Gathering Music (Mary Bopp)
Welcome, Announcements, & Introduction to the Service
Centering
Prelude
Steel Tongue Drum Improvisation
by Kristen Dockendorff
Chalice Lighting
Words by Rev. David Pyle
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Harrisonburg, Virginia
We light this chalice as a symbol of the creativity of our liberal faith:
The creativity to explore new avenues of religious insight;
The creativity to develop a caring community;
The creativity to envision a world of peace and freedom
Opening Hymn
“When Our Heart is in a Holy Place” #1008
Music and lyrics by Joyce Poley
Chorus:
When our heart is in a holy place,
When our heart is in a holy place
We are blessed with love and amazing grace
When our heart is in a holy place.
When we trust the wisdom in each of us,
Ev’ry color, ev’ry creed and kind,
And we see our faces in each other’s eyes,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Chorus
When we tell our story from deep inside,
And we listen with a loving mind,
And we hear our voices in each other’s words,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Chorus
When we share the silence of sacred space,
And the God of our Heart stirs within,
And we feel the power of each other’s faith,
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Then our heart is in a holy place.
Opening Reading
Orange Energy
by Jennifer Healey
All I want to do is delight–
Throw the mask off,
Not care and not worry,
Not explain what I mean nor
Define what I do.
Just be whatever I feel like being.
Just relish in the energy of this moment.
I want to be so alive that
I feel like the moon,
Throwing tides just for fun,
Creating because it’s what I’m
Here to do.
I want to love the color orange,
Just because it craves delight too.
I want to cry because
I’m so in love with the miracle of
Being alive.
I don’t want to feel like I’m
Striving.
I want to try and feel like I’m
Flying.
I want to write the poetry,
Read the poetry, and
Breathe the poetry.
I want my life to be a
Beautiful,
Messy mosaic that even I
Can’t help but fall in love with.
Create! Create!
I feel the winds of fury
Blowing through me.
Even my bones are smiling.
I hear my veins pulsing with
Desire, like branches
Dancing in the breezes.
Wildflowers are waving and
The ocean blossoms with a new idea.
Crazy and beautiful is
How I want my life to feel.
Let it be. Let it be.
I write to be free.
I read to tap in.
I absorb the poetry.
And so it shall be.
And now I am this energy.
Introductions, Joys and Concerns
Offering
For the month of May, half of the undesignated Sunday collections will be split between the Hartford Deportation Defense AKA Colectivo de Defensa Hartford and Unidad Latinas en Accion.
Offering Music
“Make Something Beautiful”
by Ben Rector, sung by Jeannine Westbrook
Reflection on Creativity #1 (Beth Hudson Hankins)
Reflection #2: Creativity in the Garden (Sharon Gresk)
Reflection on Creativity #3 (Stacey Musulin)
Closing Hymn
“When the Spirit Says Do” #1024
Music and lyrics by Gretha Boston
You got to DO when the spirit says DO!
You got to DO when the spirit says DO!
When the spirit says DO, you got to DO, oh Lord!
You got to DO when the spirit says DO!
Spirit says DO!
Spirit says DO!
Spirit says DO!
Spirit says DO!
Spirit says DO!
Spirit says DO!
You got to SING …
You got to DANCE…
You got to LAUGH …
You got to SHOUT…
You got to DO…
Extinguishing the Chalice
Closing Circle
May faith in the spirit of life
And hope for the community of earth
And love of the light in each other
Be ours now, and in all the days to come.
Special Instructions for Zoomers for the May 7th Service:
The goal of today’s service is to encourage creativity. At the end of the service, everyone will be invited to engage in one or more activities in the sanctuary as a reminder of the creative beings we are. You can do these same activities at home.
The activities include:
“X’s & O’s”: Mark a sheet of paper full of X’s or O’s. Then make as many things as you can think of with those X’s and O’s.
- What can you add to your life to create a spiritual practice?
“Black Out Poetry”: Grab a sheet of newsprint or rip out a page from an old magazine. Using a thick black marker, cross out certain words or lines. The words you leave can form a poem or statement. You can also form a visual picture.
- What can you selectively eliminate from your life to create a spiritual practice?
“Junk” Art: Select some objects from your recycling bin, and find some glue, rubber bands, or tape. Create something.
- What is already a part of your life that you can repurpose to create a spiritual practice?
Collage: “What Creativity Means to Me (Us)”: What words, pictures, sounds, feelings, and thoughts come to you when you think of creativity? Using a variety of media, compose a collage to express your ideas. If you can, try working on this project with another person.
- Does creativity change when you involve other people?
- How might the spiritual practices of a community differ from those we may create as individuals?
