Religious Education 

A Ritual

Tell Me About Your Day: A Family Communication

The moderator decides who will take each part in this meeting. You will need a reader, someone to invoke ancestors, someone to call the directions (or each direction), someone to light the candle(s), someone to blow out the candle(s), someone to supervise cleanup.

Closing the circle:

Calling the Directions: (facing each direction in turn): As a family, we invite the spirits of the (East, South, West, North) to be with us as we come together to communicate with love.

Inviting the Ancestors: (family members join hands) As a family, we invite the loving spirits of our ancestors to be with us as we come together to communicate with love.

Moderator: (statement of intention): We come together as a family today to share our laughter and our tears, our joys, and concerns, and most of all our love and support.

Family: We light our chalice as a symbol of our family.

Chalice lighter lights the candle.

Family: (joins hands) We come together in love. Namaste. (drop hands)

Reader: Today’s reading comes is by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry found in Singing The Living Tradition #649:

“In a house which becomes a home, one hands down and another takes up the heritage of mind and heart, laughter and tears, musings, and deeds. Family: Love, like a carefully loaded ship, crosses the gulf between the generations.”

Moderator: I’d like to remind everyone that we have our (name family symbol/totem) as a symbol that we are to listen carefully to one another and to speak respectfully to each other while we are in family counsel.

Place family symbol in center--this is a good job for the smallest in the family. I’d like to ask (family member), to take our family symbol and tell us about your day (week).

Family member takes family symbol and speaks.

Moderator facilitates discussion with each member and takes a turn as well.

Moderator: Are there any other joys and concerns we’d like to share today? Allow for time to do this, then lead family in deciding who will do each part for next week.

Reader: Let us build memories in our children, lest they drag out joyless lives, lest they allow treasures to be lost because they have not been given the keys.

Family: We live not by things, but by the meanings of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords from generation to generation.

Opening the circle:

Moderator: We will now step from our family circle back into the world. Releasing the Directions: (facing each direction in turn): Spirits of the (East, South, West, North) thank you for joining us as we came together to communicate with love.

Releasing the ancestors: Spirits of loving ancestors, thank you for joining us as we came together to communicate with love.

Moderator: We came together as a family today to share our laughter and our tears, our joys, and concerns, and most of all our love and support.

Family: We light our chalice as a symbol of our family.

Chalice lighter extinguishes the candle.

Family: (with joined hands): Our family circle is open, but unbroken May the love and support of our family go with us always. Blessed Be

Feel free to adapt this ritual for your family. If you need help, contact a Religious Education Committee member.

Janie Cain