Meditation

We join together now in a time of meditation or prayer,

spoken at first and then for a time in the peace that silence brings.

As we enter into silence we remember the many connections

that sustain and uplift us through this religious community.

We remember those who preceded us, whose contributions built a free faith,

who built this home for its practice.

We remember those around us, whose continuing care in thought and deed

is an ongoing blessing in our lives, keeping the dream of free religion alive in our time.

We remember those who will follow us, the children presently in our care

and those not yet come to light, who will inherit the work of our hands and hearts.

In the silence now, we sit surrounded by these many connections,

visible and invisible, that remind us every day that we are not alone.

(Silent meditation)

Peace be with us, and with all under the sun.

Source: Meditation by Wayne Amason. 1997 UUMA Worship Materials Collection.

* * * * * * *

If this is our first Sunday worshipping in this community,

Welcome

If you have worshipped with this community before,

Welcome

If you are a founding member of this community,

Welcome

If you are a friend and supporter of this community,

Welcome

Welcome,

Whoever you are,

Grateful that you are here…

Because of you, this community is becoming…

Thank you.

A place where the message of love and

acceptance is widespread…

This is who we are.

This is what we practice radical love,

radical acceptance.

We gathered at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront,

Georgia, just over 170 Development Officers,

Alumni/ae Relations Directors, and seminary Vice President’s,

Gathered to share and learn one thing.

How can they do it?

How can they become awesome stewards?

How can they ensure the future of the church through

Attending to theological education?

How can they increase enrollment,

How can they raise more money to support theological education?

All with one purpose…maintaining strong, healthy

Churches, ready and willing to live their good news in the world.

We gathered ready to learn to secrets,

Gathered interested in the strategies.

From the most conservative schools

To the most progressive, we came and the message,

Workshop after workshop,

Speaker after speaker,

Came down to this:

Ask for what you need.

Be willing to tell your institution’s story,

Your community’s story

That’s all there is.

I was thrilled to re-discover that ours is the story

Of radical love and radical acceptance,

Cause there couldn’t be a more joy-filled,

Delightful, abundant kind of story to tell!

It’s the story of a few people who,

Believing in the power of

inclusiveness, deep care, political and social awareness,

People who were seeking a home to laugh and cry together in,

Woke up and did something to create a place

To hold and honor these things.

It’s a story of a few people who

came together and made the bold decision to

Create a progressive religious community

In Loveland CO – a story of a people who crafted big dreams

And had the faith

“to be a loving religious community

that welcomes diversity

and supports spiritual growth in the principles of Unitarian Universalism.”

It’s a story of courage,

Of outrageous vision,

And it’s a story not yet finished.

It’s a prophetic challenge this story that we live, ever unfolding,

A prophetic challenge to stay on the course we’ve set

For ourselves,

To be a loving religious community

That welcomes diversity,

That practices radical acceptance and growth,

A story that invites us to keep on creating big visions,

Dream big dreams that we commit to living into.

So much depends on it.

We come creating a story of compassion.

We come creating a story of struggle.

We come creating a story of life.

We come creating a story of hospitality.

That is why we come.

We come to realize the vision of community,

Of religious community,

Of abundant community,

Of a community that will transform us

As we transform the world around us.

That is why we come.

We come “…to find a home in each other’s hearts and souls”

To belong,

To affirm and be affirmed,

To “move toward unity and union with others.”

This is why we come.

We come to risk loving,

To risk being loved,

To find our deepest potential,

To recognize where and how our deepest gladness

Touches, embraces, transforms the world’s greatest need

This is why we come.

We come to celebrate,

To tell the ever unfolding story of a small group of people

Who continue to invite the affirming power of sharing

the good news of the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

A small group of people who trust that in a world with so much

Tyranny and oppression,

We can affirm the right of conscience, and the goal

Of world community with peace, liberty and justice

For all beings.

We come to be at least part of the response to a world

With so many persons systemically neglected and abused.

This is why we come together in community,

In religious community,

In religious community seeking to practice radical love,

Radical acceptance – it is an outrageous vision.

…one worth our time,

Our talent,

Our treasure.

One worth our complete willingness to be in covenant together

As stewards of a sacred dream.

This is why we come together,

Because we are called to something deeper and wider

That asks of us that we give of our hearts and souls.

This is why we come together.

This – look around you – is why we come together.

Moving toward unity and union,

Transforming each other, one act of compassion at a time.

Let ours be a story of a small group of people

Who – touched by the fire of a great vision,

Who captured by the power of a realizable dream –

Reached out,

Offered their resources to affirm their shared values,

Matched their deepest gladness to world’s great need.

Let ours be a story of a small group of people

Who, upon hearing the community’s need.

The community’s need

For leaders who will work diligently on behalf of

religious acceptance,

Civil rights,

Temporary and eventually permanent

Housing for those in need,

Nutrition, clean parks, assisting the non-profit organizations,

Right here in the Loveland community with our collected dollars.

Let ours be a story of a small group of people who

said Yes and Yes and Yes again

to being an Uncommon Denomination grounded in

the desire to act with great risk and be – truly be – awesome

stewards of the past, future, present,

in the legacy and continued creation of a religious

community ready to practice radical love and acceptance.

An outrageous vision

that requires the very best of you.

An outrageous vision that invites you to keep on

Crafting an incredible story of abundance, delight, joy.

Invites you to keep on living your good news, this community’s

Good news in ways that transform.