11-17-2024 Order of Service

Looking at Prayer with Fresh Eyes

Sunday, November 17, 2024, 10:25 am

Online on Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/738363620
Passcode: BUF

Zoom by phone, for audio only: (346) 248-7799
Meeting ID: 738 363 620
Passcode: 306220

May the light around us guide our footsteps
and hold us fast to the best and most righteous that we seek
 May the darkness around us nurture our dreams
and give us rest so that we may give ourselves to the work of our world.
Let us seek to remember the wholeness of our lives,
The weaving of light and shadow in this great and astonishing dance in
which we move.


Gathering Music

Welcome                                Rev Paul Beckel

Prelude                                   O Lord Hear My Prayer

Ben Workman Smith, cello

Chalice Lighting                    Tom Nicholas

Covenant

Singing Together                   #389, Gathered Here

Children’s Focus                   Old Turtle, by Douglas Wood

Children’s Blessing               We hold you in our love…

Announcements

Reflections, part 1                 On poetry and prayer; Tom Nicholas

Reflection, part 2                   On photography and prayer; Alan Friedlob

Interlude

Milestones

Anti-Oppression Moment     Transgender Day of Remembrance, Constance Ohana

Offertory

Singing Together                   #352, Find A Stillness

Circle Round

 

For the Unknown Enemy, by William Stafford
This monument is for the unknown
Good in our enemies. Like a picture
Their life began to appear: they
Gathered at home in the evening

And sang. Above their fields they saw
A new sky. A holiday came
And they carried the baby to the park
For a party. Sunlight surrounded them.
Here we glimpse what our minds long turned
Away from. The great mutual
Blindness darkened that sunlight in the park,
And the sky that was new, and the holidays.
This monument says that one afternoon
We stood here letting a part of our minds
Escape. They came back, but different.
Enemy: one day we glimpsed your life.
This monument is for you.


Afterward

If you’re with us on Zoom today, please stay after the service for our online coffee hour. If you’re here in person, please join us downstairs for coffee and conversation. Visitors: you may wish to use a red cup — then we’ll know you’re open to a bit of orientation.

If you’re new, we’d be grateful to have you provide us with contact information so we can let you know what’s happening here. There are buff-colored visitor contact cards in the pew racks, and in the entryway, that you can drop in the collection basket. Or provide your contact information HERE. 


Contributions payable to “BUF” may be sent to:
1207 Ellsworth Street, Bellingham 98225

For info about donating online (credit card or PayPal), by automatic bank transfer, or via phone apps, see the “give” button in the upper right-hand corner at buf.org or contact the office: (360) 733-3837 / admin@buf.org