Religious Exploration Corner: The Seven Principles
By Cypress Knight, the Gorge UU Fellowship’s Religious Exploration coordinator. You are encouraged to communicate with her directly, as she looks forward to receiving your thoughts, impressions, and questions! (Email)
Greetings to all!
I am excited to share with you a children’s and youth version of our Seven Principles. I have put them in a chart so that you can compare them with the adult version.
We will do many activities to help us discern the meaning of each principle, including noticing which of our actions bring these principles to life. We will study how to incorporate them in our daily lives and ways to use them in making daily decisions.
The principles also give us a way to evaluate poor choices or mistakes. The mistakes we make are essential to learning how to live up to these principles and therefore equally important to our successes at being the loving people we would like to be.
I look forward to meeting you on any Sunday, and especially on First Sundays for Families. The next one is coming up soon, Nov. 1!
| The Adult member congregation affirms and promotes: | The Children member congregation agree and demonstrate by their actions the following ideals: |
|---|---|
| 1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person | 1. From the moment they are born every person is valuable and worthy of respect |
| 2. Justice, equity, and compassion in human relationships | 2. Everyone needs to be treated fairly and shown kindness |
| 3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregation | 3. We want everyone to feel accepted and encouraged to grow in their ability to love others |
| 4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning | 4. We will help each other discover the meaning and truths in our lives |
| 5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large | 5. We will learn to hear our inner voice that tells us what is right and what is wrong. |
| 6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all | 6. We will explore problems and help each other find solutions to them that benefit everyone. We want to be true to ourselves and discover what it means to have peace between us. |
| 7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part | 7. We want to learn how to live in harmony with our world where everything is connected |
A quick note about supplies and resources:
I have reviewed the materials in the children’s area and started an inventory list. I am also doing some research on books and games in alignment with our seven principles. Before making a donation or leaving something at the grange, please reach out to me directly. It may be helpful to know that the age range of the children participating right now is between 5 and 13 years old.
