Worship

Worship is a human activity. Though it is often defined as reverence given to a divine being or power, worship need not have supernatural implications. The origin of the word "worship" is in the Old English weorthscippen, meaning to ascribe worth to something, to shape things of worth. We worship, then, whenever we ascribe worth to some value, idea, object, person, experience, attitude, or activity - or whenever we give form or shape to that which we have already found to be of worth. (taken from the UUA website)

The aim of worship is to help order the religious consciousness in the individual and the group. It is to help us know and feel how we relate as individuals to ourselves, to the world, to the totality of being. The aim of common worship is to help us face up to our individual and collective limitations and failures, to open us to sources of creative, healing, transforming, and renewing power. It is to help us discover how that which transcends our narrow individual existence can move us, challenge us, inspire us, stimulate us to think, feel, act, and be. It is to help us declare, celebrate, rejoice in those things we have discovered to be "of worth." The aim of common worship is to help us reorder, reopen, reshape, and reinterpret our experience and help us find the power to reaffirm again and again in word and deed what is worthy of our ultimate commitment.

We come together as a group for various reasons. For whatever reason, by joining with other members in our worship service, we create synergy that transcends the ordinary efforts of single individuals. What happens in worship can energize and affirm individuals and members and their families, deepening their sense of belonging and commitment.

Each week a member of the Worship Committee serves as our lay-led Worship Leader under the direction of Judy Hook.