Gathering Music (begins at 9:50)
Welcome (Martha Larson, co-chair Sunday Services Committee)
Announcements
Introduction and Centering
Prelude
“Pure Imagination”
by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse c.1971 for
“Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”
vocalist, Janet Desmarais
producers, Dan Thompson and Janet Desmarais
Chalice Lighting and Opening Words
“Let This Be a Place”
by Sharon Wylie:
Let this be the place you consider what you’ve never considered;
Let this be the place you imagine for yourself something new and unthinkable.
May this hour bring dreams of new ways of being in the world.
Come, let us worship together.
Opening Hymn
“The Lone Wild Bird”
Words by H. R. MacFayden, music from William Walker’s “Southern Harmony”
#15 in Singing the Living Tradition
Led by Jeannette LeSure
The lone, wild bird in lofty flight
is still with thee, nor leaves thy sight.
And I am thine! I rest in thee.
Great spirit come and rest in me.
The ends of earth are in thy hand,
the sea’s dark deep and far-off land.
And I am thine! I rest in thee.
Great spirit come and rest in me.
Sharing Joys and Concerns
Musical Interlude (Mary Bopp)
Prayer and Silent Meditation (from the Rev. Sara LaWall, spoken by Martha Larson)
Spirit of life and love, holy mystery
How do we pray for hope?
How do we bow down or look up
or sit in silence or walk among the trees
to make hope come alive,
when it feels so far beyond our grasp?
We breathe. We look within. We listen. We reach out.
We hold in the depths of our heart, that knowing
That hope is a gift we cannot destroy
It is the heartbeat always stirring within us
It is the imagination awakening to us to possibility
It is the unfolding of faith in action
May we hold on to hope
And carry it for one another
and for this broken and hurting world
May we be vessels of comfort and compassion
May we be vessels of peace and justice
May we be vessels of hope and healing
May love prevail.
In the name of all that is holy, we pray, Amen.
Offering
Offering Music
“Imagine”
by John Lennon
read by Jeannette LeSure
“Imagine (John Lennon)/Peace Like a River”(Marvin V. Frey)
(arr. by Mary Bopp)
Readings (read by Wayne Starkey)
Homily “What If? Part 1 (Jeannette LeSure)
Readings (read by Kathy Ayers)
Homily “What If?” Part 2 (Jeannette LeSure)
Closing Song
“Just Imagine”
by Matt Falkowski
Just imagine, just imagine, just imagine a little love.
Just imagine, just imagine, just imagine a little love.
I’m gonna bring a little love. And you can bring a little love.
We’ll put our love together cuz a little means a lot.
The world would be a better place when love is what we’ve got.
Let’s all bring a little love.
Just imagine, just imagine, just imagine a little peace….
Just imagine, just imagine, just imagine a little hope….
Let’s all bring a little hope.
Let’s all bring a little peace.
Let’s all bring a little love.
Extinguishing the Chalice
Closing Words (adapted from Rev. Michael A. Schuler)
We have reached the end of this time together
For letting the imagination play with future possibilities…
Shall it be concluded, then?
What if this adventure, now commenced, continues?
What if this ending is not an ending,
But a prelude to new, more glorious beginnings?
May it be so.
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.
Postlude
Coffee Hour / Break Out Rooms
