First Universalist Church Sunday Service Podcast

January 29, 2023- Who Said 70 is the New 50?

Music for Entering the Space- All People that on Earth Do Dwell (:20)

Call to Worship- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (1:12)

Singing Together- Lean On Me (5:36)

Prayer and Meditation- Rev. Ashley Harness (10:21)

Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Ashley Harness (18:43)

Offertory- There is a Balm in Gilead - trad. Arr. Mark Hayes- Franco Holder (19:48)

Message- Who Said 70 is the New 50?- Rev. Karen Hutt (24:07)

Singing Together- Lady of the Season’s Laughter (49:03)

Benediction- Rev. Karen Hutt (52:17)

 

 

 

January 22, 2023- When’s Your Shift for the Revolution?

Hymn for Gathering- Building a New Way- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (:27)

Words of Welcome- Rev. Ashley Harness (3:31)

Call to Worship- Dallas Rising (8:31)

Time for All Ages- Stone Soup- Rev. Arif Mamdani (12:11)

Singing Together- Love Will Guide Us- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (21:16)

Meditation Prayer and Cycle of Life- Rev. Arif Mamdani (24:31)

Message- When's Your Shift for the Revolution? - Meleah Houseknecht (34:25)

Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Arif Mamdani, Jeanne Guignon, Jeff Snyder (48:13)

Offertory- Sing Out, March On- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (55:02)

Hymn- The Fire of Commitment- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (58:05)

Benediction- Meleah Houseknecht (1:01:25)

 

January 15, 2023- Yesterday Teaches Tomorrow

Time and time again, in stories and scriptures and songs, ancestors have left lessons for building beloved community. Though they come in all languages and expressions, the wisdom persists: to resist materialism and hold on to what truly matters; to unshackle from habits of needless prejudice; to put down the weapons we store in our hands and hearts and study war no more. How much comfort can we take that we aren’t nearly the first generation to struggle to live into these communal ways? And what’s our part in the progress?

Music for Gathering- Come, Come Whoever You Are- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Aimee K. Bryant (:29)

Words of Welcome & Call to Worship- Rev. Arif Mamdani (5:17)

Hymn- 'Tis a Gift to be Simple- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (13:05)

Prayer and Meditation- Rev. Jen Crow (15:20)

Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Arif Mamdani (22:29)

Offertory- We Shall Be Known by Ma Muse- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Aimee K. Bryant (23:22)

Message- Yesterday Teaches Tomorrow- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (26:11)

Benediction- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (52:30)

Music for Going- Return Again- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Aimee K. Bryant 

 

December 25, 2022- Christmas Morning

Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout, Cummins Ministerial Intern Lóre Stevens, and Rev. Arif Mamdani invite you to Christmas morning at church, where our worship leaders will be gathered by the fire opening presents together—presents we are gifting to ourselves and to the church as we work to bring the spirit of these winter holidays into the day-to-day of our lives all throughout the year.

Music for Gathering- For Each Child That's Born- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (:24)

Words of Welcome and Story- Rev. Arif Mamdani (1:09)

Singing Together- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (7:58)

Prayer and Meditation- Lóre Stevens (10:09)

Practice of Giving and Receiving- Rev. Arif Mamdani (12:25)

Offertory- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout

Reading- Relentless by Sean Parker Dennison- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (14:42)

Giving and Receiving Gifts- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout, Lóre Stevens, and Rev. Arif Mamdani (17:47)

Singing Together- Say Amen- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (41:07)

Benediction- Now the Work of Christmas Begins by Howard Thurman- Lóre Stevens (42:58)

Music for Going- Where You Go I Will Go, Beloved by Shoshana Jedwab- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout

 

December 18, 2022- Dreaming in the Dark

As we approach the longest nights of the year and the beginning of Hanukkah, we’ll explore the wonders that take place in the dark. Perhaps it is in our dreaming, in those times when the limitations that so often diminish our imagination drop away, that we can find healing and hope. Join us on Sunday as we claim our space in this darkest time of the year and trust in the generative power of our dreams.

Singing to Gather- O Come You Longing Thirsty Souls- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (:20)

Words of Welcome and Call to Worship- Rev. Jen Crow (2:48)

Story- Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o (9:57)

Singing- Light One Candle - Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (19:21)

Prayer and Cycle of Life- Lóre Stevens (22:50)

Message- Dreaming in the Dark- Rev. Jen Crow (28:18)

Invitation to Give to Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (49:46)

Offertory- Wanderers Nachtlied II by Goethe/Schubert- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (51:38)

Singing Together- O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (54:22)

Benediction- Rev. Jen Crow (57:49)

December 4, 2022- Waiting for the Coming Dreams

Winter is a time of turning inward, a time where the nights are longer and so too is our time for dreaming.

December is a month in which we experience ever shorter days, the longest night, and then the turning toward the long days of summer again. It is also a month in which some amongst us share stories about a light that held out against hope and others tell of the coming of a singular light to the world.

