Gathering Music - Casey

Welcome and Announcements – Board Member

Greet Your Neighbor – I now invite you to connect with those around you, take a moment and welcome your neighbors with a smile and friendly hello. - Gabby GB

Organ Prelude - Pastorale in F major, Op. 59, No. 5, by Max Reger; Casey Hannan, organ

Opening Words: The Soft, Stubborn Practice  - Rev. Michelle Collins - Margaret Eagle 

Source of Love, Spirit of Interdependence, we give thanks for the web that holds us, the hands that have steadied us, the voices that remind us we are not alone, the presence of those who have leaned on us just as we have leaned on them. Resilience is not a solitary triumph. It is woven through community: shared meals, gentle questions, laughter that breaks through grief, courage borrowed from one another when our own runs thin. In this moment, let us remember that we are stronger together than apart. May we continue to offer and receive care, trusting that our connections sustain us even when we cannot behold the whole picture. Blessed be the bonds that hold and that keep holding.

Chalice Lighting 

Life is a gift, for which we are grateful.

We gather in community to celebrate

The glories and the mysteries of this great gift.

Gathering Hymn - #83, Winds Be Still

Story - The Bamboo and the Storm – A Zen Buddhist Tale – Read by Leslie Talmadge

Anthem - Sure on this Shining Night, by Samuel Barber - Senior Choir

Reflection and Practice - Leslie Talmadge and Ariel Savitz

Words of Offering 

Offertory 

Doxology 

From all that dwell below the skies;

Let words of love and peace arise;

Let joyful songs of praise be sung;

Through every land by every tongue. Amen.

Candles of Celebration and Concern - 

Prayer - 

Hymn - #352, Find a Stillness

Reading  Words from Pema Chödrön - Gabby GB

Closing Hymn - #108, My Life Flows On in Endless Song

Extinguishing the Flame -Rhythms of Renewal- Rev Michelle Collins - Leslie Talmadge

The circle widens, the season turns. We have paused in this hour to remember that the world remakes itself by rhythm, not by force. As you leave this place, let yourself join that rhythm, giving and receiving, resting and moving, one small life in a great turning of renewal.

Organ Postlude Lord God, Now Be Praised, BWV 601 — Johann Sebastian Bach

Flower Dedication