>> Chalice Lighting.

Every month, the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists has a "Global Chalice Lighting"
and distributes a reading that many congregations use for one service every month.
The following is the December 2008 chalice lighting, in Khasi (from India) and English:
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Ha kane jingiaseng jongngi,
Ngi ieng ban nguh ha kjat jong Phi;
Ai ba baroh jongngi ki mon,
Ha ka Mon jong Phi kin dem ngon.

We rise to bow before You, Almighty,
With gratitude and in humility;

>> Chalice Lighting.
The flaming chalice is one of the symbols of Unitarian Universalism.
Many Unitarian Universalist gatherings start with the lighting of a chalice and the recitation of some words,
not only services, but meetings and even informal dinners in homes.
Every month, the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists has a "Global Chalice Lighting"
and distributes a reading that many congregations use for one service every month.
The following is the November 2008 chalice lighting:
 ---

 >> Chalice Lighting.

Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, Veteran's Day:
National holidays to recall the cease-fire that started on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918;
the end of the Great War, the World War, the War to End All Wars.
In the USA, it is a remembrance of those who died and those who lived serving our country.

For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

Into this place may we come
To share, to learn, to speak, to listen,
And to grow together in the spirit of peace and harmony and love.

A few years ago I was looking through a small book that included pictures of words that have been carved into the sides of buildings.
Most of them were simple and trite things, but one thing written on the side of a building in Dayton, Ohio struck me.

You are a part of everyone you have met.

>> The Global Chalice Lighting for October 2008.

I'm going to start a little tradition here in Second Life.
The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists has been distributing a "Global Chalice Lighting"
every month for over 5 years.
They ask that particpating congregations include it in one service every month,
and identify the chalice lighting as the "Global Chalice Lighting."
This will remind us that we are part of a worldwide movement.

Bless the work that we do,

>> Chalice Lighting.

For every time we make a mistake and we decide to start again:
     We light this chalice.

For every time we are lonely and we let someone be our friend:
     We light this chalice.

For every time we are disappointed and we choose to hope:
     We light this chalice.

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And a special candle lighting, repeated recently for the celebration of Yom Kippur.

Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech ha'olam

I have swum in clear, sweet waters all my days; and if sometimes they
were a little cold, and the stream ran adverse and something rough,
it was never too strong to be breasted and swam though. From the days
of earliest boyhood, when I went stumbling through the grass, "as
merry as a May bee," up to the gray bearded manhood of this time,
there is none but has let me honey in the hive of memory that I now
freed on for present delight.

Boston, February 2, 1848