According to the Unitarian Universalist Association website,

"'At the opening of Unitarian Universalist worship services, many congregations light a flame inside a chalice. This flaming chalice has become a well-known symbol of our denomination. It unites our members in worship and symbolizes the spirit of our work.' -Dan Hotchkiss

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 image. To many, the cup represents religious community, while the flame represents ideas including the sacrificial flame, the flame of the spirit, and more."

A chalice is lit at the beginning of a Unitarian Universalist service and extinguished at the conclusion of the service. Our parish also has a children's chalice; this is lit by one of our younger parishioners before the children go downstairs for Religious Education.

Chris and I discussed the popular ceremonial aspects of contemporary wedding ceremonies. Chris wasn't interested in unity candles, pouring sand into glass bottles, water ceremonies, wine ceremonies, or handfasting. I agree.

The only two ceremonies that appealed to both of us are the ring ceremony and the lighting of the chalice. We've asked our friend Emily, a fellow UU, to light our chalice during the ceremony.

I glazed this chalice last week. We'll use it in our ceremony. It's the first time I've used traditional pottery glazes, and Chris likes the way it turned out. It is just large enough to fit a tealight. :)

We're having our engagement photographs taken next month. Christa, our photographer, suggested we use Killington's Kent Pond for our photography site. How lovely!

The area features a small waterfall, a bridge, a small beachy area, a view of the mountains, and the wonderful pond shown above.

I feel like I just got dumped... in an eighth grade sort of way.

My talented and very nice hairstylist told me, in a letter, that she will be out of town the weekend of our wedding. The odd thing, though, was that the letter was delivered by a fellow parishioner at church last week. Chris thinks the stylist was afraid to call me on the telephone. I'm not a very "Bridezilla" sort of gal, but I can understand how it could have been an uncomfortable phone call. Or perhaps she lost our address and our phone number?

The whole situation is sort of funny.

Regardless, I've been thinking recently about hairstyles.

Considering hairstyles, shoes, jewelry, and all of the other required bride regalia makes me feel silly. I have a professional job, but I still just pull back my hair each day in a black band to make a messy chignon. I bought my first hairdryer last August, and I hardly ever find the occasion or the patience to use it. I do enjoy the thought of dressing up, but I'm not to stellar at pulling it off.

I tend to look like I'm trying too hard. The fun thing, however, is that I'm expected to "try hard" for the wedding and wedding-related functions. It's expected, and encouraged.

I'd like to wear a neat, curled chignon if I wear my hair up. It is a simple retro style, and it would be easy to clip in my veil for the ceremony and a decorative pin for the reception. The photo above gives a good idea of how classy a chignon can be... much better than my daily work choice!


If I wear my hair down (which Christopher likes better) I'll go for smoothed waves. My hair, in its untamed state) is very thick and wavy. I hold a curl easily, and I think it would be fun to have retro-inspired large curls.

I would just have to pray for a cool and breezy September day, rather than an 85 degree and humid September day.

We decided there ought to be singing during our wedding ceremony. Not just the typical Unitarian Universalist singing, either. An actual hymn.

According to the Rev. Dr. Fred Anderson,

St. Augustine reminds us that the words of our hymns are prayers and, when we sing them, we add to them a further dimension of honor and praise--we pray twice.

Sung praise seems to be God's favorite form of prayer; fifteen times the Old Testament tells us to "Sing to the Lord." In addition, the Bible instructs us to come into God's presence with singing, make melody to the Lord and enter God's courts in song; there are some 242 such exhortations in the Old Testament alone. Add the twelve New Testament citations and you get a pretty good picture of the importance of song to God.

We sing because singing is what the people of God do in God's presence.

You can read the rest of his sermon here.

Chris and I looked through our Unitarian Universalist hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition, to try to remember our favorite hymns. I wanted to go with "Holy, Holy, Holy," but then Chris pointed out "Let It Be A Dance." It is his favorite hymn, and as we sung it in Church together he was swaying so much we both just had to giggle.

"Let It Be A Dance" was written by the late "troubadour UU minister" Ric Masten. The inspiration for the song was bittersweet, but you'd never be able to tell by the upbeat tempo and life-affirming lyrics.

Let a dancing song be heard.
Play the music. Say the words.
Fill the sky with sailing birds.
Let it be a dance. Let it be a dance. Let it be a dance.

Every body turn and spin.
Let your bodies learn to bend
Like a willow in the wind,
And let it be a dance.

A child is born. We all must die.
A time for joy, a time to cry --
So, take it as it passes by,
And let it be a dance. Let it be a dance. Let it be a dance.

Let it be a dance we do.
May I have this dance with you?
For the good times, and the bad times too,
Let it be a dance.

If you'd like to hear the hymn (with singing!) please click here.
If the link won't work, please comment and I'll fix it!

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In other news, my Bridal Shower is this weekend! Yippie!

I'm far too excited to see everyone, enjoy excellent company, and wear my new dress. I've heard buzzing that the party is truely a group effort, and Chris and I are so thankful for the time and thoughtfulness his family has shown to us.

My Mother won't be able to attend the Shower, but she mailed us our first genuine wedding gift. She's delightful, I miss her, and I know she'll be there with us in spirit.

I apologize for not writing earlier this week... but, PHEW, school has been so very busy!

Last weekend, Mark and Margaret hosted an Invitation Production Party at their home. I am humbled and overjoyed by the Warrens' support! It was a real family effort: Margaret, Grammie Cathy, Grandma Jane, Aunt Karen and Aunt Cristina, and his younger cousins all helped us compile our invitations. I thought we had brought a lot to complete, but after the first hour we began to run out of things to do! Kim arrived just in time to "oooh and aaah" at the invitations, and help us wrap up the last few details.

I'm sorry, but I don't want to post too many photos to ruin the surprise of the invitations! Suffice to say, they are LOVELY and I am glad to remember the "community effort."

Christopher spent a good deal of Thursday evening printing, measuring, and cutting our invitation enclosures. We had thought we'd use the CCS printer, but we suspect the printer had a faulty drum because the colors were over-saturated and streaky. It cost a few extra dollars to have our stationary printed at the local Kinkos, but the quality was impressive.


After the family left on Saturday evening, Chris, Kim, Michael, Mark, Margaret, Benjamin and I enjoyed a delicious eggplant parm supper and ice-cream at the Dairy Dome.