As we begin this time of beginnings, as we enter this month of waiting, of dreaming, of telling stories and remembering in our bones the turning of the earth, the turning of the seasons, and the turning of our tradition, we gather on Sunday to start at the beginning. We’ll revisit beginnings, wonder about what came before the beginning, where we’re situated in the line of beginnings and endings, and incline our hearts toward what we hear when we’re dreaming in the dark.

 

Singing to Gather- Come Thou Fount of Ev'ry Blessing (:30)

Words of Welcome- Rev. Jen Crow (1:20)

Time for All Ages- Rev. Jen Crow (8:58)

Prayer and Cycle of Life- Rev. Jen Crow (16:18)

Message- Waiting for the Coming Dreams- Rev. Arif Mamdani (23:21)

Holiday Giving Introduction- Isabel Quast (44:55)

Offertory- Franco Holder, piano

Hymn- Blue Boat Home (50:41)

Benediction- Rev. Arif Mamdani (53:38)

November 13, 2022- The Company We Keep

We are members of many things: families, gyms, affinity groups, and faith communities. Our culture likes us to think of “membership” as an administrative task: a series of tasks that lead us to checking off a box. This Sunday, November 13, we welcome and celebrate the commitment of our newest members of First Universalist, and invite you into reflecting on- and participating in!- membership as a creative, relational process, one in which we change and by which we are changed by the company we keep.

Hymn for Gathering- Morning Has Come- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (:29)

Words of Welcome- Rev. Jen Crow (7:52)

Time for All Ages- The Messiah Lives Among You- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (14:46)

Hymn- Woyaya- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (20:37)

Prayer, Meditation, Cycle of Life - Rev. Jen Crow (25:49)

Offertory- What Wonderous Love is This- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (35:27)

New Member Ceremony- Liz Farmer, Rebecca Slaby, Daryn Woodson (38:35)

Singing Together- Come and Go With Me- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (45:24)

Homily- The Company We Keep- Liz Farmer (48:12)

Singing Together- Be Thou My Vision- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (57:04)

Benediction- Liz Farmer (1:03:02)

 

October 23, 2022- A River of Stars

As we continue exploring our monthly theme, "You Can Count on This," we move from heart, body, and mind to…space? Many may wonder how the vast field of galaxies can be counted on. But our ancestors have always traced stories onto constellations. Humanity navigated dangerous waters using those reliable but distant stars. During our own times of loss and alienation, how can the mysterious, interdependent universe provide solace and hope?

Singing to Gather- We Are- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout, Franco Holder (:29)

Poem by Nancy Scaffer (3:34)

Words of Welcome- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (5:18)

Story for All Ages- Quilatzli and the River of Stars- by Lóre Stevens, inspired by Aztec and Greek mythology (10:38)

Body Meditation- Michael Tangen (16:02)

Body Prayer- Lóre Stevens (20:04)

Prayer and Cycle of Life- Rev. Ashley Harness-Jiminez (22:25)

Invitation to Give - Rev. Ashley Harness-Jiminez (27:33)

Offertoty- Into the West  by  STØLACE- Michael Tangen (31:35)

Homily- A River of Stars- Lóre Stevens (40:44)

Hymn- A Firemist and a Planet - Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (50:43)

Benediction- Lóre Stevens (53:57)

 

 

September 18, 2022- Belonging to Beloved Community

The dream has been alive for years – Beloved Community. A place, a people, a moment in time when we might truly be, as our Visionary Goal proclaims, “a multi-racial, multicultural, and intergenerational faith community of mutual caring and support where people bring all of who they are and welcome each other with joy. Our sense of who we are as a community of faith is ever expanding.” What does it mean to belong to that Beloved Community, and what will be required of us as we unlearn soul-killing patterns of oppression and practice liberating, life-sustaining ways? What does it mean to belong to this Beloved Community?

Music for Gathering- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (:19)

Words of Welcome- Rev. Arif Mamdani (3:42)

Call to Worship- To Be of Use by Marge Piercy- Lóre Stevens (16:18)

Story for All Ages- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (18:26)

Prayer and Meditation- Rev. Arif Mamdani (26:11)

Practice of Giving- Rev. Jen Crow (33:28)

Celebrating Rev. Jen's Ten Years- Rev. Sara Smalley and the Team (37:17)

Message- Belonging to Beloved Community- Rev. Jen Crow (44:30)

Music for Going- Love Will Guide Us (1:03:05)

September 11, 2022- Water Communion: The Ocean Refuses no River

We are water. 60% give or take, and about as salty as the ocean. So at least metaphorically, each of us is a body of water. When we gather in community, it is as if each of us is a drop in a larger body of water, held by the vessel that is our church. Our Water Communion and in-gathering service invites us to experience the truth of our interconnection through ritual, word, and song.

 

Singing Together- Love Will Guide Us (:30)

Words of Welcome- Rev. Jen Crow (2:36)

Invitation to Give- Lauren Wyeth (10:13)

Silence, Prayer, and Cycle of Life- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (12:45)

Water Communion Ritual - Rev. Arif Mamdani, Rev. Jen Crow, Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout (21:42)

Singing Together- For the Earth Forever Turning (44:42)

Benediction- Rev. Arif Mamdani (47:02)

 

piano- Franco Holder