Every September, we change the liturgy. I like that it keeps things fresh and is a guard against certain things becoming tin gods that we can never change. But even more than that, it allows us to use more materials – e.g. last year we used the historic UU “Blake covenant,” this year we are using a shortened version of our own church covenant. (By the way, a little trivia: liturgy comes from the Greek works laos (people) and ergos (work). Thus, liturgy means “the work of the people.”)
So, for those interested, here is the 2024-25 liturgy and why certain decisions were made:
| Transition: Entering Music | The prelude and postlude always present a thorny issue: do you sit and listen to the hard work of the musicians or is this “background music” for entering and leaving. This year we made it clear by identifying it as the transitional entering and leaving music, with more room in the service for multiple performances. |
| Greeting | In both the greeting and welcome, the worship leader and I share our pronouns. This is done so that it is not only someone who is transgender or non-binary who shares theirs. And it’s a good reminder for all of us to not assume we know another person’s gender. |
| Chalice Lighting and Affirmation of Covenant | This year, we remain standing after the first hymn as we light our chalice and as we extinguish it. It’s just a nice little reminder that this is the sacred symbol of our faith. |
| Call to Worship | Because liturgy IS the work of the people, I like to have worship leaders bring some of themselves into the service. This shows up in their introduction as they share something they love about the church and here, where they are asked to find a reading for opening the worship service. |
| Joys and Sorrows | This year, we transitioned back to using one of our most popular short hymns, Make us aware we are a Sanctuary. |
| Meditation/Reflection | We also switched to Spirit of Life to be sung at the end of the meditation. If you go to any UU event, there’s a good chance this song will be sung, so it’s good to have familiarity with it. |
| Offering | Last year, we had a sung response. We wanted to have another opportunity for a special performance, so this year, we have a short spoken response, so musicians can play as we take the offering. In the spoken response, the congregation says, “We receive the offering May it help us to fulfill our mission in the world.” — I think it’s good to remember that all of us are the congregation and it is “we” who receive it. |
| Chalice Extinguishing | Let us say these words to each other: We extinguish the flame here that it might glow gently in our hearts. May it light your path as you leave this place. May it guide your way until we are together again. With the responsive reading for our chalice extinguishing, we are directed to say these words to each other. In this way, it becomes a way of blessing each other. We leave on a Sunday and sometimes, we individually are heading into rough weeks. I think this is a nice little reminder that none of us need go through “this thing called Life” alone. |
| Invitation to Fellowship | Experts on hospitality tell us the most “dangerous” (e.g. when we lose visitors) time is the 5 minutes after the worship service. Before the service, everyone has a clear path forward – go in the sanctuary and sit down. After the service, it’s not as clear. We’re often going in different directions. And our own members, remembering their first time here, have shared that walking into the Fellowship Hall can be very intimidating. It seems like everyone knows everyone else and the dreaded middle school, “which table do I sit in” feeling can be evoked. So every week, we remind our members: it is your job to make this easier on our visitors, your job to be hospitable. |