"Our Worship" by Rev.Thomas Schade

People ask Unitarian Universalists the following question: What holds a congregation together if you don't have a list of things that you agree about?

It's a good question.

What holds us together at the First Unitarian Church of Worcester is the way that we worship together. The people who are here are the ones for whom the way that we worship works. The Sunday morning experience does for them what it is supposed to do: it comforts and challenges, satisfies the emotions and stimulates the intellect. People will choose to worship where the experience helps them grow.

There are a lot of elements that go into a worship experience. Every congregation does it a little differently which makes every church a unique experience.

Here's how we mix and match the elements at First Unitarian Worcester.

1. Our Liturgy is theistic in theology and generally in the Protestant tradition. The overall elements of the service presume that the people there find the concept of "God" to be a serviceable way of talking about what is ultimate and transcending in life. Note what is said and not said in that description. We use a fairly standard Protestant order of service - some introductory rituals, readings, prayers, choral music and hymns and a 15-20 minute sermon.

2. Our Rituals: We have a candle-lighting by a lay person, and a standard call to worship (This is the Day the Lord Has Made; Let us Rejoice and Be Glad in it" (Deuteronomy), congregational recitation of our covenant and a sung doxology, a responsive reading from Songs of the Living Tradition.

3. Our Prayers: We pray in church; in fact, we pray three times. Once, in a Common Prayer which is said together, is composed and changes weekly; once in silent prayers; and once in the Lord's Prayer. The message is that not every prayer has to be perfect. In a community that prays together no single prayer will fit everyone's needs or language preferences. The important thing is that we pray together, respecting the prayers of others.

4. Our Texts: We read either from the Jewish or Christian scriptures each week. We read for spiritual inspiration, reading stories or passages that have an immediate message to all who hear it, whether they are Christian or Jewish or not. We do not read scripture for theological instruction, as though it was the final authority about God. Finally we do not read the Bible to demonstrate that the Bible is the instruction manual for life, or the answer book for life's questions.

We also read from many other sources of wisdom: world religions, modern writing, poetry, philosophy, psychology, popular culture.

5. Our Preaching: Our sermons are humanistic in the highest sense of the word. They are the authentic words of the real people who are our ministers, talking about real issues in real life in real terms. We do teach the intellectual tradition and history of liberal religion; after all, if we don't, who will? But in the end, our sermons are not aimed at educating or informing, but at provoking the listeners to honest self-reflection about the lives they lead.

6. Our music aims at beauty and excellence. The repertoire is broad and ever-expanding as the musicians and singers challenge themselves with new music from new sources.

7. The atmosphere of our worship is comfortable, relaxed, forgiving. We laugh and we cry. We are glad to be together for worship and we enjoy each other's company. It is a warm and welcoming congregation that gathers for worship, but it is not a particularly intimate community. It is a little too big for that.

These are seven defining qualities of the worship at First Unitarian Church of Worcester. Other churches make other choices in how they pray, what they read and what they expect from a sermon. Others seek more or less informality, or more or less intimacy. Those differences are to be expected, and welcomed. No church can be all things to all people.

People have asked me about my vision for the future of our worship service. I am committed to the way that we worship, and to keeping the same mix of qualities that I have listed above. Our worship style is at the heart of who we are, and we should be what we are with confidence and boldness. After all, if we don't, who will?

I believe that many more people, of all ages and backgrounds, would find our worship service to be an inspiration in their lives. Our unmet challenge is to invite them to come.