“Welcoming: Our Water and Stories In a Common Bowl”
with Rev. Telos Whitfield
Greeter: Kathy Squires

Order of Service
Sunday, September 10, 2023

Greeting                                                                                   Rev. Telos 

Board Welcome & Announcements                                      Leslie  Kinney
  
Prelude      Ave Maris Stella [Hail, Star of the Sea]  music by Edvard Grieg 
                  Peter Gibbons, viola; Eva Greene, piano   

Chalice Lighting: words by Katie Gelfand                          Jody McAssey
We light this chalice as a symbol of reunion.
We reunite in this sanctuary to share the flow of our hearts with one another.
We gather together in ritual
to celebrate our fountains of joy
to hold each other through storms of grief
to guide one another through rapids of transformation
to rest together on ponds of stillness.

 

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 #134 Our World Is One World
                 
Story For All of Us: “We Are Water Protectors” by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade
         
Anthem “As Torrents in Summer”
            music by Edward Elgar, words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
                         All Souls Choir, Tom Baehr, director

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)

Water Transformed                                                    Diana Clark

Video: Veda Austin

From a Common Source                                          Rev.  Telos 

Song:  River       Bill Staines
     performed by Steve Squires & Rob Winslow
River, take me along in your sunshine,
sing me a song ever moving and winding and free.
You rolling old river, you changing old river,
Let’s you and me, river, run down to the sea.

Our Water Ceremony

Sharing a Poem: “In Praise of Water” by John O’Donohue                   

Filling our Common Bowl – Sharing our Stories

Blessing our Water

Song          Swimming to the Other Side   Pat Humphries (see insert)  

Offering shared with Hawaii Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund   

Offertory:  Wave            A.C. Jobim
                    Eva Greene, piano

Blessing Our Candles of Joys and Sorrows

Extinguishing the Chalice                                                 Jody  McAssey
Though we extinguish our chalice flame, let us feel the flow of community that we are a part of, connected to each other and the larger world that will carry us home to each other again.

*Closing Circle: Carry the flame of peace and love
                               Until we meet again. (sung two times)
*Please join in standing as you are able.

Benediction                                                                            Rev. Telos

Coffee Hour and Conversation