Join us following the worship service for Virtual Coffee Hour via Zoom. It starts at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, August 1, 2021. Here’s the link.
Order of Service
Modern Universalism
Opening Music “Come Together” By Carl Rust
Welcome From a Board Member
Greeting from Rev. Amy Ken Clayborn
Prelude # 1 “May Nothing Evel Cross This Door”
Gong
We ring the gong three times:
Once for those who came before us and made a place for us
Once for those who are here now
Once for those who will come after us and build on the dream.
Chalice Lighting Joan Clayborn
Unison Covenant
Love is the spirit of this church,
And service is its law.
To dwell together in peace,
To seek the truth in love,
And to help one another:
This is our covenant
Offering /Offertory Patty and Chris French
*Hymn # 182 “O, The Beauty in a Life”
Sermon The Heresy of Universalism
Hymn # 354 “We Laugh, We Cry”
Benediction
Postlude Suite by Danzas Criollas v. Scherzando,played by Lizzie French
Today’s Hymns
#1 May Nothing Evil Cross this Door
May nothing evil cross this door,
and may ill fortune never pry about
these windows; may the roar
and rain go by.
By faith made strong, the rafters will
withstand the battering of the storm.
This hearth, though all the world grow chill,
will keep you warm.
Peace shall walk softly through these rooms,
touching our lips with holy wine,
till every casual corner blooms
into a shrine.
With laughter drown the raucous shout,
and, though these sheltering walls are thin,
may they be strong to keep hate out
and hold love in.
Hymn # 182 O, the Beauty in a Life
O, the beauty in a life that illumines honor anew,
that models wise and gracious ways to every seeker;
that every day shall serve in joy and do the right.
O, praise the life whose beauty shows a justice true.
Let not service of the good be confined to great saints alone,
but every hour be part of all our daily living.
Set not the hope of wisdom’s grace beyond our ken;
how wide the path, how close the goal, which love has shown.
O, the beauty of a life that illumines care of the soul,
that knows a love that is for self as well as others,
that every day embodies praise for every good,
this is the faith to which we turn, our God and goal.
Hymn # 354 We Laugh, We Cry
We laugh, we cry, we live, we die; we dance, we sing our song.
We need to feel there’s something here to which we can belong.
We need to feel the freedom just to have some time alone.
But most of all we need close friends we can call our very own.
And we believe in life, and in the strength of love;
and we have found a need to be together.
We have our hearts to give, we have our thoughts to receive;
and we believe that sharing is an answer.
A child is born among us and we feel a special glow.
We see time’s endless journey as we watch the baby grow.
We thrill to hear imagination freely running wild.
We dedicate our minds and heart to the spirit of this child.
And we believe in life, and in the strength of love;
and we have found a time to be together.
And with the grace of age, we share the wonder of youth,
and we believe that growing is an answer.
Our lives are full of wonder and our time is very brief.
The death of one among us fills us all with pain and grief.
But as we live, so shall we die, and when our lives are done
the memories we shared with friends, they will linger on and on.
And we believe in life, and in the strength of love;
and we have found a place to be together.
We have the right to grow, we have the gift to believe
that peace within our living is an answer.
We seek elusive answers to the questions of this life.
We seek to put an end to all the waste of human strife.
We search for truth, equality, and blessed peace of mind.
And then, we come together here, to make sense of what we find.
And we believe in life, and in the strength of love,
and we have found a joy being together.
And in our search for peace, maybe we’ll finally see:
even to question, truly is an answer.