Order Of Service – September 20, 2020
Music for Contemplation: Goldberg Variations #1 Aria, #10 Variatio 9 a 1 Clav. Canone alla Terza, #8 Variatio 7 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav., and #5 Variatio 4 a 1 Clav. by J.S. Bach, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka. Photos by Steve Schmidt, Matthias Groenevald at Pexels.com, and © Soul Matters.
Opening Words
Welcome
Chalice Lighting: Words by Maya Angelou
Covenant:
Love is the heart of this church. We commit to: Being a diverse, welcoming community of mutual care and respect; Supporting each other's spiritual journey and search for truth and meaning; Promoting justice and serving the wider community. We hold ourselves to this promise with compassion and understanding.
Hymn #123: Spirit Of Life, words and music by Carolyn McDade, harmony by Grace Lewis-McLaren, performed by All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington, D.C., directed by Jen Hayman. Used with permission.
Spirit of Life, come unto me. Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion. Blow in the wind, rise in the sea; Move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice. Roots hold me close; wings set me free; Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.
Candles of Joys, Sorrows and Milestones
Prayer/Meditation
Offering: Diapason Movement by Samuel Wesley, played by Russell Tripp
Reading: If I Called You Out by Sean Parker Dennison
Music: Come Healing by Leonard Cohen, performed by the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, N.Y., Adam Podd, Music Director. Sung by Candice Helfand-Rogers, Abby Powell and Lindsay Elliot. Used with permission.
O gather up the brokenness And bring it to me now The fragrance of those promises You never dared to vow The splinters that you carry The cross you left behind Come healing of the body Come healing of the mind And let the heavens hear it The penitential hymn Come healing of the spirit Come healing of the limb Behold the gates of mercy In arbitrary space And none of us deserving The cruelty or the grace O solitude of longing Where love has been confined Come healing of the body Come healing of the mind O see the darkness yielding That tore the light apart Come healing of the reason Come healing of the heart O troubled dust concealing An undivided love The heart beneath is teaching To the broken heart above Let the heavens falter Let the earth proclaim Come healing of the altar Come healing of the name O longing of the branches To lift the little bud O longing of the arteries To purify the blood And let the heavens hear it The penitential hymn Come healing of the spirit Come healing of the limb.
Sermon: Sacred Interruptions, Rev. Laura Randall
Hymn #38: Morning Has Broken, words by Eleanor Farjeon, music Gaelic Melody, harmony by David Evans. Played by Russell Tripp, sung by Steve Schmidt.
Morning has broken like the first morning Blackbird has spoken like the first bird Praise for the singing Praise for the morning Praise for them springing fresh from the Word! Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven Like the first dew fall on the first grass Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden Sprung in completeness where God’s feet pass. Mine is the sunlight, Mine is the morning Born of the one light Eden saw play! Praise with elation, praise every morning God's recreation of the new day!
Closing Words
Postlude: Kotlian Kuulis Tansisais (traditional) Played by Gin Mill Julep. Used with permission.