Welcome to Worship
The United Church of Gainesville – August 15, 2021

Little Words/Big Ideas

ART

Today we will be gathered in the courtyard for interactive worship at 9:00am and 10:15am. In order to ensure sound and video quality, the service will be recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel. 

WELCOME, RINGING THE BELL, and LIGHTING THE CANDLE with Rev. Talia Raymond

REFLECTING ON TIME AND TALENT with Hannah Norton

*CALL TO WORSHIP

One: Emerging from our memories, as melodies and poems,

All: we recall the many usages of these little words. 

One: Four letter words, or three. Or even two. So much held in a remarkably small package.

All: Awe and fear. Exile and beauty. Separation and wholeness.

One: Creation and deprivation.

All: The Known God and the Sacred Mystery. 

One: This morning, we consider a little word that points us beyond words.

All: Art – not what we create to be consumed, but what we create in order to connect.

One: What we create in order to express our humanity more fully and our divinity more freely.

All: Today, may we open our hearts and minds, our eyes and our ears, to the movement of our hands and feet, our breath and our creativity;

One: May we hear the whispered response…

All:  It Is Good. 

 

WORSHIP BEYOND WORDS

Worship continues at the station where you are now. The gong will ring each 10 minutes, at that time, please move with your group clockwise to the next worship station. After the bell rings at the last (5th) station, we will close with a blessing and sing the Alleluia together.

LITURGY OF INVOCATION

…and it was so. God saw everything that was created, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning… -Genesis 1

No matter what the circumstances of your life, today you are here, awake and alive, to see another day. As you inhale, consciously breathe in the life force. As you exhale, breathe out any residual sleepiness. Breathe out anything standing in your way of living fully in this moment of a brand new day. Stay with your breath awhile. Immerse yourself in the miracle of a new day. Let it soak into your bones…. As you are filled, you are invited to give.  What do you invoke this day? What do you will into being through your creative, sacred self into this space, into your life, into your community, into your world…

As you name it, write it in symbol, word, or phrase using a light crayon.  Then, as you spread the watercolor over the crayon, and your invocation illuminates, pray this prayer:

“Let it be; through me, around me, within me, let it be.”

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE    

Every child has known God. Not the God of names. Not the God of don’ts. Not the God who has ever done anything weird. But the God who only knows 4 words and keeps repeating them, saying: “Come Dance With Me.” Come Dance. -Hafiz

Humans live in two distinct worlds.  There is the small, unique world of one’s personal experience and the timeless, symbolic word of those experiences shared by ancestors, passed down to us in innate and learned forms from generation to generation. Movement can serve as a very important link between who we are as individuals and who we are as a community of faith.

The human experience of moving through the Labyrinth is, at best estimate, more than 4000 years old.  In the labyrinth, there are no tricks, no wrong turns, and no dead ends; instead there is just one singular path that leads us to and from the center – one must simply trust and put one foot in front of the other.

A common mantra that is used to both explain and experience the labyrinth is release – receive – return. As we travel towards the center, it is a time of release, when we have made it to the middle, to that center place, it is time to receive, and as we exit down that same path, we return out into the world, the same and also changed. I give you the blessing of trust as we trust ourselves to continue our own journeys, our own sacred paths, and continue to put one foot in front of the other.

You are invited to pray your way through the Labyrinth journey this morning. As you move, whether by foot or by finger, let go of your confusion and anxiety and trust the path, you will find your way to the center and out again in peace.

-As you travel to the center, release what burdens you today, pray for that which you carry.

-When you reach the center, receive what you need, let yourself be seen, be blessed, and be filled.

-As you journey back out from the center, consider how you will return, how will you allow yourself to be changed by your journey? What have you laid down, and what do you choose to take with you?

LITURGY OF BLESSING 

May God bless and keep you always, May your wishes all come true, May you always do for others, And let others do for you. -Bob Dylan

Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed. – Mary Oliver

Liturgy means “the work of the people.”  Blessings can be unexpected, unmerited, or unnoticed.  They can also be hard won, intentional, and bidden – a liturgy of living.

What shall be your liturgy this week?  What gift will you give to yourself or another?

Name it. Bless it. Then, sculpt this blessing and make it real; make it tangible.  Physically carry it with you from this place of sacred intention and when it has been made real for you; when the work is done, pass it on, so that this intentional blessing ripples out from you in ways still unimagined.

