We anticipate that this service will be both in-person and on Zoom. Click right here Sunday shortly before 10:00 a.m. to join via Zoom. Click here to read our protocols for in-person attendance.When attending in person, please completely power off your cell phone during the service to preserve the Church’s WiFi bandwidth for our Zoom attendees.

We will honor motherhood in all its forms, explore what we may have learned from our mothers, mother figures in our lives – beautiful, complicated, important learning.  And we will embrace Mother Earth and our call to justice and care. 

“Embracing Mother Earth-What We Have Learned“

We anticipate that this service will be both in-person and on Zoom. Click right here Sunday shortly before 10:00 a.m. to join via Zoom. Click here to read our protocols for in-person attendance.When attending in person, please completely power off your cell phone during the service to preserve the Church’s WiFi bandwidth for our Zoom attendees.

Order of Service
Sunday, May 8, 2022

Greeting                                                                           Rev. Telos Whitfield

Board Welcome & Announcements                                     Ron Niswander

Prelude: “We Are…” [our grandmother’s prayers] (#1051)
Words & music by Ysaye Barnwell
                            Eva Greene, piano

Chalice Lighting by Kimberlee Ann Tomczek Carlson               Marty Shaw 

Recognizing the beauty around us and within us, in voice and spirit, we gather to light our chalice.
May we savor the beauty of our abundance and diversity, always cherishing one another and our earth.
May we remember to inhale the lushness in life knowing that we are a people of beauty.

Lighting Our Children’s Chalice
We light this chalice to celebrate Unitarian Universalism. We are the church of the open minds. We are the church of the helping hands.  We are the church of the loving hearts.

Call to Worship                                                          Rev. Telos Whitfield                                                    

Opening Hymn #163: “For the Earth Forever Turning”
                   words and music by Kim Oler

Sharing Our Covenant                                              Ed Burke
“We build our church on a foundation of love,
and covenant with one another:
to freely explore our values and honor our diversity
as a source of communal strength,
to accept responsibility for our individual acts
and promote justice and peace,
to celebrate the joys of discovery,
embracing the fullest measure of our humanity,
to communicate with kindness and support,
to serve with compassion and commitment,
to openly share our laughter and tears, and
to show reverence for the divine in all that is.”
(Covenant adopted on April 17, 2001)

Story For All of Us: “Mother Earth” by Nancy Luenn                                   Rev. Telos Whitfield

Creating an Offering-Renewing our Commitment to Mother Earth

Sharing a Poem: “Sleeping in the Forest” by Mary Oliver                words and movement by Rev. Telos Whitfield and Ed Burke

Anthem: “The Eddystone Light” 1866, attributed to Arthur Lloyd
                   All Souls Choir, Tom Baehr, Director

Sermon: “Embracing Mother Earth-What We Have Learned”
Rev. Telos Whitfield
                   
Hymn #8: “Mother Spirit, Father Spirit” 
               Norbert Čapek, Czech minister and writer (1870-1942)

Offering shared with Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Emergency Fund for Ukraine

Offertory: “Songs My Mother Taught Me”     
          Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (1841-1904)
                          Eva Greene, piano

Blessing Our Candles of Joys and Sorrows                                          

Closing Hymn #1064:  “Blue Boat Home”   
           Words by Peter Mayer, music: Hyfrydol

                       
Extinguishing the Chalice                                            Marty Shaw
We extinguish this flame, daring to carry forward the vision of this free faith, that freedom, reason and justice will one day prevail in this nation and upon the earth.

*Closing Circle: “Carry the Flame of Peace and Love” (sung two times)

*Please join in standing as you are able.

Benediction                                                                   Rev. Telos Whitfield

Community Conversation

Announcements:

1. Artist’s Talk on Bald Eagles