Sunday Community Services
Sunday morning at St. John's is an exciting time! Each week we gather to celebrate community, share our joys and sorrows with one another, sing together, and hear meaningful messages from the pulpit and inspiring music from the choir.
While each week's service is unique and centered around a specific spiritual theme, there are some things that you can expect on most Sundays. These include:
Lighting the Chalice: The Flaming Chalice is the most widely used Unitarian Universalist symbol and its lighting is a signal to convene the service. At St. John's, a different family from our congregation lights the chalice each week and offers a short reading.
Hymns: Singing is a joyous form of expression. Blending our voices together reminds us that we are not alone. We sing to awaken our spiritual life and energy. Each service usually includes an Opening Hymn and a Closing Hymn.
Children's Time: During many Sunday services, our children and youth join their families in the sanctuary for the first part of the Community Service. On these Sundays, Rev. Carpenter or another service leader will ask the children to come forward and will share a short story with them. Following the story, the congregation sings a special song and the children leave the sanctuary to go to their Religious Exploration classes.
Sharing Our Joys and Sorrows: Members, friends and visitors are invited to come forward and share joys and sorrows that have touched them in the past week and to ask for the thoughts and prayers of the congregation during what we call "The Wheel of Life."
Meditation: We take a few moments during each service to be silent together. There is often a spoken meditation or a musical meditation as well during the service.
Readings: As Unitarian Universalists, we believe truth and meaning can be found in all the world's religious traditions and in the writings of all peoples. This belief is reflected in the great diversity of readings that are presented from week to week during our Sunday services.
Choral Anthem: St. John's is well known for its excellent music program. Our choir regularly offers inspiration musical selections during our services.
Sermon: The sermon is the centerpiece of the service. Rev. Carpenter most often delivers the sermon. There are also services where members of the congregation or guest speakers offer a sermon.
Sunday Community Services at St. John's begin at 11:00am (10:30am in summer months).
For a list of upcoming service themes, please go to our home page.