Our gathering (October 20–22) will open and close with worship services produced by a team of people led by Joan Van Becelaere. Creating the service are Jan Carlsson-Bull, Jef Gamblee, Sylvia Howe, Marion Vissel, David Bumbaugh, Lynda Sutherland and Ruth Gnagey.
The opening service has traditionally been a way to center ourselves and focus our attention on the theme of the conference, which is “Stories of the Faith behind Freedom.” The service will address the importance of story in our lives, and how we can change the world as our story changes. As a catchphrase, “the Faith behind Freedom” was first used during World War Two by Unitarians as the theme of a worship service. At that time, people were dying in Europe and Asia as they fought to protect our freedoms. We realized that we must defend our freedoms today as well, and that our faith gives us the strength to resist tyranny.
The heart of the conference will be the sharing of personal stories; stories of that faith which sustains us and drives us to resist bullying and authoritarian menace. Together, listening to these stories, we hope to reinvigorate our spiritual and physical selves to resist the abrogation of our freedoms.
The closing worship will offer the space and time to reflect on our experiences during the conference, and provide us guidance as we leave each other and return to our separate lives.
Joan Van Becelaere has led the worship team for two conferences and she is honored to work with the creative group of colleagues who comprise the worship team. She said, “We weren’t sure how we would work together when we have team members in different locations, but everyone worked together wonderfully to make it happen. I personally love working collaboratively and believe that the best creative energies are released in that structure. It is a little unusual for many of us to design worship as a team, but this team pulled it off with real style.
“We were blessed with a plenitude of poetic resources to draw from and Jef Gamblee to put together the visual elements. Jan Carlsson-Bull and Sylvia Howe researched and lovingly created meaningful obituaries for the remembrance service to honor our departed colleagues. David Bumbaugh and Marion Visel created the closing worship. Ruth Gnagy, Lynda Sutherland and I worked on the opening. And we are grateful to North UU Congregation in Lewis Center, Ohio for lending us their pulpit to record the worship elements.”