Coffee Hour

Peg Duthie says:

Not seeing it (using Safari). Is it up yet?

Chris Walton says:

Don't know why it didn't show up until just now, but (at least on my screen) it's finally a working poll.

ChaliceChick says:

When Katy-The-Wise was visiting for the wedding, she told me she once did an "apple communion" where she told the story of Adam and Eve and talked about how in biting the apple and taking knowledge for humanity, Eve did a courageous thing and made humans who we are.

Then she passed around peices of apple so everyone could bite the apple and share the responsibility with Eve.

I thought that was really cool.

CC

Jeff Wilson says:

Yeah, that apple communion does sound cool. I voted for Christmas pageant, since my home church has been doing a great one at least since I was a little kid. I was always a shepard (we had stuffed sheep, which inevitably became missles or clubs for using against our fellow shepards), while the girls were stars. In high school and college I helped run the tech part of show--for instance, we had a very advanced lighting technique where we'd aim the spotlights at the ceiling fans, making light skip about the room when the stars were doing their dance. Laser Pink Floyd, eat your heart out.

I also like water and flower communions, and lighting the chalice. If you grew up going to UU youth groups you probably know about the game wink, which is practically a ritual unto itself at this point.

Jason says:

I'm allergic to apples. Nonetheless, it's an intriguing idea.

Personally, I'm rather fond of the chalice lighting. I wish UU's would stop trying to define and analyze its meaning, though. Yes, there's a story, and it's a good one for us to know. But the lighting of a ritual lamp/candle is an ancient and common act found in most cultures and religious traditions in some form or another. The symbol didn't always mean the same thing in each tradition, but good symbols have a way of transcending the particular and becoming universal. When we light a chalice, each person in the room has the opportunity to discern the meaning of the ritual for themselves. In fact, I would say that the less we try to define it, the more "UU" the ritual becomes.

chutney says:

What's a service of the living tradition?

Chris Walton says:

The Service of the Living Tradition was (until last year) the big to-do at the annual General Assembly — the largest, most formal worship service in UUdom. (It's the professional ministry's celebration of the professional ministry, and honors newly fellowshiped clergy, retiring clergy, and deceased clergy.) Last year, it was moved from its Sunday-morning slot to Friday evening to make room for a new "seeker service" on Sunday morning.

The other UU ceremony that has gained some traction at GA in recent years in the "Bridging Ceremony" introduced in 1995 (or maybe '94?) honoring young people who are moving on from the YRUU youth movement into young adulthood.

Peg Duthie says:

What's "the game wink," Jeff?

One of the niftier wedding rituals I encountered this year was at our youth coordinator's ceremony -- she and her partner wanted everyone in the congregation to bless the rings before they put them on, so the rings were handed from person to person in a little basket, and each person touched the rings and said their own private blessing over them. For me, what was really neat was watching people's faces as they did so, and how some of the couples/families joined hands over the rings -- glimpses of love made visible.

As for the poll, I ended up clicking "other" -- but I'm being picky in doing so, because it occurred to me that the point of the service that really hits me emotionally is the chalice extinguishing -- or, to be more exact, the words always said with it at my church (Elizabeth Selle Jones' "We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community or the fire of commitment. These we carry in our hearts until we are together again"). I love how that moment both reinforces the sense of community -- everyone at my church recognizes those words. When I'm lay leader, I look out at the congregation when I say them, and I can see people smiling back and nodding in affirmation. They've inspired artwork and hymns. I love how the moment bridges the intimacy of worship with the wider world -- its emphasis on how the church and its purpose and its connections are not confined to a single space or icon.

(Sorry, got carried away there. Now you see how blog entries/comments turn into sermons. *sheepish*)

Chris Walton says:

Peg reminds me of my favorite ritual at the First Parish in Concord: At the end of each service, the congregation stands and says the benediction in unison. The benediction (which I have a very modest theological quarrel with, but when don't I have a theological quarrel with something?) goes like this:

Go out into the world in peace. Have courage. Hold on to what is good. Return to no person evil for evil. Strengthen the fainthearted. Support the weak. Help the suffering. Honor all beings.

And then the officiating minister says a one-sentence concluding phrase, plus "Amen," and then the choir sings an "Amen," and then away we go to Coffee Hour.

When I lived in Salt Lake, the South Valley UU Society had a similar benediction moment, spoken by the minister (and also by many people in the congregation) as we all stood in a giant circle holding hands. It was a version of Mark Belletini's benediction.

Over the years, it has struck me that these benedictions often become the sacred text that people hold on to during the week. In Concord, people buy calligraphy versions of the benediction to put on their walls; some people keep a copy in their wallets; the choir has a choral setting; some classes in the church use the benediction as a curriculum model.

At King's Chapel, my favorite ceremony is the Easter Vigil, incorporating music and liturgical features of Eastern Orthodoxy (including St. John Chrysostom's Easter sermon) into the congregation's quirky Anglican-Unitarian tradition. No one else could really pull this service off the way they do it, but I do love it.

Chalicechick says:

I can't tell y'all how delighted I am that people are not voting for "joys and concerns."

Mark Brooks says:

The ceremony I like the best, although not seasonal right now, is the flower communion. We do that each year at Easter in my church.

JoyPople says:

I like the idea of passing around the rings, giving everyone present a chance to add their prayers of blessing for the couple. In the Unification movement, marriages are officiated by a couple, thus one couple offering a blessing to others.

Ann says:

Hello! I stumbled upon this site when searching for jokes for my sermon on Sunday. I see I'm about six months behind on this topic but I wanted to offer up the UU Service of Meaning Through Remembrance....a work in progress.

http://www.unitarianminister.org/service_of_meaning.htm

I am in the process of wrapping up my dissertation and expect quite a few changes to the ritual by the time I am done. This service is intended to get participants to think about sacrifice, separation of church and state and the courage needed to achieve and maintain this ideal.