# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Suggestions with fill-in-the-blank opportunities to make it personal.

# data[].attributes.body
Build the bottom layer of this pagoda to create your owl paper chalice!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Monthly Global Chalice Reading The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists distributes a new Global Chalice Reading each month.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

Small clay flower pots that come with detached saucers, for all participants

Tea lights or LED/battery-operated candles for all participants

Glue gun and glue sticks

Colorful markers

Newsprint

Optional: Paint and paintbrushes

Preparation for Activity

Enlist the help of an additional adult to manage the glue gun, keeping it away from the children.

Lay newsprint on a table where chalices can dry during the Closing. Place tea lights or LED candles on this table.

Description of Activity

The children make their own chalices to take home the gift of spirit.

Give each child a flower pot and saucer. Show them how the saucer will sit on top of the upside-down flower pot to make a chalice. Tell them you will glue the pieces together after they decorate them.

Invite the children to use markers (or paint) to decorate the pots and the saucers and then bring the pieces to an adult to glue them. Set the completed chalices aside to dry.

Download all of Wonderful Welcome (Word) ( PDF) to edit or print.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Activity time: 15 minutes Small clay flower pots that come with detached saucers, for all participants Tea lights or LED/battery-operated candles for all participants Glue gun and glue sticks Colorful markers Newsprint Optional: Paint and paintbrushes Enlist the help of an additional adult to manage the glue gun, keeping it away from the children.

# data[].attributes.body
Make a chalice with items you already have in your home!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
East Shore Unitarian Church, Bellevue WA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Amanda Uluhan

This week, as we prepare for an online worship gathering on Sunday, I invite you to take some time and learn about the history of the chalice, reflect on what the chalice means, and grow in your faith as an individual and perhaps as a family.
History of the Chalice
A flame within a chalice (a cup with a stem and foot) is a primary symbol of the Unitarian Universalist faith tradition. Many of our congregations kindle a flaming chalice in gatherings and worships and feature the chalice symbol prominently.

Hans Deutsch, an Austrian artist, first brought together the chalice and the flame as a Unitarian symbol during his work with the Unitarian Service Committee during World War II. To Deutsch, the image had connotations of sacrifice and love. Unitarian Universalists today have many different interpretations of the flaming chalice, including the light of reason, the warmth of community, and the flame of hope.
The Value of a Chalice at Home
Most religions use objects, and many use symbols, to act as a metaphor for their values, faith, and beliefs. The flaming chalice is one of our Unitarian Universalist symbolic objects. It is a reminder of our collective identity and history, and can serve as a more personal object as well.

Having a chalice in your home might offer a chance to remember your faith, to establish a more personal relationship with your faith, be an invitation to create more traditions at home with your family or alone that connect you to your faith. It can be so much more. What does the Flaming Chalice represent to you?
Making a Found Object Chalice at Home
Making a chalice out of every day objects is quite simple and fun! This week, I invite you to gather yourself, with a friend, a sibling, a kid. Give yourself twenty to thirty minutes for this activity. Take a couple of minutes at the beginning of this activity to just imagine things around your house. See what objects pop into mind that might resemble a flame, a cup, a foot, and a chalice. Start walking around your house, like a scavenger hunt. You can collect a lot of things, even if you don't end up using them all. Look for things that can serve as the flame, and other objects that can serve as the chalice. Flame objects can be things like an LED candle, a beeswax candle, a votive tea light, a flashlight, a headlamp, some red and orange tissue paper, or construction paper cut out like a flame. Get creative! Next, start looking for chalices. Now, a chalice can be one piece, that has a cup to hold the flame and a stem beneath it. Or, it can be two objects-a cups placed atop a stem. At my house, I was able to find many objects to combine into a chalice, but only a couple that were chalices themselves. The kitchen is a great place to start-bowls, cups, teacups, saucers. Also, don't forget to check outside or in your pile of art supplies-you may find some hidden chalices out there, too!
A Lego Chalice Challenge

