Worship Schedule

Ingathering Chimes

Prelude: Improvisation on “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”

Welcome and Announcements: Jeanette Moreau, Nominating Committee

Chalice Lighting: Leslie Koresky

Call to Worship: Prayer of Storytelling    – Dolores, LFFD

Hymn #1014 in Singing the Journey (updated): “Answering the Call of Love”
(Jason Shelton changed the chorus to make the hymn more inclusive)

“We are answering the call of love;
Hands joined together as hearts beat as one.
Emboldened by faith, we dare to proclaim
We are answering the call of love.”

First Parish of Chelmsford Covenant Led by Kevin Snow and Henry Spero, LFFA

We, the members of First Parish of Chelmsford, covenant together to sustain and strengthen our beloved community by:

Honoring and celebrating the Spirit of Life
Nurturing all souls in our search for truth and the sacred
Caring and being present to one another in our joys and sorrows
Bearing witness through service to justice and peace
And being good stewards of our congregation, our heritage, our Unitarian Universalist principles, and our Earth.

Unitarian Universalist Association Covenant of Congregations (adopted June 2024)

As Unitarian Universalists, we covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our Association, to support and assist one another in our ministries. We draw from our heritages of freedom, reason, hope, and courage, building on the foundation of love.

Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love. Inseparable from one another, these shared values are:

Interdependence; Pluralism; Justice; Transformation; Generosity; Equity.

Offertory: Joan Coyne, Worship Committee

For All Ages: FPCC Stone Soup Stories

Hymn #128 in Singing the Living Tradition: “For All that is Our Life”

Joys and Sorrows: Erin Clifford, Pastoral Care and Service Team

A Time for Meditation and Prayer

Congregational Response #123 in Singing The Living Tradition: “Spirit of Life”

Benediction & Extinguishing the Chalice: Great Story Prayer – Bob Janis Dillon, Unison/Dolores, LFFD

Eternal spirit of life and love,
We come together in your presence today,
Grateful to be a part of the great story.
What a magnificent story it is! From the whirling of the stars,
To the evolution of humanity,
From the achievements of nations,
To family life around the table,
There is much in our world to astound us,
Disturb us, and bring us peace.

We are part of a story much too large and complicated
For us to fully understand. We appreciate that,
But we also know that you have given us reason to know our portion.
We have within us a great striving for fairness,
A thirst for justice. We feel it in our bones when something is wrong,
And we have lodged in our memory, the dream of the right.
We don’t know how this story will end –
Though we live aware that our own individual story will end.
But we know we have a chance.

Into this great story, into this great tapestry
Of natural beauty and human endeavour,
We can weave in threads of good deeds.
Help us, oh spirit, to move this story along,
And to jolt it, every day, towards love, AMEN

Postlude: Improvisation on “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit”