Click right here Sunday shortly before 10 to join our next online service.
Charles Butterfield, former longtime local science teacher, asks how did a rigorous process for studying nature become a politicized belief system? What does that mean for us as we go forward in our search for truth and meaning?
“SCIENCE, DO YOU BUY IT?””
CHARLES BUTTERFIELD, SEVICE LEADER
Order of Service
Welcome & Announcements
Introductory Remarks
Prelude Chopin: Prelude in A / Mompou: Variation 9
Eva Greene, pianist
Opening Words
“Welcome to this place of possibility!
This is love’s hearth, the home of hope,
A refuge for minds in search of truth unfolding,
ever beautiful, ever strange.
Here compassion is our shelter;
Freedom our protection from the storms of bigotry and hate.
In this place, may we find comfort and courage,
And here let us glimpse the good that is yet to be.”
Marianne Hachten Cotter
Lighting Our Chalice
“All the darkness in the world cannot snuff out the light of one little candle.
We’ll keep lighting our little candles until a mighty torch of justice sweeps our nation and our world.”
Marian Wright Edelman
Opening Hymn #349 – We Gather Together
Netherlands folk song; new lyrics by Dorothy and Robert Sengas
sung by Robert Wyckoff, tenor
Story “Petula and the Color of Sure”
Offering shared with The Minister’s Discretionary Fund
Offertory “Winter” from El quattro stagione Antonio Vivaldi
The Royal Philharmonic (London)
Candles of Joy and Concern
Unison Affirmation
“Love is the spirit of this congregation and
service is its call. Let this be our covenant:
to dwell together in peace,
to seek the truth in love,
and to help one another.”
Hymn #352 Find a Stillness
lyrics by Carl Seaburg; Transylvanian folk tune
sung by Janis Chaillou
Reading “Mysteries, Yes” by Mary Oliver
“Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.
How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds will
never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.
Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.
Let me keep company, always, with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.”
Remarks “Science, Do You Buy It?”
Blessing of our Candles of Joy and Concern
Closing Hymn #1058 Be Ours a Religion
Words: Theodore Parker, Music: Thomas Benjamin
Christina Gibbons, soprano
Closing Words “I Wish”
“I wish for the dull a little understanding,
and for the understanding a little poetry.
I wish a heart for the rich and a little bread
for the poor. I wish some love for the lonely
and some comfort for the grieving.
I wish companionship for those
who must spend their evenings alone.
I wish contentment for the aged,
who see the days slipping by too quickly,
and I wish dreams for the young.
I wish strength for the weak
and courage for those who have lost their faith.
And I wish we might all be a little kinder to each other.”
Frank Schulman
Extinguishing Our Chalice
Closing Circle and song
“Carry the flame of peace and love until we meet again” (sung 2 times)
Conversation and Coffee Hour