Sunday Services
Our Worship Services take place on Sundays at 10:00 am year-round in the Meeting House – where the sanctuary has a panoramic window at the front of the room looking into dense woods. Many people find that the view of nature provides a restful setting for listening to music and the content of the service. As the trees outside change with the seasons and the weather we enjoy the weekly reminder of the importance of our environment.
Worship at PBUUC provides an inclusive Welcoming to visitors, exceptional Music, participation of children and adults from our congregation, an opportunity to express joys and sorrows and substantive sermons that encourage us to practice being better individuals in all manner of situations. Opening words introduce the theme of the service, which may draw on various scriptures, poetry, novels, science, philosophy, personal experience and more. Our sermons tend to examine personal realities, offering differing perspectives of how we can act; and showing how contributing out of love has superior results.
A Worship Associate (member of the congregation) offers the Chalice Reflection, often a personal experience of the theme for the service. Music includes piano, often with our choir, soloists and instrumentalists (see our Arts web page). The sermon is usually about twenty minutes long. When our Minister is not available, lay leaders or a guest minister will speak.
Periodically, the service is an All Ages Service, which means that the children and youth are in the Meeting House for the entire service, which is planned with them in mind. These services feature multi-generational participation in speaking and musical roles, more drama or story-telling than usual, and shorter segments. Adults enjoy these services as much as the children.
Near term Sermon topics and leaders and Recent and past sermons are all available at here on our website.
The minister, Worship Associate, and other service participants move down the central aisle at the end of the service to greet the congregation as they exit the sanctuary.
Worship Associates
Worship Associates are six or seven members of the congregation who assist the minister in planning and presenting Sunday services -- although the minister is ultimately responsible for the worship life of the congregation. On a rotating basis, Worship Associates provide certain elements of the service such as the Welcome, Chalice Reflection (short personal statement related to the theme of the service or sermon), Introduction to the Offering, and Announcements. They also lead and coordinate worship services in the minister's absence, including most Summer Services.
Worship Associates meet as a group with the minister every six or so weeks and serve for three-year staggered terms, two starting each September for a total of six; and when we have a Youth Worship Associate that makes seven. If you are interested in serving as a Worship Associate, please speak with the minister or one of them to learn more; they are listed in the monthly newsletter, Branches.
