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OUR BUILDING IS 50 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR!
Back in the turbulent times of the late 60’s, a few members of All Souls Church thought about their stone building home on Main Street (now a concert venue) and wondered what a larger, more modern building would look like. The architect envisioned a space that would open, airy, flexible, and spiritually inspiring. It would be a place where the broader community could gather in meaningful ways consonant with UU values. In September 1970, the brand new building was inaugurated with a gala week of services and concerts. Since then it fulfilled this vision by hosting hundreds of musical events, plays, art shows, lectures, private rites of passage, public meetings, and several nursery schools.
Last winter a small ad hoc committee, headed by Leslie Kinney, began making an ambitious plan for a summer open house to celebrate the 50th anniversary. Alas, like so much else this year, it was short circuited by the pandemic. Instead of inviting everyone in, we will have a virtual acknowledgement during this regularly scheduled Sunday morning Zoom Service. In addition, we will build an archive of memories and appreciation on the Church website.
You can contribute! We ask you to consider what the West Village Meeting House has meant to you. Do you have a particularly fond moment that connects you to the building? Would you be willing to write up your thoughts or send in pictures? Everything will go into the online archive, which is a work in progress. Send your contributions to Christina Gibbons.
And be sure to attend our Zoom Service today to hear some of the memories that have already been collected.
The 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee
Christina Gibbons, Leslie Kinney, and Marie Gorst
Order of Service
Sunday, September 20, 2020
“A Wider View”
ASC Board Greeting
Prelude – Fanfare for the Common Man (1942) Aaron Copland
solo piano arrangement by Roger Brison
played by Eva Greene
images from Greenleaf hut in the White Mountains
Chalice Lighting adapted from Hildegarde of Bingen 12th C
read by Charles Butterfield
Opening Reflection: Origins Christina Gibbons
Hymn # 298 Wake Now My Senses
played by Hilary Claire Menegaz-Weitzner
Reflection from the 1970s Spirit Peter Gould and Mollie Burke
Reflections from the 1980s Ecumenicity Jim Levinson
Music John Spicer
Musical Interlude O Gentlemen, Hear Me, I Pray
excerpt from Trial by Jury, Gilbert & Sullivan
presented by Eva Greene
Reflections from the1990s and onward
Western Wind Jerelyn Wilson
Theater Laura Lawson Tucker
Fundraisers, Fellowship, and Art Maisie Crowther
Offering shared with CASP
Offertory Suite I: Minuets Johann Sebastian Bach
Peter Gibbons, viola
painting by Maisie Crowther
Looking to the Future Leslie Kinney
Unison Affirmation
Love is the doctrine 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.
Extinguishing the Chalice Charles Butterfield
Closing Circle
“Carry the flame of peace and love until we meet again.”
(sung 2 times)
Blessing