Gifts (10 a.m. service)
Come join us on Christmas morning for a 10 a.m. worship service of meditation, music, and poetry. With musical guests, Emily Greenleaf (vocalist) and Eric Rynes (violinist) and the wonderful talents of pianist, Jerrod Wendland, we will experience the music of Karen Tanaka and rest in the poetry of Naomi Shihab Nye, Mark Nepo and others. If you long for a time of quiet and grounding before the day’s activities begin, need to be in community, and/or simply want to rest in beauty, First Universalist Church will be the place to be on Christmas morning.
Please note: this Sunday, Dec. 25, we’re offering one worship service at 10 a.m. only. There will be no Religious Education classes or childcare available at this service.
Order of Service: December 25 Order of Service
Offering Recipient: Minister’s Discretionary Fund (give here)
December Worship Theme: Presence
Sufi teacher and scholar, Kabir Helminski, writes “Presence signifies the quality of consciously being here. It is the activation of a higher level of awareness that allows all our other human functions – such as thought, feeling, and action – to be known, developed and harmonized.” Presence is named as awakening, mindfulness, dhyana, or remembrance in other religious traditions. Some might be surprised to discover that repentance, derived from the Greek, metanoia, means to enter the big mind/presence. Common to all the great spiritual traditions is a spiritual philosophy of presence. In this season of advent, of waiting and listening, we will explore and experience Presence, the intersecting places of sense and spirit.
