4033 Witnesses to the Resurrection: Annual UUCF Communion Service
UU Christian Fellowship

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This year’s communion service of the UU Christian Fellowship was co-led by the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, minister of Fourth Universalist Society, New York, and the Rev. Robert M. Hardies, minister of All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, DC.

After the welcome and call to worship, the congregation sang "Abide With Me," followed by the scripture reading, Jonah 2:1-7, which speaks about being in the belly of hell.

In her homily, Bray McNatt spoke of her work at Ground Zero this past fall. There she met with many different people, and shared the story of John, a firefighter who had lost fifty friends, and who had to answer the calls from family members as they called in search of loved ones. As they spoke, she noticed a large pile of turnout coats behind them--coats that had been removed from the bodies of firefighters found in the rubble.

What Bray McNatt found, though, was that even in the midst of what appeared to be hopelessness, God never leaves. For God was there in the people who stayed to help others, when they could have left. God was there in the volunteers who fed the workers. God was there in those who rushed into the buildings to help others, and God was there in the body, spirit and face of everyone at Ground Zero. So far, she said, we have failed to make the world we want, and yet even in our failure, we are never left forsaken. Every faithful act amid devastation is a whisper of God. Even in the nightmare of that hour, or this hour, we can never be separated from the love of God. Even in the belly of hell, God hears our cries.

Following this homily, tenor Lee Thomas sang "Balm in Gilead" as the anthem, accompanied by pianist John Herrick. The congregation then entered into a responsive reading of Psalm 121.

After a piano interlude, Hardies began his homily. Washington, D.C., was getting back to normal in early October, he said, when they heard the first reports of postal workers hospitalized with the unknown illness that was later determined to be anthrax. This second threat was what most affected the residents of the nation’s capital--the invisibility and the unpredictable nature of the threat made everyone anxious. Buildings were quarantined, and individuals were taking antibiotics; postal workers were wearing facemasks and latex gloves. Ads for the antidepressant medication Paxil increased--though Hardies wondered if this was the answer?

For Hardies, it was not. The true answer was courage. Not of those who wrestled planes to the ground, but that of the postal carriers who continued to do the work, and the alcoholics who fell off the wagon, but had the courage to go back on, the courage not of heroes but that of survivors who struggled to live everyday lives. Hardies spoke of theologian Paul Tillich’s ideas--that we humans are anxious, but our highest anxiety is not about dying, or the process of dying, but rather about the fear of non-being. This fear of non-being can destroy us, sap our will to live, kill hope, and undermine mine our sense of self as whole creatures. The courage to be is the courage we summon to go on living, despite this anxiety. It is an affirmation of life in spite of death, our goodness in spite of all our imperfections. It is the courage beyond courage--a courage that appears when the former courage, the one we thought would get us through, disappears. Then this courage can appear, and lift us to the high ground on the other side.

It was during the memorial service for the postal workers, held at All Souls, that Hardies knew those who escaped with their lives were going to make it. Mary Morris, the widow of Thomas Morris, spoke lovingly of her husband, and hopefully about the future. Her radiance, and her speaking of love, helped him realize that fear and anxiety would not be the end of us. It was the same sort of reassurance Hardies feels when he takes the bread and cup--that his soul will be okay because it is receiving the sustenance it needs to endure. This is a sacrament of a resurrection God, a blessing that is yours and mine, now and always.

The congregation sang together the hymn "What Wondrous Love is This," and then all present were invited forward to communion. This is a table that is always big enough for one more place, your place, a table to which all are welcome, and to which all are invited, the congregation was told. The elements were blessed, and those who wished came forward to receive communion. Bray McNatt spoke the communion prayer, and the congregation said with her the words of the Lord’s Prayer. The congregation joined in the hymn, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" as the service concluded with benediction and postlude.

WITNESSES TO RESURRECTION
The Annual Communion Service of the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship
June 23, 2002

WELCOME
PRELUDE	0 Sacred Head, Now Wounded	John Herrick, Piano
CALL TO WORSHIP		The Rev. Robert M. Hardies
HYMN	101 Abide With Me
SCRIPTURE
HOMILY	Witness	The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt
ANTHEM	Balm in Gilead
PSALM 121
INTERLUDE
HOMILY	Resurrection	The Rev. Robert M. Hardies
HYMN 18	What Wondrous Love
SHARING THE BREAD AND CUP
COMMUNION PRAYER		The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt
HYMN 281	O God, Our Help in Ages Past
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE

Worship Leaders
The Reverend Rosemary Bray McNatt
The Reverend Robert M. Hardies

Music
Mr. John Herrick, piano
Mr. Lee Thomas, tenor

Psalm 121 (adapted)- A Responsive Reading

LEADER:	I lift up my eyes to the hills- from where will my help come? My help comes from our God, who made heaven and earth.
CONGREGATION:	God will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. she who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
LEADER:	Our God is your keeper; Our God is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.
CONGREGATION:	Our God will keep you from all evil; God will keep your life. Our God will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

Reporter Lisa Presley, Editor Jone Johnson Lewis

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