Extinguishing the Chalice 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. Elizabeth Selle Jones
Benediction
Postlude Grateful: A Love Song to the World Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod
Next Sunday, Feb. 16 – The Ball and the Box – Rev. Connie Simon is preaching. At some time or another, we all experience loss and grief in our lives – grief over the loss of a loved one, a job or relationship, or our own health. It’s painful and overwhelming and sometimes we feel like we can’t breathe. What do we do when we just can’t seem to “get over” our grief and move on with our lives? All are invited to stay after service for a Congregational Conversation regarding healing with Rev. Connie and the Board.
Sunday Morning Volunteer Program (MVP) Team Two is handling the duties of greeting, ushering, providing coffee service and clean-up today. Team Two is led by Katie Campbell. She is joined by Jean and Joe Rohling, Lisa and Brett Davis Roberts, Becky Algenio, Jane Hopson, Ellen Wathen, Ray Sinclair and Debbie Davidson.
Assistive Listening Devices for people needing hearing enhancement are available at the rear of the sanctuary.
All are invited to write their Joys and Sorrows in the book at the back of the sanctuary.
First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati 536 Linton Street * Cincinnati, Ohio 45219 (513) 281-1564 * www.firstuu.com
Rev. Connie Simon, Minister [email protected]
First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati
Every Kind of Love February 9, 2020 Rev. Connie Simon Jera Cox, Director of Music Meredith Plummer, Director of Lifespan Faith Development
Every Kind of Love February 9, 2020 Rev. Connie Simon Jera Cox, Director of Music Meredith Plummer, Director of Lifespan Faith Development Worship Associate: Patty Kelly
Welcome and Announcements
Prelude Rainbowland Miley Cyrus featuring Dolly Parton
Chalice Lighting
Vision Song We are a liberal religious haven, welcoming wonder, and spiritually free. We’re sustained by a loving tradition, moved and inspired by the future we see. Boldly seeking and working for justice, gently transforming lives through deeds great and small. Young and old, sharing meaning and mission, we joyfully offer our vision to all! Shelley Jackson Denham
Greeting One Another
Story for All Ages And Tango Makes Three Justin Richardson, adapted
Singing the Children Out #118 This Little Light of Mine
Sharing of Joys and Sorrows
Concerns of the Larger Community
Ritual
Meditation
Meditation Response There is a Love Words by Rev. Rebecca Parker, Music by Elizabeth Norton There is a love holding me. There is a love holding all that I love. There is a love holding all. I rest in this love.
There is a love holding us. There is a love holding all that we love. There is a love holding all. We rest in this love.
Poem Making Love Ken Nye
Music Something in the Way She Moves James Taylor
Offering
Offertory Love Yourself Sufjan Stevens
Poem Love is Love LosingMyPride
Homily Every Kind of Love
Music All You Need is Love John Lennon and Paul McCartney Love, love, love; Love, love, love; Love, love, love
There's nothing you can do that can't be done, Nothing you can sing that can't be sung Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game. It's easy.
Nothing you can make that can't be made. No one you can save that can't be saved Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time. It's easy…
All you need is love, All you need is love All you need is love, love, Love is all you need.
Love, love, love; Love, love, love; Love, love, love
All you need is love, All you need is love, All you need is love, love Love is all you need
Nothing you can know that isn't known. Nothing you can see that isn't shown Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be. It's easy…
All you need is love, All you need is love All you need is love, love. Love is all you need
All you need is love (All together, now!) All you need is love (Everybody!) All you need is love, love, Love is all you need …
ESPECIALLY FOR VISITORS
Welcome! We’re happy you’re here today. Stop by the Welcome Counter as you entered the building for a pre-stamped info card to complete at home and mail back– or fill out a card if you have time this morning. We’ll send you our newsletter and information on what’s happening at First Church.
TODAY
Today in Sunday School: your prekindergarten and kindergartner will discover they can do anything if they just keep trying. Your first to third grader will explore the concepts of love and uniqueness. Your fourth and fifth grader will travel to India to hear the Hindu creation story. Your junior high youth will dive deep into a subject TBD. Your youth in senior high will kick off their two-month unit on race.
