantic voyage. With the Pilgrims, and their Puritan cohorts of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, came the Congregationalism that carried the seeds of later 18th century Unitarianism. But these early colonists were no more tolerant than those they left behind in England, and in 1637, they drove Samuel Gorton, pioneer Universalist, out of Massachusetts for his beliefs. In 1648, at a meeting of the Puritan clergy of the four confederated colonies of New England, The Platform of Church Discipline, also known as the "Cambridge Platform" established the idea of congregational polity that has become the cornerstone of Unitarian church organization. We honor Samuel Gorton, and the clergy who formulated the "Cambridge Platform."

The Great Awakening and Its Opponents . . .
A Calvinist evangelical revival began in the year 1735 among the "Standing Order" parishes under such Calvinist preachers as Jonathan Edwards. By 1742, the emotional excesses of this conversion-based movement were condemned by such moderate clergy as Charles Chauncy and Jonathan Mayhew, and the split between Calvinist and Arminian Puritans began over issues of reason, free will, original sin, and biblical interpretation. In the continuing argument, Charles Chauncy in 1784 published his treatise on Universal salvation, The Mystefy Hid From Ages and Generations. We honor Charles Chauncy, Jonathan Mayhew and other clergy for their constant, consistent, and scholarly voices of reason which became the foundation of the Unitarian movement of the next decades.

John Murray, Father of American Universalism . . .
On September 30th 1770, John Murray, an English Universalist exile, reluctantly preached his first American sermon in Thomas Potter's meeting House on Barnegat Bay, Newjersey, where Murray's ship was marooned for lack of wind. Murray made his way north to Massachusetts where by 1774 he was preaching Universalism in Gloucester to great success. In 1779, Gloucester Universalists organized the first Universalist Church in America and called Mr. Murray as its minister and advocate. Murray added to his preaching duties the attempts to have Universalists exempted from paying tax to the established Puritan congregational church in 1786, and in 1788 Murray battled and won the right for Universalists to become ordained ministers with authority to perform marriages in Massachusetts. We honorjohn Murray, and his wife Judith Sargeant Murray, for their tireless efforts and dedication in spreading the Universalist good news in Massachusetts.

Universalism Organized . . .
In 1793 the General Convention of Universalists was organized at Oxford, Massachusetts, three years after the Philadelphia Convention of Universalists met to lay the groundwork for the new church body. A Declaration of Faith and a set of principles of social reform was adopted at the Philadelphia conference, and superseded by the Winchester Profession of Faith, adopted in 1803 at Winchester, New Hampshire. We honor the Universalists of New England and Pennsylvania in their continued strivings to frame their faith and to covenant because of it for the good of the larger society.

Joseph Priestly in America . . .
Three years after his house and laboratory were destroyed in the Birmingham Riots of 1791, scientist and Anglican priest Joseph Priestly and his family emigrate to Pennsylvania, where Priestly spent the last ten years of his life establishing Unitarian congregations in Philadelphia and Northumberland, Pennsylvania. Priestly helped to spread Unitarianism beyond the neighborhood of Boston early in the American Unitarian movement. We honor Priestly, discoverer of oxygen and pilgrim exile for his Unitarian beliefs.

The Treatise on Atonement of Hosea Ballou . . .
Published in 1805, Universalist minister Hosea Ballou's defense of universal salvation, The Treatise on Atonement, was the first book published in America to openly reject the doctrine of the Trinity. In the same year, Unitarian Henry Ware was elected Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard College, beginning the "Unitarian Controversy" in New England. In the next few years, Harvard Divinity School and Andover Newton Theological School were both established on either side of the Unitarian divide. We honor the scholars and theologians that worked to elucidate their theological understandings and educate others to express their own, bequeathing the heritage of a highly educated Unitarian clergy to the present day.

