Worth and Dignity of Every Person
Channing Church, Newport, RI
Date:___________________
Small Group Ministry 
Group Session Plan

Opening Words:	
We come together to renew our faith	
			in the holiness, goodness, and beauty of life;
			To reaffirm the way of the open mind and full heart;
			To rekindle the flame of memory and hope;
			To reclaim the vision of an earth more fair,
			with all her people one.		-Eric Heller-Wagner

Check-in

Topic:  First Principle of the Unitarian Universalist Association
“We covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person.”

•	What measure(s) do you use to assess the “worth” and “dignity” of people?

•	Are there groups or types of people that you struggle with in applying this principle?

•	How can we do a better job of understanding and applying this principle in our own lives?
 
Sharing/ Deep Listening
Conversation
Likes & Wishes
Closing Reading: 
“We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of all persons.”  Imperfect as we are, this principle calls us into right relationship with others.  It calls for profound respect, even when we differ with the views or behavior of another.  It calls for gentleness and forgiveness and the understanding that redemption is just a decision away.  It calls us to leave the safety of our suburbs and stand against hunger and hopelessness in our urban streets.  Our first principle remains a touchstone out of our remarkable tradition, a covenant of relationship that supports the other principles and orients us remarkably when we lose our way.

-Marilyn Sewell, UU minister, from “With Purpose and Principle- Essays about the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism”, Skinner House Books, Boston:1998