Today’s Family Faith Development Volunteers: VIP – Clancy Avila Lewis; Infant/Toddler – Jenny Krueger; PreK and K – Kate Wells: First to Third – Kari Morehouse and Scott Kelly; Fourth and Fifth – Kara Uhl and Danielle Sickmiller; Junior High – Jan Connelly; Senior High – Phillip Schaefer and Allison Erwin.
Thank you to everyone who donated items and/or bought things in the auction! We are tallying results and will be sending out your bills by email early this week. Look for an email coming from Community Auctions. (Check you spam folder if you don’t receive it.) You can pay after the service for the next three Sundays. For the first time we are accepting payment by check, in cash or by credit card. If you want to pay by credit card you need to set up your church Breeze account ahead of time. If you need help, contact Susan West in the office at [email protected] or 513.281.1564.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Sun., Feb. 16, 11:25 to 11:55 a.m. in Room 207 – The Youth Choir for youth from sixth grade to 12th grade will meet. No registration is necessary and childcare for younger siblings will not be provided.
Save the Date: 2020 First UU Women’s Retreat on May 15, 16 and 17 at a quiet and peaceful location near Glendale. It is a time for reflection, introspection and sharing. Please plan on joining us for “Renewal”! More details coming soon.
The collection of items for the Shiloh Food Pantry is continuous. Consider bringing in non-perishable food items, paper products and personal hygiene items. Just drop them in the bin when you come to church.
NEWS FROM OPENING HEARTS
AIM (Accessibility and Inclusion Team) Tip of the Month: When you encounter an individual who appears to need help, ask "May I assist you?" Don't assume they need (or want) help. Listen for their response. Speak directly to the person and not through an intermediary. Use a natural conversational volume and tone.
Large Print Orders of Service are available. Please see an usher.
Every Kind of Love Service Notes February 9, 2020
Prelude: Rainbowland by Miley Cyrus featuring Dolly Parton Cyrus says about this song, “if all of us are so different and we all look so different and different shades of humanity, what a rainbow we could really be and live in that land and celebrate it." She added later, "it's about all these different races and genders and religions. [It would be great] if we all did come together to create and said, 'Hey, we're different, that's awesome, let's not change to be the same, let's stay different but let's come together anyway.' Because a rainbow's not a rainbow without all the different colors." Dolly Parton, who considers Cyrus a goddaughter, says the message of the song is “about if we could love one another a little better or be a little kinder, be a little sweeter, we could live in rainbow land. "It's really just about dreaming and hoping that we could all do better. It's a good song for the times right now."
Story for All Ages: And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell - This children’s book tells the true story of three Chinstrap penguins – Roy, Solo, and their adopted daughter, Tango. According to the New York Public Library Banned Books blog, “Tango challenged some Americans' ideas and assumptions about homosexuality, age-appropriateness of the material, and raised the thorny question about what makes a family. Since its publication by Simon and Shuster in 2005, And Tango Makes Three …topped the ALA's 10 Most Challenged Books List between 2006 and 2010.” Read more about the efforts of librarians to make this book available to young readers at https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/09/23/banned-books-week-and- tango-makes-three.
Singing the Children Out: Hymn #118 – This Little Light of Mine - This is an African American spiritual (ca. 1750-1875). In spirt of the atrocities of slavery, African Americans developed a strong spiritual tradition that included dance, song and religion. This tune was named for Louis Lattimer (1848-1928) who was an inventor, patent expert, draftsperson, engineer, author poet and musician. He was a founding member of the Unitarian Church of
Flushing, New York. The son of a runaway slave, he worked on the electric light bulb with Thomas Edison, and with Alexander Graham Bell to create the drawings that helped secure the patent for the first telephone. Between the Lines, Skinner House Books, 1995.
Meditation Response Song: There is a Love by Rebecca Parker and Elizabeth Norton - There is a Love is Elizabeth Norton's setting of a meditation written by Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker. The four-part round grew out of Norton's own meditation on Parker's words. The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker is a theologian who served as president of the Unitarian Universalist Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California, from 1999 to 2014.