The "Unitarian Christianity" of William Ellery Channing . . .
At an ordination service in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1819, William Ellery Channing preached his famous sermon defining American Unitarianism. Channing continued to write and preach at the Federal Street Church in Boston, from which pulpit he opposed slavery first in 835. In 1837, Channing preached another of his famous sermons on "The Sunday School" in which he expounded his radically progressive ideas on the nature and nurture of children and religious education. Channing was inspiration both to other Unitarian educators like Horace Mann and Elizabeth Peabody, who helped shape the face of American public education, and to the Transcendentalist movement as well. We honor William Ellery Channing and his unceasing efforts to define and promote Unitarianism, and for his foresight and vision in the realm of children and religious education.

The American Unitarian Association . . .
On May 26th, 1825, the American Unitarian Association, an organization of individual Unitarians, was formed in Boston, Massachusetts, on the same day as the formation of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association in London. We honor those organizers who lobbied for and formed the first official Unitarian membership associations outside of local congregations.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Transcendentalism . . .
Two years after he published his essay Nature, and formed the Transcendentalist Club, Unitarian minister Ralph Waldo Emerson preached his famous "Divinity School Address" to the graduates of Harvard Divinity School. In the address, Emerson condemned the new orthodoxy of "corpse cold Unitarianism" and advocated for individual spiritual experience drawn from nature and the Universal "oversoul." Emerson soon after left the Unitarian ministry and concentrated on his writing and lecturing, and on his association with the New England Transcendentalists who were becoming world-renowned. Among noted Transcendentalists were journalist and editor Margaret Fuller, who in 1845 published Women in the Nineteenth Century, the great preacher and abolitionist Theodore Parker, and writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. We honor Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalists for their literary and spiritual strivings that gave new life and direction to the Unitarian movement in America, and won world recognition for American letters.

Unitarianism spreads Westward . . .
In 1852, The Western Unitarian Conference was formed to oversee Unitarian congregations "in the west." By 1844, Meadville Theological School in Meadville, Pennsylvania had been established to educate and train Unitarian ministers for service in the west. As part of the transcontinental spread of Unitarianism, Thomas Starr King, ordained both as a Universalist and later as a Unitarian minister, went to San Francisco in 1860, on the eve of the War Between The States, to become minister at the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco. Starr King, who was also instrumental in advocating for California to remain in the Union during the Civil War, died at a young age from the strenuous labors he undertook on behalf of Unitarianism. We honor Starr King and all the "western men" who went out to minister to Unitarian congregations beyond the pale of New England civilization.

The First Woman Ordained . . .
Following the courageous example of Maria Cook, who in 181 1 became the first woman to preach from Universalist pulpits, Olympia Brown in 1863 became the first woman to be theologically trained and ordained by an American church body. In 1870, Universalist Mary Livermore joined the growing ranks of women clergy and soon became known as "the Queen of the Platform" for her preaching on the Lyceum circuit. We honor the pioneering women, both Universalist and Unitarian, who fought prejudice and won for themselves and other women a place among the ordained ministers of both liberal religious movements.

The National Conference . . .
Henry Whitney Bellows, known for his work in establishing the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, worked to establish the National Conference of Unitarian Churches in 1865. Meetings were marked by theological dissent almost immediately, and in 1867, the Free Religious Association was founded by Unitarians who wished not to be limited to Christian or even theist beliefs. During a quarter century of disagreement, jenkin Lloyd Jones, the uncle of Unitarian architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was Secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference and began to publish the magazine Unityfrom Chicago. In 1885, Jabez T. Sunderland replaced Jones as Secretary and the "Issue in the West" erupts into controversy over statements of belief. William Channing Gannett's conciliatory statement, "The Things Most Commonly Believed Among Us" is adopted in 1887, and the 1894 meeting at Saratoga saw a broad agreement between the moderate and radical wings of Unitarianism. We honor the passion for religious freedom demonstrated by both the National Conference and the Free Religious Association, and peacemakers like William Channing Gannett.

