• Journals for new participants
• Newsprint, markers and tape
• Flowers, a variety of types and enough for all participants
• Vases, enough to hold all the flowers

• Have journals available for visitors or participants who do not have one. Set out supplies for them to personalize the journals during the Welcoming and Entering time.
• Write the Welcome Words and questions on newsprint and post.
• Lay the flowers on a table by the door and place the empty vases in the center of the room or on the focus/centering table.

The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today are a quote and questions.

In the depths of my soul
There where lies the source of my strength,
Where the divine and the human meet,
There, quiet your mind, quiet, quiet.

Outside let lightning reign,
Horrible darkness frighten the world.
But from the depths of your own soul
From that silence will rise again
God's flower.

Return to yourself,
Rest in yourself,
Live in the depths of your soul
Where the divine and the human meet.
Tune your heart to the eternal
And in the depths of your own soul
Your panting quiets down.
Where the divine and the human meet,
There is your refuge.

-- Words by Norbert Capek, Czech Unitarian and creator of the Flower Festival, composed in Dresden Prison, 1942

Question: What is hope? What is the flower of hope that rises from the depths of your soul?

As participants arrive, invite them to choose a flower and place it in one of the vases in preparation for Activity 1. They may also decorate a journal, review and/or add to their journal based on the Welcome Words, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Spend some time with visitors and first-time participants to orient them to the program and getting a sense of what brought them today.