Opening (10 minutes)
Materials for Activity
- Altar or centering table
- Cloth for covering altar or centering table
- Chalice and candle
- Small votive candle in holder
- A dripless candle in a heatproof holder that can be safely passed around the room
- Matches or lighter
- Copies of Handout 1: Sing in My Heart for all participants
- Optional: Objects for the altar or centering table, such as rocks, pinecones, seashells, plants, flowers, figurines, little plastic animals and people, or statues of religious figures like St. Francis or the Buddha
Preparation for Activity
- Review and photocopy Handout 1: Sing in My Heart.
- Prepare the altar or centering table with the cloth you have brought, a chalice and candle, a votive candle, a dripless candle and its holder to pass around the room, and matches or a lighter.
- Optional: If you have brought additional items for the altar or centering table, place them there.
- Light the votive candle in advance for a smooth chalice-lighting. During the workshop opening, you will light the dripless candle from the votive candle's flame, and a volunteer will use the dripless candle to light the chalice candle.
Description of Activity
Distribute Handout 1: Sing in My Heart. Indicate the unison chalice-lighting words on the handout.Welcome participants and offer a brief introduction to this workshop. Use these words, or your own:
Welcome to this program on Unitarian Universalist spirituality as expressed in the celebration and rituals we use in our congregational life and in our home lives. Celebrations and rituals are ways to appreciate life, face grief and sorrow, share joy and gratitude, and deepen relationships and core commitments.
In this workshop, we will explore how celebration and ritual can support our spirituality and spiritual growth. I am so glad you are here!
Tell participants that the opening for this workshop includes some additional elements to enrich the group's investigation of celebrations and rituals. If you have added objects to your altar or centering table, explain that you have added these objects to provide an example of how someone might personalize an altar for ritual.
Light the dripless candle from the votive candle flame, and secure the dripless candle in its heatproof holder. Say:
Unitarian Universalists believe the flame of truth, the spark of divinity, the light of knowledge, the warmth of love, and the energy of action are present in every person. In celebration of that affirmation, we will pass this candle around the room to each person.
When the candle comes to you, please call out your name clearly and slowly, so we have time to hear each name and see each face. After this candle has been passed among all our hands and connected to all our voices and faces, we will light our chalice and join together in a unison chalice-lighting reading.
Allow participants to pass the dripless candle, each saying their names. After all participants have said their names, invite a participant to light the chalice with the candle. Lead the group in reciting the unison chalice-lighting words as the participant kindles the flame.
Invite participants to read silently along with you as you read aloud the Unitarian Universalist Principle and Source that this workshop highlights.
Including All Participants
Be aware of participants who may be unable to hold the candle, and be ready to ask someone sitting near them to hold it for them. If you are using a microphone to ensure that all participants can hear, you may wish to carry it from person to person as they say their names.Last updated on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
