WORSHIP AND SERVICE COMMITTEE
 

I would like to thank the following members for their involvement this past year:

Sarah Widhu
Tess George
Bob Keating
Ellen Fisher
Jackie Clement
Suzanna Moriera
and (of course)
Steve Edington

The Worship and Service Committee has been evaluating our current
Sunday service.  We discuss and explore ideas that we believe will
enhance the spiritual and/or personal needs of our congregation.  We have
actively invited members of the church to submit ideas and impressions.
Some of our members are quite comfortable with service as it is now offered, but this
will not stop us from continuing to look for areas of improvement.
The elements we explore focus on providing
inspiration, education, and transformation.  Our goals are to provide a refuge from daily
drudgery and for each person to come away from service on Sunday with something
they can hold on to.

We have been working on ideas for offering alternative services.
We decided to call them Twilight Service and they have been held
on Sunday evenings.  This year the offerings were:

Winter Solstice in December
Poetry Service in February
Spring Equinox Celebration in March
Peace: Starting from Within in May

The Solstice and Equinox were family events and well attended.
The other services were much more intimate yet powerful.  We realize that this
is all new and will take some time to generate interest.  Feedback was
favorable for all events.

We are responsible for hiring a summer minister.  We are pleased
with our choice of Kathleen Kopitsky and look forward to experiencing
her energy here this summer.

We have expanded the presentation of Joys and Concern by recognizing
each element separately.  We also discussed lengthening the moment
of reflection to deepen the experience.  The change is very small and
has not affected the flow of service.  We actively encourage members
to volunteer for chalice lighting.

The committee sponsored an Outreach Grant submitted by Cynthia
Schroer to support the Nashua visit of Tibetan Monks from the Drepung
Gomang Monastery in Mundgod, South India.  The visit would provide an
enlightening experience for our community, offering witness to the spiritual
practice of their culture.  We are excited about this venture and will be
supporting Cynthia's efforts to make this happen.

We have worked in conjunction with the Sabbatical Committee in planning
next Spring's schedule.  Together we have worked out a rich and full
collection of offerings and have designated the appropriate service
positions necessary for making our visiting speakers feel welcome and
comfortable.

In the coming year we hope to expand our offering of alternative services.
The plan is to focus on the first Sunday evening of each month beginning with
October.  We are working on a schedule of various themes to explore.  We also decided
to offer Solstice and Equinox service apart from the Twilight Services.  We will print
a schedule of upcoming Twilight Services for the year in the September newsletter.
We will continually announce upcoming services in both the newsletter and the order
of service.  This communication will hopefully generate enthusiasm.  We also are
considering announcements in the local paper and other public places to invite
the general public to visit and check us out.

I am hoping that our church will be host to some of the events offered by the proposed
Tibetan Monk visit in November.  This will also be on our agenda.

We talked about offering a lecture series.  This idea was tabled till the Fall.  We
want to put our energy into establishing our current projects and will revisit this new
idea when the Twilight Service schedule is finalized.

I feel we have had a productive and interesting adventure this past year and look
forward to expanding the committee's energy in the coming church year.

Thank you,

Anya Zakiewicz