Order of Service - November 16, 2014 "Always Coming Home"

Date of Service: 
November 16, 2014
 
 
At the Charles Street Meeting House in Boston, we have gathered the symbols and art of the world’s
religions to adorn our place of religious celebration. Thus we declare that they all belong to us, but by
the fact that they are all there, with all their mutual contradictions and identities, we declare that we
belong to none of them, nor to any selection or combination of them.
- Kenneth Patton, humanist, Universalist, and minister of the Charles Street Meeting House, 1949-69.
 
*Gathering Hymn                                          For all that is our life, we give our thanks and praise.
                                                                          For all life is a gift, which we are called to use
                                                                         To build the common good and make our own days glad.
                                                                         
                                                                          For needs which others serve, for services we give,
                                                                          For work and its rewards, for hours of rest and love;
                                                                          We come with praise and thanks for all that is our life.
 
Prelude                                                            Home, The Wiz                                                                        Charlie Smalls
                                                                          Jyvonne Haskin, mezzo soprano
 
Welcome
 
Chalice Lighting                                           Delaney Hutchinson
 
*Opening Hymn                                             #1064 Blue Boat Home
 
*Covenant                                                      Love is the doctrine of this church.
                                                                         The quest for truth is its sacrament,
                                                                         And service is its prayer.
                                                                         To dwell together in peace,
                                                                         To seek knowledge in freedom,
                                                                         To serve humankind in fellowship,
                                                                          Thus do we covenant with each other.
 
*Hymn of Praise                                             From all that dwell below the skies
                                                                          Let songs of hope and faith arise
                                                                          Let peace, goodwill on earth be sung
                                                                          Through every land, by every tongue.
 
Offering for the Westside Food Bank and Turning Point
 
Time for All Ages                                           The Caboose Who Got Loose                                                         Bill Peet
                                                                           McCartney Hutchinson
 
Song of Blessing                                           Go now in peace, go now in peace
                                                                         May the spirit of love surround you
                                                                         As you go, as you go, on your way.
 
Life Together
 
Pulpit Message from the 2015 Commitment Campaign                             Leon and Nicole Henderson-MacLennan
 
Offering                                                           A place to be (9am)                                                                 Daniel Gledhill
                                                                         No Time (11am)                                                              arr. Susan Brumfield
 
Devotional Time
 
Silence
 
Sung Response                                             Come and find the quiet center in the crowded life we lead,
                                                                          Find the room for hope to enter, find the frame where we are freed:
                                                                          Clear the chaos and the clutter, clear our eyes that we can see
                                                                          All the things that really matter, be at peace and simply be.
 
Music for the Morning                                   Going Home (9am)                                                          arr. Daniel Gledhill
                                                                          Lead Me Home (11am)                                                              Eric Barnum
 
Sermon                                                            Always Coming Home                                   Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur
 
*Closing Hymn                                              #1054 Let This Be A House of Peace
 
*Benediction
 
Musical Response                                        Autumn Leaves (9am)                                   arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams
                                                                         How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place (11am)                        Anton Bruckner
 
*Please stand in body or in spirit
 
❦ ❦ ❦ ❦
 
Service Notes
 
Service participants: Kirk Attebury, Nancy Babbitt, Sue Bickford, Sheila Cummins, Tom Early,
Roberta Frye, Alice Hall, David Olson, Rhonda Peacock, Rick Rhoads, Pam Teplitz, Ned Wright,
Michael Young.
 
The photograph of the Charles Street Meeting House can be found here:
http://www.redbarnrockland.com/bostonreligion_themes.html.
 
Today’s Community Offering will go to Step Up on Second. Step Up delivers compassionate support to
people experiencing serious mental illness to help them recover, stabilize, and integrate into the
community. With 100 permanent supportive housing units at six locations in Santa Monica and on
the Westside of Los Angeles, Step Up now serves over 1,800 individuals each year with a focus on
offering help, hope, and home.
 
For the past 15 years, our church has served a meal to residents at Step Up on Second once a month.
Are you ready to Step Up? Please contact hunger@uusm.org.