My Church Is Like a Chalice

Connie Dunn, DRE
First Universalist Society
Franklin, MA

The building at my church is just a building like many others. Yet, it seems to me to be more and more like a Chalice with its flame burning bright.

The Chalice has a base that supports it rather well. And the building has a base like a foundation, I believe.

Foundations are very important, so I am told. A slippery foundation would cause a building to slide off. A weak foundation would cave in with too much weight. A foundation that is solid is like the people in my congregation. Without the people, the church would simply collapse. It would not exist.

On a Chalice, there is usually a stem or column that rises up from the foundation. While that is still part of the support mechanism of the church, it is not the entire support. This stem part is like the Board that governs our church and the Staff that takes care of the every day operations of the church.

Someone has to pay the bills for the electricity we use. Someone has to clean the floors. Someone has to tend to the babies. Someone has to mow the lawn. Someone has to write the sermons that are delivered every Sunday. Someone has to buy the snacks and coffee for each week. Someone has to prepare the lessons for the children. Someone has to print the programs that are handed out. And someone has to set up chairs with hymnals underneath. Someone has to practice singing and playing the piano. Someone has to know just when to bring the children from the RE wing into Service. And someone has to visit all the people who are sick.

But still there are others who come each Sunday morning. And they are just as important as those who do the jobs. These people are like the bowl-part of the Chalice. It holds the oil or candle that is lighted every week. The people support the wick that is like the work of the church. When the flame is lit and burning, it burns warm with our love. Our soul is like pure love; therefore, our soul is like the flame, the spiritual part of our church.

My church is like a Chalice that is flaming full of love, because that’s what I feel when I’m with my friends and family.

There’s another way that my church feels like a Chalice. The Principles and Purposes are like the base of the Chalice, because they support all the ideas and values of all Unitarian Universalists. And when I put any one of the Principles and Purposes to work, that’s when I get to move to the stem part of the Chalice. As I live my Principles and Purposes, I gather many people around me. It feels like the bowl part of the Chalice. And when I’m in need for any reason at all, that’s when I feel the warmth of the flame.

Being Unitarian Universalist is like being a Flaming Chalice.

My church is like a Chalice. Being a UU is like being a Chalice. The Flaming Chalice is a symbol of love, hope and light. My church is like a Chalice.