Who Will We Become?
U.U. Fellowship of Montgomery
April 6, 2014
Prelude Melissa
Welcoming and Announcements- Mandy
Sunshine
Mandy- Good Morning! Welcome to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Montgomery—my name is Mandy Goheen and I am a member of the Worship Associates team. Welcome to this place. This is a home where no revealed truths are promoted and no scripture or human being accepted as infallible. This is a place for searching for truth.
But we are believers. We believe in intellectual freedom; we believe in justice; we believe in compassion and concern for each other and the whole world. We believe in commitment to those ideals which make us caring and active in the struggles for human dignity. We are Unitarian Universalists.
Sunshine- Good morning, my name Rev. Sunshine Jeremiah Wolfe and I am the Interim Minister. I offer my welcome to you and in particular to those who are first time visitors to the Fellowship. If you are a first time visitor, we welcome you and especially encourage you to join us in the Fellowship Hall after worship for coffee and conversation. Information about our Fellowship is available at our greeter’s table, from the literature rack in the hallway, and from the members of this congregation present here today. We invite you to complete the blue card in the pew racks and place them in the offering basket when it goes around. We are glad you are here and hope to see you again on future Sundays.
Mandy: I call your attention to the announcements in the order of service. Here are some additional announcements. (Read announcements from the basket).
Rev. Sunshine has some additional announcements.
Sunshine: (Gives any additional announcements)
(Sunshine will invite Sharon Sexton to come forward for announcement from Search Committee).
Ringing of the Bell
Opening Words #429 Come Into This Place Mandy
Chalice Lighting
Covenant Mandy leads
We the members and friends of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Montgomery promise to serve our community with open minds, willing hearts, and helping hands as we:
Respect one another,honoring that our
perceptions may differ;
Value our differences, working to better
understand them in conflict;
Give joyfully of ourselves, being in harmony
with our capabilities;
And embrace our connections with each other,
nature, the global community, and the great
mystery of life
Opening Hymn #1008 When Our Heart Is In a Holy Place
Anthem Choir
Story for All Ages Courtney
Blessing Children on Their Way
“Rejoice in love we know and share,
in love and beauty everywhere;
rejoice in truth that makes us free,
and in the good that yet shall be.”
Stones of Joys and Concerns Sunshine
If you have a joy or concern weighing on your heart, you are invited to come forward at this time, take a stone that represents your joy or sorrow, and have it cleansed by the water in the bowl below.
Meditation Sunshine
Sung Meditation/Response #123 Spirit of Life
Celebration Reflection Barbara DeMichels
Offering Sunshine
Offertory
Offertory Response Sunshine
“To the work of this Fellowship which is weaving a tapestry of love we call community, we dedicate ourselves, and these our offerings.”
Reading Mandy
From “Prohpethood of All Believers” by James Luther Adams
Written in 1947
“But whatever the answers may be, this much we can say. A church that does not concern itself with the struggle in history for human decency and justice, a church that does not show concern for the shape of things to come, a church that does not attempt to interpret the signs of the times, is not a prophetic church. We have long held to the idea of the priesthood of all believers, the idea that all believers have direct access to the ultimate resources of the religious life and that every believer has the responsibility of achieving an explicit faith for free persons. As an element of the radical laicism we need also a firm belief in the prophethood of all believers. The prophetic liberal church is not a church in which the prophetic function is assigned merely to the few. The prophetic liberal church is the church in which persons think and work together to interpret signs of the times in the light of their faith, to make explicit through discussion the epochal thinking that the times demand. The prophetic liberal church is the church in which all members share the common responsibility to attempt to foresee the consequences of human behavior (both individual and institutional), with the intention of making history in place of merely being pushed around by it. Only through the prophetism of all believers can we together foresee the doom and mend our common ways.
Hope is a virtue, but only when it is accompanied by prediction and by the daring venture of new decision, only where the prophethood of all believers creates epochal thinking…Humanity can surpass itself. Do we as religious liberals have access to the religious resources for this surpassing of the present? If not, the time will come when others will have to say to us what Henry IV said to the tardy Crillon after victory had been won, ‘Hand yourself, brave Crillon! We fought at Arques, and you were not there.’”