For our friends that have taken to our Sunday morning Lego ministry, I invite you into an at-home Lego Chalice Challenge. I want to see how creative you can get with making a chalice out of your Legos at home. I know you'll be able to make some pretty awesome chalices, with cups and a stem, but, don't forget that a Lego Chalice still needs a flame! Here's a picture of our church Lego Chalice, made by one of our young adults!
Send me photos of your Found-Object and Lego Chalices! Email coordinator@esuc.org
How BIG can you make your chalice? How little of chalice can you make? What about colorful. Or, what about just one color? Can you make a chalice that lights up on it's own? What about one that plays a song, or dances? What about a chalice made from soil, or water?
Where do you put your Flaming Chalice?
We'll take a vote online once I've collected photos from you to pick some winners- one for the favorite Found-Object Chalice, and one for the favorite Lego Chalice. The winners will receive a copy of the book "A Cup of Light" by Pamela Baxter, all about the flaming chalice! We'll also have a copy at the church to learn more about this time-honored tradition of our faith.

Chalices are often placed on an altar amongst other important memorabilia and artifacts. In our Sanctuary, there's a very large chalice. In our classrooms, we always have a chalice at the center of the room for story time or check in. Next week, I'll write more on how to make an alter for your chalice at home.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Making Chalices at Home - East Shore Unitarian Church, Bellevue WA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Amanda Uluhan This week, as we prepare for an online worship gathering on Sunday, I invite you to take some time and learn about the history of the chalice, reflect on what the chalice means, and grow in your faith as an individual and perhaps as a ... read more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many adults are finding mindfulness, centering, and calming through coloring and doodling. (It's not just for kids anymore!) WorshipWeb is happy to offer these images, along with these ideas for how to use them:

hand out copies as part of a Covenant Group or worship gathering, for a time of silent coloring

use as a watermark on a printed order of service

if your congregation uses projected images, use as a backdrop or "filler" slide

Coloring Pages

Doodling Pages

Lindy Gifford of the Midcoast UU Fellowship in Damariscotta, Maine, has found that intentional doodling makes a wonderful spiritual practice. It is especially accessible to both children and adults who struggle with other forms of meditation, or who do not believe in their birthright creativity, often having been taught that they are "not artistic." It is as relaxing and meditative as coloring and, because it asks more of our individual creativity, it often can access something else deep within.

Lindy suggests you try doodling these pages from her Doodle-ography Journal in black pen and really enjoy the simplicity of line and pattern, rather than trying to draw any "thing" in particular. Try not to plan, but just start, letting your intuition be your guide, rather than your thinking mind. A good way to begin is to simply fill each space in one of the outlined images with a different pattern (but don't forget the space outside the shape and around the quotes). When you are done doodling, break out the colored pencils or markers and color a page of your own creation.

For more information about doodling as a spiritual practice go to Doodle-ography.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many adults are finding mindfulness, centering, and calming through coloring and doodling. (It's not just for kids anymore!)

# data[].attributes.body
Follow the path of the Red boxes for ideas to create your own Flaming Chalice.

# data[].attributes.body
Follow the path of the Green boxes for ways to use your Flaming Chalice at home.

# data[].attributes.body
Follow the path of the Blue boxes for links to learn about the Flaming Chalice.

# data[].attributes.body
There are three paths on this padlet, each color coded.
The Blue boxes are links for learning about the Flaming Chalice.
The Red boxes are links to ways to make a chalice.
The Green boxes are ways to use your chalice.
The three boxes directly below this are just starting places, there are no links on them.
You can comment on any box.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Children's Story of the Flaming Chalice

# data[].attributes.subject
A Children's Story of the Flaming Chalice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An Indigo UU Promise story told by Craig Coley

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many Unitarian Universalist churches and fellowships start their worship service on Sunday morning by lighting a flame inside a chalice. This flaming chalice is a symbol for Unitarian Universalists just as the cross and the Star of David are symbols for other religious groups. The story of how the flaming chalice became our symbol is an interesting one and it begins during the Second World War.

