Order of Service
New digital OOS
Date: August 30, 2026
Worship Leader Rev. Kate Walker
Time for All Ages Erica Shadowsong
Liturgist Chrisis Ambrass
Music Ellen Gozion, Dir. of Instr. Music; Madeline Izzo, flute.
Song Leaders Janet Pohl
Tech Will Snavely
Prelude Reflections by Katherine Hoover with video montage — Maddy Izzo, flute
Welcome Rev. Dr. Kate R. Walker
Lighting the Chalice and Call to Worship Rev. Kate and Chrisie Ambrass
Opening Hymn We Belong to One Another words by Amanda Udis-Kessler, from Sing Out Love
Sung to the tune NETTLETON (Come Thou Fount)
We belong to one another. To each other we are bound
as we build a world together full of joy that we have found.
What we are, we owe to others; when they need us, we respond.
We belong to one another and we hold a common bond.
We rely on one another at the dawning of our days,
when we learn from those around us how to live in loving ways.
As we grow, we need each other and the gifts that we can share.
As our lives come to their ending, how we need each other’s care!
We give thanks for one another, for each heart and hand and face.
We are grateful for the blessings that infuse our lives with grace.
May we offer our abundance, as we’re given, may we give.
In our thanks for one another, may we help each other live.
Collective Grounding
We name our collective recommitment to care for the earth.
Knowing the ground we live upon is sacred,
We pledge to bring new life to the earth
New Life to the air
New Life to the waters
New Life to each other
For all Life is sacred
Story for All “Many Paths to God” Mary Ann Moore Erica Shadowsong
Singing For Our Children #1057 Go Lifted Up
Go lifted up,
Love bless your way,
moonlight, starlight
guide your journey
into peace
and the brightness of day.
Offering Chrisie
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 August is UUJusticePA*
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 Fanmi Imén by Valerie Coleman, Opening, with video montage – Maddy Izzo, flute & Ellen Gozion, piano
Meditation, silence, or prayer Rev. Kate
Hymn #1058 “Be Ours a Religion”
Reading “Creating Fire” By Stephen M. Shick
Sermon “The Purpose of Religion” Rev. Kate Walker
Hymn #1020 “Woyaya”
Extinguishing the Chalice Flame Rev. Kate and Chrisie
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. Kate
Postlude Trois Pieces: Bergere Captive by Octave Ferroud — Maddy Izzo, flute
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
* The Vision of UUJustice PA is: Pennsylvania UUs are aware of justice issues and are called to speak and take action that leads to a better Commonwealth. Their Mission Statement is: Pursue justice by voting, advocating and making just public policies. It is one of 28 state-based UU advocacy groups working to uphold our UU values in our state governments. Since the early 2000s we have had staff and many volunteers establishing contacts with our legislators in Harrisburg and their home offices, and, working with other non-profits, make our PA state government more responsive to the needs of our Commonwealth’s Peoples. There are currently seven Justice Teams: Good Government, Economic Justice, Reproductive Justice, Environmental Justice, Gun Violence Prevention, Criminal Justice Reform, and LGBTQIA+ issues with a focus on the current assault on Transgender folk.
Valerie Coleman (b. 1970) is a renown American composer, flutist, educator and creator of the quintet Imani Winds. She was named Performance Today’s 2020 Classical Woman of the year and was listed as “one of the Top 35 Women Composers” in The Washington Post. Her signature wind quintet piece Umoja was named as one of the “Top 101 Great American Works” by Chamber Music America. Coleman teaches composition at The Juilliard School. She is the Director of the Woodwind Quintet Workshop at Boston University Tanglewood Institute and holds faculty positions with the Manhattan School of Music and elsewhere. Read more at ValerieColeman.com
Katherine Hoover (1937 – 2018) was an American composer of contemporary classical chamber and orchestral music, a flute, theory and composition educator, poet and conductor. During her life she received an NEA Composer’s Fellowship, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in composition and the National Flute Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.