By Colleen Appel

Our October theme of Cultivating Relationship invites us to consider who we want to become as a church community.
How do we live our UU values, starting with one another?
What promises do we need to make to one another?

Parable of the Spoons – A Story and Song by Lea Morris – Introduction by AJ Fox

The opening words are The Task of the Religious Community, by Rev Mark Morrison-Reed.

The central task of the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. There is a connectedness, a relationship discovered amid the particulars of our own lives and the lives of others. Once felt, it inspires us to act for justice.

It is the church that assures us that we are not struggling for justice on our own, but as members of a larger community. The religious community is essential, for alone our vision is too narrow to see all that must be seen, and our strength too limited to do all that must be done. Together, our vision widens and our strength is renewed.

Prelude No. 2 From Six Little Preludes
Written by J.S. Bach
Public Domain
Performed by Eva Riebold

Journey
Written by Sharon Scholl
Performed by the First UU Virtual Choir
Permission Granted

There is More Love Somewhere
Traditional Spiritual / arr. Adam and Matt Podd
Performed by the First Unitarian Brooklyn Virtual Choir

Meditation on Loving Kindness
Words and Music by Emily McKinney
Performed by the First UU Virtual Choir

The closing words are You are Not Alone, by Rev Wayne B. Arnason.

Take courage, friends.
The way is often hard, the path is never clear,
And the stakes are very high.
Take courage.
For deep down, there is another truth:
You are not alone.