Opening
Activity time: 5 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Altar or centering table
- Cloth for covering altar or centering table
- Chalice and candle
- Matches or lighter
- Copies of Singing the Living Tradition, the UUA hymnbook (one per person)
- Optional: Microphone
Preparation for Activity
- Set up the altar or centering table with the cloth, chalice, candle, and matches or lighter.
- Place copies of Singing the Living Tradition on or next to participants' chairs.
Description of Activity
Welcome participants to Spirit in Practice.
Invite a participant to light the chalice as you read these words by Unitarian Universalist minister Sarah Lammert:
The element of fire represents passion, veracity, authenticity, and vitality. If the chalice is the supporting structure of Unitarian Universalism, then we are the flame. We are the flame, fanned strong by our passion for freedom, our yearning for truth-telling, our daring to be authentic with one another, and the vitality we sustain in our meeting together. In all of this there is love.
Ask the group to find responsive reading 437, "Let Us Worship" by Kenneth L. Patton, in their hymnbooks. Read it responsively with the group.
Including All Participants
If your congregation has large-print and/or Braille versions of Singing the Living Tradition, make those copies available for participants who might need them.