“English” language resources
Chalice Lighting for Unity
We light this chalice
for all children who long for love,
for orphans seeking comfort,
and for widows and widowers
who carry both sorrow and strength.
May this small flame travel across the world
and remind us that,
black and white, young and old,
we are one family under nature.
As December arrives
and Christmas draws near,
Closing Benediction
May we all go in peace,
With gratitude for all our loved ones, both past and present.
With reverence for the spirit within and without us,
With tolerance, and an ear that not only listens but hears,
With respect for difference, however that manifests in body, mind and spirit,
And love for Mother Earth, Great
Chalice Lighting for Remembrance
(Adapted from words by Nick Cave)
I light our chalice for the light in the darkness,
for the memory that warms us in our grief,
for the beauty that blossoms through devastation,
for the beautiful, complex, earned love
that lives on the other side of loss.
Amen
Enabling Love
(Inspired by Hymn 220 in Hymns for Living: ‘Break not the Circle of Enabling Love’)
May our chalice shine as a hearth light,
welcoming friend and stranger alike
to a circle of compassion that embraces all the living.
May our chalice shine with the wonder of the love that frees,
empowering those of every race and nation
Joy in the Journey
We come together, as worshippers do on Sunday mornings the world over,
And have done throughout time.
We come with differences in age, in race, in our experience of life –
But we come also with so much in common:
fellow travellers on a wonder-filled
and mysterious pilgrimage we call life.
Pack your bag, bring your
Benediction
(Inspired by the hymn Blessed Spirit of my Life)
Blessed Spirit of our lives,
help us to live with strength and dignity
through the storms and stresses of our days.
Grant us clarity of vision,
and the inward peace that fills us
when we act according to
the still small voice of conscience.
Help us to
Sacred Space
When we gather here together,
We create a sacred space.
By our purpose and our presence,
We make room for holy grace.
As we light our flaming chalice,
We remember those who blazed
Trails of love and paths of justice
Through our hist’ry’s darker days.
When we share our songs and stories,
Tears fall softer, joys
When the Christmas Star is Shining
When the Christmas star is shining
In the night sky overhead
And the city streets are silent
And the children safe in bed,
You may not see Santa passing
With his reindeer and his sleigh,
But a horde of willing helpers
Still prepare for Christmas day.
We are each a tiny fragment
Of the boundless world