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Sun01Jan201710:00 AM ONLY
ONE SERVICE ONLY AT 10:00 AM!!
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Sharon McCarty
Music by: Claire Beery, Susan Panttaja, the UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Social Advocates for YouthWe’ll consider the big events of 2016 (any come to mind?), and take time for private reflection on our own personal milestones. We also look ahead to the year 2017. What milestones do we hope we are celebrating one year from now? How will our faith lead us there?
One service only, at 10:00am!
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Sun08Jan20179:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Veronica Jordan, Aphrodite Bellochio, Millie Phillips
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Women’s Recovery Services
Celebration is more than just an inner attitude. By definition it requires an action, which is usually shared with others. Celebrating life can be a practice, like other spiritual disciplines. Today we’ll consider some pure and ecstatic forms of celebrating life, such as dancing, making music and art, and playing with children as a way to strengthen our souls in challenging times.
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12:45 pmBoard Room
HOT TOPICS
Presented by
ADVOCATES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE UUCSR
Cancelled due to storm. This topic is being rescheduled for later in 2017.This is a wonderful program that focuses on breaking the addiction for women in a safe residential setting. This program allows them and their young children to live together while learning the life skills necessary to become strong, responsible contributors in their communities.
Executive Director Linda Carlson will be describing Women’s Recovery Services and bringing with her a woman who has gone through the program. Please do attend to learn more about this great program.
Light lunch/snacks will be provided for a donation.
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Sun15Jan20179:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Susan Panttaja
Music by: Robert Howseman & the UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: MLK Day Celebration
Power is a word that people respond to with surprising emotion. Some of us fear it, others crave it. Yet, it’s simplest meaning is just “the ability to do something.” So, what are we actually trying to do when we empower people? And for what purpose? The answers lie not in having power over, but having power with and for, which we are going to need in spades in the days to come. Dr. King provides a historical example.
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Sun22Jan20179:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Scott Miller, Millie Phillips, Deborah Mason
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Breakfast for our Neighbors
“Caring for one another.” It feels good to do. But how much? How long? For an individual, caring for another might run the gamut from basic friendliness to strangers to intimately tending an ailing loved one unto death. Collectively, too, caring might be as simple as welcoming new folks on Sunday morning, or as complex and demanding as adopting a refugee family or providing sanctuary to a persecuted minority. Fortunately, our inner Spirit can help us find our way.
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Sun29Jan20179:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Service Leaders: Millie Phillips, Jen Collins
Music by: Natalie Brundred & the UUsual Suspects
Share the Basket: Senior Advocacy ServicesOur actions flow from our commitment to build a better world, which is a core spiritual value for UUs. What happens in the US over the next several years will have an even more profound impact on the world than it has previously. Today, we will explore what it means to engage in beneficial action in the face of setbacks, shock, and legitimate anxiety. After the service, we invite you to join us in attending an event where different organizations in Sonoma County will share what they are doing to build a better world and how you might join them in doing so.
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Sun05Feb20179:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Andrew Hidas
Music by: John Ray & the UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: The LIME FoundationWe’re going to spend the next couple of months looking closely at each of our UU Principles. The founding and guiding documents of this congregation place “affirming and promoting” the Principles at the very core of our Vision as a community. The First Principle is many people’s favorite. But do all people have inherent worth and dignity? Really? Today we’ll consider the spiritual growth that can come from really living as if this Principle is true.
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Sun12Feb20179:15 amSanctuary
ONE SERVICE AT 9:15
CONGREGATIONAL MEETING AT 11:00Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Roger Corman, Millie Phillips
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Sonoma County Multiple Sclerosis GroupWe’ll concentrate on the compassion piece of this Principle today. Compassion, usually taken to mean acts of kindness, literally means “to suffer with.” If we want to respond in a sacred and loving way to the people of the world, whether we consider them friends or enemies, we have to place ourselves in their shoes. Real justice and equity flow naturally from the tender-hearted perspective of compassion. (We will also talk about being more compassionate toward ourselves!)
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9:15 am
The Choir performs "The Power of One" at the 9:15 service (only service this week).
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Sun19Feb20179:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Sharon McCarty
Music by: Paul Gilger & the UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: North Bay Jobs with Justice“If I'm laden at all, I'm laden with sadness that everyone's heart isn't filled with the gladness of love for one another,” sang the Hollies. But acceptance and love of one another (or ourselves) isn’t always easy; that’s why we have to encourage one another. If you could measure your spiritual growth like a child’s height is measured against the wall, are you shrinking or stretching? And what would it take to for a growth spurt to occur?
