What is it about Sunday mornings? Why do we gather and what is this thing we call worship?
Some OUUC worship leaders will join me on Saturday afternoon to offer a workshop on Worship Arts where we’ll explore those questions and more. (Details and Zoom link are below!)
That we gather on Sunday morning (rather than Friday or Saturday or any other day) is a remnant of our Christian heritage. And even though Unitarians broadened beyond Christianity in the last century, our services still resemble a Protestant liturgy in the elements if not the content.
I believe the intent of our worship is the same as always: it is an opportunity for connection beyond us and the possibility of transformation, it is a time for marking important transitions and rites of passage, and a time to hold up those things of ultimate worth, meaning, and value.
In worship we sing together (even now!), we listen to each other, we hold silence together, we celebrate and mourn together, we welcome each other. We open ourselves up to the sacred and the holy within us, between us, and beyond us.
Worship is central to the life of any congregation. It also defines a congregation; by our Unitarian Universalist Association Bylaws, a congregation seeking to join the UUA must have done these things in the past year: held at least one business meeting of its members, elected its own officers, maintained adequate records of membership, made a financial contribution to the Association, and conducted regular religious services.
Worship is shared spiritual practice where we invite transformation of ourselves and from there help transform the world.
While as your minister, I am given the responsibility and authority for all worship services and rites of passage including those that I am not planning or involved in, it takes many hands to create and offer meaningful, transformational worship. It is important to me that worship be collaborative, shared and include voices different than mine. I am grateful for my OUUC colleagues and the many people who support our weekly shared spiritual practice. Join us Saturday at 1 pm to see how you might lend your hands to Sunday mornings.
Blessings on your week.
Rev. Mary
Join us on Saturday, January 30 from 1:00 -3:30 pm
Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85031161561?pwd=QzBKWmJBUWxHQUttd3Q5MW11ZzMzZz09
Meeting ID: 850 3116 1561
Passcode: 522005
P.S. If you didn’t have the chance to see or hear the beautiful poem shared by Amanda Gorman at the inauguration last week, here’s a link to the C-Span recording. It is well worth hearing again and again. Be brave enough to be the light!
National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman at Presidential Inauguration