Posted August 20, 2014 by Jennifer Gahnstrom

Sunday Celebrations

Prayer & Meditation Circle at 8:15 A.M.
Celebration at 10:00 A.M.
Hospitality at 11:30 A.M.

What to expect on Sunday morning

Prayer & Mediation Circle: 8:15
This group supports and encourages each other in deepening their prayer life, in praying for each other, members of the congregation, and our community. Everyone is welcome.

Greeters
You will be met by a greeter at the door to welcome you, give you a program, hand out activity bags to kids and answer any questions you might have.

Celebration Singing
Celebration begins with SINGING! Bring your instrument. Join right in. It's a half hour jam session, with guitars, piano, drums, banjos, harmonicas, autoharp, flutes, trumpet, trombone... you name it. The songbook is eclectic—Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Gospel, Shape note, union songs, songs by members... just call out the page number of the song you want to hear. Shout, clap, stomp, warble! If you can walk you can dance, if you can talk, you can sing!

Find your place in the circle
We begin the formal portion of the service with a welcome to all those gathered, and an honoring of God's creation.

Children's Circle Candle Lighting
Children and youth are invited to come up to the front and lead the congregation in the reading while lighting candles corresponding to the four directions and the center.

Sunday school
Sunday school for children 3 and older runs concurrent with service.  If you would like help caring for a younger child during celebration please talk to the greeters who can find someone to be of help.

Lao Tzu
We share a reading from the Tao Te Ching and five minutes of silent contemplation.

Introduction of visitors
We ask visitors to introduce themselves so we can welcome them properly. Don't be shy! This way we can call you by name when we talk with you after church during coffee hour.

Bible verse
A member reads a selection from the Christian scripture.

Sermon
The pastor or guest speaker will give a 20-minute sermon/presentation. We have a wonderful, vibrant, intellectual pastor who gives moving sermons. He also shares the pulpit about once a month with a member or guest speaker. Hearing people share their personal spiritual journey is a great way to get to know people in the community.

Questions & open discussion
A period for questions and open discussion follows the sermon. Would you like some clarification? Do you feel compelled to disagree? Are you moved to share your own insight? Go ahead. Walker encourages free, honest exchange. We learn as we engage each other. We value and honor one another's unique perspectives.

Sign ups & collection of the offering
Clipboards are circulated with sign-up sheets for next week's celebration and special events.

If you are a visitor, please sign in on the Visitor’s Sign-Up if youso we can send you our newsletter. And we'll send around an offering plate. Many thanks for those who help us keep this community going.

Announcements
Announcements are read by the minister.

Special performances
Once a month or so we're treated to a marvelous performance by our choir, the Walker Singers under the direction of Jim McCreary. Other special performances include songs, poetry or stories by members.

Communion in the circle
And now for the best part... the closing. We leave the pews and gather in a circle. We share communion weekly. This is God's table and ALL are welcome. We break bread together and pass it around as the pastor says:

The loaf is one,
as we are one with God.
The loaf is broken
God participates in our brokenness.
The loaf is shared in the circle,
and the broken becomes one.

 

You may drink from the cup or save a bit of bread to dip. We serve juice, not wine.

Now we pray together for the specific needs of those in attendance, those in our community, our nation and our world. We also share our joys of prayers answered, of blessings received—a baby, a job, years of sobriety, years of marriage. We sing happy birthday to anyone who has had a birthday in the past week.

"Amazing Grace"
We close by singing "Amazing Grace." The words can be found on the bottom of the weekly bulletin. (We've changed it just a little.) Gather together, hold hands or link arms with the person next to you and sing. It really is amazing.

 

Hospitality

Coffee and treats follow immediately after service. Sit and chat, meet new people. Ask about what someone said after the sermon. Enjoy yourself. And there's usually more singing over by the piano.

A word about what it means to be a community
Just like the holiday meal with the family when you have to listen to uncle Ed's story for the 43rd time... or put up with grandma's complaining, sometimes being part of a caring community means putting up with small disturbances. Try not to let these things disturb you. Take it with grace.