Guiding Young Seekers

A Living Legacy of Inclusion and Light

The Children’s Universal Worship was created by Murshida Vera Corda in the early 1970s, born from her vision of a world where children could grow in spiritual understanding without boundaries or bias. Emerging from her Seed School, the service was designed to foster the natural spiritual development of children by introducing them to the masters, saints, prophets, and sacred figures of the world’s major traditions.

Each service invites children to learn about these beings through their birth and childhood stories, seeing them first not as distant adult icons, but as children themselves. This helps young hearts recognize their own humanity reflected in the stories of great teachers and realize that divine potential lives in all.

A Circle of Unity

The Children’s Universal Worship honors the equity within all spiritual traditions and the unity of religious ideals. By giving each an equal place in the circle, children experience firsthand that every path leads toward the same light of love, wisdom, and compassion. This universal approach makes the service accessible and meaningful for families from any background or belief.

The Flow of the Service

The gathering is simple, joyful, and deeply engaging:

Lighting the Candles — Candles are lit for each of the great spiritual traditions of the world.
Images of the Masters as Children — The children share image cards depicting the masters, saints, and prophets as young beings, inviting recognition and connection.
Songs, Dances, and Stories — Voices rise together in song, chant, and movement as stories from the honored tradition are told and experienced.
Shared Foods — The service concludes with a simple snack drawn from the culture or region connected to that day’s focus, deepening both learning and community.
Art and Creation — Before departing, children create an art project inspired by the teachings or story of the day, helping to anchor their understanding through creativity.

Growing Through Participation

Children’s Universal Worship is fully participatory. The children light the candles, hold up and share the image cards, help lead songs and dances, and assist with snack and art preparations. Over time, they naturally grow into retelling stories, guiding others, and discovering the joy of service within community.

Parents are warmly encouraged to attend, support, and participate as they feel inspired. Our goal is to create room for everyone and to open a space to deepen spiritual exploration within the whole family.

Children who attend these services regularly find that there are more and more ways to interact as they themselves become the story tellers, lead songs and dances, or help with snack and the art projects. Once the children develop a familiarity with the stories and traditions they will find a level of comfort and the parents may find themselves more in the background unless they choose to fully participate out of their own joy in the experience.

Parents are encouraged to attend and engage within the service as well. Our goal is to create room for everyone and open a space to deepen spiritual exploration within the child and the family. Seeing past the differences and distinctions which divide us and bring us together with the whole of humanity in the family of God, or Spirit. As each finds comfort in the stories and connections to traditions beyond time.

Continuing the Vision

Sharia Des Jardins studied with Murshida Vera Corda from a very young age. At twenty-two, she was given Murshida’s permission and encouragement to continue and expand the service’s vision. Sharia created a new series of image cards and reimagined aspects of the service to bring greater balance between the masculine and feminine within all traditions.

Her additions also opened a new awareness of our relationship with the Earth and all beings—inviting children to see not only humanity but also the planet itself as part of the sacred circle. This evolution honors Murshida Vera’s foundation while carrying the spirit of the Children’s Universal Worship forward into a world ever more in need of harmony, reverence, and care.