The Iowa Sisterhood . . .
Under the mentorship of Jenkin Lloyd Jones, the Iowa Sisterhood, a growing group of women Unitarian ministers serving in the upper midwest, and particularly in Iowa, formed and began to grow around 1880. We honor the women of the Iowa Sisterhood, and all women ministers who served and nurtured small rural congregations across the upper midwest, and brought their ministerial presence to those who would otherwise have known none.

Joseph H. Jordan . . .
In 1889, Joseph H. Jordan was fellowshipped as the first African American Universalist minister. We honor Joseph Jordan in his ground breaking role.

Samuel A. Eliot . . .
Once minister at First Unitarian Society of Denver, Samuel A. Eliot was named Secretary of the American Unitarian Association in 1898. In a reorganization in 1900, Eliot became president and chief executive officer of the AUA. During his tenure, Eliot reversed the gains made by women in the Unitarian ministry, and at the end of his term, there were almost no women ministers. We honor those women who persevered in the calling to ministry and eventually changed the mind of the Association, and we honor the pastoral, religious education, and administrative work of women within the Association, whether they were ordained or not.

A Declaration of Social Principles . . .
In 1917, the Universalist General Convention adopted a Declaration of Social Principles written by Clarence R. Skinner, who was influenced by the Social Gospel Movement. In 1937, Skinner published Liberalism Faces the Future, an examination of liberal religion in the context of the larger society and its needs. We honor Clarence Skinner and his vision of social responsibility and the social accountability of liberal religionists.

Unitarians Face A New Age . . .
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Unitarian movement was divided by the Humanist-Theist controversy. As early as 1921, John Dietrich and William Sullivan debated Humanism at the National Conference, and in 1933 A Humanist Manifestois published. The Humanist-Theist controversy and other things spurred the formation of a Commission on Appraisal in 1934, and in 1936 the AUA published Unitarians Face a New Age, the report of the Commission on Appraisal with its vision for the future of the Unitarian movement. In 1937, Frederick May Eliot assumed the presidency of the American Unitarian Association and was able to make peace with the Humanists. We honor the flexibility of Unitarianism to once more expand to include another expression of Ultimate Importance and religious seeking, not without some cost.

The New Beacon Series . . .
Religious Education, despite the work of William Ellery Channing nearly one hundred years before, became a significant consideration only under the editorship of Sophia Lyons Fahs, who assumed the position of curriculum editor with the publication of The New Beacon series in 1937. Fahs worked to bring to fruition the hopes of the Department of Education of the AUA, which was formed in 1912, and followed the next year by the formation of the General Sunday School Association. We honor the vision and compassion for children of Sophia Lyon Fahs, which has given liberal religious education firm grounding and a direction for the future.

Unitarians and Universalists Reaching Out . . .
To answer the needs of war-torn Europe and its refugees, the Unitarian Service Committee was organized in 1940. Universalists organized their Service Committee in 1945 to work in Hungary, Japan, and the Philippines. We honor the work and contribution of these Service Committees whose members often risked their own lives to help others in time of need.

A Fireflower in the Ashes . . .
On October 12th, 1942, the Reverend Doctor Norbert Capek, pastor of the Prague Unitarian Congregation, was sent on an "invalid transport" from the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau and was evidently killed by his Nazi captors. Among his gifts to the Unitarian Universalist movement is Capek's Service of Flower Communion, first celebrated on June 24th, 1923, in the Prague Congregation. Now a beloved and commonly shared ritual among Unitarian Universalists, the Flower Communion began as Capek's way of bringing beauty and meaning to his Unitarian Congregation. We honor the gift of beauty and grace Norbert Capek bestowed on Unitarian Universalism through his Flower Communion, and his gifts of courage and cheerful spirit in the face of the final oppression in opposition to which he lost his life.

