Come, come, whoever you are,

Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving....

— Rumi

This session's intangible gift is "invitation." Children explore multiple ways to communicate that someone is invited. The story focuses on the Jewish custom of welcoming Elijah with a place at the Seder table and an open door at Passover.

For Activity 3, Invitation Collage, you will need magazines with images children will recognize as communicating welcome. The more creative and diverse the images you provide, the broader the children's understanding of "invitation," including whom we invite, the many ways we can express invitation, and the various contexts in which we can offer invitation. Leader Resource 1, Images of Invitation, can start your collection.

Goals

This session will:

• Introduce invitation as an intangible gift
• Explore situations where people are welcomed by being invited
• Highlight the spiritual reward of inviting others through a story about the Jewish custom of symbolically welcoming the prophet Elijah to the Passover Seder
• Engage participants in the spiritual practices of opening and closing rituals.

Learning Objectives

• Explore the value of giving and receiving the gift of invitation
• Learn that even when you do not think you have enough to share or give, you can always give the gift of invitation
• Experience a story about a young girl's encounter with the prophet Elijah that taps two Unitarian Universalist Sources: Jewish tradition and the direct experience of mystery and wonder
• Identify and explore images and words that illustrate different ways to express invitation and welcome across cultures and age groups