4/25/21 “What Holds Us?” by Rev. Danielle Lindstrom

Welcome:
It is good to be together this morning.
Welcome to you who come with a broken heart.
Welcome to you who come filled with joy.
Welcome to you who come with big questions.
Welcome to you who come with fear.
Welcome to you who come with curiosity.
Welcome to you who come filled with hope.
Welcome to all of who you are. This is one of the promises of our faith,
All of who we are, all of what we bring with us when we gather is welcome in our co-created and sacred space.
Welcome to you who love and are loved.
It is good to be together. 

 

Prelude: Gnossienne No. 1-Satie performed by Anna Kojovic-Frodl

 

Chalice Lighting: We join in shared ritual, light our chalice, the symbol of our Unitarian Universalist Faith. Our words by Adrian L. H. Graham

We kindle a flame of power, illuminating the Holy in each of our faces.
We recognize in the flame a passionate commitment to our shared faith.
We are held and carried from day to day, week to week, in the shining of the light.
This flame is mine, as well as yours.
We are brought together on this day, called to growth, to expansion, within its glow.
What does your heart know while beholding this holy fire?

 

Hymn #1020:  Woyaya

 

Gesture of Friendship:

 

Message for All Ages: The Rhino Who Ate the Storm

 

Children’s Blessing

 

Offering:
There are many ways we give to the life of Olympia Brown UU Church and our offering is just one of these ways. We are grateful for your generosity, care, and support of this community.

As part of this congregation’s mission to be of service to our community, we support the work of the local organizations whose work furthers our mission. This month our partner is Racine’s Cops ‘N Kids Reading Center, founded by Racine Police Department veteran Julia Witherspoon. The Reading Center offers a One–on–One Tutoring based on the needs of each student.

Please join me in being as generous as you can. Together, our support will mean a brighter future for all the children and youth at the Cops ‘N Kids Reading Center.

 

Offertory: Butterfly by Frederick Bernard, performed by Anna Kojovic-Frodl

 

Reading:
Our reading is from the book Blessing the World, What can save us now? By Rev. Rebecca Parker

Love is the active, creative force that repair’s life’s injuries and brings new possibilities into being. Love generates life, from the moment of conception to the moment when we remember with gratitude and tenderness those who have died. And in the darkest night, when our hearts are breaking, love embraces us even when we cannot embrace ourselves. Love saves us and redirects us towards generosity. A theology adequate to the realities of violence in our world must speak from the depths of our life experience. It must speak words of anguish and words of hope. The anguish is this: violence can break our hearts and efface the sacred goodness of life in this world. The hope is this: Love in its myriad of forms, can recall us to life.

 

Sermon: What Holds Us?, Rev. Danielle

 

Centering Words

 

Time of Stillness and Reflection:

 

Hymn 101: Abide With Me, performed by Lea Morris. from Unitarian Universalist Assoc.

 

Benediction:
We kindle a flame of power, illuminating the Holy in each of our faces.
We are brought together on this day, called to growth, to expansion, within its glow.
What does your heart know while beholding this holy fire?
May we carry this fire in our hearts, may its glow remind us that we are connected, held always in a larger love, and though our worship is over. Our service begins.
Go forward in faith.
Go forward in love.
Go forward until we return again.

 

Postlude: Chopin Op 67 No 4 F, performed by Anna Kojovic-Frodl