Chalice Circle Session: Week of ????
Introductions: Our Spiritual Self-Portraits
By Michelle Collins, Towson UU Church, Lutherville, MD

Opening Words & Chalice Lighting:				        by Christine Robinson, #448
(unison reading)

We gather this hour as people of faith
With joys and sorrows, gifts and needs.

We light this beacon of hope, 
Sign of our quest for truth and meaning,
In celebration of the life we share together.

Introductions – “I am”: You are invited to share ten sentences that each start with “I am”, the first one being your name and the rest telling the group something about yourself.

Check-in: You are invited to share something you put aside in order to be fully present here, and, if you are comfortable, a significant joy or sorrow, ending or new beginning in your life recently.

Creating our Spiritual Selves:
You are now invited to use the materials present, in whatever way you choose, to create a depiction of your spiritual self, however you might interpret that to be.

Upon completion of our works of art, divide into pairs and describe your spiritual self as represented by your piece to your partner.  Coming back to the full circle, your partner will then describe your work to the group.

Reflection on Session:
What are your observations about the content or process of this session?
Do you have one word or phrase that best describes how this session made you feel?

Closing Words	(unison reading)					              Anonymous, #434

May we be reminded here of our highest aspirations,
And inspired to bring our gifts of love and service to the altar of humanity.

May we know once again that we are not isolated beings
But connected, in mystery and miracle, to the universe,
To this community and to each other.

Introductions: Our Spiritual Self-Portraits
Preparatory Notes

This makes a great introductory session.
It requires a bit of planning and materials gathering in advance, but it is well worth the effort.  We collected all of the art afterwards (that wasn’t taken home) and plan to make a collage with it somewhere in the church.

Here are the art materials that I had on hand:
Lots of magazines
A large sheet of paper for each participant
Some crayons and markers
Scissors for everyone (the co-facilitators each brought a pair and we borrowed them for the week for all of the circles)
Lots of glue bottles

The best time to get all of the school-type materials (glue, markers, crayons) is at the fall back-to-school sales.  I got the glue for a nickel per bottle and the crayons for 12 cents per box.

For the magazines, I put an advertisement in our weekly news for about a month before this session.  Here it is:

CALL FOR MAGAZINES
Do you have a pile of magazines that you have been meaning to clear out but haven’t gotten around to yet?  Now is the time! The Chalice Circles program (Small Group Ministry) is seeking any picture filled magazines (such as Smithsonian, National Geographic, Time, etc) for projects in the upcoming year.  Please bring them on Sunday (and give them to ?????), or you can leave them in a designated box in the church office during the week.  Thank you!

Notes for Facilitators:
In facilitating the session, it is important to decide on the time that you want to end the art creation and begin the sharing part of the session, and then to watch the clock and stick that schedule.  Also, we played classical music while everyone was making their art, and that seemed to go over quite well.