Worship - First Unitarian Church of Chicago

Worship

We welcome you to our Sunday Services at 10:00 a.m. throughout the year, services which express our values of inclusivity and radical hospitality.

We are a thinking and feeling congregation and our worship stretches our minds and touches our hearts. We are a congregation of all ages with growing numbers of young families. We are multicultural and multiracial and our worship life expresses the rich diversity of our congregation.

In our weekly Sunday morning worship we celebrate life, seek truth and meaning, build community, offer comfort in times of sorrow, and challenge each other to live our deepest, highest values in everyday life. With inspiring, sometimes meditative, sometimes joyful music, we fill our spirits and strengthen our courage.

Our Worship leaders include our senior minister, director of religious education, many guest ministers, our music director and choir, and may lay leaders spanning the ages from youth through young adults to older adults. Our worship leaders collaborate to create services that flow through words and music, rich sound and color, story, rituals and silence. Our choir’s music is very diverse, reflecting our multicultural sensibilities, and the music draws us into meditation or lifts us up in thanksgiving for life. Each service also includes times of meditation and prayer.

Our children are with us for the first part of every service before we sing them to the religious education programs, and we have from 6 to 8 completely multigenerational services throughout the year, including our Water Ceremony after Labor Day, United Nations Sunday with the Chicago Children’s Choir, Thanksgiving, Holiday Sunday in December, Kwanzaa, Easter, Religious Education Sunday and Flower Communion Sunday in June.

Sunday, July 27 - The Everything Seed

Katie Norris

Many Unitarian Universalists find thier spirituality and the divine in nature. What are some of the theological perspectives that can help us delve deeper in to religion and nature? What sort of ethics do these beliefs call us to?

Katie Norris is a third year seminary student at Meadville Lombard Theological School and the minmisterial intern at Second Unitarian Church of Chicago.

Sunday, July 20 - On Religion and Politics: 2008 --you choose?

Tim Barger

Every election year, questions arise about religion and politics, separation of church and state, and influence of particular faiths on issues and candidates. This sermon addresses those questions by looking at what the laws say, by considering the words of progressive people of faith in light of the fading of fundamentalist piety in government, and by acknowledging that humanists need a voice in the church/state debate. How can religious liberals be present and make their spiritual and moral values heard in the midst of a political campaign?

Tim Barger is about to begin his third year at Meadville Lombard by serving as ministerial intern at First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis. His home congregation is First Unitarian in Brooklyn, New York. Tim is also a student at The Humanist Institute. He is a member of the UUA Melcher Book Award committee and is managing editor of The Journal of Liberal Religion. Tim plans to graduate with an M.Div. in May 2009.

Sunday, July 13 - The Second Time Around

Cindy Pardo

Sometimes in life we get a second, or even a third chance to get things right. From the perspective of her second time as church President, Cindy will look at some differences in her experience "the second time around" and see if they might apply to life in general. Do we really become wiser as we get older? Or do we learn to see things a little differently? What does society think about the value of its experienced older members? Can we find a use for the insights gained through living a longer time?

Cindy Pardo has just finished her second term as President of our congregation. She has been an active member here for nearly sixteen years, chairing a number of committees, participating in many fund-raising activities, and singing in the choir. During this last year she also opened a Fair Trade retail store with two "experienced" partners who are members of our congregation as well.

Sunday, July 6 - Broken Do Not Open

Erin Gingrich

In a religion that emphasizes right relationship, what can we learn from our personal hearts that we can apply to our national hurts? As part of the Unitarian Universalist commitment to study peacemaking, we will explore in worship our hearts and our history in order to become better peacemakers.

Erin Gingrich has just completed her second year at Meadville Lombard. She is a candidate for the UU ministry and will begin an internship at the First Unitarian Church in Rochester, NY, in mid-August.

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