At the turning of the year, this year on December 30, the Sunday closest to New Year's Day, our congregation joined in a ceremony of releasing and welcoming, sometimes called the Burning Bowl.  For many Unitarian Universalist congregations, this is an annual event, though we were trying it on to see if it fits for us.  Members spent some time in quiet reflection, reviewing the important events of their lives for the previous year.  We spent some time in sharing from those reflections, listening to testimony about life-changing moments from the events of 2007.  In the second part of the ceremony, we sat with our remembrances of our own experiences of the past year and noticed things about ourselves we might like to change. Each of us wrote reminders of one or two of those things on little slips of paper, crumpled them up, and dropped them in a big bowl.  These were set aside to be burned outdoors, a safe distance away from the building, after the ceremony.  The third part welcomes the new.  How could each of us let our light shine more brightly in the world?  We took time in reflection again, then each wrote or drew reminders about our intentions for the New Year on another slip of paper.   These we kept, putting them in a pocket or purse, to take away and put someplace where we could look at them again, maybe even tape them to the mirror where we'd see them every day.  After the service was finished, we took the bowl of crumpled papers with the things people wanted to release, went outside to a waiting charcoal grill, and burned them up, a symbolic release into the cosmos. 

Yes! do try this at home, kids!  Well, with adult supervision, of course, if you're not already an adult.  It's more powerful with a group.  Gather your friends, light a candle, sing songs and read poems if you like, and take time for the three parts of the ceremony.  First, a meditative review of the past year; then reflection on what you would like to release, with writing and crumpling and putting into the bowl; finally an invitation to the good possibilities for the coming year, with writing and keeping.  Close the ceremony with singing, chanting, or holding hands, go outside and burn the things you want to release, and begin the new year!

Or, find a Unitarian Universalist congregation near you for more of this kind of practical spirituality that doesn't require any particular creed or belief.  You'll find support for finding your own way through your own life, and much more.  In Manchester we're at 669 Union Street, electronically at www.uumanchester.org,