“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.” — Pietro Aretino
We will be joining the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Morgantown for a very special seasonal dance performance. Tadashi and Helen Jones (musician) will perform REBIRTH of SUNNA. This unusual service includes an interactive activity and a vigil. Bring the family and enjoy the morning while being inspired.
For each day of Chalica we will offer activities, some are fun and some are more reflecting, a chalice lighting, and a meditation. Gather everyone together, light the chalice, and breathe into the principles with us each day.
Activities:
Identify ways your family can be more green. Start a compost, recycle, bike more? As a family, choose one and commit!
Clean up trash at a park or in your neighborhood.
Advocate that your workplace, or your school, be more eco-friendly. Ask for recycle bins and reuse as much as possible.
Volunteer at a local animal shelter.
Shop your local farmer’s market for local and organic fruits and veggies.
If you aren’t already vegetarian or vegan, plan to make a vegetarian or vegan meal.
As the saying goes, “Reuse, Reduce, Recycle.” Today, recycle something from your house that would have been trash and create something with it: art, a gift, or a handy item.
Write a journal entry about how the world is connected together.
Rescue an animal.
Chalice Lighting:(If you don’t have a chalice at home, remember that the point of a chalice is that it is a symbol so any candle will work.) Since it is the last day there are two.
We light this chalice for the web of life which sustains us,
For the sacred circle of life in which we have our being,
For the Earth, the Sky, Above and Below, and
For our Mother Earth, and for the Mystery.
We light this chalice, spark of the original fire of creation, to remind us that we all on this planet—the furred, the feathered, the finned, and the scaled, along with us featherless bipeds—we are all made of the same star-stuff and all share a common destiny. We all share the same hopes of a life free from harm and suffering and the same aspirations of happiness, love, and flourishing—being able to express our own unique natures and capacities as best we may. We are just that many diverse perspectives from which the whole is seen and experienced. We are inextricably intertwined, interconnected and interdependent. And it is good.
Advent is the season of waiting. In the Christian year, it is the four Sundays before Christmas. Each Sunday there is a candle lit. They symbolize Love, Hope, Joy, and Peace. This week is about hope. The reading below found on the UUA Worship Web is about waiting and hope. What are we waiting for? What are we hoping for?
When used as a responsive reading, “We are waiting” is the congregational response.
This is the season of anticipation,
Of expecting, of hoping, of wanting.
This is the time of expecting the arrival of something–or someone. We are waiting.
This is the time of living in darkness, in the hues of unknowing.
Of being quiet, of reflecting on a year almost past.
Waiting for a new beginning, for a closing or an end.
This is the time for digesting the lessons of days gone past, anticipating the future for which We are waiting.
Waiting for a world which can know justice
Waiting for a lasting peace.
Waiting for the bridge to span the divides which separate us.
Waiting for a promise or a hope.
For all of this We are waiting.
For each day of Chalica we will offer activities, some are fun and some are more reflecting, a chalice lighting, and a meditation. Gather everyone together, light the chalice, and breathe into the principles with us each day.
Activities:
Volunteer as a family or make a plan to volunteer on a regular basis
Write a Holiday card for a veteran, person, at a nursing home, or a neighbor
Go for a walk and randomly compliment people you pass.
Write a journal entry about what peace means to you
Write a journal entry about what liberty means to you
Write a journal entry about what justice means to you
Read stories of injustice from around the world
Read about other holidays from around the world.
Chalice Lighting:(If you don’t have a chalice at home, remember that the point of a chalice is that it is a symbol so any candle will work.)
If ever there were a time for a candle in the darkness,
this would be it.
Using a spark of hope,
kindle the flame of love,
ignite the light of peace,
and feed the flame of justice.
For each day of Chalica we will offer activities, some are fun and some are more reflecting, a chalice lighting, and a meditation. Gather everyone together, light the chalice, and breathe into the principles with us each day.
Activities:
Listen to a friend who needs to talk without offering advice.
Write a letter to someone in the legislature.
Find out how to get on the board at your church.
Find out when your City Council meets and plan to go to the next meeting.
Host a family meal and everyone gets to vote on what you will make.
Write a journal entry about what the democratic process means to you.
Watch a movie as a family, but everyone has to vote on what it’s going to be.
Chalice Lighting:(If you don’t have a chalice at home, remember that the point of a chalice is that it is a symbol so any candle will work.)
This fire is a reminder of the light within us all;
the yearning for freedom,
the longing for truth,
the flame of intuition,
the torch of conscience.
We dedicate this service to the remembrance of this Holy Light.
Meditation:
There are two meditations. The second one is even fun for kids.
For each day of Chalica we will offer activities, some are fun and some are more reflecting, a chalice lighting, and a meditation. Gather everyone together, light the chalice, and breathe into the principles with us each day.
