Opening (5 minutes)
Materials for Activity
- Altar or centering table
- Cloth for covering altar or centering table
- Chalice and candle
- Small votive candle in holder
- Taper candle in candlestick
- Matches or lighter
- Copies of Handout 1: Come to Us for all participants
Preparation for Activity
- Review and photocopy Handout 1: Come to Us.
- Prepare the altar or centering table with the cloth you have brought, a chalice and candle, a votive candle, a taper candle, and matches or a lighter.
- Light the votive candle in advance for a smooth chalice-lighting. During the workshop opening, a volunteer will use the taper candle to carry the flame from the votive to the chalice.
Description of Activity
Welcome the group with these or similar words:Welcome one final time to Spirit of Life. Today we celebrate the time we have spent together and the continuation of our spiritual journeys. Our faith is held together not by common creeds but by covenantal deeds. We are interdependent and we offer one another our mutual trust and support. Together so much more is possible. I'm so glad you are here!
Invite a participant to light the chalice. Show the participant how to use the taper candle to carry the flame from the votive candle to the chalice candle. Ask him/her to blow out the taper candle after he/she has lit the chalice.
Distribute Handout 1: Come to Us. Indicate the unison chalice-lighting words on the handout. and lead the group in saying them aloud. Invite participants to take turns so that each participant reads aloud one sentence of the reading. Say that it's fine for a participant to pass if he/she doesn't feel like reading at this time.
After participants finish the reading the volunteer 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.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
