A Message From Your Minister 
March 4, 2017
What lets a holy spirit enter your soul? The feeling of transcendence, the feeling that my life is aligned with my purpose, and the feeling of deep connection to others comes to me in different ways. Sometimes it is through a walk in the winter wind. Sometimes it is through singing together with you in our worship services. Sometimes it is through the ancient prayers of our traditions.
 
Different people experience the spirit in different ways. Individuals experience the spirit in different ways at different times. Sometimes it is tradition which holds us and helps us, and sometimes it is understanding something in a new way.
 
The prayer of Jesus, which we may know as the Lord's Prayer, and which we say together every Sunday at First Unitarian Church, speaks to me in different ways at different times. The stories of Jesus' life tell us that this is the prayer he instructed his followers to use to come closer to God. Followers of Jesus have been saying this prayer since the time of Jesus. You may have grown up saying it, and if you did, you probably grew up saying it with the words we usually use on Sunday mornings, starting, "Our Father, who art in heaven..."
 
I love these words, and I love the Elizabethan language. I love that I can pray this prayer with people who have lost all other memories of the church, but can remember these words. I love that it brings people together across the differences among Jesus' followers. I love the meaning of the prayer: that we ask to be united with God's will, that we ask for what we need, that we ask for guidance into goodness, and that we remember our power and our humility.
 
But these meanings of the prayer are there even if we experience the prayer in different ways. And hearing the meaning in different ways can bring the prayer more alive, and can invite us to know it in new ways. Many people come into our church who have no history with this prayer. Hearing it in new ways can help all of us, those who know the prayer since childhood and those who have never said it before, bring its meaning into our lives.
 
On the first Sunday of each month, we will hear and speak the prayer of Jesus in different ways. In February we heard Ray Bauwens sing a setting of the Lord's Prayer in his beautiful tenor voice. This Sunday we will say together a translation of the prayer taken from Aramaic, the native language of Jesus. I invite you to use these Sundays as opportunities to hear the prayer in a new way, and to let that new understanding into your heart and mind.
 
We'll use the first Sunday of the month to try one other change in our worship service. One idea that came up in last June's annual goal-setting meeting was to try to include the children in our Offerings on Sunday mornings. This Sunday, we'll include the Offering in the service while the children are still with us (along with an Offertory performed by Jazz Trane from the Joy of Music Program). We'll try this for some additional first Sundays and see if it further connects our children into the practices of generosity and togetherness of our church.
 
 
The stability and traditions of our liturgy are strengths of our church. They connect us to our past and add depth to our spirituality. But trying new things can add depth, too, as we hear new meanings and explore new possibilities. If you love innovation, I invite you to look for depth in the traditions of the church. If you love our traditions, I invite you to let the newness open your heart to the spirit, as well. Joined together in worship and community, a spirit of goodness will always find its way into our midst.
 
In faith,
 
Rev. Sarah Stewart

First Unitarian Church | 508.757.2708 | 508.753.9332
[email protected]  |  www.firstunitarian.com

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