Activities:
Find answers to questions in your family question box or find the answer to a question you have wanted to learn for a long time.
Go the whole day without lying (no white lies, answer honestly when people ask how you are, no lies of convenience).
Unitarian Universalism is a very long name, and not many people know much about it. Create an elevator, or playground, speech so you can tell people what it means to be a UU in one minute or less.
Check out a podcast like The Pamphlet or The VUU to learn some history or about something going on in the UU movement at the moment.
Do a science experiment.
Write a journal entry with your thoughts on truth and meaning. What does it mean to search for them? What is a free and responsible search?
Chalice Lighting: (If you don’t have a chalice at home, remember that the point of a chalice is that it is a symbol so any candle will work.)
The Meaning of the Chalice By Martha Kirby Capo
For some, the chalice cup is a communion cup, freely offered to all who would seek the greater Truth. Others see the circle of fellowship in its embracing sides. The sacred hoop of its rim, the ambient energy cradled in its basin, the abiding, grounded strength of its pedestal: may all be lit by the fire of spiritual integrity; so too may we each be bathed in the glow of our shared Truth, multifaceted and radiant.
For each day of Chalica we will offer activities, some are fun and some are more reflecting, a chalice lighting, and a meditation. Gather everyone together, light the chalice, and breathe into the principles with us each day.
Activities:
Cook a meal you’ve never made before, especially one from another culture
Attend a lecture, visit a museum, or go to see a play. Discuss the event with someone around you.
Discuss your religious beliefs and how they have changed over the years.
Write a journal entry about acceptance and spiritual growth
Play a board game with family or friends that none of you have ever played before
Meditate on something from each of the Six Sources
Chalice Lighting:(If you don’t have a chalice at home, remember that the point of a chalice is that it is a symbol so any candle will work.)
Thirsty By Gregory Pelley
And so we gather, from the ebb and flow of our lives
Thirsty for connection to ourselves
Thirsty for connection to others
Thirsty for connection to the larger life.
As we light this chalice
May all who gather here be filled:
Filled with joy and hope
Filled with compassion and love
Here, may we be filled
So that we may pour ourselves out
into the world.
Meditation:
There are two meditations today one about building spiritual walls and one about choice.
Here is a musical meditation as well. U2’s “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” is about doubt, which is part of Acceptance and Spiritual Growth.
For each day of Chalica we will offer activities, some are fun and some are more reflecting, a chalice lighting, and a meditation. Gather everyone together, light the chalice, and breathe into the principles with us each day.
Activities:
Write a Letter to an elected official about an injustice
Pay for the person behind you in the drive-through line
“Want me to pick something up for you?” If you know someone is overwhelmed – perhaps by a new baby, family health issues, or something else – give them a call when you’re going out to the store. Ask if they’d like you to pick something up. We’ve been the beneficiaries of this random act of kindness, and it’s great.
Try to go the whole day without arguing with anyone
Go out to eat and tip the server double
Go to the store or mall with the family and stand outside and open the doors for people
Find a social justice cause and/or a new way to support it.
Educate yourself and your family on a social justice issue. These Youtube channels are a great way to start.
Write a journal entry about what Justice, Equity, and Compassion mean to you.
Write a poem about being kind.
Chalice Lighting:(If you don’t have a chalice at home, remember that the point of a chalice is that it is a symbol so any candle will work.)
Justice, Meaning, and Purpose By David Breeden
We light this chalice
remembering and honoring our own tradition
and celebrating the rich diversity of traditions among us.
As we search for justice, meaning, and purpose,
may we remember that justice, meaning, and purpose
live first in deeply listening to one another.
This chalice lighting was written for a multifaith gathering.
Meditation:
Our Meditation today is about Love. Focusing on love helps us to remember that each person is important.
Welcome:To learn more about being human – Erika A. Hewitt
Welcome to this morning, this day, and this opportunity to be together in community — which is a time of joy, comfort, and sometimes challenges. This Unitarian Universalist congregation is a place where we come to learn more about being human. We’re not here because we’ve figured out life’s questions, or because we think we’ve got it right, or even because we think we know what the questions are.
We come here to learn more about being in relationship together: how to listen, how to forgive, how to be vulnerable, and how to create trust and compassion in one another.
Let us move into worship, willing to be authentic with each other, honest within ourselves, and open to connection in all its forms.
Come, let us worship together.
Chalice lighting:Blessed is the fire that burns deep in the soul – Eric A Heller-Wagner
Blessed is the fire that burns deep in the soul. It is the flame of the human spirit touched into being by the mystery of life. It is the fire of reason; the fire of compassion; the fire of community; the fire of justice; the fire of faith. It is the fire of love burning deep in the human heart; the divine glow in every life.
