The Sunday Service Experience

At Birmingham Unitarian Church, we begin our worship services with:

• A Prelude

• Welcome, Greeting & Announcements

• Lighting the Chalice – the symbol of our liberal religious heritage, an affirmation of our core values of religious freedom, reason and an embrace of diversity

At this point in the service, we enter into Centering:

• A Congregational Hymn

• Opening Words

• An Anthem (two Sundays a month when our choir offers music to our service)

• A Message for All Ages (except the Multi-generational services where the children stay throughout)

• A Song for Leaving (we sing as the children leave for their classes)

Having taken time to settle in and beginning to focus, we now practice Going Deeper:

• A Sharing of Joys and Sorrows – The minister reads those Joys and Sorrows written in the book at the entrance of the Sanctuary.

• The congregation sings a response

• The Sharing of a Meditation by the Worship Associate – followed by a time of silence

• The Sermon

We conclude our worship service by Returning to Service in Life:

• The Offering – each week a portion of our plate collection is given to a charity or non-profit selected by our Plate Collection Committee.

• The Offertory – we enjoy the gift of special music offered to us by a variety of musicians.

• Congregational Hymn

• Extinguishing the Chalice – a short reading

• A Parting Song

• The Benediction

• The Postlude