Date  8 March 2026  

Worship Leader Rev. Tasha Brownfield 

Time for All Ages Erica Shadowsong  

Liturgist   Kirsti Adkins 

Music Ellen Gozion, Director of Instrumental Music & The Hymn Band: Corey Layman, 

Brian Junker, Heather & Paul Cunningham, Mike Shanley, Greg Whiteker, Liam Lyons. 

Tech Nicky Baldy 
 
Worship Coordinator   Chrisie Ambrass 

Prelude Love is Not Concerned, inspired by Reading #564.  Words by Margaret Atwood and Corey Layman, composed by Corey Layman – performed by The Hymn Band. 

Welcome Chrisie 

Lighting the Chalice and Call to Worship Kirsti 

Opening Hymn #131 Love Will Guide Us 

Collective Reading Kirsti 

Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. 

We covenant:  

To practice Interdependence, we honor the interdependent web of all existence; 

To practice Pluralism, we celebrate that we are all sacred beings, diverse in culture, experience, and theology; 

To practice Justice, we work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all thrive;  

To practice Transformation, we adapt to the changing world; 

To practice Generosity, we cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope; 

To practice Equity, we declare that every person is inherently worthy and has the right to flourish with dignity, love, and compassion.  

We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love 

Story for All   “A Card in the Deck” 

Singing For Our Children  #413 Go Now in Peace 

Go now in peace, go now in peace,  

May the spirit of love surround you 

Everywhere, everywhere you may go. 

Offering Kirsti 

Donations by check may be mailed to the church office.  Electronic donations can be made online through the church website or by texting “give” to (412) 435-1050 and following the instructions.          

Share the plate for March is the Khasi Hills School Partnership  

Joys and Sorrows: During the offertory music, you are invited to light a candle or place a stone in Blessed Community water as you offer silent gratitude or prayers. Two tables are in the sanctuary; one in the front, to the right of the platform, and one in the back right alcove. 

Offertory Music True Colors composed by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly  – Performed by The Hymn Band 
 

Meditation, silence, or prayer  Kirsti 

Hymn Response #391 Voice Still and Small  

First time piano only. Second time congregation please sing: 

Voice still and small, deep inside all, I hear you call, singing. 

In dark and rain, sorrow and pain, still you remain singing. 

Calming my fears, quenching my tears, through all the years, singing.  

Reading     poem by By Timothy Liu 

Sermon “Every Card in the Deck: Our Stories, Our Power, Our Love“  Rev. Tasha Brownfield 

Hymn #1017 We Are Building a New Way  

Extinguishing the Chalice Flame Kirsti 

We extinguish this flame but not the light of truth, 

the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment: 

these we carry in our hearts until we are together again. 

Benediction Rev. Brownfield 

Postlude  One by U2 – Performed by The Hymn Band 

To donate to Share the Plate  

– by check mailed to the church office, please include STP on the memo line  

– online on the church website, use the drop down to select Plate. 

– by texting “Give” to 412-435-1050 following the directions with the word share or pledge after the donation amount as appropriate. 

To make a pledge payment  

-by check, please put pledge in the memo line  

– online on the church website, keep the default General Fund 2025 option  

First Unitarian Church is honored to Share the Plate in March with the Annie Margaret Barr Higher Secondary School in the village of Kharang in the Khasi Hills of northeast India. As part of a global Unitarian Universalist Association initiative, we have been partners with our Unitarian friends in the Khasi Hills since 2003. This mountainous, rural region is home to the 3rd largest population of Unitarians in the world. The school – founded in 1968 by a Unitarian minister – is open to boys and girls of all backgrounds. With your generous support, First UU Pittsburgh raises $9,600 each year to pay the salaries of two of the high school teachers. 

Rev. Tasha Brownfield (she/they/he) is the senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Smithton, Pennsylvania. They also serve as the Outpatient Oncology Chaplain at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and a part-time professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Seton Hill University. Grounded in Unitarian Universalist theology and pantheism, their ministry centers community, justice-rooted advocacy, and the amplification of marginalized voices. 

Rev. Tasha’s Unitarian Universalist ministry also extends into service of the queer community through performing as their drag king persona, Rev. Morningstar. This performance ministry is rooted in Unitarian Universalist values of transformation, justice, and equity. Through performance, storytelling, and public ritual, he creates accessible and liberatory spiritual spaces, challenges oppressive systems, and invites communities to encounter one another and the sacred, with courage, imagination, and love.