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Sun26Feb20179:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Service Leaders: Rev. Tet Gallardo, Eric Fischer
Music by: Sadie Sonntag and the Choir, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Breakfast for our NeighborsRev. Tet Gallardo, who serves the UU Church in Bicutan, near Manilla, is this year’s Balazs Scholar at the Starr King School for the Ministry. She is the first Balazs Scholar from the Philippines, where the UU movement is rapidly growing. She is a business leader, an activist for LGBTQ rights, and a very funny person. She will preach on “Humor as Holy Common Sense.”
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Sun05Mar20179:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Service Leaders: Rev. Chris Bell, Joe Gabaeff
Music by: Natalie Brundred & the UUsual Suspects, Tessa McClary
Share the Basket: Project CensoredThe Buddha said we should be lamps unto ourselves, and the whole democratic experiment depends upon trusting each other’s conscience. But what is the moral sense and where does it come from? And given that it differs so much from person to person and culture to culture, how can we know what’s right, really? These and other questions will be addressed as we look at our Fifth Principle.
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9:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
This piece puts the Homeric Hymn "To Gaia, Mother of All" to music written by Jesus Contreras.
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9:15 & 11:00 amSanctuary
Sunday, May 28, the choir performs "Peace Train". This song was released in 1971 by Cat Stevens and appears on his album Teaser and the Firecat. It was Stevens first Top Ten hit in the US. That was during the Vietnam War. Later, during the Iraq War, the song's relevance was revived.
According to Wikipedia, Stevens -- who had by then converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam -- said of the piece, "'Peace Train' is a song I wrote, the message of which continues to breeze thunderously through the hearts of millions. There is a powerful need for people to feel that gust of hope rise up again."
Sadie Sonntag will direct the choir in singing a Kirby Shaw choral arrangement of this powerful and appropriate song of hope.
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9:15 amSanctuary
Sunday, June 11, the choir will perform a powerful and moving piece titled "The Road Home". Composer Stephen Paulus took a 19th century folk tune called "The Lone Wild Bird" and adapted it to a modern choral setting. He asked his friend and colleague Michael Dennis Browne to write new words for it.
Mr Paulus writes on his website https://stephenpaulus.com:
The tune is taken from The Southern Harmony Songbook of 1835. It is pentatonic and that is part of its attraction. Pentatonic scales have been extant for centuries and are prevalent in almost all musical cultures throughout the world. They are universal. Michael crafted three verses and gave it the title "The Road Home." He writes so eloquently about "returning" and "coming home" after being lost or wandering.
The theme of June 11th's service is Hope. This simple and beautiful message embodies the hope of the wanderer to someday find herself on the Road Home.
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10:00 amSanctuary
Sunday, June 25, the choir will perform a Bach hymn. What we'll sing is actually in two places in our hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition, pages 22 and 41. We will sing them as one piece. Our featured soloist will be Sally Jones.
The music was written by Nikolaus Herman (1480-1561) and J S Bach (1685-1750) took the tune and enhanced it with harmony in a manner only he could. The words to the first 3 stanzas were written by Unitarian Universalist Nancy C Dorian (1936-present), but the words to the last 2 verses originated with English poet George Gascoigne (1540-1577) and were adapted to be sung.
June 25 will be the last choir performance of the summer as our director (and we) take a small break during the summer months. We'll be back, singing to you again in the Fall.
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10:00 AM ONLYSanctuary
Sunday, August 20, the choir is back and will perform a delightful piece titled "Vivir mi vida", I live my life. This song performed by Marc Anthony has won quite a few awards, including several Billboard Latin Music awards.
The lyrics translate as:
I'm gonna laugh, I'm gonna dance
[I'm gonna] live my life, la, la, la, la
I'm gonna laugh, I'm gonna enjoy
live my life, la, la, la, laThis appearance of the choir is a "pre-season" performance. We will be back to our full strength and normal 2nd and 4th Sundays schedule starting in September.
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9:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Summer is over (well, according to the calendar, anyway) and the Choir will sing for Ingathering at both services (9:15 and 11:00 AM) this Sunday, the 10th. We thus we begin our regular 2nd and 4th Sunday performances.
We will sing a 4-part rendition of "Come Come Whoever You Are" (#188 in the regular hymnal) in a round surrounding the congregation. We will also sing a hymn from the "Teal Hymnal" titled "Fire Of Commitment".
So come, come whoever you are, and join us in singing of the fire of our commitment!
