Family Chalice at First Universalist

THE FAMILY CHALICE

AT FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH

How Does It Work? Rather than a traditional program led by professionals or a small group of lay leaders, the Family Chalice aims to be a democratic, grass-roots movement that engages the energy, knowledge, and leadership talents of the whole community.

Who Will Do It? The mission statement and desired future were created by the Visioning and Coordinating Group which came together in response to a call to action from our own Bill Doherty in Fall 2001. This Visioning and Coordinating group included: Lynne Ambrosini, Elizabeth Doherty, Janice Hunton, Denise Koenen, Tom McCleod, Sandy Moses, Catie Chi Olson, Betsy Peregoy and Amy Scott with ministerial support from Rev. Laurie Bushbaum and Rev. Kate Tucker.

Mission: Because we recognize that the religious development of our children occurs mostly in the home, the Family Chalice fosters the spiritual growth of families through home-based religious practices tied to the church community. The Family Chalice is a democratic, family-led initiative that engages the energy, knowledge, and experience of the whole community.

Desired Future: We envision the following future for families at First Universalist:

1. Families Have an Organic Spirituality that Reflects Our Living Tradition

There is a shared feeling for the sacredness of life.

Family members have a sense of an open spiritual journey.

Family members respect and appreciate their differences on spiritual issues.

There is an ease and naturalness in family conversations about spiritual issues.

2. Families Have Integral Religious Practices

Rituals in the home bring UU principles to life.

There is intentional use of UU symbols such as the chalice.

Families are intentional about how they handle major religious holidays.

Families engage in service and social justice activities.

Family members can articulate why they do some practices and not others.

3. Families Understand Unitarian-Universalism

Within their own developmental levels, family members can:

Articulate their own religious beliefs

Explain UU principles, symbols, and sources

Relate our faith to other religions

Recount the major figures, events, and turning points of UU history

Make Unitarian-Universalism relevant to today’s questions and challenges

Appreciate the contributions of UU's to history and culture.

4. Families' Religious Lives Flow Between Home and Church

Families are actively involved in the church community.

Families pool and share their best religious practices.

Families are connected in ways that promote mutual learning about religion.

New families are welcomed and integrated into the religious community.

The church offers ongoing, life-span faith formation.

Church activities support strong connections across the generations.

Energized intergenerational services create a true worship community.

The church community sees itself as raising all its children.

The first two projects are being planned and piloted by parents and other participants during the winter and spring 2003. These are:

Religious Practices in the Home: Families and other participants will work together to discover and develop UU religious practices for the home, share these with other families, and inspire one another to make religious practices part of everyday family life. An example: families may come together to make their own chalices, participate in a church ceremony of blessing the chalices, and share ways to make the flaming chalice a focal point of UU family life.

Explaining Unitarian-Universalism: Families and other participants will develop ways to understand and explain Unitarian Universalism, and why we are part of it, to ourselves and our children at different developmental levels. There will be no pressure for a uniform understanding or explanation. Participants will learn from one another, practice in groups, and consult other sources. Their learnings and explanations will be shared widely in the church community in order to stimulate others in their own reflections and articulations.

Click here for the text of a sermon given by Bill Doherty on January 26, 2003, on the subject of "Home Grown Religion."

First Universalist Church of Minneapolis

www.firstuniv150.org

THE FAMILY CHALICE

AT FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH