Courage is needed to navigate the challenges we face. How do we build courage within ourselves and encourage its expression in each other? Is courage needed? Absolutely. Can it transform the world – Yes! 

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.

“The Courage It Takes”
with Rev. Telos Whitfield

Order of Service
Sunday, October 9, 2022

Greeting                                                                       Rev. Telos

Board Welcome & Announcements                         Elizabeth Lewis

Prelude in C minor, Chopin
                     Eva Greene, piano

Chalice Lighting: Excerpts from John O’Donohue’s Blessing for the Artist at the Start of the Day                                                         Trish Murtha
As we kindle our flame, may our imagination know the grace
of perfect danger, to reach beyond limitation, and the wheel of repetition,
Deep into the call of all the unfinished and unsolved.
Until the veil of the unknown yields and something original
begins….

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                                                     

Opening Hymn #349    “Come, Sing a Song With Me”

Story For All of Us:  What Do You Do With a Problem by Kobi Yamada                                 

Sharing Our Covenant
“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)  

Anthem: “I Will Sing with the Spirit”
1 Corinthians 14, v. 15, music by John Rutter
All Souls Choir, Tom Baehr, Director

Sharing a Reading: “Blessing for Courage” by John O’Donohue                                                                                                                   Trish Murtha

Hymn #117     “O Light of Life, That Lives In Us”

Sermon: “The Courage It Takes”                              Rev. Telos

Offering shared with Brattleboro Area Hospice

Offertory:  Var. XIV on a theme of Corelli, Rachmaninoff 
                                 Eva Greene, piano

Blessing Our Candles of Joys and Sorrows
                             
Closing Hymn #1002    “Comfort Me”

Chalice Extinguishing from “Brave Enough” by Amanda Gorman                                                                                                                 Trish Murtha
If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade,
but in all the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare…
When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.

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

*Please join in standing as you are able.

Benediction                                                                   Rev. Telos