The Power of Ritual

Quote du jour: “All of the arts, poetry, music, ritual, the visible arts, the theater, must singly and together create the most comprehensive art of all, a humanized society, and its masterpiece, free man" ~ Bernard Berenson

Many Unitarian Universalists get a little queasy when I bring up the subject of ritual. It is often conflated with superstition or old irrelevant (to some) forms of worship. But ritual has a power and a resonance beyond the intellect. It's why humans are drawn to create ritual in the first place. Ritual is not only found at churches. Candle lighting on a birthday cake is a ritual. A child's first haircut is often a ritual - a rite of passage as it were. Bedtime? Holiday traditions? What conscious or unconscious rituals do you have in your life already? (My family has an annual fruitcake ritual. At some point in late October I make fruitcake and throughout the fall and winter holiday season, the rest of the family mocks me with disparaging comments about fruitcake. It's an annual event, and if it didn't happen the winter holiday season would feel incomplete. )

At church, along with our tradition of inquiry and reason, we have ritual. We have ritual because we want more than an intellectual exercise. We want a community experience - the ritual of coffee hour. Or we want an affective experience of the profound - the ambiance of the worship space, the music, the silence, the prayer. Ritual connects us to each other, and to a time and a place out of ordinary time and place. At church we invite our children to experience that resonance. To experience this place as special. To experience themselves as belonging. Various groups have some rituals in place already. Our Whole Lives begins with a chalice lighting and has the question box to close out the session. Youth Group checks in and checks out. And Sunday morning, the children transition from sanctuary to religious education classrooms with a song. Right now it's "Go Now in Peace" but I have plans. BWAHAHAHA!

I'm sure by now you're wondering where I'm going with this. I do go on, rather. . .

I'm inviting you all, particularly the rotation guides to consider simple rituals for connecting the children you are with to you, to each other and to their church. The guides will all receive a carryall with clipboards/attendances, sticky name tags, a couple of markers and a

port-o-chalice. I encourage you to lay down the pattern of the day - to shape a ritual of connection. Find out who the children are, have them wear name tags that they may be known and seen and connected to the rest of us. Offer a chalice lighting that the group can share - signed, sung, or spoken and consciously end your time together with a benediction or group cheer or by blowing out the chalice together. I have a few examples of chalice lightings and benedictions below, find one you like and use it. Connect our children to this faith we would share with them. It what we're here for.

Chalice Lightings


We light this chalice to celebrate
(mime striking a match on the open palm of the opposite hand)
Unitarian Universalism
(hold up left hand, then right hand in the shape of a U)
This is the church of the flaming chalice.
(cup hands in front)
This is the church of the open mind.
(cover your face with both hands, then open them out on the word “open”
as though your hands were hinged doors)
This is the church of the helping hands.
(hold both hands out in front of you, palms up)
This is the church of the loving heart.
(hands over heart)
Where friends come to share with each other.
(join hands)


Flaming chalice, burning bright,
Now you share with us your light
May we always learn to share
With all people, everywhere.
Flaming chalice, burning bright,
Now you share with us your light

(Sung to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)

Eva Ceskava


We light this chalice for the light of truth
We light this chalice for the warmth of love.
We light this chalice for the energy of action.
MaryAnn Moore


We light this chalice to remind ourselves to treat all people
Kindly, because they are our brothers and sisters.
We light this chalice to remind ourselves to take good care
Of the earth, because it is our home.
We light this chalice to remind ourselves to live lives full
Of goodness and love, because that is how we will become
The best men and women we can be.
Source Unknown

May this light kindle within us
The warmth of compassion
The glow of love
The fire of commitment
The light of truth.
Marianne Hachten Cotter

We light our flaming chalice
To illuminate the world we seek.
In the search for truth, may we be just;
In the search for justice, may we be loving;
And, in loving, may we find peace.
Elizabeth McMaster


Benedictions/Extinguishing the Chalice

As we leave this friendly place,
Love give light to every face;
May the kindness which we learn
Light our hearts until we return.
Vincent Silliman

As we extinguish the light of our flaming chalice,
Let us remember how good it is for us to be
Together,
To play together,
To work together,
To sing together,
To laugh together,
May the light of our chalice be with us until we meet again.
Lois Ecklund


Helping hands all gathered round
In our circle peace is found
Open minds and loving hearts
Guide us as we now depart.
Helping hands all gathered round
In our circle peace is found

(Sung to the tune of “ Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)
Debra Chandler Pratt