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Sample Services

First Order of Service

GATHERING THE COMMUNITY Prelude

Welcome and Announcements

AFFIRMATIONS Please rise

* Opening Hymn - SLT #347 - "Gather the spirit"

* Chalice Lighting - Read in unison

O light of life,
Be kindled again in our hearts
As we meet together this morning
To celebrate the joy of human community
Seeking a wholeness that extends beyond ourselves.
     -- Samuel A. Trumbore

* Affirmation - SLT #473 - Read in unison

Love is the spirit of this church, and service its law.
This is our great covenant:
To dwell together in peace,
To seek the truth in love,
And to help one another. Amen.
     -- James Vila Blake

Please be seated

Meditation

Let us enter into a spirit of meditation.

Much of our human struggle is with what we do not know or understand. It is often difficult not to want answers -- or even more difficult, not to think we have them already. May we experience what we do not know not as an individual failure but as an invitation to community. May we seek not the true answers so much as the true questions, knowing that true questions make of our lives meaningful even if sometimes restless journeys. May we be grateful for the restless voices in our communities.

Let us take a few moments of silence to listen for the restless voices within ourselves.

Silence

May we be good company to one another in our questions and our journey. So may it be.
     -- Linda Hansen

Musical Interlude

EXPLORING Readings

Sermon

Discussion

CELEBRATING COMMUNITY AND COMMITMENT Offertory

Joys and Concerns/Milestones

Please rise

* Closing Hymn - SLT #145 - "As tranquil streams"

* Closing Words - Congregation joining hands

May we leave this place
Seeking an uncharted and freely chosen way to wholeness,
Knowing we have companions along the way.
     -- Bets Wienecke

Postlude

      Back to the top

Source: Based on an Order of Service by First Jefferson Unitarian Universalist Church, Fort Worth TX; in Commisson on Common Worship, Leading Congregations in Worship: A Guide, UUA 1983. Additional hymns and readings from Singing the Living Tradition, UUA 1993.

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