“No clear impressions, either from above or from without, can be received by a mind turbid with excitement and agitated by a crowd of distractions. The stillness needed for the clear shining of light within is incompatible with hurry.”
~ Caroline Stephen

Sunday, November 6, 10:30 a.m.

Weathering the Winds of Change

Quaker-Style Worship Sharing with Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann

Our theme this month is Change. In the midst of the changes we’ve experienced as individuals and as a congregation over the past few years, how is your heart? What loss are you grieving or anticipating? What aspect of the change is exciting or joyful? Join us this Sunday, November 6, as Rev. Alice leads us in an experience of Quaker Worship Sharing, which offers a prayerful and reflective way to engage important questions. 

The service will be followed by a congregational meeting. Please join us as we share the results from our recent survey, discuss some possible building improvements (painting, water remediation), and talk about what you’d like to see happen with our church over the next two or three years. What would bring you more joy in your UCMH experience?  

Circle RE will be at UCMH this week. Children should gather with Cynthia in the foyer (Main St. entryway), where they will go directly downstairs for their programming. 
 

 Due to the special structure Quaker-style worship sharing,
service this week will be in-person only.

We are pleased to welcome one and all in our beautiful, historic sanctuary.
We are now mask-optional, with a “mask-only” zone in the rearmost pews for those who prefer or need to be extra cautious.

What is Quaker-Style Worship Sharing?

Worship sharing focuses on a particular question and helps us to explore our own experience and share with each other more deeply than we would in normal conversation. It seeks to draw us into sacred space, where we can take down our usual defenses, and encounter each other in “that which is eternal.”

FGC Worship Sharing Guidelines for Participants:

• Reach as deeply as you can into the sacred center of your life.
• Speak out of the silence, and leave a period of silence between speakers. 
• Speak from your own experience, about your own experience. Concentrate on feelings and changes rather than on thoughts or theories.
• Do not respond to what anyone else has said, either to praise or to refute. 
• Listen carefully and deeply to what is spoken. 
• Expect to speak only once, until everyone has had a chance to speak.
• Respect the confidentiality of what is shared.