Poem: Making Love by Ken Nye - Ken Nye (b. 1942) describes his life as an “idyllic, fairy tale life that probably makes some people sick.” According to his PoemHunter biography, “I retired from 42 years in the field of public education, first as a high school English teacher, then as a high school principal (for 23 of those 42 years) and finishing up my career with 12 years as a university professor of educational leadership. I loved what I did, but I was ready to retire. Four years ago, I started writing poetry. I began with a poem for my wife, Ann, my life partner for 45 years. We are quite close, have known each other since we were twelve, were high school sweethearts, yadda, yadda, and are still in love. For the most part, my poetry is very personal. I write from my own experience, about my own relationships, do some philosophizing, express some disappointments, but am generally pretty up-beat about life and the world around us. I have Parkinson's disease (been diagnosed 11 years) which is beginning to complicate our lives, but we are working around it. … I am a lover of the natural world, have lived my adult life in Maine and taken advantage of all Maine has to offer in terms of outdoor recreation and spirit building. My poetry is about my life, the people around me and the beautiful and wondrous natural world that surrounds us here in Maine.” https://www.poemhunter.com/ken-nye/biography/
Music: Something in the Way She Moves by James Taylor This song written by James Taylor appeared on his 1968 debut album for Apple Records. The opening line inspired George Harrison to write the #1 Beatles' song Something. Rolling Stone critic Jon Landau
wrote that Something in the Way She Moves “is concerned with transcendence of a sort and is done without accompaniment. … Taylor’s restrained delivery contributes to the power of his presentation. He lets the melody, lyric, guitar, and voice speak for themselves. He doesn’t hit you up with anything that isn’t absolutely necessary to get the song across.” https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/james- taylor-188231/
Music: Love Yourself by Sufjan Stevens - Sufjan Stevens is a singer-songwriter living in New York City. Stevens released Love Yourself in celebration of Pride Month 2019. It is based on a sketch Sufjan wrote 20 years ago. A portion of the proceeds from this project supported two organizations that offer help for LGBTQ+ homeless kids in America—the Ali Forney Center in Harlem, NY, and the Ruth Ellis Center in Detroit, MI. https://music.sufjan.com/album/love-yourself-with-my-whole-heart
Poem: Love is Love by LosingMyPride - LosingMyPride posted this poem and several as part of the Power Poetry project. According to its website, “Power Poetry is the world’s first and largest mobile poetry community for youth. It is a one-of-a-kind place where you can be heard. Power Poetry isn’t just about poetry: it’s about finding your voice and using it to change the world!” The site’s slogan is “if you don’t learn to write your own life story, some else will write it for you.” https://www.powerpoetry.org/poet/LosingMyPride/poems
Music: All You Need Is Love by John Lennon and Paul McCartney - All You Need Is Love was written by John Lennon especially for Our World, the world’s first televised satellite link-up between 25 countries worldwide. Its message perfectly encapsulated the optimistic mood of the Summer of Love, with a simplicity perfectly judged for their global audience. https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/all-you-need-is-love/
Extinguishing the Chalice – Elizabeth May Selle Jones The words we use to extinguish our chalice each week were written by Elizabeth May Selle Jones (1926 – 2006). In addition to serving the Livermore Unitarian Fellowship, Rev. Dr. Jones helped to found
the Open Heart Kitchen, the largest hot meal program in the Tri- Valley Area of Northern California. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?n=elizabet h-may-selle-jones&pid=17418052; https://www.openheartkitchen.org/
Postlude: Grateful: A Love Song to the World by Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod - One Community writes that “musicians Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod brought together dozens of people from around the globe to create Grateful: A Love Song to the World. This beautiful, heart-opening melody is a part of our contribution to the Conscious Music Movement to share the most uplifting songs to live, love, and expand with. The goal of this inspirational music project is to share songs that increase happiness and conscious awareness through the most uplifting music, positive lyrics, and high vibration songs we can find!” https://www.onecommunityglobal.org/beautiful-heart-opening- music-grateful-a-love-song-to-the-world-video-and-lyrics/