Activity time: 35 minutes

Welcome participants as they arrive and ask them to put on their name tags. If you are having a potluck, invite them to put their dishes on the designated food table. If everyone is able to stand, invite them to stand behind their chairs for the table grace. If some are unable to stand, form a circle and join hands for the table grace.

Light the chalice and offer these words:

Today’s session is the last one of the Hindsight, Humor, and Hope workshop. We light this chalice in appreciation for our wise companions at the table and our fellow seekers in life. We hold deep gratitude for the bounty of planet Earth and respect its process and teachings. We give thanks to those who grow the food and to those who prepared this shared meal that helps sustain us. Amen.

Invite participants to serve themselves from the lunch table, assisting any who need help. Encourage people to chat over lunch. As people are finishing their lunches, read aloud “I Will Not Die an Unlived Life” by Dawna Markova, used with permission:

I will not die an unlived life.

I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days,

to allow my living to open me,

to make me less afraid,

more accessible,

loosen my heart

until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.

I choose to risk my significance,

to live so that which came to me as seed

goes to the next as blossom,

and that which came to me as blossom,

goes on as fruit.

Lead the group in singing "Now Let Us Sing," Hymn 368 in Singing the Living Tradition.