The Merger of Two Liberal Religious Bodies . . .
By 1949, Unitarians and Universalists, both small in number, began talks about merger into one Association, and by 1953, many departments within the two churches, including Religious Education and the Liberal Religious Youth Movement, had merged, and in the next two years, the Council of Liberal Churches was formed to continue the merger process. In 1959, the final merger process was approved and in 1961, the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America officially consolidate to become the Unitarian Universalist Association. We honor the spirit of cooperation, the vision for the future of liberal religion, and the work done by countless individuals in both denominations to bring about the successful merger of our two liberal religious bodies.

Growing Pains . . .
In the years immediately after the merger of Unitarians and Universalists, American culture began a great transformation that included a re-examination of issues of race, peace and unjust war, civil rights for all minorities, and the full equality of women. The same issues dominated concerns for Unitarian Universalist congregations. During the time from 1968-1977, there was much struggle over the vision and mission of the newly-formed association and its influence on the culture and life of America. Unitarian Universalists confronted and created controversy, sometimes nobly and sometimes not, in an effort to define the role and place of liberal religion in the life of its adherents in a time of great social upheaval. Amidst this chaos, The UU World began publication, LRY was dissolved and replaced with a new youth movement called Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU), work on gay rights, women's rights, and strivings for racial justice and peace were undertaken. We honor these formational struggles, some of which continue with us, that people of faith have embraced in the name of their liberal religious faith.

Principles and Purposes . . .
In our search for ways to express our values as liberal religionists, Unitarians and Universalists have historically drawn up statements of the faith values that motivate us. In 1985, the current expression of our Unitarian Universalist Principles and Purposes was adopted, and with some modification continues today to be a guiding and defining statement of the nature of our liberal faith and a reflection of our profound heritage of seeking for human good. The Principles and Purposes have become a key element in the religious education of our children, youth, and adult members, and it was also at this time that the ministry of religious education was re-established after over three centuries. We honor the contributions of our ministers of religious education and the framework of faith that is provided by the statement of our Principles and Purposes, and we acknowledge the right and responsibility of each and every Unitarian Universalist to share the meaning of those Principles in his or her search for fulfillment as part of a beloved community of Unitarian Universalist people of faith.

Breathing Exercise with Ruah

Ruah is Hebrew for both breath and spirit. The word reminds us that our breath and our spirits, our physical as well as our emotional and spiritual lives are joined. To celebrate this wonderful gift of the free spirit and breath, we are going to do a very brief breathing exercise.

If you would, please take a moment to get comfortable. Settle back into your chairs. Uncross your legs and relax. Close your eyes. Now concentrate on your breathing. Feel the air coming in and out of your lungs. Breathe deeply. Slowly. Fully.

Think about the fact that you are breathing in some of the molecules of the same air that Origen breathed. You are breathing some of the same air molecules as Francis David, William Ellergy Channing, Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Susan B. Anthony and all of those early Unitarians and Universalists we have remembered here today.

You are breathing the same air as everyone in this class. You and your neighbor are sharing the oxygen that keeps your body alive and free. You are also sharing the spirit that keeps your mind and soul alive and free. Respiration and Inspiration are held together in your body.

Know that you are a part of the cycle of respiration of the whole planet, a cycle that includes all animals and plants, including humans. Feel the air flow into your lungs, bringing you the gift of life. Feel the spirit flow into your life, bringing you the gift of freedom and the gift of connections. Breath and spirit, freedom and connection are needed in our lives.

Please open your eyes.

Discussion

Answer any questions.

Closing

Invite them to stand in circle and speak any thoughts or feelings raised during the spiral. A brief prayer may be used. Extinguish the 4 quarter candles, noting gratitude for body, intellect, will and emotions that make us whole human beings. Extinguish chalice.

Amen, Shalom and Blessed Be.

The Fine Print: Unless otherwise stated, all work is the sole creation of the listed author(s). Copyright remains with the author(s); used here by permission. This material may be used in personal or congregational settings providing the author(s)'s name and this notice remain attached, but it may not be published or reproduced, on paper or electronically, for any other purpose without explicit consent of the author(s).