During that war, a lot of people living in Eastern Europe-Unitarians, Jews, and others-were in danger of being put in prison or killed by Nazi soldiers. A group of Unitarians came together in Boston, Massachusetts, to form the Unitarian Service Committee and their plan was to help the people in danger from the Nazis. The director of the Service Committee was the Unitarian minister Charles Joy. Rev. Joy had an office in Portugal so he would be near the people he wanted to help. He was in charge of a whole secret group of agents and messengers who worked hard trying to find safe routes for people to escape.

Rev. Joy and his assistants often needed to ask governments and other organizations for their help to save people who were in danger. They would send messages to anyone in government who might give them money, transportation, or a safe route. Because they were a new organization though, not very many people had heard of them. This made it much harder for Rev. Joy and the people in the Unitarian Service Committee to get the help they needed.

In those days during the war, when danger was everywhere, lots of people were running away from their own countries. Often, people who were escaping and people who wanted to help didn't speak the same language. Rev. Joy decided it would be much better if the Service Committee had an official symbol, or picture, to help identify its members. With a picture or symbol, it wouldn't matter if people couldn't read the language.

It looked like Rev. Joy would need to find an artist. He went to a very talented man named Hans Deutsch for help. Deutsch had escaped from the Nazis in Paris, France, where he was in danger because he drew cartoons showing people how evil the Nazis were. Rev. Joy asked Deutsch to create a symbol to print on Service Committee papers to make them look important. He wanted the symbol to impress governments and police who had the power to help move people to safety.

For his drawing, Deutsch borrowed an old symbol of strength and freedom from Czechoslovakia-a chalice with a flame. Rev. Joy wrote to his friends in Boston that the new symbol seemed to show the real spirit of the Unitarian religion. It showed a chalice, or cup, that was used for giving a healing drink to others. And it showed a flame on top of the chalice because a flame was often used to represent a spirit of helpfulness and sacrifice. And so the flaming chalice became the official symbol of the Unitarian Service Committee.

Many years later, the flaming chalice became the symbol of Unitarian Universalist groups all over the world. By the early 1970s, enough Unitarian Universalists had heard the story of the flaming chalice symbol that they began to light a flaming chalice as part of the worship service in their churches. Over the years, this practice has spread over most of the United States and Canada.

What does it mean to have a symbol like this? Well, one thing it means is that wherever you see a flaming chalice, you know that there are Unitarians and Universalists nearby. Having a symbol also can remind you of what's most important to you-and sometimes a reminder can make a very big difference.

One very old woman told how the flaming chalice of her homeland, Czechoslovakia, helped her while she was in a Nazi prison camp. Printed under the picture of the Czech flaming chalice was the motto "pravda vitezi," which means, in English, "truth overcomes," or "truth prevails." Every single morning in that terrible camp, the old woman said, she traced a picture of a flaming chalice in the sand with her finger. Then she wrote the motto underneath it. "It gave me the strength to live each day," she said. Whenever she drew the chalice in the dirt she was reminded that some day the world would remember the important truth that every single person is important and should be free to think and believe as he or she chooses.

When we see people light the chalice at the beginning of our service every Sunday, we can enjoy it because it is a lovely thing to do. But we can also remember the story of the flaming chalice and the strength it has given people for hundreds of years. We use it to let others know that Unitarian Universalists believe in helping-others.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Healing Cup: The Story of the Flaming Chalice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many Unitarian Universalist churches and fellowships start their worship service on Sunday morning by lighting a flame inside a chalice. This flaming chalice is a symbol for Unitarian Universalists just as the cross and the Star of David are symbols for other religious groups.

# data[].attributes.body
Upload your image here! Click on the + sign in the bottom right and choose "upload a file" or "take a photo." Add your first name so we know whose it is!