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Alternate Activity 1: Blue Boat Home

Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Copies of Singing the Journey
  • Optional: Recording or musical accompaniment
  • Optional: Copies of Singing the Living Tradition

Preparation for Activity

  • Optional: Write up reflection questions on newsprint.

Description of Activity

In this activity, participants explore spiritual journey by singing and reflecting on the song "Blue Boat Home," Hymn 1064 in Singing the Journey.

Invite participants to stand in body or spirit and sing the hymn.

Ask participants what they think the song is about.

After receiving ideas from two or three participants, point out that songs can have multiple meanings. There is the meaning that is intended by the writer and there is the meaning that the song has for the listener. The meaning for the writer and listener can change depending on new experiences or new frames of mind.

Invite one of the participants to read the words without singing them. Ask a volunteer what parts of the song might help us better understand the idea of spiritual journey? If they struggle thinking of specific lines, point to the line "Sun my sail and moon my rudder as I ply the starry sea." Then ask what that line might have to say about a spiritual journey. Continue to discuss various lines if it helps participants better understand the idea of spiritual journey.

If time permits, ask them if there are any other hymns that they sing that might be useful for this discussion. If they name some, find them in the hymnbook, sing them, and look for the passages that are useful. Alternatively, note these hymns and use them as closing hymns in future workshops.

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