Skagit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
October 11, 2020
Speaker: Rev. Bruce Bode
Celebrant: Kathy Roche-Zujko
Music for Reflection/Chime
Chalice Lighting
We light this chalice to remind ourselves to treat all people kindly,
because they are our brothers and sisters,
To take good care of the earth, because it is our home,
and to try to live lives filled with goodness and love,
because that is how we will become the best BEINGS we can be.
Greeting and Congregational News/Introduction of Speaker
Opening Words
Opening Song “Gather the Spirit” by Jim Scott; performed by Alena Hemmingway and Mike Menefee of Kitsap UU Fellowship, Bremerton
Sharing of Joys and Sorrows
Reading “Poem” by Mary Oliver
The spirit
likes to dress up like this:
ten fingers,
ten toes,
shoulders, and all the rest
at night
in the black branches,
in the morning
in the blue branches
of the world.
It could float, of course,
but would rather
plumb rough matter.
Airy and shapeless thing,
it needs
the metaphor of the body,
lime and appetite,
the oceanic fluids;
it needs the body's world,
instinct
and imagination
and the dark hug of time,
sweetness
and tangibility,
to be understood,
to be more than pure light
that burns
where no one is –
so it enters us –
in the morning
shines from brute comfort
like a stitch of lightning;
and at night
lights up the deep and wondrous
drownings of the body
like a star.
(Mary Oliver, “Poem,” from Dream Work)
Musical Interlude – “Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum (with images)
When I die and they lay me to rest
Gonna go to the place that's the best
When I lay me down to die
Goin' up to the spirit in the sky
Goin' up to the spirit in the sky
That's where I'm gonna go when I die
When I die and they lay me to rest
Gonna go to the place that's the best
Prepare yourself you know it's a must
Gotta have a friend in Jesus
So you know that when you die
He's gonna recommend you
To the spirit in the sky
Gonna recommend you
To the spirit in the sky
That's where you're gonna go when you die
When you die and they lay you to rest
You're gonna go to the place that's the best
Never been a sinner I never sinned
I got a friend in Jesus
So you know that when I die
He's gonna set me up with
The spirit in the sky
Oh set me up with the spirit in the sky
That's where I'm gonna go when I die
When I die and they lay me to rest
I'm gonna go to the place that's the best
Go to the place that's the best
Sermon “What Is ‘Spirit’?”
Closing Song Spirit of Life – performed by Virtual Choir of All Souls Church Unitarian, Washington DC, directed by Jen Hayman (in Spanish and English)
Fuente de amor, ven hacia mi
Y al corazon cantale tu compassion
Sopla al volar, sube en la mar
Hasta moldear la justicia de la vida
Arraigame, liberame
Fuente de amor, ven a mi, ven a mi
Spirit of life, come unto me
Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea
Move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice
Roots hold me close, wings set me free
Spirit of life, come to me, come to me.
Closing Words
Extinguishing the Chalice
We extinguish this flame,
But not the Light of Truth,
The Warmth of Community,
The Fire of Commitment,
Or the Power of Transformation;
These we carry in our hearts
Until we are together again.
Circle Song with Kathy
From you I receive, to you I give,
together we share, and from this we live
