Message by Dr. Chase Wilheim

The opening words are “The Beauty Woven Fine” by Rev Scott Tayler.

As we celebrate life’s beauty 

  may we never forget that we are part of it. 

It is woven around us, 

  through us, 

  between us. 

         We are here to notice those elegant strands –  

The way they call to us, 

  The way they hold us, 

  The way they connect us. 

     May our time together today  

     enable that beauty to shine.

Testament of Freedom
Words: From the Writings of Thomas Jefferson
Music by Randal Thompson
Copyright 1976 by EC Schirmer Music Company
Permission Granted
Performed by the First UU Choir

“Where there is Beauty”

What to do with beauty?

or joy, for that matter – 

in the midst of tragedy,

of violence, of cruelty?

What do we do with the 

living? Give them their due. 

but find ourselves anew.

Where there is beauty, amplify it.

Where beauty is hidden, reveal it.

Where beauty is ruined, restore it.

Where beauty is absent, create it: This 

will be our gift to our aching world.