Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

• Chalice, candle, and lighter or an LED/battery-operated candle
• A chime or a small bell
• Newsprint, markers, and tape
• Copies of Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook
• Story, Know Yourself
• Optional: Several small boxes wrapped in decorative paper, and chocolate coin candy (or any candy with a gold wrapper)
• Optional: Refreshments

Preparation for Activity

• Prepare the centering table and chalice. Arrange seating in a circle and set hymnbooks on chairs.
• Read the story so you will be comfortable reading or telling it to the group.
• Optional: Invite a volunteer to help teach and lead Hymn 402 in Singing the Living Tradition, “From You I Receive.”
• Optional: Arrange the gift boxes and candy coins around the chalice. (The gift boxes are for decoration; the candy coins will be used in an activity during the Closing.)
• Optional: Set out refreshments.

Description of Activity

Welcome participants. Sound the chime and invite participants into quiet reflection as you prepare to enter a time of centering and sharing. Invite a volunteer to light the chalice as you or a volunteer lead the group in singing “From You I Receive.”

Say that this workshop focuses on experiences and feelings about giving.

Read or tell the story Know Yourself. Allow a moment or two of silence, and then say:

We enter into our time together deeply aware and with gratitude for of the many gifts each of us brings to this sacred space and this holy conversation. You are a gift for which I am grateful.

Sound the chime to signal the end of the centering time.

Including All Participants

If you wish to invite the group to rise and sing, ensure that the option to remain seated is communicated. You may say, “Rise in body or spirit.”