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Worship

Worship services take place each week at 11:00 AM in our Sanctuary and on Zoom.

Visit our Upcoming Services page to learn about this week’s and the upcoming Sunday Service sermon themes and titles. 

 

Sunday mornings are when First Unitarian Church gathers together, in person and online, to honor that which is most meaningful in our lives. Through moving music and stories, sermons from our Ministers or a guest preacher, prayers, poetry, and silence, our worship services invite us to rejoice and grieve, connect to our own worth and bring love and justice into the world. Each week, all kinds of people – seekers and believers, atheists and agnostics, people of all races, abilities, ages, sexual orientations, immigration statuses, and gender expressions, gather to worship and celebrate the gifts of life.

What to expect on Sunday Mornings – in person

Our congregation welcomes you to “come as you are” – people will be wearing everything from jeans to suits to, in the case of some of our kids, superhero costumes!

Greeters will welcome you on the front porch or side door on Van Pelt street (where our ramp is) and offer you an Order of Service. Visitors and newcomers are invited to put on a nametag and fill out a connect card, if they would like to learn more about the congregation. Our Sanctuary and first floor are wheelchair accessible. We have a Hearing Loop, which is picked up by hearing aids and helps those with hearing impairment enjoy the services and music better.

Then, just find a place to sit and enjoy the service! Our services include hymns, prayer and meditation, a sermon from our Ministers or guest preacher, music from our choirs, ensembles, or solo musicians, reflection from a member of our community, and a time to greet those around us.

After the Service, everyone is invited into our Parish Room to enjoy coffee and snacks and to get to know one another.

 

What to expect on Sunday Mornings – online

Grab a cup of coffee or tea, your family and pets, and login to zoom (Here are instructions), ideally a few minutes before 11AM. Our virtual ushers will bring you in from the waiting room and you can enjoy a slideshow of images from congregants’ lives that week and music until the service begins. Our services are mostly live streamed from our sanctuary, where the worship leadership team can see the faces of virtual participants who have their cameras on, and interact with the virtual congregation over the meeting chat. We occasionally have virtual leadership for some parts of our services as well! 

Many of our virtual attendees like to light a candle or chalice from home and sing along with the hymns like the rest of the congregation. Our services also include a sermon from our Ministers or guest preacher, music from our choirs, ensembles, or solo musicians, and a reflection from a member of our community. During the “welcome and greeting” and “prayers of our hearts” times in the service, you will be invited to type into the chat to share your own greetings and prayers with each other. The chat is also helpful for asking tech questions, but if you find it distracting, just close the chat window! For closed captioning, click on the CC button and select your options.

 

Following the service, we invite you to stay in the zoom room, where participants will be sent into smaller “breakout rooms” for a virtual coffee hour and chance to chat with each other for around 15 minutes. Be sure to fill out a virtual connect card so we can be in contact after the service!

Children & Youth:

Children are a vital part of our community and we want families to feel welcome each and every Sunday, in whatever capacity you can come! We always have a “Wiggle Zone” in the back of the Sanctuary, where babies and toddlers can move around and caregivers can still appreciate worship. We also have a staffed nursery on the third floor for infants and toddlers.

 

For kids ages 5 and up, we have Religious Education. Kids will sometimes start out in the Sanctuary and then depart after our Time for All Ages (a multigenerational moment of storytelling or conversation). Sometimes kids start in our chapel, for Children’s Chapel, led by Rev. Hannah. Please refer to your Order of Service for where your kiddo should begin their Sundays. In our “Wiggle Zone” there’s also some quiet and engaging fidget toys for older kids who would like to hang there for the duration of worship.