SPECIAL MUSIC with Phillip Herr-Klepacki

Sing to God a new song, praise in the assembly of the faithful…Praise with dancing, making melody with tambourine and lyre…Let the faithful exult in glory, let them sing for joy on their couches… Let everything with breath sing praise! -Psalm 149-150

SACRED WRITINGS with Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan

“The world is full of a number of things,” Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote, “I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” The first part of that couplet is very true: a mere statement of fact.  The second? Quite the conjecture. The world is full of a number of things, and while that might make us happy, it’s also possible that we might find the sheer volume overwhelming. We might feel lost. All that variety and diversity might blend together, leaving us wondering how to sift and sort and understand and act.

Anne Lamott writes of the blessing of short assignments in these moments. She has a one-inch picture frame on the corner of her desk to remind her, when the blank page is staring back menacingly, that all she has to do is write what she can see through that small square. One moment, one scene. The first thing to do is to stop, and look. See.

Take a frame, and, looking through it, scan your surroundings. Stop when something catches your eye. Describe what you see. And then let what you see guide what comes next. Whatever thought follows, follow it.

 

Paying attention is holy work. Whether the person sitting across from you deep in thought reminds you of how you met, or that bird sparks a memory or a bit of ornithological trivia, stop, notice, and record.

 

*BENEDICTION

*ALLELUIA

*please stand if you are able

Here are the UCG friends celebrating a birthday this week.

Happy Birthday!

Isabel	Coutts	08/15
Omari	Najm-Cary	08/15
Johan	Telg	08/15
Carl	Carter	08/16
Finnette	Fabrick	08/16
Mickey	Howard	08/16
Isabelle	Wolcott-Durante	08/17
Deirdre	Vermerris	08/18
Diane	Howard	08/19
Peter	Hyatt	08/19
Kayden	Stuart – Ramachandran	08/19
Carolyn	von Zabern	08/20
Lauren	von Zabern	08/20
Mia	Mickle	08/20
Sally	Simonis	08/21
Paula	Ambroso	08/21

 Sunday Seminar via Zoom at 11:30am

“If masking becomes voluntary, should you send your children back to school?” Join us for a panel discussion by Dr. Allan March, a UCG COVID doctor, Dr. Danielle Nelson, Professor of Family Practice at UF and mother of a young child, and Ginger Stegall, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Listen, learn, and take the opportunity to ask your questions and voice your concerns. Join us via Zoom here. Meeting ID: 829 6457 0385, Passcode: 1624.

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Announcements

August 14 COVID Update – Using the reporting method adopted by the Florida Department of Health, the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Alachua County increased last week from 520 to 603 per 100,000 per week, rising even further into the red zone (high risk of transmission).

Let’s “Grush” This! – Looking for an easy way to re-emerge with your UCG community this summer? We are still looking for individuals or couples willing to help greet/usher (aka “Grusher”!) at the Sunday services this summer. There’s no lifting involved and you can show up as late as 9:30AM to help for just 30 minutes before the start of the service. No experience necessary. Dar will train you in ~5 minutes or less! To volunteer, click here, email Dar Mikula, or call (352)378-3500.  Thank you for your help with this important job!

EXTENDED SIGN UP: A Matter of Balance, an evidenced based eight- week program designed to manage falls and increase activity levels in older adults, will be offered at UCG on Tuesdays, August 24 – October 12, from 9:30-11:30am. Sponsored by Elder Options, participants will learn to view falls as controllable, set goals to increase activity, make changes to reduce fall risk, and exercise to increase strength and balance. Those who may want to attend include anyone concerned about falls, anyone interested in improving balance, flexibility and strength, anyone who has fallen in the past and anyone who has restricted activities because of falling concerns. For more information email Andrea Longstreet or call 352 692-5230. Limit of 12 participants.

Fall Small Group Submissions Wanted – People get ready… there’s a train a’ coming, For we’re already preparing for the autumnal equinox, on the wings of a delta jet-stream. Fall Small Groups are arriving! Please submit your ideas here by August 16. Watch for registration to begin in early September.

Please help keep our church finances healthy while you stay healthy!  Please consider donating online. To GIVE,  click here  to make a one-time donation to UCG -or- to set up a recurring donation schedule via your bank account or credit card. Our budgeted (anticipated) amount of Plate Income for 2021 is $36,000, so we rely on the weekly passing of the plate.  Here  is a video on how to use Shelby Giving.  Thank you for your support!

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