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Worship Service - March 26, 2023
Welcome to the March 26, 2023 Worship Service
Here you will find visual pieces to this morning's worship service. When the audio stream for the service begins at approximately 10:25am, you will be able to listen to it at http://listen.uucfm.org:8000/stream-church. The stream will open in a new tab in your browser. Click the browser tab for this page to come back to view visuals while the audio plays.
You may also access the service via Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/5264858673.
You may follow along with the service with this Order of Worship. An online donation button is at the bottom of this page for contributing to the morning offering. Additionally, the words for our covenant and the lyrics for the hymns are provided on this page below the photos. Please join us in singing along! Even though you are not here in body with us, we know that you are with us in spirit. We are glad that you are here!
"Getting to Yes"
Rev. Sue Gabrielson
Jennifer Grant, Worship Associate
Click on any photo to enlarge
Press Esc to exit from the enlarged photo
Gathering Music
Peter Golbitz, guitar
Lesley Peterson, violin
Welcome
Jennifer Grant, Worship Associate
Call To Worship
Rev. Sue Gabrielson
Chalice Lighting
words by Erik Walker Wikstrom
Rev. Sue Gabrielson
Covenant
Love is the spirit of this congregation
And service its law
This is our great covenant
To dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love
And to help one another
~ James Vila Blake
Opening Hymn
#108 - My Life Flows On in Endless Song
Marge Gonzales, piano
My life flows on in endless song above earth’s lamentation.
I hear the real though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife I hear the music ringing.
It sounds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing!
What though the tempest ‘round me roars, I know the truth, it liveth.
What though the darkness ‘round me close, songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I’m clinging.
Since love prevails in heav’n and earth, how can I keep from singing!
When tyrants tremble as they hear the bells of freedom ringing,
when friends rejoice both far and near, how can I keep from singing!
To prison cell and dungeon vile our thoughts to them are winging;
when friends by shame are undefiled, how can I keep from singing!
Reading
John Wolf, the Minister Emeritus of a church in Tulsa
Reflection
"I Said Yes to Leadership"
Jennifer Grant
Video
"Recognizing the Power of Lollipop Moments"
Drew Dudley
Stones of Intention
Jennifer Grant
Musical Interlude
"Dancing Trees"
Peter Golbitz, guitar
Lesley Peterson, violin
(After you add yours, the counter will record it.
Please know that you are doing this in community.
Feel free to come back to this page later and see how many online stones joined with yours.)
May your prayers be heard and your hearts be restored
Prayer and Meditation
Rev. Sue Gabrielson
Hymn
Hymn #159 - This is My Song
Marge Gonzales, piano
This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.
Sermon
"Getting to Yes"
Rev. Sue Gabrielson
Online Morning Offering
Jennifer Grant
Community Sharing Partner:
The Southwest Florida Gay & Lesbian Chorus was formed in 1993, at the initiative of Doug Gathers and a small group of founders, despite the problems that would undeniably come with his "coming out" publicly. Since their founding in 1993, they have been a LGBTQ-friendly and all-inclusive 5013c non-profit organization. This group participates in local, regional, and national performances.
Their mission is to provide educational, cultural, and social enrichment for our audience and ourselves through excellence in the choral arts.
The group's name was changed in 2019 from Southwest Florida Gay & Lesbian Chorus to Southwest Florida Voices, to be more inclusive to the LGBTQ-Community and Allies.
If you would like to make an online donation to UUCFM or pay your church pledge virtually, please click the yellow Donate below -- which takes you to our PayPal account. Please make a note in the space provided by PayPal to indicate whether your contribution is for UUCFM, our community sharing partner, or goes towards your pledge. Thank you.
For a complete list of methods to donate, please visit contribute.uucfm.org.
Your generosity is greatly appreciated.
Musical Interlude
Nocturne by Chopin
Marge Gonzales, piano
Words of gratitude:
By the work of our hands, and the work of our hearts, our love is made real.
May we be grateful for all that is given, and grateful for all that is shared.
Extinguishing the Chalice
Words by Elizabeth Selle Jones
We extinguish this flame but not the light of truth,
the warmth of community or the fire of commitment.
These we carry in our hearts until we are together again.
Closing Hymn
#1064 - Blue Boat Home
Marge Gonzales, piano
Though below me, I feel no motion standing on these mountains and plains.
Far away from the rolling ocean still my dry land heart can say:
I’ve been sailing all my life now, never harbor or port have I known.
The wide universe is the ocean I travel and the earth is my blue boat home.
Sun my sail and moon my rudder as I ply the starry sea,
leaning over the edge in wonder, casting questions into the deep.
Drifting here with my ship’s companions, all we kindred pilgrim souls,
making our way by the lights of the heavens in our beautiful blue boat home.
I give thanks to the waves up holding me, hail the great winds urging me on,
greet the infinite sea before me, sing the sky my sailor’s song:
I was born up on the fathoms, never harbor or port have I known.
The wide universe is the ocean I travel, and the earth is my blue boat home.
Closing Words
Rev. Sue Gabrielson
Farewell Words
Jennifer Grant
Postlude
UUCFM Musicians