We will be having a warned congregational meeting immediately following worship this Sunday for our final vote in our Open and Affirming process.  We need as much as possible to act from our truest, most Spirit-connected self and show one another Christ-like love and compassion as we make this decision that will shape the future of the congregation. The service will be designed to help us do that.  It will give us the opportunity to open wide to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to remember who we have been as a congregation at our best in the past and what we feel God is calling us to be and do in our time.

We will surround ourselves with the comfort and inspiration of words and music, some from the Judeo-Christian tradition and some from this particular congregation’s tradition.  We will read the 23rd Psalm (King James Version) and a gospel passage about Jesus healing a blind man on the Sabbath and causing controversy by his act of lovingkindness (John 9:1-17, 28-41).  We will read our general Covenant and our Communication Guidelines, and be reminded of our Identity and Aspiration Statement and the iconic poem about our church, The Lighted Window.

We will sing “Christian, Rise and Act Thy Creed,” “Won’t You Let Me Be Your Servant” and “They’ll Know We Are Christians.”  The choir will sing a verse of a Pilgrim Hymnal hymn by John Greenleaf Whittier as the Introit, “O Brother Man, Fold to Thy Heart.”   Their Anthem will be “Lord, for Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake,” by Richard Farrant.  Organist John Atwood will play pieces by J. Pachelbel and JKF Fischer.