Live Worship Broadcast
We have aired our services on Emerson Radio WERS 88.9 FM for over 30 years. You can tune in every Sunday at 11 AM by turning your dial or visiting the WERS website and stream the broadcast live from your desktop.
In response to the COVID pandemic, we have begun streaming live video in addition to our usual WERS audio broadcast. The details (and hopefuly, production quality) will be subject to change. The streamed broadcasts will be available for viewing through links on this page on Sunday mornings at 11am.
First Church in Boston
ORDER OF SERVICE
First Church Boston
66 Marlborough Street
Boston, MA
Sunday, February 28, 2021
Broadcast live, 11:00 am to noon, on WERS, 88.9FM, Vivian Borek, announcer
Streamed live on Facebook @firstchurchboston, Craig Hildreth, audio and video engineer
Masha Stepanova, video editor
Dr. Robert August, Director of Music; William Thorpe, soloist
Bells
Prelude We Celebrate the Web of Life Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)
Opening Words Rev. Stephen Kendrick
Hymn #275 Joyful is the Dark verses 1, 2, 3
Chalice Lighting and Tolling of the Bell Rev. Stephen Kendrick
Love is the spirit of this church, and Service its law. This is our great covenant, to
dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love, and to help one another.
Poem For All Ages Rev. Stephen Kendrick
Go Now in Peace
Musical Meditation “Love and Peace” Tyzen Hsiao
Lily Tseng, mezzo-soprano; Atsuko Kida, pianist
Reading Selection from “Religion” by Zora Neale Hurston Katie Geusz
Hymn #391 Voice Still and Small
Reading #469 The Spirit of Wisdom Daniel Lawlor
Affirmation #123 Spirit of Life Robbie Pate
Announcements Rev. Stephen Kendrick
Prayer and Meditation Rev. Stephen Kendrick
Sermon Struggle, Creativity, and Imagining Racial Justice Daniel Lawlor
Offertory This song is intended to give hope in these COVID times written and performed by Robbie Pate.
Note: Our offertory collection this Sunday will be given to support the excellent work of the spiritual organization Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU). BLUU is committed expanding the power & capacity of Black UUs within our faith, providing support, information & resources for Black Unitarian Universalists, and justice-making and liberation through our faith.
Text Messaging Donation
You can use text messaging on your smartphone to send a contribution to the First Church offertory. Text a number representing your dollar amount (5, 10, 20, etc.) to
(617) 917-5610. You will receive confirmation by email. Thank you!
Charge Stephen Kendrick
Hymn #175 We Celebrate the Web of Life
Benediction Daniel Lawlor
Postlude Prelude and Fugue in D Major Johann Caspar Simon (1701-1776)
Please note, this order of service may vary from the actual broadcast service. _________________________________________________________________________
#275 Joyful is the Dark
Joyful is the dark, holy, hidden God,
rolling cloud of night beyond all naming:
majesty in darkness, energy of love,
Word-in-flesh, the mystery proclaiming.
Joyful is the dark, Spirit of the deep,
winging wildly o’er the world’s creation,
silken sheen of midnight, plumage black and bright,
swooping with the beauty of a raven.
Joyful is the dark, shadowed stable floor;
angels flicker, God on earth confessing,
as with exultation, Mary, giving birth,
hails the infant cry of need and blessing.
Hymn #391 Voice Still and Small
Voice still and small, deep inside all,
I hear you call, singing.
In storm and rain, sorrow and pain,
still we’ll remain singing.
Calming my fears, quenching my tears,
through all the years, singing.
Hymn Spirit of Life, #123
Spirit of Life, come unto me.
Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold me close; wings set me free;
Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.
Spirit of Life, come unto us.
Sing in our hearts all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold us close; wings set us free;
Spirit of Life, come to us, come to us.
Hymn #175 We Celebrate the Web of Life
We celebrate the web of life, its magnitude we sing;
for we can see divinity in every living thing.
A fragment of the perfect whole in cactus and in quail,
as much in tiny barnacle as in the great blue whale.
Of ancient dreams we are the sum; our bones link stone to star,
and bind our future worlds to come with worlds that were and are.
Respect the water, land, and air which gave all creatures birth;
protect the lives of all that share the glory of the earth.
Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-84), adapted
Hymn Spirit of Live, #123
Spirit of Life, come unto me.
Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold me close; wings set me free;
Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.
Spirit of Life, come unto us.
Sing in our hearts all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold us close; wings set us free;
Spirit of Life, come to us, come to us.
Hymn # 143 Not in Vain, the Distance Beacons
Not in vain the distance beacons. Forward, forward let us range.
Let the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves of change;
through the shadow of the globe we sweep ahead to heights sublime,
we, the heirs of all the ages, in the foremost files of time.
Oh, we see the crescent promise of that spirit has not set;
ancient founts of inspiration well through all our fancies yet;
and we doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
and the thoughts of all are widened with the process of the suns.
Yea, we dip into the future, far as human eye can see,
see the vision of the world, and all the wonder that shall be,
hear the war-drum throb no longer, see the battle flags all furled,
in the parliament of freedom, federation of the world.
There are two easy ways two ways to donate to First Church during online services (or at any other time). Both are processed through the same secure service company (Vanco):
(1) The DONATE button here or on our home page on website leads to a secure online Vanco payment form where you can designate the amount and purpose of the contribution.
(2) You can use text messaging on your smartphone to send a contribution that is like dropping a bill in the virtual plate. This is a germ-free way to get that familiar good feeling during the Offertory part of the online service. Text a number representing your dollar amount (5 for Lincolns, 10 for Hamiltons, 20 for Tubmans) to (617) 917-5610. The first time you do that, it will ask you to fill in credit card information that can be reused for subsequent contributions. You will receive an emailed receipt.
