Activity 2: Creating and Sharing Credos
Activity time: 35 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Handout 1, Four Credo Perspectives
- Paper and pens
- A small chime or bell
Preparation for Activity
- Read Handout 1, Four Credo Perspectives, and make copies for all participants.
- Recruit for volunteers to read aloud the four definitions of “credo” on Handout 1. Give volunteers their readings in advance, if possible.
- Write the following questions on newsprint, and post:
- Where is money working in your life?
- How does money make possible things you deeply value?
- Where are the places you have some spiritual work to do?
- What would a spiritually and ethically healthy relationship with money look and feel like for you? What changes would you make in the way you earn, spend, give, or invest your money?
- How will you begin?
Description of Activity
Say that a credo is a declaration of belief, commitment, and aspiration. Ask if any participants have been involved with a Coming of Age program that concluded with youth preparing and sharing a credo. Invite anyone who has been part of such an experience, as a parent, mentor, participant, or attendee, at a Coming of Age service to briefly comment on the value and power of the credo experience. Say:
Part of our commitment as Unitarian Universalists is to choose our own spiritual path. The act of declaring what we believe, value, hope, and aspire to is a powerful spiritual experience. You are invited to write your own money credo, expressing what you have learned about your relationship with money and what your commitments are for that relationship going forward.
Encourage participants to look for ideas in any written, visual, or creative expressions from prior workshops they have brought with them.
Distribute Handout 1, Four Credo Perspectives. Invite the volunteers to each read a definition aloud. Emphasize that credos are personal, may be incomplete and representative, may be a statement for only this moment in life, and can bring together both intellectual and emotional elements.
Distribute paper and pens. Invite participants to take 15 minutes to begin writing their personal money credo. Ask them to keep in mind the ideas and images that arose during their reflection and meditation. Challenge them to articulate what they believe most fundamentally and deeply about money. Call attention to the questions you have posted and invite participants to use them if they are helpful. After 15 minutes, invite participants to turn to another person and share parts of their credo as they are comfortable, using this process:
- Person A shares for three minutes; Person B listens attentively.
- Person B reflects on what they heard for one minute.
- Person B shares for three minutes; Person A listens attentively.
- Person A reflects on what they heard for one minute.
Use the chime or bell to signal the beginning of each step of the process.