Welcome!

Thank you so much for looking into our congregation.  We gather in worship to find meaning and live more deeply. Worship creates connections within, among, and beyond us, calling us to our better selves, calling us to live with wisdom and compassion.

We hope to see you next Sunday!

We offer services both in-person and broadcast into a Zoom Meeting. Our Order of Service is available online at https://uumankato.com/worship/upcoming-worship-services/ .The Sermon is available the next week in both printed the video formats at https://uumankato.com/worship/past-worship-services/ .

Here is a brief overview of what our Worship Services look like.

Our Sunday services reflect our Principles and Sources.  These ideals offer us ways to lead a more engaged, informed and joyful lives.

As you enter the Fellowship, you will be greeted by a member who will welcome you and orient you to our space. We will offer a name tag if you wish and an opportunity to provide contact information so we can tell you more about ways you can engage with and broaden the community.

• Childcare is always offered, and religious exploration for children and youth is offered year-round.
• The Worship space is on the main level. Nursery, Children’s Faith Development Activities, Library, and fellowship Hall (our hospitality space) are all on the lower level.
• The lower level is accessible by stairs and by a lift.
• Our Restrooms, on both the main and lower levels, are All-gender and accessible.
• A Baby Changing Stations are located in Restrooms on both levels.
• Hearing Assist headphones are available in the Sanctuary.
• Worship begins at 10:30 am, though many choose to arrive earlier to visit.

Here are key elements of our worship services:

Greeting & Announcements

This includes time for attendees to extend a personal welcome to each other.

Centering

Words or music that draw us into the sacred time together.

Chalice Lighting

The flaming chalice has become a well-known symbol of our denomination. It unites our congregation in worship and symbolizes the spirit of our work. The flaming chalice, like our faith, stands open to receive new truths that pass the tests of reason, justice, and compassion.

Stories

Our Director of Children’s Faith Development provides a story or activity oriented toward the children and youth and also connected to the over-arching worship them of the service. Most days, the children are then entrusted to their mentors in Faith Development exploration with a brief song.

Prayer/Meditation

With prayer, poetry, or music, we offer a time of stillness and reflection. We breathe together in witness to our connections across our differing beliefs about the Holy and to our commitment to be together, a people working together for love and justice.

Sorrows and Joys

As part of a caring community, we share all that is our life. We take a moment to reflect on the days since we were last together. If there is a sorrow or concern, a joy or celebration among us, these thoughts are spoken from the pulpit and held sacred among us. This is followed by a moment of silence to acknowledge all that is unspoken in our lives.

Giving

We are a religious community because we share meaning, identity, and purpose. We sustain our religious community through sharing our financial resources. It is a true mark of Unitarian Universalist polity to voluntarily gather as a people and to support ourselves without dependence on any higher church authority.

We take pledges, contributions, and donations to justice partners in our community both in physical and electronic form. A QR Code take a donor directly to the Giving page of our website. We make a regular practice of thanking all for their generosity.

Sermon/Speaker

Unitarian Universalism is a truth-seeking faith. We name the spiritual and material reality of our world and our place in it within a spirit of exploration and inquiry. Because the UUFM honors diversity, our Minister may challenge, comfort, educate, comfort or anger us at times, or even all at once! We commit to respectful and ongoing dialogue about our differences and the richness they offer to our larger community.

Extinguishing the Chalice

Together in words, we mark the end of this special time we set aside, seeking to move back into the work of the world with renewed faith and commitment.

Singing Benediction

Our tradition honors the ability of all, not just ordained spiritual leaders, to bless each other and to bless the world. And so, we send each other onward with a singing blessing.