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9:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Next Sunday the choir performs "Flow Water" written by Damien Kehoe when he was just 22. This piece touches on modern dimensions of choral harmonies. The words are free verse poetry.
Peace like a river that flows beneath the sky,
water so fresh and still where I alone must lie,
strength of the current, washing from the earth
oh hear that moving water surge from my heart
it is where I go to search amidst the lake
where pain and anguish burn like the flame in my heart
like the flame in my soul wait for water
peace like a river like a river so fresh and still
beneath the sky fresh so fresh and still
where I alone must lie
where I alone must lie
where I alone must lie
flow water.Just at the beginning of his musical career, Damien looks forward to cultivating new sounds and experimenting with different styles and techniques. He lists Whitacre, Palestrina, Bach and Wagner as his main influences.
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9:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
Sunday, in keeping with this month's theme of Hospitality, the Choir will enchant and move us with "Locus Iste", a piece that evokes the sacredness of "this place" composed in 1869 and based on the biblical story of Jacob’s ladder.
Locus iste a Deo factus est, inaestimabile sacramentum, irreprehensibilis est
This place was made by God, a priceless mystery; it is without reproof.
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9:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
This coming Sunday the choir is back. The last 2 weeks have cast all of us into an intense, terrifying, heartbreaking ordeal. And we had to lean on each other to make it through. We'll do more than just make it through. We will rise up from these ashes, stronger and more united than ever.
"Lean On Me" by Bill Withers, 1972, is our song today.
Lean on me when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend. I'll help you carry on.
For it won't be long till I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on.Sadie Sonntag, our Director, will also sing "Rise Up" released by Andra Day in 2015.
I'll rise up. I'll rise like the day
I'll rise up. I'll rise unafraid
I'll rise up. And I'll do it a thousand times again
I'll rise up high like the waves.
I'll rise up in spite of the ache.
I'll rise up. And I'll do it a thousand times againTogether we can move mountains.
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9:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
The theme for this Sunday is "Bring Many Names". It is said there are 9 Billion names of God. That's at least one name for every person living on this planet at present. The choir will sing "Ubi Caritas", which seems to say that one of those names of God is "Love".
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est Where there is charity and love, God is there
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor The love of Christ has gathered us as one
Exsultemus et in ipso jucundemur Let us rejoice and be glad in it
Timeamus et amemus Deum vivum Let us honor and love the living God
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero From a sincere heart let us love one another
Also this Sunday we will sing "Bring Many Names" as Rev Chris recites 99 Names of God.
Bring many names, beautiful and good;
Celebrate in parable and story,
Holiness in glory, living, loving God:
Hail and hosanna, bring many names.
The Spirit of Love and Life knows all our names too.
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9:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
This Sunday marks the end of a long Thanksgiving Weekend. Sometimes it's hard to be thankful. Sometimes thankfulness just washes over you. We've felt both recently. The choir will perform a traditional southern gospel song titled "Down in the River to Pray". The origin of this song is unknown, but tradition suggests it was sung first by African-American slaves. It is also known as "Down to the River to Pray", but maybe these folks were Baptists. And you know, Baptists immerse!
Some of the words are:
As I went down in the river to pray,
Studyin' about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the robe and crown;
Good Lord, show me the way.
Oh, sinners, let's go down, let's go down, come on down.
Oh, sinners, let's go down, down in the river to pray. -
9:15 & 11:00 AMSanctuary
This Sunday the choir presents a song by Eric Ode and Tim Blickman. Titled "Weave Me A Poem" the song was commissioned with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts by the CSA Children's Choir directed by Dr Mary Lynn Doherty. The beautiful melody compliments the beautiful words in free verse.
There's a small gray bird hidden in the roses;
the one nobody notices, the one nobody sees.
Does that small bird worry as we're hurrying by
that her song is not worth singing
and nothing is worth bringing to the day?I have a song.
Will I hide it inside me,
or will I give it away?Sunday the choir will give this song away for free!
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10:00 AM & 6:00 PMSanctuary
This Sunday is Christmas Eve. The choir will sing at the contemplative 10 am service and at the celebratory 6 pm service. Among the numbers they will sing, some with audience participation, are:
Non Nobis Domine,
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly,
Lo, A Rose E'er Blooming,
Night Of Silence/Silent Night,
plus many familiar Christmas carols.Night of Silence/Silent Night will be sung at the evening Christmas Eve service during the traditional candle lighting time. Please come to either or both services and experience the peace and power of beautiful music.