Sermon “Who Will We Become” Sunshine
Closing Hymn #1064 Blue Boat Home
Extinguishing the Chalice Mandy
Benediction Sunshine
Postlude
Welcoming and Announcements- Mandy
Sunshine
Mandy- Good Morning! Welcome to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Montgomery—my name is Mandy Goheen and I am a member of the Worship Associates team. Welcome to this place. This is a home where no revealed truths are promoted and no scripture or human being accepted as infallible. This is a place for searching for truth.
But we are believers. We believe in intellectual freedom; we believe in justice; we believe in compassion and concern for each other and the whole world. We believe in commitment to those ideals which make us caring and active in the struggles for human dignity. We are Unitarian Universalists.
Sunshine- Good morning, my name Rev. Sunshine Jeremiah Wolfe and I am the Interim Minister. I offer my welcome to you and in particular to those who are first time visitors to the Fellowship. If you are a first time visitor, we welcome you and especially encourage you to join us in the Fellowship Hall after worship for coffee and conversation. Information about our Fellowship is available at our greeter’s table, from the literature rack in the hallway, and from the members of this congregation present here today. We invite you to complete the blue card in the pew racks and place them in the offering basket when it goes around. We are glad you are here and hope to see you again on future Sundays.
Mandy: I call your attention to the announcements in the order of service. Here are some additional announcements. (Read announcements from the basket).
Rev. Sunshine has some additional announcements.
Sunshine: (Gives any additional announcements)
(Sunshine will invite Sharon Sexton to come forward for announcement from Search Committee).
Ringing of the Bell
Opening Words #429 Come Into This Place Mandy
Chalice Lighting
Covenant Mandy leads
We the members and friends of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Montgomery promise to serve our community with open minds, willing hearts, and helping hands as we:
Respect one another,honoring that our
perceptions may differ;
Value our differences, working to better
understand them in conflict;
Give joyfully of ourselves, being in harmony
with our capabilities;
And embrace our connections with each other,
nature, the global community, and the great
mystery of life
Opening Hymn #1008 When Our Heart Is In a Holy Place
Anthem Choir
Story for All Ages Courtney
Blessing Children on Their Way
“Rejoice in love we know and share,
in love and beauty everywhere;
rejoice in truth that makes us free,
and in the good that yet shall be.”
Stones of Joys and Concerns Sunshine
If you have a joy or concern weighing on your heart, you are invited to come forward at this time, take a stone that represents your joy or sorrow, and have it cleansed by the water in the bowl below.
Meditation Sunshine
Sung Meditation/Response #123 Spirit of Life
Celebration Reflection Barbara DeMichels
Offering Sunshine
Offertory
Offertory Response Sunshine
“To the work of this Fellowship which is weaving a tapestry of love we call community, we dedicate ourselves, and these our offerings.”
Reading Mandy
From “Prohpethood of All Believers” by James Luther Adams
Written in 1947
“But whatever the answers may be, this much we can say. A church that does not concern itself with the struggle in history for human decency and justice, a church that does not show concern for the shape of things to come, a church that does not attempt to interpret the signs of the times, is not a prophetic church. We have long held to the idea of the priesthood of all believers, the idea that all believers have direct access to the ultimate resources of the religious life and that every believer has the responsibility of achieving an explicit faith for free persons. As an element of the radical laicism we need also a firm belief in the prophethood of all believers. The prophetic liberal church is not a church in which the prophetic function is assigned merely to the few. The prophetic liberal church is the church in which persons think and work together to interpret signs of the times in the light of their faith, to make explicit through discussion the epochal thinking that the times demand. The prophetic liberal church is the church in which all members share the common responsibility to attempt to foresee the consequences of human behavior (both individual and institutional), with the intention of making history in place of merely being pushed around by it. Only through the prophetism of all believers can we together foresee the doom and mend our common ways.
Hope is a virtue, but only when it is accompanied by prediction and by the daring venture of new decision, only where the prophethood of all believers creates epochal thinking…Humanity can surpass itself. Do we as religious liberals have access to the religious resources for this surpassing of the present? If not, the time will come when others will have to say to us what Henry IV said to the tardy Crillon after victory had been won, ‘Hand yourself, brave Crillon! We fought at Arques, and you were not there.’”
Sermon “Who Will We Become” Sunshine
Closing Hymn #1064 Blue Boat Home
Extinguishing the Chalice Mandy
Benediction Sunshine
Postlude
